What's kou lei level compare to these china local leagues?

[UpSideDownCarl]

Why doesn't Kou Lei play in China superleague? Actually why is he playing USATT tournaments at all if he's world ITTF level.

Isn't USA like a relatively weak country in TT? Why doesn't Kou Lei play in Germany or France or Japan or something? What am I missing?

Michael Zhuang;387849
I'm surprised you can own a club and not end up playing at least fairly regularly. If you love TT so much to own a club, why wouldn't you at least play basic matches once a week.

I think, if you take these two posts together, it presents an interesting mindset.

Like, is there really an issue with having a player as good as Kou Lei, happy and willing to live in USA, coach in USA and/or play tournaments in USA? Isn’t that actually a good thing for Table Tennis in the USA?

And, for Tawny Banh, what would be wrong with someone coaching, and running a TT club who plays all the time helping others, but takes a few months, or even years, off from the rigorous training that would keep her level up to the high standard of a 2500+ player.

Look at Zhang Yining…..when she retired she was pretty amazing and she did not want to play at all for a while after she retired. Does she play now?

Everyone is different. It is okay for people to have different goals, especially after such high achievements to begin with. Anyone who has turned a hobby into a job or a career knows that things change when you have to do it all the time. That is very different than when you are playing table tennis as your recreational time and your time to enjoy a bit of time off from work and family responsibilities.

I wonder: what caused you to stop playing for all those years when you didn’t play?

 

[Louisgenius]

The dude in the white shirt is like Lin GaoYuan but right-handed.

 

[OldUser]

US Open won by the WR 183.

When this year Lille Open was won by the WR 17.

Yeah I know, you americans would really want to make us think the US Open is a big thing, but... actually, it's not even close to it, even by saying the ITTF rankings are wrong. Kanak Jha is the best american player, he plays in the bundesliga, with success, but he's the only one, that's the reality of the situation. The following US national team players are good enough to play Nationale 1 or Pro B in France, but that's all.

 

[NextLevel]

US Open won by the WR 183.

When this year Lille Open was won by the WR 17.

Yeah I know, you americans would really want to make us think the US Open is a big thing, but... actually, it's not even close to it, even by saying the ITTF rankings are wrong. Kanak Jha is the best american player, he plays in the bundesliga, with success, but he's the only one, that's the reality of the situation. The following US national team players are good enough to play Nationale 1 or Pro B in France, but that's all.

Most people realize that the word "Open", which means anyone can play, is not the same as the word "National", which means that only citizens can play. Hope that nuance didn't get missed by you.

 

[LDM7]

Why doesn't Kou Lei play in China superleague? Actually why is he playing USATT tournaments at all if he's world ITTF level.

Isn't USA like a relatively weak country in TT? Why doesn't Kou Lei play in Germany or France or Japan or something? What am I missing?

at the us open (ontario, ca) i interacted with kou many times

i asked him about his leaving tta and starting his own academy, he answered

i am thinking if you're curious and want to know, then look up on omnipong for his next tourney and approach him in person

or look him up in the SF east bay area and contact him directly

i found kou's demeanor (on & off the table) to be calm, controlled, almost robotic yet approachable and friendly

i wish i had a tenth of his game

 

[Jslick89]

at the us open (ontario, ca) i interacted with kou many times

i asked him about his leaving tta and starting his own academy, he answered

i am thinking if you're curious and want to know, then look up on omnipong for his next tourney and approach him in person

or look him up in the SF east bay area and contact him directly

i found kou's demeanor (on & off the table) to be calm, controlled, almost robotic yet approachable and friendly

i wish i had a tenth of his game

Can't you share with us the answer? How was his english? I think you can be coached in TT if you speak a different language than your coach, but it might a little bit of a barrier. Do you know the name of his new club? I'm wishing him all the success! He has a lot of competition if he is starting a club in the bay area (888, ICC, TTA) but i hope he can be successful. I would definitely play in a tournament at his facility!

 

[pongfugrasshopper]

 

[vvk1]

Did he really say he'd quit competing and would concentrate on coaching,etc?

 

[thomas.pong]

Is Kou Lei better than me?

 

[NextLevel]

Did he really say he'd quit competing and would concentrate on coaching,etc?

Hasn't he already?

 

[vvk1]

Hasn't he already?

I wasn't aware of it, hence my surprise.

 

[NextLevel]

I wasn't aware of it, hence my surprise.

Coming to the US as a non-US citizen is pretty much a commitment to that direction. There is a lot of money in coaching in the right communities if you have the right pedigree so he can do it. The biggest surprise for me is that he still plays at a level that comfortably makes him the strongest player in NA even impervious to the high level foreigners. How he does that without substantial travel for the last two years is amazing to me. If someone is confused by what I am writing, watch his matches vs Eugene Wang at the last US Open or even his play at the Joola Open despite losing to Cifuentes (who is likely training in Europe). Maybe he was just so good that a drop still kept him at a ridiculously high level.

