I want opinions on my chances of pro

[BlopChock]

His reply to Mr Hetherington was:

"Because it is my true passion. I do business to pay for my training."

From a different post:

"I’m saying that I do work very hard... and for me and my family it is too expensive to move continents to train, I’m making the best out of everything I have and I am gratful [sic] for it."

It's his dream, he's hard-working, self-motivated, and doesn't take what he does have for granted. l, for one, respect the heck out of that.

 

[BlopChock]

Basically a perfect example of hitting the benchmarks around ages 14 (2400 minimum, probably 2500) and 18 (2650+) that I and others have suggested for KTT... lol, that backfired.

He's looked it up:

"Do you think I can get to 2400 when I am 15? That is my goal right now. The best 15 year old now is around 2450."

 

[Loop Lob Smash]

The OP stated question is VERY specific. As some have pointed out, there are many unforeseeable achievements that are worthwhile, or even fantastic. Here is one such example, Lavajac, ranked 397 in the world. Enjoy.

 

[ThePongCommenter]

He's looked it up:

"Do you think I can get to 2400 when I am 15? That is my goal right now. The best 15 year old now is around 2450."

Yes and that question has been answered pretty extensively now - there is a chance but a very slim one that would require full dedication at an elite training center with elite coaches, which KTT has said he is unable to do. So that makes a slim chance even slimmer.

I agree everyone can be supportive of his dream but we should also be realistic about the chances of someone going from 1800 at 12 years old to 2400+ in the next 2-3 years. Apart from Kanak Jha and Nikhil Kumar I cannot recall anyone who made that jump that quickly, and they did it at an earlier age and with the help of elite coaches and elite training environments since the time they started. Also, keeping in mind that even being 2450 at 15 isn't a guarantee of making the junior team at that point in time, and if you fail to make USA junior teams, your opportunities for further elite training and exposure to world competition gets even smaller, which makes the chances of your future goals even smaller.

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

The OP stated question is VERY specific. As some have pointed out, there are many unforeseeable achievements that are worthwhile, or even fantastic. Here is one such example, Lavajac, ranked 397 in the world. Enjoy.

Levajac has a TTR of 2358 today, had a career high of 2454
have beaten quite a few 2500+ players. I think Levajac deserves more respect than a one hit wonder.

in 2020, he was playing in the 2. Bundesliga Germany already. In 2022, he played some matches in TTBL with a 3-0 win over Karlsson (2367 beating 2579 )too.
in 2019, he was already a TTR2300 player.
end of 2017 he was TTR2192.

These are all levels that KTT and many other players will wish for.
It doesn't seem like he has much funding for international these few years, so 2358 today is not his true level, I'm sure he is still a 2400-2450 player.

Looking at his 2020 to 2017 matches, Levajac is a very respective junior player in Europe with some good wins against the likes of Meissner, Teodoro, Stumper, Bardet, Meng Fan-bo etc.

so the wins at the olympic trials opponent TTR for reference:

I think the video emphasize too much on his world ranking - which we know, if you don't fly around the world, you can't grow much in ranking (he played 5 seniors opens in 2019, prior to the olympic qualifications in Jan 2020).
and it seems like before these 5 senior opens, he only ever played juniors. And it isn't unique for a newcomer to "not do well" in your first few senior outings.
One of my players - Chang Yu-An failed to win his 1st match in many of his feeders in his first 12 months in seniors, while being a top 10 junior.

So the narrative of the video takes senior world ranking on a player with 5 max senior world ranking events, and a bunch of diluted junior world ranking points to undervalue his level in senior world ranking. His junior world ranking would be a lot more respectable, which if the video wanted to check, it was career high 27 in U18 in the world (few months before Olympic trials), but i'm sure the video narrative didn't suite having a top 30 number in it.

and not a one hit wonder, since at the olympics, a 2343 player, against players that are 100-280 more points than him, he did pretty well and not to mention many 2500 wins in recent years that this video failed to mention.

Good video, but not the true/full story and click bait by using one hit wonder and huge disrespect to a player that can beat many 2500+ players.

Levajac is no doubt a strong player, and because you are from a non TT country - doesn't mean you can't go through the ranks. Levajac had good wins in his youth years, and today being a 2350-2450 player, will still place him comfortably in 2. BL Germany and on a good day, continue to beat 2500 players.

