What is Talent? - Questions and Answers

Is talent the ability to make playing table tennis look easy?

Greg's Take:

No, this is just part of the overall talent of the player. Natural aptitude for playing strokes, and even for putting them together with tactics, still doesn't cover the whole subject of talent. What about the talent for hard work, for mental toughness, or for assessing opponents?

Is talent the ability to be good without having to train much?

Greg's Take:

Again, this just indicates that you have talent in one limited area - without the whole package of talent, you are still not going to be the most talented or have the results to prove it.

Is talent one thing only, or is it made up of several sub-talents?

Greg's Take:

I am in favor of thinking of overall talent as the combination of all the sub-talents of the player, such as the ability to train hard, the ability to concentrate, the talent for stroke-making (which can vary from stroke to stroke), the mental toughness of a player and others.

Is talent measurable or intangible?

Greg's Take:

I believe talent is measurable in a comparative way, since the winner has relatively more talent than the loser. I think it would be pretty difficult, if not impossible, to measure talent in some form of quantity like kilograms.

Can the amount of talent you have change?

Greg's Take:

According to my theory I would say yes - if you stop making the most of what you have without some other external reason then you have dropped in one area or another of your talent - be it discipline, hard work, mental focus or whatever. Obviously age and injury could also have an effect.

Should talent be used to identify future champions in Table Tennis?

Greg's Take:

I've read several times that the Chinese are attempting to identify potential champions at an early age by such techniques as measuring bone lengths, future heights, reflexes and the like. I personally think that attempting to do this is an exercise in futility. There is so much more than just the physical attributes that go into making a top table tennis player.

Some people talk about being able to identify talent in the young by observing the way the children play, or just by saying that they will know talent when they see it. The main problem I have with this is that everyone seems to have a different idea of who is talented and why. Surely if talent is that easy to spot everyone would agree on who has talent and who doesn't?

I think that every young player should be given an equal chance to prove themselves. Let them know what they have to do, show them how, teach them about the mental side of the game, and the ones who rise to the top are your talented youngsters. Too simple perhaps?

Is it better to be talented or hard working?

Greg's Take:

This is really a question for those with a different definition of talent than mine. As far as I am concerned, the ability to train hard is simply one part of a player's overall talent.

Is Jean-Michel Saive (or insert other top player here) really talented or not?

Greg's Take:

Jean-Michel Saive is a fantastically talented athlete, or else he would not have been at the top of the table tennis tree for so long. The fact that other people think that he looks ugly when he plays or has no backhand is irrelevant to me - he has the results on the board to back up my definition of being talented.

Is lack of talent an excuse for failure?

Greg's Take:

Talent or the lack of it is never an excuse - if you lose, you obviously had less talent or else you would have won. What exactly is your point in saying you have less talent than the winner?

• 1
• 2