If Bruce Lee played table tennis...

[Dan]

Hey all,

If Bruce Lee had played table tennis would he have said this quote?

Let's make some funny/cool table tennis quotes using famous sayings. Heres the first one:

 

[fais]

Actual Bruce Lee quote - "Always be yourself, express yourself, have faith in yourself, do not go out and look for a successful personality and duplicate it"


Slightly modified Bruce Lee quote - "Always be yourself, express yourself, have faith in yourself, do not go out and look at Ma Long's equipment and duplicate it"

 

[Suga D]

Hey all,

If Bruce Lee had played table tennis would he have said this quote?

Let's make some funny/cool table tennis quotes using famous sayings. Heres the first one:

That is pretty much the quintessence of Prause's statement of tabletennis 'magic' in China.
Good one, Dan.
So tabletennis is like a modern day civilized form of fighting...

 

[Avenger]

Love that Bruce Lee quote Dan! I have his quote pasted on my office desk, reminding me to practice my weaker backhand loop every day.

I'll give this a try....The following is my version of one of my favorite quotes from the Man, the Myth, the Legend:

Empty your mind. Be still. Stay relaxed. Like a ping pong ball.
If you put topsin onto a ping pong ball, it creates a downward arc.
If you put underspin onto a ping pong ball, it creates an upward arc.
If you put sidespin onto a ping pong ball, it curves left or right.
A well spun ping pong ball can wreak havoc or win you a quick point.
Spin the ball, my friend.

 

[Dan]

That is pretty much the quintessence of Prause's statement of tabletennis 'magic' in China.
Good one, Dan.
So tabletennis is like a modern day civilized form of fighting...

Very true! Chinese coaches probably have similar training philosophies across all sports

Love that Bruce Lee quote Dan! I have his quote pasted on my office desk, reminding me to practice my weaker backhand loop every day.

I'll give this a try....The following is my version of one of my favorite quotes from the Man, the Myth, the Legend:

Empty your mind. Be still. Stay relaxed. Like a ping pong ball.
If you put topsin onto a ping pong ball, it creates a downward arc.
If you put underspin onto a ping pong ball, it creates an upward arc.
If you put sidespin onto a ping pong ball, it curves left or right.
A well spun ping pong ball can wreak havoc or win you a quick point.
Spin the ball, my friend.

View attachment 9379

Nice, I like that one! "Spin the ball, my friend." Brilliant!

 

[Michal_Z]

... only thing that pops in my mind ..

one inch punch

 

[Archosaurus]

I've read most of Bruce's material. The concepts discussed do have quite a lot to do with most sports, especially individual sports like table tennis where a personal style is very easy to distinguish and develop.

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

Something that might be worth understanding. In the east, things like martial arts are practices. But that comes from a long tradition personal practices of self development. In India religious practice is framed in that model of personal practice to achieve, slowly, step by step, higher and higher levels of enlightenment and liberation from suffering. Buddhist practice that was brought from India to China had this exact framework.

Martial arts, in India, were actually an outgrowth of yoga practice adapted for self defense and mercenary attack. Both Buddhism and Martial Arts which originated from India were exported to China where they evolved and, with the case of martial arts, there is no question that China improved on the original product significantly.

Anyway, that idea of a personal process and the repetition of actions over and over to develop and improve that are very much a part of eastern philosophical and religious thought, apply perfectly to Table Tennis where it becomes obvious that this is a slow, dedicated practice where there are times when it can seem that you are making no progress and then you look at a period of months and the progress is more evident.

So statements like:

abhyasavairagyatan nirodhah:

"Practice without attachment to the results, gets you the results!"

That is Sutra 1.12 from the Yoga Sutras.

Sutra 3.6: tasya bhumishu viniyoghah:

"The practice should be continually adapted to the current and changing needs of each separate individual."

Have obvious applications to and personal process of self development.

