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Call me crazy, it won't be the first time and definitely not the last, but I think the CNT women's team viewed their match against the USA men's team in the spirit of friendship and not trying to be embarrassing. I also seem to remember Xu Xin being involved in a doubles match against team USA...

One of my friends was on the CNT and ranked in the top 5 in the world. She said the men could give the top women around 7 points in a game to 21 and still win without taking it too seriously. Another friend was on the Army Team in China and said Liu GuoLiang could beat the entire women's team...

Believe it or not, some people on a province team or even the CNT B team have to pay to be on the team. They don't make any money. If they do well in tournaments or get tournament appearance fees, but usually the better players take up a lot of the potential payout.

I guess this is a lesson to coaches all around the world: do not upset Harimoto or show disrespect either purposefully or inadvertently. He played out of his mind in the finals.

I find it funny that Bobrow implied something to the effect that Kanak took 17 months off or however long his suspension was. Certainly he wasn't allowed to play in any competitions but obviously he was still training 8 hours a day. With that being said, Kanak keeps improving and playing...

I also don't think people are mocking him. I think people based on their experience are telling him that if he truly wants to be top 50, this is what people who achieved that goal did and here is what people did who tried and didn't make it. If he said he wanted to be on the US national...

Well according to him, yes. Try not to show it or do anything silly, but it is ok to be really annoyed after playing poorly.

One of my professional player friends once said that if you aren't extremely mad after every practice and each loss, then you have given up the fight to try to improve. Also: some serves work great against one player and are useless against others. This even happens at the pro level. If...

I think Kallberg recently got married.

One thing that can just cap a players potential is vision problems. Under 2200 or maybe 2400 a player can control things to such an extent, they can predict where the ball is going. These problems can be dealt with and to some extent ignored. The higher the rating the more unexpected things...

KTT should check the truthfulness of statements before posting about them. Maybe he was told by his coach and didn't check. Also, even if Liu GuoLiang decided tomorrow to start coaching him 24/7 tomorrow, he will still have the issues everyone has already mentioned: who can he practice with...

The legendary hard hitting table tennis star Heavyspin went from 2100ish to 2400ish by switching to a heavy bat. Maybe he will comment on this thread about how it helped him improve.

I don't think anyone is trying to destroy KTT's dream. We are just trying to say "Based on what we know, this is what you need to do to break in the top 50 because that is pretty much what everyone in the past has done." The advice I give is exactly the same advice I would give any American...

I must apologize. Upon further inspection, the story of the 12 year old kid who broke into the top 20 was incorrect. He actually started much earlier than that. So now I can say I never heard of anyone who broke into the top 20 who claims to have started playing at age 12 or even 11.

I do not know what an average coach makes. I do know that at some clubs if the club charges $75, the coach keeps $35-$50 depending on what club it is. However there are quite a few people who coach on their own and charge $100 moving from place to place to teach lessons during the day. They...

I know examples of fighters, runners, motorcycle racers, football, basketball and baseball professionals who started late. I can also give examples of guitar players and science types who are world class who started very late in the area they ended up. In table tennis I know of one person...

Do not go abroad unless your parents go with you. I will not go into why but the adults on the forum can guess why. Some clubs in Germany are bad news. Some places in China are bad news. I don't mean bad training either. Once you are 15, send me a DM and I can suggest some places but...

What level of professional? And from what country? Many top 10 players from various countries don't make any money outside of coaching locally. If they want to play internationally, it is like setting money on fire. Even if they want to play in their own country, it is like setting money on...

I was talking to a friend today about a popular club on the East Coast and I was shocked to find out that it is nearly impossible to find people even 2100-2200 rated to practice with. The higher rated players all coach and basically do not practice at all. This has nothing to do with the OP...

I should have been more precise. The point I was trying to make is there is still some small hope of getting to 2600 even if you cannot afford a live in coach. You do need as much top level coaching as possible. Also even if you get stuck, good things occasionally happen through sheer...