It's not ping pong, dammit!
February 19, 2015 2:29 AM Subscribe
Can you learn to be an expert at table tennis in a year? That's what Sam Priestley, 25, from Wimbledon, London attempted to find out. With his friend Ben Larcombe, a table tennis coach, the aim was to reach the top 250 in the UK.
When I first moved to Korea, over a decade ago, some colleagues asked me if I knew how to play table tennis. I was like yeah, sure, beer in one hand, paddle in the other.
Boy was I surprised when we actually played. Turns out they play a different game than I do. Now I got a table right next to my office so I play a bit more, but I am still not that good.
Funny thing is that when I first moved to Malaysia a few years ago the same exact thing happened, but with badminton.
posted by Literaryhero at 3:44 AM on February 19, 2015 [2 favorites]
Boy was I surprised when we actually played. Turns out they play a different game than I do. Now I got a table right next to my office so I play a bit more, but I am still not that good.
Funny thing is that when I first moved to Malaysia a few years ago the same exact thing happened, but with badminton.
posted by Literaryhero at 3:44 AM on February 19, 2015 [2 favorites]
When I first moved to Korea, over a decade ago, some colleagues asked me if I knew how to play table tennis. I was like yeah, sure, beer in one hand, paddle in the other.
Boy was I surprised when we actually played. Turns out they play a different game than I do. Now I got a table right next to my office so I play a bit more, but I am still not that good.
Funny thing is that when I first moved to Malaysia a few years ago the same exact thing happened, but with badminton.
That is definitely a thing, that countries in Asia take up 'casual' sports designed for smaller spaces and ramp them up into an incredibly-paced high speed competitiveness. It's like the West never bothered to actually understand the games it invented. I'm still waiting for someone to do the same to croquet.
posted by leotrotsky at 4:06 AM on February 19, 2015 [7 favorites]
Boy was I surprised when we actually played. Turns out they play a different game than I do. Now I got a table right next to my office so I play a bit more, but I am still not that good.
Funny thing is that when I first moved to Malaysia a few years ago the same exact thing happened, but with badminton.
That is definitely a thing, that countries in Asia take up 'casual' sports designed for smaller spaces and ramp them up into an incredibly-paced high speed competitiveness. It's like the West never bothered to actually understand the games it invented. I'm still waiting for someone to do the same to croquet.
posted by leotrotsky at 4:06 AM on February 19, 2015 [7 favorites]
I'm still waiting for someone to do the same to croquet.
Jokes about Lewis Carrol aside - it looks like "Extreme Croquet" has been a thing in Sweden in the 70s. I like that its regulations include "The Alzheimer's Rule" and "Acts of Dog".
posted by rongorongo at 4:38 AM on February 19, 2015 [3 favorites]
Jokes about Lewis Carrol aside - it looks like "Extreme Croquet" has been a thing in Sweden in the 70s. I like that its regulations include "The Alzheimer's Rule" and "Acts of Dog".
posted by rongorongo at 4:38 AM on February 19, 2015 [3 favorites]
If you can become a true expert in one year, then it is not an impressive skill set.
There are plenty of skill sets, including sports, that you could dedicate your life to, and never have a reasonable chance of reaching the top 250.
The fact that he even attempted this, in my mind, demeans the sport. It is Ping-Pong.
posted by Flood at 4:48 AM on February 19, 2015
There are plenty of skill sets, including sports, that you could dedicate your life to, and never have a reasonable chance of reaching the top 250.
The fact that he even attempted this, in my mind, demeans the sport. It is Ping-Pong.
posted by Flood at 4:48 AM on February 19, 2015
It's a beautiful game, and whatever pretext to play it is all good in my 9' x 5' opinion.
posted by Wolof at 5:03 AM on February 19, 2015
posted by Wolof at 5:03 AM on February 19, 2015
It's linked down the page, but Larcombe writes at length about why he thinks that Priestley didn't even come close to their goal, and his revised thoughts about what it would take: Is It Possible to Master Table Tennis in 12 Months?