In eastern philosophy, the emphasis on the focusing on the process rather than the idea of goals is a cornerstone of these kinds of practices. And that concept would definitely be useful to anyone training in any sport. But, because there ends up being so much repetition in table tennis the usefulness of focusing on the process as an end in itself becomes particularly evident.


Sent from Deep Space by Abacus

 

[Suga D]

Very true! Chinese coaches probably have similar training philosophies across all sports

Interesting. You could be totally right.

Something that might be worth understanding. In the east, things like martial arts are practices. But that comes from a long tradition personal practices of self development. In India religious practice is framed in that model of personal practice to achieve, slowly, step by step, higher and higher levels of enlightenment and liberation from suffering. Buddhist practice that was brought from India to China had this exact framework.

Martial arts, in India, were actually an outgrowth of yoga practice adapted for self defense and mercenary attack. Both Buddhism and Martial Arts which originated from India were exported to China where they evolved and, with the case of martial arts, there is no question that China improved on the original product significantly.

Anyway, that idea of a personal process and the repetition of actions over and over to develop and improve that are very much a part of eastern philosophical and religious thought, apply perfectly to Table Tennis where it becomes obvious that this is a slow, dedicated practice where there are times when it can seem that you are making no progress and then you look at a period of months and the progress is more evident.

So statements like:

abhyasavairagyatan nirodhah:

"Practice without attachment to the results, gets you the results!"

That is Sutra 1.12 from the Yoga Sutras.

Sutra 3.6: tasya bhumishu viniyoghah:

"The practice should be continually adapted to the current and changing needs of each separate individual."

Have obvious applications to and personal process of self development.

In eastern philosophy, the emphasis on the focusing on the process rather than the idea of goals is a cornerstone of these kinds of practices. And that concept would definitely be useful to anyone training in any sport. But, because there ends up being so much repetition in table tennis the usefulness of focusing on the process as an end in itself becomes particularly evident.


Sent from Deep Space by Abacus

Then meditating and chanting have some similarities, too. Nice.

I guess i was wrong then. That Ball feeder for ZJK a couple of days ago from Ilia's Vid doesn't have Jedi Skillz, he must be a runaway shaolin monk.






Well anyway, here's another 1

 

[Suga D]

... only thing that pops in my mind ..

one inch punch

The way of the exploding fist errrrr wrist...
[Emoji2]

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

Then meditating and chanting have some similarities, too. Nice.

Yep. I think of counterhitting--like how the pros warm up before a match--as a nice moving meditation. One time I did FH to FH counterhitting like that with a friend for 20 min before we missed. Same day we also did BH to BH for just about 15 min before we missed.

I guess i was wrong then. That Ball feeder for ZJK a couple of days ago from Ilia's Vid doesn't have Jedi Skillz, he must be a runaway shaolin monk.

Wait, aren't Jedi skillz fictionalized and space aged Shaolin Monk skillzzzz???? [emoji2]



Sent from Deep Space by Abacus

 

[brabhamista]

Here are a few more lesser known quotes from real table tennis enthusiasts.

 

[brabhamista]

This last one may be slightly economical with the truth regarding it's origin.
I may - accidentally - have made that one up completely

 

[Suga D]

Yep. I think of counterhitting--like how the pros warm up before a match--as a nice moving meditation. One time I did FH to FH counterhitting like that with a friend for 20 min before we missed. Same day we also did BH to BH for just about 15 min before we missed.

When i was about 14 i had the chance to umpire at a Desmond Douglas match on a show tournament in my neighbour town. I think he played vs. Liang Geliang.
That was exactly how they warmed up but in high speed (38mm era)
Before that my coach always had to force us youngsters to warm up properly before matches. Now after witnessing these pros warming up became mandatory without any discussion.

Wait, aren't Jedi skillz fictionalized and space aged Shaolin Monk skillzzzz???? [emoji2]


Sent from Deep Space by Abacus

Beautiful.



I think George Lucas even admitted this in an Interview some time ago.