If the Netherlands had two players like Ma Long and Zhang Jike I would support them both. Hell, I would even support Steffen Mengel if he was dutch
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The guys all wanted to sleep with her. But they all were also really very competitive with her. And it wasn't in the greatest way. So they were pretty mean to her. And a lot of them, who didn't sleep with her and wanted to have, talked about how she was a slut and they had. So, it wasn't the nicest thing for her to be around a bunch of guys who were really immature in one important way. Even though they were men and highly skilled at TT.
So that boy's club, locker room thing really pushed her away from playing with a lot of the people who were her own level.
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Sorry rain, this post was not what you wanted to post. This thread is not about ML fangirls vs ZJK fangirls.
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I think the fame of Ma Long and Zhang Jike has more got to do with parties outside ITTF/CTTA circles
meaning - you can be good, but if your agent (players agent) can't get you onto marketing agency books/tv shows etc, it is pointless
In China, TT is big in a way that its worthwhile for brands to use TT stars as brand ambassador etc
Take out China, Japan, Germany
maybe Korea, France, Sweden is already minimal coverage
so what about your 7 to 10 spot countries?
Being number 1 in that country might not get you much branding/coverage to really build up a huge fan base
what i'm trying to say is, without those marketing/branding, I don't think ZJK and ML would have today's fan base
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Carl, you think my post irrelevant and inappropriate and ping fun #9 and Gladxu #10 relevant and appropriate? WOWSorry rain, this post was not what you wanted to post. This thread is not about ML fangirls vs ZJK fangirls.
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You were going at them directly. They were talking in general. It is actually a little different even if both are a bit off topic. You can rephrase the same thing to not be personally directed at anyone.
So it was more how you said it than what you said.
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Carl,
In the US, the junior girls section is pretty strong
But Ariel, Erica etc is out of the setup due to academic
Do you see a sign of others following suite when its time for university?
imo I see a huge gap, you get the older former CNT players like Guo Jun and Wang Chen who is devoted 100% in TT, then you get 20+ year young in the university age group
Yes, one can say Jiaqi is in between that age group, but she has and will still stay in Taiwan for a while (being Cheng I Ching's training partner)
players like Judy Hugh is coaching
Where is your other 25 to 40 year old high level womens?
In the US, the junior girls section is pretty strong
But Ariel, Erica etc is out of the setup due to academic
Do you see a sign of others following suite when its time for university?
imo I see a huge gap, you get the older former CNT players like Guo Jun and Wang Chen who is devoted 100% in TT, then you get 20+ year young in the university age group
Yes, one can say Jiaqi is in between that age group, but she has and will still stay in Taiwan for a while (being Cheng I Ching's training partner)
players like Judy Hugh is coaching
Where is your other 25 to 40 year old high level womens?
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I think you have this right. That is another thing that can take people away from TT. That is what got Michael Landers to stop for a couple of years as well. When he decided to make a go at the 2016 trials he was 3 years out of practice and could not quite get up to level in time. He was close for only training for a short time. But he had lost something on the kids who never stopped when he stopped and focused on college.
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and after college?
is Michael still in the scene?
I think if we can't get female players to stay playing, we will not get them onto TTD
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I think he is doing some coaching. But I have been too busy with taking care of my daughter and being a single dad to see too many people outside of work and that.
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I took basic TT course at college in China. My college offered basic sports courses like swimming, badminton, snooker, etc. The TT course was more like a ping pong course, BH push and FH smash, no looping. Most students did penholder but I did handshake. When I went to grad school in the US, we had a foldable TT table by the break room and we played almost every other day, just for fun. I feel like ping pong is quite popular in the US but not TT; my school has badminton team but no TT team.
Some previous posts mentioned me. I like numbers and statistics. I think it help people get big pictures. Of course one can interpret numbers differently, weighting them differently, to make one's points (for example, the discussion of current and new world ranking system) or to polish the achievements of one's idol whoever he/she is. But I don't feel comfortable when numbers are manipulated and that's why sometimes I joined a discussion.
