Wednesday, January 18, 2006
The first year
In 1994, as part of the primary schools attempt to diversify beyond academic acheivement, the school engaged a coach to train up its table tennis squad. ty has only attended 2 training sesson in 1993 prior to this but because this is the first sport cca he took up, he intend to stick with it all the way.
things were not as easy it seen. when he went for the first training session, he realised he was both the youngest and weakest player. due to the hype from the school, table tennis become a fad in his primary and the squad dramatically increase in size. the school has 6 tables, but due to the size of the squad, the coach divided the squad into 2 tables of 3. the 3 indoor table gets all the attention from the coach. there are 3 outdoor table, where players merely have fun with one another. the 3 outdoor tables were often overcrowded and players have to take turn to play. out of a 2 hour session, ty usually get to play only about 15-20 minute each time.
ty trains hard for table tennis, each week, he look forward to be able to play in the indoor tables. he started the sport with poor skills, and poor psychomotor. he worked hard, played against the wall. by february, ty has gotten a good standard in backhand. by july, ty, was an offensive player.
back in primary school, table tennis season was in august. there was a qualifying competition in july to select school team member. ty was classified in the junior division, with 7 places up for grab, ty finished a surprising 9 and ended up just outside the team. still, his potential has caught the eye of the coach back then. and sure enough, when the tournament season end, he was shifted in the indoor table as he still qualify for the junior division the next year. and ty has finally attained his wish.
from sept onwards, ty trains hard to fine tune his offensive play by observing better players. but somehow, he lacked the physical strength to fully command, and his near spinless serve has proved weak for him. he tried to improve but he seem to be making no headway. against spinners he is helpless... just as ty thought his days has come, he has more problems.
posted @ 11:47 PM ||
