I want opinions on my chances of pro

[piligrim]

With modern age teenagers, 13 years old is not a kid any more

Its other way around. Even 20 years old still kids.

 

[Lula]

I think it it’s important to remember to do some strength training with body and increase tabletennis training more and more. Pretty common with injuries, at least shoulder injuries when we start to train more.

If you want to go to Sweden I think Eslöv, Halmstad or Söderhamn would be good. There are also a lot of tabletennis in Stockholm but much bigger city. The previous mentioned are not so big cities so I think easiest to live in as a young player. I do not think they have shared living and help with those stuff. Would sa probably that is the hardest as a young player if you go alone. To practice and also do the other stuff. I know Söderhamn have small apartments/beds above the tabletennis hall. Easiest first step would be trying living there for a while, perhaps with a parent.

If you copy the name of the cities and search tabletennis I think you will find their website in google. Or if you search their city and ”bordtennis” which is tabletennis in Swedish.

I still think the easiest step would try to move to a place in the US where you can develop good. If you have vacation in the summer from school you could try to go to China, Sweden,Germany or France for summer camps. Maybe bring a parent.

I agree that we should not be to hard. Some answers seems a bit harsh.

I think you should try to get some momentum and action. Start with the smallest.
Like:
1 practice more in your hometown. Can maybe an older player or coach train you extra? Get a robot? Think how you can still fix school and train a lot. Many parents do not want you to skip school.
2 go to training camps in the US. Preferably somewhere you can perhaps move. Bring your parent.
3 is there an alternative to move somewhere in the US? If yes. Where? Who do you contact? Talk with your parents
4 if there are not training camps in the US. Which closest country have good camps? Is this realistic? Talk with your parents. Maybe combine their vacation with your camps
5 when you have done the above and get more experienced. Then consider moving to another country.

You need to try to do the small actions first so something happens and you get going.
A chat forum is good but you need to get help from your parents, closest coach or and a US coach that know which are the options where you live or close by. Can not do this alone.

I do think a chat forum can help you with technical, tactics and equipment advice. So maybe posting a video could help

Good luck and keep working hard.

 

[Lando]

Move to the Bay Area and join 888.
NY, California and maybe Houston.
Those are your only options in the US. Once you outgrow US clubs, you move on to a club with better players in Europe.

Id imagine you'd have to be at least top 3 in your age group to move forward internationally, it just doesn't make sense for a 1900 usatt player to get coaching abroad yet. Plenty of 2300+ coaches here.

I wouldn't let my 13 year old 1900 ranked player move for TT. If you were 13 and already 2500, then maybe.
I get why his parents are not willing to do it.

 

[M51]

Its other way around. Even 20 years old still kids.

Conventional wisdom is that the brain doesn't stop developing until age 25. Recent studies suggest development may continue until early thirties.

The notion that a young teenager is somehow not a child is utterly absurd.

 

[Archosaurus]

Conventional wisdom is that the brain doesn't stop developing until age 25. Recent studies suggest development may continue until early thirties.

The notion that a young teenager is somehow not a child is utterly absurd.

The reason the brain "stops developing" at certain ages is because that's the age cutoff in those studies. Most likely the brain never stops developing and never fully matures although it's clear that teenagers haven't reached the plateau in improvement of faculties.

 

[M51]

The reason the brain "stops developing" at certain ages is because that's the age cutoff in those studies. Most likely the brain never stops developing and never fully matures although it's clear that teenagers haven't reached the plateau in improvement of faculties.

Faculties start declining at some point, though. Even with the healthiest of people.

 

[Archosaurus]

Faculties start declining at some point, though. Even with the healthiest of people.

Quite a lot of people die before they hit the downwards slope, and people who are healthy and live long tend to not even decline much at all. The curve is also different for different faculties, some of them peak around 20, decline a bit, plateau, then decline again at a very old age.

Main point was however about the nature of the upwards trend slope vs the plateau. A teenager has still a lot of growth potential because they're in the positive slope, while a 35 year old will only improve slightly by the time they hit their peak of 65 in some faculties.

 

[BackhandSteve]

Say I went to germany or sweden, how much per school year would this cost

If you go to the highschool i mentioned. The training is included. Now i dont know about when you are not swedish. But for swedish people it's free.

 

[mamedium]

Move to the Bay Area and join 888.
NY, California and maybe Houston.
Those are your only options in the US. Once you outgrow US clubs, you move on to a club with better players in Europe.

Id imagine you'd have to be at least top 3 in your age group to move forward internationally, it just doesn't make sense for a 1900 usatt player to get coaching abroad yet. Plenty of 2300+ coaches here.

I wouldn't let my 13 year old 1900 ranked player move for TT. If you were 13 and already 2500, then maybe.
I get why his parents are not willing to do it.

i just don't think he understands why he won't be able to reach top 100 yet.

the dream is always there, time is already running out. started at the age of 12 is late, at 13 he could be 2000 but let's face it, 2000 is not something solid, not even a scratch to professional table tennis

i agree with you, if he is 2500 then maybe

 

[Lando]

i just don't think he understands why he won't be able to reach top 100 yet.

the dream is always there, time is already running out. started at the age of 12 is late, at 13 he could be 2000 but let's face it, 2000 is not something solid, not even a scratch to professional table tennis

i agree with you, if he is 2500 then maybe

Yup.
I am pretty sure Kanak was at least 2600 at 13

 

[Matt Hetherington]

Yup.
I am pretty sure Kanak was at least 2600 at 13

At 13, for reference, Kanak won the u13, u15, u18 and u21 national championships and lost 11-9 in the 7th in the men's singles to Tim Wang. As far as I recall he went something like 23-1 in matches at that nationals. He was already 2000 before he was 10 I think, and broke 2600 at 13 - after that US Nationals.

