I am 15 years old, what is the chance of becoming a professional?

This user has no status.
This user has no status.
Active Member
Sep 2017
750
245
1,155
Read 1 reviews
I still think it is very possible to be a good coach and not be able to play very good yourself. Think there is also the other way that very good players Do not need to be good coaches. That is my experience. Feel like some good players are not interested in technique and how to Do the strokes and know even less about how to learn other players This. So coaching is about really knowing about the sport and alot of other aspects around it. Also think that since it is like this the players that end their own playing career to pursue coaching careers have great possibilites to become very good at it.


It depend what we consider very good player? National team player? Top 300? Top 100?
 
This user has no status.
This user has no status.
Member
Feb 2020
177
111
294
I was in a similar situation when I was a teen, I started at around 13 and practiced TT 2-3 times per week 3 hours plus competitions on the weekends. In retrospect, I did exactly the right thing which was to fully focus on my STEM education and play table tennis for fun & to keep myself sharp. My physics degree led to engineering and a good career in the chip industry, and for the last year I played about 4 hours/day for fun in the company gym 6 days/week (we have a robot & a coach) and I attended the US Open 2019. Again, to keep myself sharp in my job. There are lots of software jobs where the companies have TT tables at the workplace, somehow they are synergistic.
So fully focusing on TT in the teens IMHO *and sacrifice school* is a big mistake since the demand for so-so TT players and coaches is low, but the demand for artificial intelligence, machine learning, data science, electrical engineering is big and leads to a lifetime career. Also not too many people actually want to watch table tennis matches life, they prefer to play themselves.
My $0.05 ...
 
This user has no status.
This user has no status.
Member
Feb 2018
132
48
281
Read 3 reviews
I aggre with ejprinz. Many Turkish Super League players have second job even if they started when they were really young. Coaching, running a table tennis shop etc. I think there are maximum 10-20 player who can afford barely their expenses only by playin tt. This is the threshold for being pro, I think. Maybe the ones who attend international championships earn more.

To be the best of anything you should;
- work extremely smart,
- have the best sources(best coaching, best training partners, attending competitions that improves you best),
- improve mentality(mostly comes with experience),
- maintain that perseverance at least for 10 years.

I started table tennis when I was 15 at first year of high school. After three years of training(regular table tennis drills, school teams etc), I was eliminated a match before quarter finals. So I was in around top 12 in my city(3 Mill Population) at my age. I attended to a club team with full of kids who played at national championship. Obviously, they matched me with 10 year old kids. Probably I was at same level with those kids. I don't know but at that time I felt humiliated. Additionally, when I was there, I learned that a national team player(U18) was earning twice as much minimum wage. 1/5 comes from club, 4/5 for being in national team. It was my last year at high school, and there was student selection exam for college) I thought I can earn easily much more by just graduating from college and I quit. Now I regret I stopped playing :)

If you still want to know what needs to be done to be the best, you can watch The Last Dance documentary. (No, I didn't get money from Netflix haha).

Whatever you do, just don't stop playing table tennis :)

CLT-L09 cihazımdan Tapatalk kullanılarak gönderildi
 
This user has no status.
This user has no status.
Well-Known Member
Mar 2015
1,308
1,001
3,858
Read 3 reviews
The deal in Korea about the competition sport of staying way underclassified is for club glory at the team event

Many players would rather have one or many team event winner's certificate for the club wall over an individual singles winner certificate.

These players can always play stronger players any time, either in club or tourney They do not need to leave the division, already there are dozens of rungers. If they face a strong player in club, a handicap is given on 2+1+1 system...

2 puts for 1st level of difference, then additional 1 point for each additional level of difference.

Div 1 gives a 4 pt handicap todiv 4 ... div 2 gives 3 pt handicsp to div 4.



Sent from my SM-N970U using Tapatalk

That's interesting. Seems in Korea the divisions represent smaller gaps in skill. Here between Div1 and Div4 7 points is a realistic handicap, I think. That would also explain why it's more important to go up in divisions. Many players (and teams) stated that other than going up or down the results doesn't bear further meaning.(They were commenting on how to deal with the current situation). And it might be a cultural thing too.
 
says 2023 Certified Organ Donor
says 2023 Certified Organ Donor
Well-Known Member
Sep 2011
12,821
13,210
30,388
Read 27 reviews
That's interesting. Seems in Korea the divisions represent smaller gaps in skill. Here between Div1 and Div4 7 points is a realistic handicap, I think. That would also explain why it's more important to go up in divisions. Many players (and teams) stated that other than going up or down the results doesn't bear further meaning.(They were commenting on how to deal with the current situation). And it might be a cultural thing too.