I usually do not bring up things too far away from the court unless someone else brought it up first. And I've never made up stories. After China Open boycott, a female member in the forum indicated that the boycott was likely because of shared financial interests of LGL/ML/Ma Lin. LGL/ML/Ma Lin were called hotpot gangsters by ZJK fans and rumors were spread virally on Weibo and social media after China Open Boycott. Of course I argued with that female member who is a ZJK fangirl about the rumors, not only for ML or LGL. I just don't understand why people make up things that don't exist or believe in stupid stories. Well, it is one's freedom to believe in stupid stories but at least I want to offer some basic facts to show how stupid the stories can be.
And just give you some flavors of the so-called fans war between Chinese ZJK fangirls and ML fangirls. Here summarizes the most spread silly rumors ZJK fans made up to attack ML.
https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/28676644
ZJK fans described ML as a terrible and irresponsible team player for CNT; ML played the most number of ITTF World Tour events in CNT and prevented younger players from playing World Tour; LGL gave ML more chance because of the hotpot restaurant. Apparently ZJK fangirls in this forum do believe these and that's how the hotpot gang discussion started in China Open Boycott thread
BTW, the guy in the photo in post #9 is a famous actor Li Yapeng, the ex-husband of top pop singer Wang Fei (Faye Wong). He is way much more famous than TT stars like ZJK and ML, unfortunately. It is quite impossible that a person who knows Chinese culture does not recognize him.
Some previous posts mentioned me. I like numbers and statistics. I think it help people get big pictures. Of course one can interpret numbers differently, weighting them differently, to make one's points (for example, the discussion of current and new world ranking system) or to polish the achievements of one's idol whoever he/she is. But I don't feel comfortable when numbers are manipulated and that's why sometimes I joined a discussion.
I usually do not bring up things too far away from the court unless someone else brought it up first. And I've never made up stories. After China Open boycott, a female member in the forum indicated that the boycott was likely because of shared financial interests of LGL/ML/Ma Lin. LGL/ML/Ma Lin were called hotpot gangsters by ZJK fans and rumors were spread virally on Weibo and social media after China Open Boycott. Of course I argued with that female member who is a ZJK fangirl about the rumors, not only for ML or LGL. I just don't understand why people make up things that don't exist or believe in stupid stories. Well, it is one's freedom to believe in stupid stories but at least I want to offer some basic facts to show how stupid the stories can be.
And just give you some flavors of the so-called fans war between Chinese ZJK fangirls and ML fangirls. Here summarizes the most spread silly rumors ZJK fans made up to attack ML.
https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/28676644
ZJK fans described ML as a terrible and irresponsible team player for CNT; ML played the most number of ITTF World Tour events in CNT and prevented younger players from playing World Tour; LGL gave ML more chance because of the hotpot restaurant. Apparently ZJK fangirls in this forum do believe these and that's how the hotpot gang discussion started in China Open Boycott thread
BTW, the guy in the photo in post #9 is a famous actor Li Yapeng, the ex-husband of top pop singer Wang Fei (Faye Wong). He is way much more famous than TT stars like ZJK and ML, unfortunately. It is quite impossible that a person who knows Chinese culture does not recognize him.
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I'm fascinated by this nature/nurture stuff. I have two small children - boy who is 6 and girl who is 2, so going through this right now. Before children I was completely on the side of 'nurture', e.g. boys are conditioned by society to like blue, wheels, physical activities etc and girls are conditioned to like pink, dolls, dressing-up etc.
Since having kids, my position has started to shift a little. We have tried our best to give both children the opportunity to play with different types of toys and do different activities.
What's happened so far? The boy has gravitated towards wheels, building things, collecting things, playing football, running races etc. The girl has gravitated towards dolls (which we didn't buy for her), dressing up, cleaning and cooking (WTF?!!! - she's 2-years-old!) and her favourite colour is pink (noooooooooooo!).
The boy does have some interest in crafty stuff and the girl has some interest in trains and throwing balls. But we have to work at stimulating this interest.
I'm sure the answer is still a bit of both - nature and nurture. But my views have certainly shifted since having kids and I now acknowledge that nature does play a role.