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 5:16 AM on February 19, 2015
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 5:16 AM on February 19, 2015
I played table tennis for about 10 years when I was young. I was pretty good. I won a lot of junior regional tournaments, probably more than I deserved to given my lack of discipline. And I always find it a little amusing that people think they're good at table tennis when all they know is ping pong. As if it weren't a real sport. As if the game weren't spectacularly complicated and punishingly fast. As is if weren't like every other expert activity: you can get pretty good pretty fast, but you can't get very good very fast.
Yeah, I was totally ready to hate on this guy for the temerity to think he could do it.
But after watching all those games, I'm kind of touched. Even by the end of it I think I could have beaten him as a kid. But he really worked at it. Going from where he was at the start to where he is now? I think that's impressive. Plus, watching him get butchered by Ed Slot brought back a whole lot of memories of being in exactly that position: you're good, but you ain't that good. You can take risks against these guys and you pull off some of your very best shots because you can take the risk, but everything gets countered with ease.*
And it's the little things. Watching that match against Steve Smith, there's two moments there where he gets lucky: one edge, and one net. Without thinking he raises his hand apologising for the edge. When he wins off the net ball you see him pull a wry face at the camera. No-one who cares about the game wants to win points that way.
I like him.
*I once entered a senior league handicap tournament as a 13 year old. The top 2 or 3 players were about the same level that Ed Slot plays at. They were so damn good. I was just barely good enough to be allowed in. But the tournament was a single set to 31, and I had a handicap of 27 or something when I probably should have been at about 22. It was awesome. Bugger defence: I went after everything I could. Ended up winning the tournament purely on a handicapping error. Ah, good times.
posted by langtonsant at 5:40 AM on February 19, 2015 [11 favorites]
Yeah, I was totally ready to hate on this guy for the temerity to think he could do it.
But after watching all those games, I'm kind of touched. Even by the end of it I think I could have beaten him as a kid. But he really worked at it. Going from where he was at the start to where he is now? I think that's impressive. Plus, watching him get butchered by Ed Slot brought back a whole lot of memories of being in exactly that position: you're good, but you ain't that good. You can take risks against these guys and you pull off some of your very best shots because you can take the risk, but everything gets countered with ease.*
And it's the little things. Watching that match against Steve Smith, there's two moments there where he gets lucky: one edge, and one net. Without thinking he raises his hand apologising for the edge. When he wins off the net ball you see him pull a wry face at the camera. No-one who cares about the game wants to win points that way.
I like him.
*I once entered a senior league handicap tournament as a 13 year old. The top 2 or 3 players were about the same level that Ed Slot plays at. They were so damn good. I was just barely good enough to be allowed in. But the tournament was a single set to 31, and I had a handicap of 27 or something when I probably should have been at about 22. It was awesome. Bugger defence: I went after everything I could. Ended up winning the tournament purely on a handicapping error. Ah, good times.
posted by langtonsant at 5:40 AM on February 19, 2015 [11 favorites]
As a Go player, my understanding is that, players with natural aptitude routinely break 1-3dan level in a year of study, which would be sufficient to get into the top 250 players in most european nations. Of course, the level of play of Go is very low in european nations - I would be surprised if there are more than 5,000 regular players at any one time in the UK and certainly, 1-3 dan level would not get you into the top 10,000 amateur players in china (let alone the professional ranks!).
I thought the most interesting part of the article was the post-mortems, they do show how "ambitious" and limited the project really was, but also the very positive attitude they took going into it.
posted by Another Fine Product From The Nonsense Factory at 5:59 AM on February 19, 2015 [2 favorites]
I thought the most interesting part of the article was the post-mortems, they do show how "ambitious" and limited the project really was, but also the very positive attitude they took going into it.
posted by Another Fine Product From The Nonsense Factory at 5:59 AM on February 19, 2015 [2 favorites]
10,000 hours / 24 = 416 2/3 days, so no.
He did get a lot, lot better, but he still doesn't look comfortable, and nowhere near expert strength.