 

[lightspin]

Most pro players coming from overseas to the USA know this is a death sentence for their game. They can coach and make money. Practicing seriously is out of the question. And to the surprise of many, practicing 3 hours a day is not practicing seriously for a professional player. People can make a decent living coaching. It is impossible to make a living playing in the USA, especially if you are female.

A good province level player in China can make 150k USD just playing in tournaments and doing well. No one in the USA could do that playing tournaments. If you want to survive on table tennis in the USA open a club and coach or just coach.

 

[Der_Echte]

Most pro players coming from overseas to the USA know this is a death sentence for their game. They can coach and make money. Practicing seriously is out of the question. And to the surprise of many, practicing 3 hours a day is not practicing seriously for a professional player. People can make a decent living coaching. It is impossible to make a living playing in the USA, especially if you are female.

A good province level player in China can make 150k USD just playing in tournaments and doing well. No one in the USA could do that playing tournaments. If you want to survive on table tennis in the USA open a club and coach or just coach.

THAT is indeed a REALITY.

Even more real is that MANY TT coaches cannot just coach and afford a car and an apartment by themself. Many have another job and/or live with one or more people in the same place to reduce housing costs. Some do not even have a car. Living in USA in an urban area is expensive. Nearly every city besides NYC and Boston does not have a public transportation system worth a spit and you could argue that NYC and Boston subway/bus systems are garbage. Anyone who has lived in a country and city with a good subway system, like say Seoul would concur. They throw RIOTS over there if they have to wait more than 5 minutes for a train.

Even if you hire on with a big club that houses you (like say the new HUGE 888 club by SFO) and pays you OK (lowest coach you have to pay 100 an hour, they gotta get a goodly chunk of that), even if you can get ahead some financially, when all you do is coach 1500-2500 kids hours on end each day, your reactions and instincts are not that of a 2700-2800 level player.

You simply drop a few levels when you coach full time.

lightspin also makes a great point that MANY will not realize that even if a player had access to pro players for practice partners, even a few hrs a few times a week is only enough training maintenance to get you in trouble vs a pro in competition.

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

Few thing to note
1) Today's Chinese provincial level is not as high as a decade ago.
2) There are "30" provinces in China, there are 20 odd players per senior team/gender. So if we just stay with mens, that is say 40 to 50 players per province, and that is 1000+ "provincial players at any given time.
not all of them are that good...
3) lets filter out and take the good ones. Some of them can't win against European players, or the win ratio is pretty low.

So with above conclusion, Kou Lei has a proven track record. He would be rated quite high up in China provincial setup.
all those Chinese he beaten in America, are all provincial players (some even national players). He won every match (or loss maybe only 1?), so that is like a 99% winning record so far, more or less.

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

THAT is indeed a REALITY.

Even more real is that MANY TT coaches cannot just coach and afford a car and an apartment by themself. Many have another job and/or live with one or more people in the same place to reduce housing costs. Some do not even have a car. Living in USA in an urban area is expensive. Nearly every city besides NYC and Boston does not have a public transportation system worth a spit and you could argue that NYC and Boston subway/bus systems are garbage. Anyone who has lived in a country and city with a good subway system, like say Seoul would concur. They throw RIOTS over there if they have to wait more than 5 minutes for a train.

Even if you hire on with a big club that houses you (like say the new HUGE 888 club by SFO) and pays you OK (lowest coach you have to pay 100 an hour, they gotta get a goodly chunk of that), even if you can get ahead some financially, when all you do is coach 1500-2500 kids hours on end each day, your reactions and instincts are not that of a 2700-2800 level player.

You simply drop a few levels when you coach full time.

lightspin also makes a great point that MANY will not realize that even if a player had access to pro players for practice partners, even a few hrs a few times a week is only enough training maintenance to get you in trouble vs a pro in competition.

that is reality.
cost of living/running a business in USA is that crazy.

I had a friend who tried to open a club/centre. It didn't last too long.
said, coaching is easy part, running (profit) a club is impossible.

I think all is cool if you are single.
But having spouse and kids.... only a handful can live comfortably.

 

[scrubplayer]

What are you missing? It may be, money?

Kou Lei was a CNT player, so he should be better when he was at his age.

If kou lei was cNt then kou lei level is higher. Ex cNt team player xu ro feng was able to easily beat these guys

 

[kingkimchi]

^ are the players above or below koulei?

I think below, most of those league players are not provincial team level, or they were in the provincial tea and not anymore. Not familiar on Kou lei but if he has participated in ittf competitions I think his level is higher.