Korea is still a lot like that. There is a "Hope" division, which is usually beginning players not good enough o be in Div 5 city (lowest division). Clubs use their own div system with a lot of the Hope div players rated at Div 6 or Div 7... so a Div 1 player gives up a 7 pt handicap !! OUCH.

Hope div players are never on a team event.

Even a weak Div 5 player vs a solid div 1 player with a 7 pt handicap is not gunna win unless they get real lucky.
 
says 2023 Certified Organ Donor
says 2023 Certified Organ Donor
Well-Known Member
Sep 2011
12,821
13,210
30,388
Read 27 reviews
So, the middle of the pack of divisions in Korea are pretty fairly classified, but the top end of EVERY division is so stacked you need to be 3 divisions under-classified and have a REAL GOOD DAY to have any chance to compete to make it to even the semis.

Myself, I always wanted to compete in the higher divisions and actually qualify to do so, either by winning the singles championship, of by the tourney director and enemy coaches command directing I compete in a higher division. I NEVER in a city or national tourney made it past the semis (only did that once) yet I kept getting moved up as I improved, so I was pretty much the whole time classified middle of the pack of whatever division I played in, but would never be able to compete to win a championship in singles - the deck is simply too stacked.
 
I aggre with ejprinz. Many Turkish Super League players have second job even if they started when they were really young. Coaching, running a table tennis shop etc. I think there are maximum 10-20 player who can afford barely their expenses only by playin tt. This is the threshold for being pro, I think. Maybe the ones who attend international championships earn more.

To be the best of anything you should;
- work extremely smart,
- have the best sources(best coaching, best training partners, attending competitions that improves you best),
- improve mentality(mostly comes with experience),
- maintain that perseverance at least for 10 years.

I started table tennis when I was 15 at first year of high school. After three years of training(regular table tennis drills, school teams etc), I was eliminated a match before quarter finals. So I was in around top 12 in my city(3 Mill Population) at my age. I attended to a club team with full of kids who played at national championship. Obviously, they matched me with 10 year old kids. Probably I was at same level with those kids. I don't know but at that time I felt humiliated. Additionally, when I was there, I learned that a national team player(U18) was earning twice as much minimum wage. 1/5 comes from club, 4/5 for being in national team. It was my last year at high school, and there was student selection exam for college) I thought I can earn easily much more by just graduating from college and I quit. Now I regret I stopped playing :)

If you still want to know what needs to be done to be the best, you can watch The Last Dance documentary. (No, I didn't get money from Netflix haha).

Whatever you do, just don't stop playing table tennis :)

CLT-L09 cihazımdan Tapatalk kullanılarak gönderildi





I'll try to watch, I really liked your story.
The system here works like this:
1st and 2nd place at City School Games, go to
State School Games 1 and 2 nd place qualifies for the National School Games.
About college, schools are not interested in sports in my city, here we have a system in which, each year of high school, you have a test called PAS, each year you accumulate an amount of points for the correct answers of the test . At the end of high school, these points will be used for a course at a public college or a scholarship at a private college. In other words, all schools focus on that. Mine does not participate in the city games, I will have to focus simply on training and playing with the club members, next year yes, I will change a school and try to reach the national school games, stand out there and try to gain visibility and who knows train at a better national club or be selected for a club tryouts. I can still join the federation of the state and play the state championship, 1st and 2nd place go to the national stages, usually who stands out there is called for the selection of the national team that happens sometimes, our Brazilian team has "few "members since they only choose the best of the best there. who knows ... I won't stop playing table tennis, my status says why.
 
Brazilian national system, we have 15 divisions by points, organized in letters, from O to A. Since O is the lowest up to 250 points, the highest is A above 2300 points, a guy from the club I will train is in A with 2346 points
: 0.
I'll show you how it looks on the site.
TMB Platinum - National Cup: . It is the main national competition, held once a year, at the end of the season. Organized by CBTM.


TMB Platinum - Brasil Cup: . It is the set of national competitions, played three times a year. Organized by CBTM.


TMB Challenge Plus (Federation Cup): . These are the national competitions organized by the State Federations and approved by the CBTM. It has a higher score.


TMB Challenge (Federation Cup): . These are the national competitions organized by the State Federations and approved by the CBTM.


State TMB (State Championship Stages): these are the State Championship stages, organized by each of the State Federations.


TMB Regional (Stages of the Official Regional Leagues): are the stages of competitions of the Regional Leagues, organized by each Regional League and certified by the respective State Federation.

and you accumulate points for each competition result, that's what I think

b04fa19caccc41b092b1eb3c13326ffd.jpg
 
Last edited:
Top