These 2 loss are a very respectable loss earlier this year

 

[ThePongCommenter]

The OP stated question is VERY specific. As some have pointed out, there are many unforeseeable achievements that are worthwhile, or even fantastic. Here is one such example, Lavajac, ranked 397 in the world. Enjoy.

It is a nice story, but Levajac has been representing Serbia in international play since 12 or 13 years old, and was playing competitively with and beating some of the best European U15s around KTT's age. So...

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

It is a nice story, but Levajac has been representing Serbia in international play since 12 or 13 years old, and was playing competitively with and beating some of the best European U15s around KTT's age. So...

click bait video

no more value in this video, after I just spend few mins digging for facts.

 

[ThePongCommenter]

Levajac has a TTR of 2358 today, had a career high of 2454
have beaten quite a few 2500+ players. I think Levajac deserves more respect than a one hit wonder.

in 2020, he was playing in the 2. Bundesliga Germany already. In 2022, he played some matches in TTBL with a 3-0 win over Karlsson (2367 beating 2579 )too.
in 2019, he was already a TTR2300 player.
end of 2017 he was TTR2192.

These are all levels that KTT and many other players will wish for.
It doesn't seem like he has much funding for international these few years, so 2358 today is not his true level, I'm sure he is still a 2400-2450 player.

Looking at his 2020 to 2017 matches, Levajac is a very respective junior player in Europe with some good wins against the likes of Meissner, Teodoro, Stumper, Bardet, Meng Fan-bo etc.

so the wins at the olympic trials opponent TTR for reference:

View attachment 37182

I think the video emphasize too much on his world ranking - which we know, if you don't fly around the world, you can't grow much in ranking (he played 5 seniors opens in 2019, prior to the olympic qualifications in Jan 2020).
and it seems like before these 5 senior opens, he only ever played juniors. And it isn't unique for a newcomer to "not do well" in your first few senior outings.
One of my players - Chang Yu-An failed to win his 1st match in many of his feeders in his first 12 months in seniors, while being a top 10 junior.

So the narrative of the video takes senior world ranking on a player with 5 max senior world ranking events, and a bunch of diluted junior world ranking points to undervalue his level in senior world ranking. His junior world ranking would be a lot more respectable, which if the video wanted to check, it was career high 27 in U18 in the world (few months before Olympic trials), but i'm sure the video narrative didn't suite having a top 30 number in it.

and not a one hit wonder, since at the olympics, a 2343 player, against players that are 100-280 more points than him, he did pretty well and not to mention many 2500 wins in recent years that this video failed to mention.

View attachment 37183


Good video, but not the true/full story and click bait by using one hit wonder and huge disrespect to a player that can beat many 2500+ players.

Levajac is no doubt a strong player, and because you are from a non TT country - doesn't mean you can't go through the ranks. Levajac had good wins in his youth years, and today being a 2350-2450 player, will still place him comfortably in 2. BL Germany and on a good day, continue to beat 2500 players.

These 2 loss are a very respectable loss earlier this year

View attachment 37184

Here he is easily crushing the world rank 42 a few months ago

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

Here he is easily crushing the world rank 42 a few months ago

we need Heming to come and play this guy!

 

[land_killer]

So let me make a summary of what I learned about this so far. Please correct me if I misunderstand something

1. It is not easy for anyone to reach 1800 in one year. KTT definitely did a good job and worked for it. But there are many other kids did similar things in the world
2. KTT is almost guaranteed to become a really good armature player. But it is hard to become a pro, and almost impossible to make WR50.
3. He started to play much later than those kids in Asian that dedicated to table tennis. And lack of resource (money and good training) will limit his growth in the future.
4. If he really want to go pro path, he need to move to Europe or China for quality training. But it will cost a lot of money and need scarifies from his whole family. Even so, it will be really hard to make a good achievement as a pro player.

 

[ThePongCommenter]

So let me make a summary of what I learned about this so far. Please correct me if I misunderstand something

1. It is not easy for anyone to reach 1800 in one year. KTT definitely did a good job and worked for it. But there are many other kids did similar things in the world
2. KTT is almost guaranteed to become a really good armature player. But it is hard to become a pro, and almost impossible to make WR50.
3. He started to play much later than those kids in Asian that dedicated to table tennis. And lack of resource (money and good training) will limit his growth in the future.
4. If he really want to go pro path, he need to move to Europe or China for quality training. But it will cost a lot of money and need scarifies from his whole family. Even so, it will be really hard to make a good achievement as a pro player.

