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Just to say, you could add Gao Ning to that list of scalps.
Hey guys, I thought I would ask Liam some questions, he has read the discussion and very much enjoyed the read. Thanks for all your posts so far. I asked him a few questions, check them out below
Dan: What age did you start training full time?
Liam: I started training full time when I was 16 after I finished my gcses at school
Dan: Nice, up till the age of 16, did you train regularly ? Wasn't you in a school with friends similar to your age and standard?
Liam: I was practicing 3 to 4 times per week when the centre in Sheffield opened before that probably 2 times.
Dan: Cool, did you always have motivation in the training hall to succeed? Did you always push yourself?
Liam: Yeah there were 3 of us that are very good friends. We all started together and I guess that did help me because I always had someone to try and be better than.
Dan: Yeah I understand that's great. Did you ever believe you could reach where you are today when you were training at school level?
Liam: Yeah I always wanted to be able to practice full time when I was at school so I always had the motivation to practice. I always hoped I could, I used to play tennis before I chose table tennis so it always came quite natural to me.
Dan: Ah awesome thanks Liam. How is your training now in comparison to your developing years as a player. What do you commonly focus on now?
Liam: In general it is pretty similar..obviously now I am practicing more and with top players. It depends whether we have matches coming up or a long period of practice time but mainly I am working a lot on the forehand areas of my game
Dan: Nice one, have you always had a lot of coaching feedback throughout your career?
Liam: Not really when I was young but when I came into the national team and into Ochsenhausen I have.
Dan: That's good stuff What are your views on the nature vs nurture discussion?
Do you feel it's a mixture? Opportunity, talent?
Liam: A lot of people said to me when I was young that I had talent and so on and I guess I started to believe that but when I came to Ochsenhausen I saw that I needed to step up and really work harder than everybody else to achieve what I wanted in tt and I guess this season has started to bring the rewards
Dan: Awesome Liam thanks for the amazing answers mate
Liam: No problem
Hey everyone, nice topic.
I've studied the nature vs nurture topic at university with Dan and I believe it does come down to mostly environment, practice and the resources that Liam has experienced. He started at a young age with close friends in the same school who practiced together and became a very high standard for their age group. Then the national centre in Sheffield opened within traveling distance. This provided Liam with high quality practice partners such as Paul Drinkhall and Darius Knight who were older and winning many medals at a cadet and junior level on the international circuit. This would have given Liam a great start in his career as a full time athlete. Then having improved further Liam moved to Germany where he is still receiving world class practice and coaching.
In terms of a genetic influence if you look at he top 50 table tennis players in the world they are all different heights, weights and builds. Just look at the difference between Samsonov and Kreanga. I think this is because table tennis is a skill based sport and not a fitness based sport. By skill based sport I mean you need to learn the skills of the game to be able to compete. A fitness based sport such as sprinting or weight lifting would require a greater genetic influence to be successful in. Fitness components such as reaction time can be learnt for the context that you need them. This was entertainingly explained by Mathew Syed in his book Bounce. He remembered when Desmond Douglas was given a test of reaction time. The test involved pushing a button in response to a light. Douglas was famed for having extremely fast reactions in table tennis with his playing style so close to the table. The test found that Douglas had the slowest reaction time of the entire England team. This shows that reaction time can be learnt for the context that you need it.
The best Chinese players in the world have had the benefits of growing up in a country where table tennis is culturally significant so they grow up wanting to be like the countries superstars. They go to a school where they can practice table tennis for hours everyday. If they practice deliberately and purposefully enough they will improve to the point where they may be selected for the national team where the training and practice is second to none in the world probably for any sport. As for the players that didn't make it, they are still extremely good table tennis players and much better than a lot of the majority of European players.
I'm enjoying reading this thread, keep the debate going
lgreggs
I was looking for a thread about Liam because I am so impressed at his skills.
I enjoy watching his German League games and have watched his surprisingly close match with XuXin last year. In this match there are a couple of points where Liam shows awesomely quick reactions to the ball hitting the net. This highlights the role of reactions, reflexes and subconscious actions in the sport of Table Tennis. I am not sure there is any other sport where so much of the game must be completely embedded into the subconcious in order to be successful. Once the rally has begun it is a game played almost completely by instinct and subconscious recognition of patterns of play etc. I think this makes purposeful practice probably more important in Table Tennis than in other sports. Most people have adequate physical characteristics to play well, but it takes a willingness to practice each individual skill element to the extent that it becomes instinctive. My hypothesis would therefore be that it is the drive and motivation to practice effectively that matter most. Whether this is something you are born with or can learn is much more open to question than with physical characteristics.
(I have always been surprised that footballers don't seem to practice individual skill elements to the same extent. Did you ever hear of a footballer doing the equivalent of multiball and just spending hours hitting the same pass, trap or step over again again and again until their feet are sore? I think I recall reading that David Beckham used to do this with his curled free kicks. I have always wondered why others have lacked the motivation to do the same - surely all footballers should be able to bend it like Beckham through purposeful practice.)
Whether its nature or nurture its bloody marvellous
Liam in the last 8 of ze German Open - Hurrah, Hurrah
That will depend on his environment I guessMaybe it's not nature or nurture haha! It really is incredible! Could Liam be the next European Champion is my question now
I think its neither nature nor nurture . At that rarefied level of sporting excellence , I believe it boils down to the love of the sport , the passion, the attitude and zeal to succeed. This could be instilled by nature or circumstances. Also, one important thing that I have noticed among all sporting geniuses from what little they expose during the interviews, most of them are the best critics of their own performance. Meaning they develop the mental maturity to correctly and unbiasedly analyze where they stand at a given point in time or their latest performance. I believe its very necessary at that level because there are 100s and 1000s of people screaming at you with advice, kudos and criticism, unless you know what is best for you in all that noise its very difficult to achieve let alone sustain at that level.