On the topic of why there are less adult women playing - one factor is certainly to do with starting a family. Let's face it - women still do the vast majority of the childcare duties, whereas men seem to find a way to keep pursuing their interests (e.g. table tennis).
I think us men need to help out a lot more (this includes me), so that women don't have to give up everything they were doing before they had children.
From my experience, it's fairly common that women start playing again when their children are older and they have more free time. It's a shame that they feel they have to stop playing for 15-20 years as children are growing up.
So my message to men - HELP OUT MORE!
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So really didnt get how many female do we have here . But what i know is that its not more 10 ....
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Well this thread is about how many women do we have here ?? I have no idea if u are female or male . It was better to answer this Q instead of giving the same nonesense about zjk fans .I took basic TT course at college in China. My college offered basic sports courses like swimming, badminton, snooker, etc. The TT course was more like a ping pong course, BH push and FH smash, no looping. Most students did penholder but I did handshake. When I went to grad school in the US, we had a foldable TT table by the break room and we played almost every other day, just for fun. I feel like ping pong is quite popular in the US but not TT; my school has badminton team but no TT team.
Some previous posts mentioned me. I like numbers and statistics. I think it help people get big pictures. Of course one can interpret numbers differently, weighting them differently, to make one's points (for example, the discussion of current and new world ranking system) or to polish the achievements of one's idol whoever he/she is. But I don't feel comfortable when numbers are manipulated and that's why sometimes I joined a discussion.
I usually do not bring up things too far away from the court unless someone else brought it up first. And I've never made up stories. After China Open boycott, a female member in the forum indicated that the boycott was likely because of shared financial interests of LGL/ML/Ma Lin. LGL/ML/Ma Lin were called hotpot gangsters by ZJK fans and rumors were spread virally on Weibo and social media after China Open Boycott. Of course I argued with that female member who is a ZJK fangirl about the rumors, not only for ML or LGL. I just don't understand why people make up things that don't exist or believe in stupid stories. Well, it is one's freedom to believe in stupid stories but at least I want to offer some basic facts to show how stupid the stories can be.
And just give you some flavors of the so-called fans war between Chinese ZJK fangirls and ML fangirls. Here summarizes the most spread silly rumors ZJK fans made up to attack ML.
https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/28676644
ZJK fans described ML as a terrible and irresponsible team player for CNT; ML played the most number of ITTF World Tour events in CNT and prevented younger players from playing World Tour; LGL gave ML more chance because of the hotpot restaurant. Apparently ZJK fangirls in this forum do believe these and that's how the hotpot gang discussion started in China Open Boycott thread
BTW, the guy in the photo in post #9 is a famous actor Li Yapeng, the ex-husband of top pop singer Wang Fei (Faye Wong). He is way much more famous than TT stars like ZJK and ML, unfortunately. It is quite impossible that a person who knows Chinese culture does not recognize him.
I have posted the photo and dont know chinese famous people at all . Maybe he is famous in mainland china . I just know table tennis stars and some sooo famous athletes like li ning . Maybe @gladxu knows him .. any way not important . I did t say that rumorus which ma long fans themselves made is true . Read carefully befote posting pls .
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Women aren't interested in table tennis because they don't want one arm that's so obviously bigger than the other.
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It is more than just this though. I mean, they are the ones that get pregnant and carry the babies inside of themselves.
Before my daughter was born I thought it was a lot more possible to get children interested in things that crossed gender lines more easily. It really wasn't for my daughter and it seemed that most of her friends were really in the same boat.
But as far as helping at home, for me, it never was about that. I was previously so able to schedule times to play because my wife was happy to have me out of the way for certain times so I was not interfering with her CONTROL of the household. But I definitely did more than pull my own weight at home. But, since she is not around and I am dealing with taking care of a grieving child and supporting us, there is no way I could possibly have the same time for TT that I had before.
Taking care of my daughter has caused me to miss or cancel a lot of work also. And there is no question that, when I am done with work I have to go home, shop, clean, cook, help her wake up for school, etc, etc, etc. I have even had to figure out how to be at work and get things done at home at the same time.
