September 9, 2016

As You Think, So Shall You Become - Revisited
Yesterday I posted this Bruce Lee Table Tennis graphic – and the Bruce Lee quote in the heading, “So you think, so shall you become,” very much applies to table tennis. Most players have self-images of their game, which puts them in a comfort zone. And nearly everything they do re-enforces this, and so they stay in this comfort zone, rarely developing anything new. Sure, they play around with other shots, and practice them, but not in a long-term, serious way. I’ve seen loopers who can’t block react by spending even more time working on their loop rather than mastering the block. I’ve seen players who are great blockers but constantly lament their lack of attacking skills – and spend decades playing as a blocker rather than taking a few months of that time where they develop and incorporate attacking skills. These players are unable to think of themselves as something better, and so are unable to become better. And that’s what Bruce Lee was referring to.

In fact, for players who stay in their comfort zone rather than strive to leave it, I will paraphrase the Bruce Lee quote: “So you think, so shall you remain.”

Those who become great players have a different way of thinking. If they see something that someone else does better than they do, they are certain they can do better and become determined to top it. They may not always become better at it, but they become as good at it as they can possibly be. The best up-and-coming juniors see what the world-class players do, and are convinced they can do better – and so strive to do so. “So you think, so shall you become,” and because they think they can, they become it.

I remember coaching a top 12-year-old whose strength was blocking. He was in a close match against an older, higher-rated looper, and the match was 2-2. Between games I told him he needed to forehand block into the opponent’s wide forehand to draw him out of position, and – but I was interrupted. The kid wanted nothing of this. He was certain he could win by counterlooping with his opponent, apparently oblivious to the fact that the opponent was a much better counterlooper. But he was determined, and so we changed our tactics to make sure the opponent had more difficult loops to counterloop – and lo and behold, the 12-year-old left behind his blocking persona and won by looping everything. A year later he made the USA Cadet Team.

I’ve gone through similar thinking. Fortunately, I’ve always felt that if I put my mind to something, I could master it. When I first showed up at the New Carrollton Table Tennis Club in 1976 at age 16, and saw real table tennis for the first time, I was at first shocked at how much better everyone was. (I was #41 of 43 on the ladder, ahead of a 12-year-old who had also just started and an 8-year-old girl.) But whatever I saw, I was certain I could also master. At the time I was basically a keep-it-in-play type, with an occasional pick-hitting forehand. (I was also holding the racket with the thumb down the middle, using the other side for both forehand and backhand, basement style. Jim Mossberg quickly fixed my grip.)

I remember watching Bob Kaminsky smacking in forehand after forehand against chopper Herb Horton, and told myself, “I can do that.” (At the time I didn’t even realize Bob was hitting with short pips, while I had inverted.) So I spent a huge amount of time working on my forehand hitting, and turned it into a huge strength. At the 1976 U.S. Open, my first big tournament, I saw how Dragutin Surbek (#3 in the world, who would win men’s singles) could cover the entire table with his forehand, and told myself, “I can do that.” And so I became a forehand specialist, running around hitting forehands every chance. (Surbek was actually a looper, but I copied his footwork, and that of Kjell Johnannson, as a hitter.) When I saw Ricky Seemiller serving people off the table, I told myself, “I can do that.” I practiced my serves for half an hour a day, six days a week, for three years, and developed very good serves.

By driving myself to surpass these players in their own strengths, I achieved a 1954 rating in 2.5 years. But then I hit a wall. I was getting looped off the table by opponents, who were turning my hitting game into a blocking game. I told myself, “I can do that,” and was determined to become a looper. Here I ran into problems. Anyone who has seen me play can attest that I’m pretty stiff when I play. What they might not know is that I was just as stiff as a teenager as I am now. (I was once told by a doctor it’s a medical condition. My muscles are so dense that I sink like a rock in water – I sometimes show off in pools by walking around on the bottom on the deep end, or doing pushups on the bottom.) But I spent years working at it, and after about two years (where my rating dropped to about 1800), it began to pay off, and I developed a pretty decent loop, at least for a 2250 player. (If you ignore the stiffness and jerkiness, my technique is actually very good. Though that’s a lot to ignore.)

I never moved as fast as Surbek, or served as well as Ricky Seemiller, or looped as well as many of my opponents – but by striving to match and surpass them, I developed these things to a very high level. (I think I may have matched Bob Kaminsky’s forehand – but his peak years were many years before I saw him.)

So what is the self-image you have of your game? Do you stay in your comfort zone - “So you think, so shall you remain” - or do you have higher ambitions, realizing that the very act of telling yourself, “I can do that,” will lead to great improvement, even if you never do it as well as the one you are copying? “So you think, so shall you become.” Remember it, both for table tennis and for other aspects of your life as well.

Post-Traumatic-Stress-Disorder: How do you react to a loss?
Here’s the new coaching article from Samson Dubina.

Status of “Revelations of a Table Tennis Champion”
We should finish it today, and if all goes well, print copies of Dan Seemiller’s autobiography will be out in a week or so! 218 pages, 96 pictures, great reading! Stay tuned. (Next week I’ll put together the ebook version.)

Some Nice, Easy Counterlooping
Here’s the video (43 sec). The site is in Chinese, but the video is in table tennis. If you want to learn to counterloop, just watch this and copy. Don’t they make it look easy? But seriously – you can learn by watching, because done properly, and with practice, it isn’t that hard. Don't think you can do this? See Bruce Lee quote above.

Table Tennis Tactics - Serve and Attack
Here’s the coaching video (12:18).

Zha Wenting Captures Women’s Singles Title at Butterfly LA Open
Here’s the article by Barbara Wei. Links to three other articles on the tournament by Barbara were in my Sept. 6 blog.

Internet Sensation Ibrahim Hamadtou Becomes a Paralympian
Here’s the ITTF press release, with links to video, on this spectacular armless player.

Belarus Open on the ITTF Pro Tour
Here’s the page where you can get results, articles, pictures, and video. The tournament is Sept. 7-11, finishing this Sunday.

Austin Table Tennis on TV
Here’s the video (2:03).

Table Tennis Robot Home Upgrade for Continuously Varying Speed
Here’s the video (64 sec) – this is both fascinating and hilarious!

The Sound of Table Tennis
Here’s the animated video (44 sec). 

A Little Underwater Table Tennis . . . with Sharks?
Here’s the picture!

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