Table tennis champion in the making?

In the sport of table tennis, China dominates the world rankings. Of the top 10 players in the world, more than half are from China. There’s no secret to their success. A player’s training starts at a pretty young age and requires deliberate practice and hard work that is demanding and painful. A child with potential will get pulled out of school to practice 8 hours a day, 6 days a week. It’s no wonder that US table tennis players can't even come close in skill level, given that the best US player is not even ranked in the top 100 (but we do have the best swimmer in the world). In the following video, the form, power, and footwork of this little girl is just unbelievable! I bet she plays more table tennis in a single day than I do in a whole week :-O

Didn't get 1st place but I'm making progress!

Power Level 1064

Just as there are power levels in Dragonball Z measuring an adult at 10, Vegeta at 8000 (during the Vegeta Saga), and Super Saiyan Goku at 1500000, there are ratings for table tennis players, which are determined from playing in tournaments. After playing in some tournaments and practicing several times a week for almost a year, I have a measly rating of 1064 Beginners have a rating ranging from 100 to 1000, intermediate players from 1100 to 1700, advanced players from 1800 to 2300, and world class players 2600 and up.

I still have a long way to go, but the good news is I think I’ve made an important breakthrough in my development. I’ve started to watch the ball more closely to improve my returns, and I can say spin is king in table tennis. If I can see the logo on the ball, that means there is not much spin on the ball, but if I can’t see the logo on the ball or if it’s very blurry, then there is a lot of spin on the ball.

As a final note, I find it a little embarrassing but resourceful at the same time that the USA Table Tennis organization records the results of all tournament play. If you like, go to: http://www.usatt.org/history/rating/history/ and punch in my last name to see all the game scores for all the matches I’ve played, which include losing to a 70 year old senior citizen and a 14 year girl!

Olympic Ping-Pong

I missed it. After reading about the intense final match between China's Wang vs. Korea's Ryu, I want to see it. It was a showcase of spin vs. power. It was a close match, but in the end power prevailed. Not surprisingly, the match was a big thing over in Asia and was broadcasted during primetime, but guess what time it was shown in the U.S? At 7am today when everyone was asleep! Man, I should have Tivo'd it >:-<