I'd recommend the Will Shortz method. Build your own club, hire a 2500-level former Caribbean champion to run it (and coach you), and hang out with him all the time.
Will is currently rated 1873, and I think still on his way up.
Proper coaching is essential, and I'm getting a private coaching lesson the day after tomorrow, so this is timely.
(Except for the fact that I'm supposed to be working and not watching TT videos (again))
...but if Ed Slot is top 250, it doesn't look good for the UK. He's certainly better than me, but he looks like the guys I play with, in the 1500-1700 range (US)
posted by MtDewd at 6:07 AM on February 19, 2015
He did get a lot, lot better, but he still doesn't look comfortable, and nowhere near expert strength.
I'd recommend the Will Shortz method. Build your own club, hire a 2500-level former Caribbean champion to run it (and coach you), and hang out with him all the time.
Will is currently rated 1873, and I think still on his way up.
Proper coaching is essential, and I'm getting a private coaching lesson the day after tomorrow, so this is timely.
(Except for the fact that I'm supposed to be working and not watching TT videos (again))
...but if Ed Slot is top 250, it doesn't look good for the UK. He's certainly better than me, but he looks like the guys I play with, in the 1500-1700 range (US)
posted by MtDewd at 6:07 AM on February 19, 2015
If you can become a true expert in one year, then it is not an impressive skill set.
There are plenty of skill sets, including sports, that you could dedicate your life to, and never have a reasonable chance of reaching the top 250.
The fact that he even attempted this, in my mind, demeans the sport. It is Ping-Pong.
And that's why we read the article first! He didn't even rank, let alone make the top 250...
posted by ominous_paws at 6:58 AM on February 19, 2015 [3 favorites]
There are plenty of skill sets, including sports, that you could dedicate your life to, and never have a reasonable chance of reaching the top 250.
The fact that he even attempted this, in my mind, demeans the sport. It is Ping-Pong.
And that's why we read the article first! He didn't even rank, let alone make the top 250...
posted by ominous_paws at 6:58 AM on February 19, 2015 [3 favorites]
A few years ago Channel 4 in the UK ran a show called "Faking it" - where they gave a complete novice in a particular area a few months of intensive training and then had a bunch of industry insiders try to see if they could spot them as a imposter. (examples: shy cleaner becomes a burlesque dancer, posh boy becomes graffiti artist). The show was at its most endearing when its subjects changed their lives enough to fool the panel - and that seemed to happen reasonably often.
So I am a great believer in the whole Liza Doolittle thing in circumstances where the goal is to persuade the world that somebody is an expert in their area. The problem with sports expertise however - is that faking is completely ineffective: to succeed Sam Priestley would have to win - frequently - against the sort of opponent who had been playing seriously for as long as they could remember.
posted by rongorongo at 8:09 AM on February 19, 2015
So I am a great believer in the whole Liza Doolittle thing in circumstances where the goal is to persuade the world that somebody is an expert in their area. The problem with sports expertise however - is that faking is completely ineffective: to succeed Sam Priestley would have to win - frequently - against the sort of opponent who had been playing seriously for as long as they could remember.
posted by rongorongo at 8:09 AM on February 19, 2015
If you want experts, see this incredible 41-shot rally.
posted by a lungful of dragon at 9:14 AM on February 20, 2015
posted by a lungful of dragon at 9:14 AM on February 20, 2015
I'll see that, and raise you.
There is so much good play to watch on YouTube that it's hard to know what to recommend, although I especially like to watch Joo Se Hyuk.
Also, the ITTF has a site where you can see most international matches. At this minute, they're doing a live feed from Qatar.
posted by MtDewd at 9:57 AM on February 20, 2015 [2 favorites]
There is so much good play to watch on YouTube that it's hard to know what to recommend, although I especially like to watch Joo Se Hyuk.
Also, the ITTF has a site where you can see most international matches. At this minute, they're doing a live feed from Qatar.
posted by MtDewd at 9:57 AM on February 20, 2015 [2 favorites]
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