 

[Dr Evil]

What's the biggest improvement you've seen in a player similar to OP (~13 yo, ~1900)? I can think of 2 kids who got to around 2300 before they went off to college. Don't know any who got to 2400 but it happens occasionally. Not sure about 2500+ but that's a very tall order.

 

[Matt Hetherington]

For reference when Victor Liu was in ITTF Hopes at 11 years of age, he was the top player in his age group in the US at the time and was around 2360 or so (up and down variance with that). Truls was also 11 at the time and was close to 2400.

 

[Matt Hetherington]

What's the biggest improvement you've seen in a player similar to OP (~13 yo, ~1900)? I can think of 2 kids who got to around 2300 before they went off to college. Don't know any who got to 2400 but it happens occasionally. Not sure about 2500+ but that's a very tall order.

It really depends on the environment. Patryk Zyworonek is an outstanding example, although much younger than OP. He broke 2000 at the Arnold in 2019, so he would have been 9 or 10 years old, he was a decent talent in the US, but after he moved to Poland in 2020 his improvement increased a lot.

He was European Cadet Champion in 2025, and currently sits at USATT 2661, with an ITTF World Ranking of 324, so fairly far off the top 100 mark presently even for such strong progress.

I'm going to have to ponder on it for a while and see if I can think of a more accurate answer to your question.

 

[Lula]

I still think the OP can develop and become a good player. The conditions matter though. I coached Truls in his first club. Have basically always played with better players his whole career, a lot of multiball with good coaches and a lot of help. Even if players work really hard but not have the correct conditions it will be difficult. Everyone that becomes good get a lot of help. And it not always fair.

I do think players that become pros can have developed later and have just continued work hard. Would say it is just a few of Swedish pros that have played in our national teams in younger ages. But also some that have played in youth national teams that do not become pros.

It is never to late to start and try to become better. Becoming a pro is not everything either. Can play at a high level and work with something else.

 

[mamedium]

It really depends on the environment. Patryk Zyworonek is an outstanding example, although much younger than OP. He broke 2000 at the Arnold in 2019, so he would have been 9 or 10 years old, he was a decent talent in the US, but after he moved to Poland in 2020 his improvement increased a lot.

He was European Cadet Champion in 2025, and currently sits at USATT 2661, with an ITTF World Ranking of 324, so fairly far off the top 100 mark presently even for such strong progress.

I'm going to have to ponder on it for a while and see if I can think of a more accurate answer to your question.

Patryk also beat Sid and Zhou Xin at US Open (both players are 2600)

 

[mamedium]

I still think the OP can develop and become a good player. The conditions matter though. I coached Truls in his first club. Have basically always played with better players his whole career, a lot of multiball with good coaches and a lot of help. Even if players work really hard but not have the correct conditions it will be difficult. Everyone that becomes good get a lot of help. And it not always fair.

I do think players that become pros can have developed later and have just continued work hard. Would say it is just a few of Swedish pros that have played in our national teams in younger ages. But also some that have played in youth national teams that do not become pros.

It is never to late to start and try to become better. Becoming a pro is not everything either. Can play at a high level and work with something else.

a good player and a top 100 in the world are not the same thing, in fact they are two different worlds apart

I just saw Nandan got destroyed by Gauzy and even when Nandan is probably called professional, the gap between him and Gauzy is inevitable

 

[Dr Evil]

It really depends on the environment. Patryk Zyworonek is an outstanding example, although much younger than OP. He broke 2000 at the Arnold in 2019, so he would have been 9 or 10 years old, he was a decent talent in the US, but after he moved to Poland in 2020 his improvement increased a lot.

He was European Cadet Champion in 2025, and currently sits at USATT 2661, with an ITTF World Ranking of 324, so fairly far off the top 100 mark presently even for such strong progress.

I'm going to have to ponder on it for a while and see if I can think of a more accurate answer to your question.

There's a world of difference between a player who breaks 2000 before he's 10, and one who's still below 2000 at 13. I'd guess it would be next to impossible for the 13 yo to improve to where Patryk is now under any circumstances. I think even 2400 would be a great achievement.

 

[NextLevel]

There's a world of difference between a player who breaks 2000 before he's 10, and one who's still below 2000 at 13. I'd guess it would be next to impossible for the 13 yo to improve to where Patryk is now under any circumstances. I think even 2400 would be a great achievement.

The thing is that if OP was on a rapid improvement trend and after being 1800 a year ago was now closer to 2100 or 2200 officially there would be something worth discussing. I have seen kids make more progress in 9 months or a year of playing than he has in the past 1 year plus of posting here. If I remember correct, the Lebakas were over 2000 within a year of tournament play.

 

[KTableTennis]

can you tell me what each of the boys groups levels would be in usatt