Correct, but depending on your definition of "really good amateur player" it is still not a guarantee.

 

[Jslick89]

I've been reading this thread, a kid has a dream, why so many adults are so eager to tell him his dream is never going to happen? Is that what you guys wanted to hear when you were kids and had your dreams?

I dont think anyone in this thread told him his dream was never going to happen. OP asked a question and a lot of people answered analytically and truthfully. Perspective and truth are way more important in life than coddling, even for 12 year olds. Heck, i'm sure there a lot of 20 or 30 year olds who studied communication or psychology at a private college, taking out insane amount of loans, are wishing today that someone would have given them some perspective and hard truths about the potential impacts of their decisions.

Hopefully he's read the thread carefully, reflected on all of the answers, and makes the best plan possible for himself going forward. if it's table tennis, awesome. At the very least, this thread shows he's got a LOT of work to do to achieve that goal, and even the hard work won't be enough, he's going to need resources from adults, and quite frankly, a little bit of good fortune. If its something else, that is also awesome. OP is young and has his whole life ahead of him.

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

So let me make a summary of what I learned about this so far. Please correct me if I misunderstand something

1. It is not easy for anyone to reach 1800 in one year. KTT definitely did a good job and worked for it. But there are many other kids did similar things in the world

give any kid age before 11, 1 year of formal training, reaching 1800 in my opinion is easy.
in fact, the younger the kid, the less than they will need to take to reach 1800.

1. KTT is almost guaranteed to become a really good armature player. But it is hard to become a pro, and almost impossible to make WR50.

its all about catching up at this point - he is about 2 to 3 years behind compared to other Americans
If he can get to 2500~2600, he could become a semi pro and get paid to play table tennis - which to me, is a true definition of professional player.

1. He started to play much later than those kids in Asian that dedicated to table tennis. And lack of resource (money and good training) will limit his growth in the future.

he started playing later than kids in the USA. and yes, lack of resources will limit anyone's growth, any where.

1. If he really want to go pro path, he need to move to Europe or China for quality training. But it will cost a lot of money and need scarifies from his whole family. Even so, it will be really hard to make a good achievement as a pro player.

as mentioned, 2500-2600 is a pro players.
An Aus Olympian is probably under this level and he goes around claiming he is a pro.
2500~2600 can put you in leagues in Europe where you would get paid to play table tennis.
if the kid is as talented as he claim he is, and as hard working as he said he is, then I would need to assess him in person to see if he should make such sacrifices. Hence I said, he should find a top center in USA, and find a coach that knows how to do get the job done and hopefully the coach can have an honest discussion with the kids parent on the kids future.

 

[mamedium]

the OP is not responding frequently. I really hope he’s busy training at the moment at the right club with the right coach

 

[piligrim]

Seth Pech played long time in Sweden league. Maybe he could give advice to OP hoe to get there for some clun to train and play ...

 

[pongfugrasshopper]

the OP is not responding frequently. I really hope he’s busy training at the moment at the right club with the right coach

He said he was at a summer camp practicing six days a week eight hours a day

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

He said he was at a summer camp practicing six days a week eight hours a day

which club offers 8 hours per day, 6 day a week, summer camp?

 

[KTableTennis]

which club offers 8 hours per day, 6 day a week, summer camp?

The club that I go to. And sorry it’s 5 days a week, but I do practice on the sixth day. Typo

 

[ThePongCommenter]

I also watch a LOT of match videos of pros everyday 🤣

Who is your favorite pro? Do you have a player you try to model your game after? Have you figured out your strengths or weaknesses or a developing playstyle yet?

 

[KTableTennis]

Who is your favorite pro? Do you have a player you try to model your game after? Have you figured out your strengths or weaknesses or a developing playstyle yet?

I like to watch Hugo Calderano. My weakness is in my serve returns and I am working to get that better. Right now my coach says the things that will easily get me over 2000 is my serve returns and my footwork. He told me I was not returning the serves of the 2130 and the 2040 that I lost 3-2 in very well, he told me if I had received both of their long fast side underspin serves well I would have easily beaten them and I would be over 2100