Playing Other Racket Sports - the Pros
Personally, I've never had a problem with other racket sports interfering with my table tennis. In fact, I think that playing some tennis or squash now and then can be a good thing. Here's why:- It's good to take a break from ping-pong once in a while, and get out on another type of court. It helps stop you from getting mentally stale. You have to think a little differently each in each sport, and this can also help you gain a new perspective about your own table tennis game now and then. Or you can just turn your brain off for a while and blast that ball around for fun!
- You can give any muscles that are a bit weary from table tennis a rest, and work some different muscles instead. Plus you are still getting the aerobic benefits of running around the court.
- You can have a good time playing other sports, but as you discover the differences between sports, you will also remember gain a new appreciation for why table tennis is your favorite!
Playing Other Racket Sports - the Cons
While I think that playing other racket sports is a good thing, that doesn't mean that there are no potential problems to watch out for. Here's a few issues to be wary of:- If you don't play the other sport frequently, it's possible to overwork those muscles that you don't use often when playing table tennis, and wind up stiff and sore for the next couple of days. That certainly won't help your ping-pong!
- Some players feel that the different stroke techniques used in the various racket sports mess up their table tennis strokes. (Although personally, I've never had this problem when playing tennis and squash). If this is the case for you, then I would suggest staying away from whichever sports affect your table tennis.
- If you aren't very good at the other racket sports, you may not be able to get enough rallies going to get a good aerobic workout. Perhaps you could run to pick up the ball? ;)
- It's possible that you might find yourself trying to use the same tactics in table tennis that you use in other sports, which could be a problem - although not a very likely one, in my own opinion.
Conclusion
I feel that playing some other racket sports from time to time is only likely to help your table tennis. So I'd recommend getting out there and giving them a go now and then - just make sure that you take it easy and don't injure yourself by pushing any weak muscles too hard. Remember, if you feel it's making your ping-pong worse, you can always stop!Comments From the Table Tennis Forum
I posed this question of whether playing other racket sports is a good idea to the members of my table tennis forum, and this is what they had to say:
CMugica wrote:
Greg, I have the same experience. I played serious tennis for three years and I improved my power in table tennis.
CarlDanner wrote:
I find that serious tennis helps with fitness and movement, and with seeing things a little differently in playing points. It also messes up your backhand something awful.
heavyspin wrote:
I think table tennis helps tennis more than the other way around. Having developed good tt reflexes, soft touch, and footwork helps me when I'm close to the net. Particularly when I can camp out at the net in doubles.
Carl Danner replied to heavyspin:
I think it goes both ways, as tennis players have a natural sense of strokes and movement that is helpful for TT. I would take your side of it, though (easier to go from TT to tennis) with regard to the backhand and to the use of wrist and touch in TT. A strong tennis player has spent his whole life stiffening his wrist on the backhand side, and never using delicate little shots and wrist movements for anything.
papilloncito wrote:
In my case, it depends on how I look at things: By playing as much tennis as I played table tennis this year, I can say it has helped my conditioning, my cardiovascular system, I seem to get to more shots in table tennis than before, it's a great way of staying fit for table tennis specially playing against younger and better players than me, and sort of hanging in there and even getting lucky every now and then has done good for my morale.
The bad side of it has been the tremendous wear and tear of my knees, and the shoulder has been an issue a few times at table tennis tournaments. I suppose that I shouldn't have taken it so seriously and played for so many hours a day on a cement course after an eight hour day's work.