Table tennis

“I'm not used to seeing that amount of spin and pace on balls coming back to me. My normal practice partner isn't trained and I don't really have any outlet to be exposed to "real" table tennis. So most of the night I was just grinning from seeing how the ball was reacting. Returning good serves require much more control and decision making than I'm used to. Seeing big looping forehands coming back at me was fun to try and react to. The guys I played said I have pretty good technique for a beginner and I did make some good winning shots and decisions, but just the consistency wasn't there. I still consider myself a beginner and that was the first time I've played a match on a table that wasn't confined to a garage, so the space and area and calibur of player made basically every ball returned to me a new experience/situation.”

“I show up without a bat or ball or much knowledge of the sport for that matter. I am worried I am too bad to join the Club and while I worry, I get approached by the Club Committee. They hand me a bat and welcome me to the session with bright smiles. Immediately my negative thoughts disappear. We all play around the world together, a game where you move around the table in a big group and only play one turn each before going around the table again. We laugh and laugh and laugh and before I realise it, the session is over.”

“The first day I played table tennis I sucked. I lost and lost again. However, I knew that would happen and I was completely prepared for it. I was almost happy to lose as I just kept messing around and trying to learn.”