Standard Disclaimer: I'm not a doctor, so don't consider this to be medical advice. Speaking for myself, there is a difference between having a cold or a touch of flu where you feel a bit run down, with a sore throat, runny nose etc, and a full blown illness, where you are struggling to make it out of bed at all. I'm talking about the type of sickness where you can play table tennis without it being a life-threatening event, OK? Also, I'm not really talking about playing when you are injured (such as a torn muscle), which is a different thing altogether, or when you have something highly contagious where you should be in quarantine, like german measles, chicken pox or something similar. Let's stick to a good old fashioned cold or similar, where you are definitely unwell but can still play.
Should You Play Table Tennis When You Are Sick?
That said, I think it really depends on the importance of the event you are supposed to be playing in, and just how sick you are. In my own recent illness, I had a sore throat and a cough that would come on if I breathed too deeply, and the usual stuffy head and runny nose. Plus I lost my appetite and most of my energy. But I could still play - I wasn't getting dizzy spells from being too weak, or any nausea - I just didn't feel up to scratch. But since I wanted to play in the tournaments that were being held, I couldn't see why I shouldn't go, provided I didn't spread my germs all over the place.Why Do You Play Worse When You Are Sick?
I think that this is a fairly easy question to answer. Depending on what illness you have, you are probably going to feel sick, suffer from lack of energy, get tired more easily, and possibly find it difficult to concentrate well due to mental fatigue. All in all, it's not hard to see how one or more of these problems will make your table tennis worse.Why Do You Play Better When You Are Sick?
This is a much more intriguing question. I think many of us have experienced the phenomenon of being a bit under the weather but finding ourselves playing great table tennis. During my own recent two weeks of being ill, I managed to win the Men's Singles and O/40 Singles at one tournament, win the local Grand Prix event, beat the local number 1 player twice in pennant competition, and defeat several other top local players. I actually only lost one match, to my regular training partner. So I had about 10-15 good wins and only 1 loss, including several comebacks from behind along the way. Now even prior to being ill I didn't have that kind of success, so how on earth did I manage to do it while sick?Since I was sick enough to not feel like doing much else, I spent a bit of time lying down in bed mulling over what had happened. Here's the reasons I managed to come up with to explain why I actually played better while being ill:
- I had the right type of illness - I was tired and running out of energy quickly, along with the usual cold symptoms of sore throat, stuffy head etc, but I wasn't actually terribly nauseous. I wasn't feeling great of course, but I certainly wasn't at the stage of wanting to lay down and die.
- Since I was lethargic and got exhausted quickly, I was forced to adopt a very aggressive strategy of trying to attack early in the point, and strongly attack balls that normally I would have played more cautiously. Looking back, I think this is actually the right strategy for my style.
- Knowing I was sick, I gave myself permission to lose. I figured that I had done quite well already just being out there competing, so I wouldn't be upset if I lost using my more aggressive tactics. This kept me nice and relaxed, even when I was looking like I was going to lose at times, since I wasn't really worried about winning, I was more focused on executing my game plan. Whereas when I am healthy I sometimes spend too much time worrying about winning or losing, and play too cautiously and tight when I should be relaxed.
- Because I was quite tired and physically a bit weak, I found it hard to tense up - it's very hard to get your muscles tight when they feel all weak and rubbery!
- Being sick, I had something new to think about between points, when often I spend the time between points worrying about the game and making myself tight and nervous. Instead, I was busy monitoring how much energy I had left and whether I had to take a few extra breaths, which gave my mind something else to think about.
- At a couple of crucial stages, I had to call timeouts to have a rest and get my breath back, since I was breathing too heavily to play properly. In these cases, the timeouts all worked well for me and I won the majority of the next few points. I was forced to call timeouts at times where I normally would have continued to play on, which makes me wonder whether in the past I have been doing a good job of recognizing when I need a timeout to break my opponents rhythm or steady myself.
- Finally, there may have been just a little bit of the sympathy factor from my opponents - sometimes it's hard to play your best against an opponent who is obviously unwell. So maybe they just took it a little bit easier than they should.
