One question that I am always asked is 'Why did you play table tennis, of all sports?' My answer is... 'My older brother started playing first. I was a "copycat" when I was young and liked to follow what my brother did, so I got influenced and started playing the sport too.'
In primary 3, we were encouraged to choose an extra-curricular activity. Without further thoughts, I put down my first choice - Table Tennis and if I did not remember, I probably left the rest of the choices blank.
I happily bought an affordable bat from a bookstore near my house. It was a short-hand bat that cost about $4. With that bat, I went for my first proper table tennis training in the school. I got to meet Mr. F, who was the coach of the school team then. I still remember how training started then. The whole team had to first run many rounds around the school hall, with the captain leading us, and the youngest(me) at the last of the 'line'. This warm-up jog was really tiring and taxing for me. My greatest fear at every training was this warm-up jog. The older boys there were in upper primary - mostly in primary 5 and 6 and to me, they were really fast joggers. I felt pressurized to keep up with their jogging. It was really a challenge...
After the jog, we would all line up at the tables, split into different groups. Each group would stand at one side of each table and each table would have a 'leader' standing right in front, just in front of a side of a table. What followed next was us doing the 'actions' for our forehand strokes. As I was a beginner, I always had to stand behind and follow whatever action the 'leader' was doing. In a way, the 'leader' was the person who guided those standing behind the correct action for the strokes.
Proper training only starts after the 'warm-up jog', which I felt was more like PT training, and the repetitive doing of the 'actions' and the footwork techniques. The first thing Mr. F did after the jog and the doing of 'action' was to make me hold my bat using the western style. That meant... It was time to get another bat!
The remaining of the session was then spent teaching me the forehand stroke and trying to get me to have good control of the ball and playing more rallies. Nothing very memorable after that except that I remember Mr. F asking 'Where is the table?' whenever I hit the ball out of the table. It was amusing yet slightly embarrassing.
That is about all for my primary school's weekly Saturday trainings.
Here are some things which I would like to reveal:
1. Since the first training session, I secretly started hoping that I would get to lead the team in doing the warm-up jog one day as I felt that the captain was really cool, to be the one determining the pace of the jog. This was then achieved about 2 years later.
2. From the first training session onwards, I held a wish that I would soon be able to be one of the 'leaders' leading a group to do the actions. If I did not remember wrongly, I achieved this goal in roughly a year later.
3. I had a strong desire to beat the best male player in the team. There were very few female players in the school team then, perhaps just one more. Hence, I decided to set a higher target for myself, which I achieved too.
Valuable lessons which I have learnt would first and foremost be that it is very important to set goals for myself and hold strongly to the belief that my goals are achievable, for it was the driving force behind my perceived mini-success in the sport. Next, I learnt that I should not be discouraged by remarks that others make. When I revealed my thoughts of hoping to be the best player in the team one day, there were people who splashed cold water on me, remarking that that was impossible. However, I believed in myself and I am glad that I did...