So, work and responsibilities can trump fun.
And, although I teach something and I love teaching Yoga, and although I love writing and talking about TT, TT is something I would never NEVER want to teach. I have already turned a few hobbies into something that I make a living from. Teaching TT is much more frustrating and much less rewarding, at least for me, than teaching yoga.
Hopefully I will have some time to get back to the table soon enough.
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I dont think its the reason . Cause not every one knows about this . In our club women's activity in table tennis have been increased a lot and they seldomly give up table tennis cause they have a lot of friends there and once for a while they are just themselves there .. no man , no child . Free from every thing but if they cant train its mostly because of their family and childen . Even we had some mothers who came to the club to register their children's name , after a while they themselves got intrested to tt and started playing .
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I think you are a fantastic contributor to this forum. I think many others share that sentiment. Nevereverquit.
I took basic TT course at college in China. My college offered basic sports courses like swimming, badminton, snooker, etc. The TT course was more like a ping pong course, BH push and FH smash, no looping. Most students did penholder but I did handshake. When I went to grad school in the US, we had a foldable TT table by the break room and we played almost every other day, just for fun. I feel like ping pong is quite popular in the US but not TT; my school has badminton team but no TT team.
Some previous posts mentioned me. I like numbers and statistics. I think it help people get big pictures. Of course one can interpret numbers differently, weighting them differently, to make one's points (for example, the discussion of current and new world ranking system) or to polish the achievements of one's idol whoever he/she is. But I don't feel comfortable when numbers are manipulated and that's why sometimes I joined a discussion.
I usually do not bring up things too far away from the court unless someone else brought it up first. And I've never made up stories. After China Open boycott, a female member in the forum indicated that the boycott was likely because of shared financial interests of LGL/ML/Ma Lin. LGL/ML/Ma Lin were called hotpot gangsters by ZJK fans and rumors were spread virally on Weibo and social media after China Open Boycott. Of course I argued with that female member who is a ZJK fangirl about the rumors, not only for ML or LGL. I just don't understand why people make up things that don't exist or believe in stupid stories. Well, it is one's freedom to believe in stupid stories but at least I want to offer some basic facts to show how stupid the stories can be.
And just give you some flavors of the so-called fans war between Chinese ZJK fangirls and ML fangirls. Here summarizes the most spread silly rumors ZJK fans made up to attack ML.
https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/28676644
ZJK fans described ML as a terrible and irresponsible team player for CNT; ML played the most number of ITTF World Tour events in CNT and prevented younger players from playing World Tour; LGL gave ML more chance because of the hotpot restaurant. Apparently ZJK fangirls in this forum do believe these and that's how the hotpot gang discussion started in China Open Boycott thread
BTW, the guy in the photo in post #9 is a famous actor Li Yapeng, the ex-husband of top pop singer Wang Fei (Faye Wong). He is way much more famous than TT stars like ZJK and ML, unfortunately. It is quite impossible that a person who knows Chinese culture does not recognize him.
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I am pretty sure the scenario is quite similar.
I do know that there is a market for tennis coaches teaching fairly wealthy, middle aged women who are bored with their marriages. But they are not really playing tennis. They are just getting coaching a few times a week and changing coaches when they get bored with the current coach or don't get what they want from him. Which may not always be tennis.
Why do I think this? I have a friend who is a tennis coach who is busy enough not to need to fall into this. He is the coach at a college. But he says that the business model I described above allows a lot of sub par tennis coaches to remain tennis coaches.
But if you go to courts and clubs around the country, the model won't be that different from TT. A small but noticeable number of more talented girls being groomed to be pros. And then a few not good enough for that. And more boys than girls by A LOT. Quantum.
I am trying to think. Because my father wanted me to play tennis. But I didn't like it. I was too interested in baseball. But I went to the tennis club with him because I liked playing ping pong.
I can think of about 20 boys at that particular club. 1 girl and she was the younger sister of one of the boys. In 1976-79, that was what I remember of the numbers at the club I was dragged to. Similar threads
