How often do you hear this

PandaMike said:

I hear this a lot too and I usually just answer them yes, its not super physically demanding unless your professional. However, no other sport requires reaction time to be at a max at all times. Plus a Table Tennis ball spins 150 revolutions a second and when traveling at simply 25mph it travels across the table in a 1/4 of second! So when its traveling near 70mph(Near max speed for table tennis) It gives you less then 1/11 of a second if your near the table.....So I usually just say who cares if its not physically demanding or not? It has many other types of skills required which make it extremely difficult.

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Well I will try this when I get that from people..
But more likely I try to bring them to game and they find that its not that easy at all on their own..

I cant reply to this post using quotes anything it still writes me that I included 5 images or videos and I can only 4 .. but I didnt include anything like that.. dam..

A lot ! But then we have a nice discussion afterwards.

I wanted to say to malong1 and to jason..something, dont remember that nickname..
That I do common with people, when I try to get them here, but I dont usually destroy him..
And I wrote, that I dont think that destroying is bad,..
My first experience with pingponging was that I lost 21:0 . . and it made me so mad, that I didnt stop till I got my revenge and I beat same guy 21:0 .. year later
So sometimes it works

I once lost the first game of a match with 11-0, then I won the 4th 11-0 and the 5th 16-14 haha that was pretty remarkable.

People who say that table tennis isn't demanding always don't want to play with you if you ask them.. ^^

Well.. Once I saw in one team a player of our team to win 2 sets and then he lost 11:2 ..
After this, he won next set pretty easily, after match I asked him, why he lost 11:2 the one game..
He told me: "It was pretty tuff to win the second game.. He was getting stronger and stronger, I needed to do something to stop this.. So I let him win next game easy, so in next game he would not play so good and so I won.."
This made me wondering.. But then, years later, I found myself in a battle..
I was playing a player, that should beat me easily, he was much better, but it was not his day and I was in a good form..
But still.. I was leading 2:1 and the third set I won really closely..
Then, the next game I was suddenly 4:0 down.. I remembered, what did my teammate years ago, and decided to risk it..
I acted like I try and it doesnt work.. I gave him pretty easy points, he thought I am done.. I lost 11:0..
So it was 2:2 and I was hoping, my tactics will work..
He was pretty happy that he won so easily and with this confidence he started deciding set in a great style, trying things, thinking, he cant lose..
He made few mistakes, I made few winners and suddenly I was highly up and eventually I won..
So in a close match.. losing easily a game, can be winning factor

Nice tactic
It shows that too much confidence isn't good at all ^^

That is pretty interesting indeed. I had a similar match although I didn't do it on purpose. I played against what we all considered the strongest player in the competition. I was 2-1 ahead and lost the 4th set 11-1. Then I won the last 11-6, but I can't say that it was my tactics haha. It could be that such a player gets confidence from shots that you return in that other set. So his base for confidence just gets crashed since it doesn't work anymore and he needs to come up with something totally new or different to get himself back into it. That could be done with a time-out but it is really hard to turn thing around during a game. But it is true that it often happens that the player leading loses the game with a big difference. I don't think you should start such a game with the intention to lose though. Only when you get like 4 or more point behind you can consider going a gear back and go for the next game.

As a general thing I would say, you have to be in good shape to improve your technique and reach higher levels. I like to play that way. I just got a USATT rating so I have an idea of what my actual rating is. My rating is 1667. That is just about halfway between the worst and the best players. Not a bad rating. A player who is 1900 is a pretty damn good player. One who is 2100 is excellent. A player who is 2300 is a few notches below the best pros in the USA.

Why am I giving that info. I know one player who is about 2300. He is sort of old: I think he is in his 50s. He is really out of shape: a little fat and he has a big, big beer belly. He has been playing for ever and he is pretty amazing but he is not in anything close to good shape. I have seen him give some of the top pros in NYC a lot of problems in tournaments. I don't think there are too many people who could be as out of shape as he is and still be as good as he is. But....

I know a guy who is in his mid 60s. He is fat, out of shape and cannot move very much at all. He makes jokes about how, for him, footwork is walking to the table and then walking to the bench to sit down. He is really good at blocking. He really does not move his feet much at all and does a lot of reaching for balls instead. He is good at blocking and has great reflexes and he is 1950.

I can also think of one NY player who used to be a pro and is still rated around 2500 who is pretty fat and out of shape. He does not play much, but when he plays he is darn good.

In the long run, when you really do the work, Table Tennis can be one hell of a workout. And, without question, it is my favorite way to get a workout. What could be more fun than looping against a good chopper over and over again. But some people can be good and not get in good shape playing. Perhaps it is that they were playing for so long that they were able to age and continue playing, and that they had good enough technique from when they were younger that they learned how to continue playing at a competitive level even after their fitness level deteriorated. But I have seen good players who are not in good shape.

This guy is a very strong player in the Dutch Eredivisie. He doesn't have the best footwork, maybe an example of the type u mean Carl But he just has so much feeling, and then it is possible. But for those people their level would be so much higher if they actually were in good shape and trained much. We all know that talent is unequally divided, but it is about what you want to do with it. And it is understandable that after a career of training for 20 years you just want to play for fun without doing everything to reach as far as possible. It also makes them have a unique style which is always good to watch. Enjoy from 7:55

Table tennis doesn't require fitness if you are just playing for fun and don't really care about progressing in terms of skills. But if your really want to play like the pros. Then physical condition plays an essential role.

WiWa said:

This guy is a very strong player in the Dutch Eredivisie. He doesn't have the best footwork, maybe an example of the type u mean Carl But he just has so much feeling, and then it is possible. But for those people their level would be so much higher if they actually were in good shape and trained much. We all know that talent is unequally divided, but it is about what you want to do with it. And it is understandable that after a career of training for 20 years you just want to play for fun without doing everything to reach as far as possible. It also makes them have a unique style which is always good to watch. Enjoy from 7:55

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Good Example. I believe the player you are talking about is Gert Kobes. He is actually in better shape than the people I was talking about, but it is still and excellent example. And of course, you are right. Any player who is out of shape and is still really good, would only be better if they were in better shape. And the fitness level demanded by challenging drills is definitely no joke. Table Tennis can be hard work and can be as physically demanding as pretty much any sport. It also requires more precision and finesse than any sport I can think of, the way you have to read and respond to spin and the brush contact it takes to loop, or serve.

For comedy, here are two older guys who are sort of out of shape and their fitness level is not so great. But I have a feeling these are both good players. You can judge for yourself. Of course, one of them is better and in better shape than the other. And I think they have both had plenty of beer while they are playing.

Haha, nice one ;D
They had fun and a lot of beer ;D
Perhaps we should that too, in a game, in the time-out and between the sets, drinking beer
Who knows what will happen?
Thanks for sharing ^^

@Carl
I heard of this club in NY haha, seems like a pretty cool place to play tt. U are right about the precision part. Also I think if u throw in too much power and energy it will make lose ur accuracy and tactics. This is also the case in other sports for accuracy but not for tactis mostly since tactics are realtively important in tt compared to other sports.

get these people to do footwork multi ball drill,,see what there like after 5 minutes...ha ha...then say even local county players do this for 20 mins ,chinese do it 3 times a day....

After they have been sick tell them to go back to chasing balls around like headless chickens...lol

Nice one, to see Waldner to drink beer during time out

It's treu when you can't play table tennis like someone who play's table tennis as sport , then its not phisical , but when you pracrice more and play competition then it get phisical hard , in a competition match in belgium we play 4 matches , i have to wear 2 t-shirt bcause its a hard sport , the movement and espacialy the concentration ;D
I know my english is not that good