Becoming a Master in Table Tennis

Is balls of fury you want? Tao Li has them. He professionally played table tennis for the Heibei provincial team in China for six years and then became a coach at the Beijing Jiaotong University.He played to stadiums of 5,000 people. Now in Vancouver, he coaches for the Greater Vancouver Table Tennis Association. He has with him a mean kill shot. With a new big-screen comedy titled Balls of Fury that uses ping-pong to mock the martial arts film genre (starring Christopher Walken and Maggie Q.), could there be a resurgence in this rec room pastime?

I have an assignment and this is to learn from this master, a man who has killed games more often.I wonder if I will have to learn patience. I wonder at how huge this game is in China. National team tournaments attract 50,000 to 60,000 spectators and ping-pong has its own cable TV station. It’s the national sport.

Going through my assignment I’ve leaned some tips from Li that Table tennis is a mental game, he says. Before you serve, you must know what two or three moves come next. You must be ready. You must not be too tense. You must know your opponent. And it may be a mental game, but Li is in top physical condition. His legs bulge with muscles. He says players can be divided into two camps: smashers and loopers. A smasher, obviously, smashes the ball using power and speed to “kill” his opponent. About one per cent of high level players smash.

“The smash is very fast, but harder to control,” he says.

A looper uses finesse and control to kill. They are the cold-blooded players.

Want to be a smasher or a looper just like Li, table tennis videos Forehand Loop Mastery and Forehand Smash Mastery can be purchased through the website www.tabletennismaster.com for $29.95 each. The GVTTA offers instruction for kids and adults.

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Why Everyone Loves Table Tennis

How to be mentally ready to play table tennis

· Filed Under Tennis & Ping Pong