TT Rambles - "but it's not real science"

Table tennis is an infinite game. So it must have infinite psychologies, like in chess.

Of late I've been exploring the intersection of psychology with the sport. I know that Psychology - as an academic field of study - is basically psuedoscience and it's so often derided as something like "astrology for moderately smart people" I sometimes feel bad for all the unemployed psychologists in the wild.

Since ending my table tennis hiatus, I've come to see some utility in some colloquially known "psychology" tactics - to win points in sports. But that as it applies to table tennis is a difficult-to-explain area for another day. What I'm more interested here are questions like: can adverse psychological conditions have positives in such competitive racket sports? More broadly, does being neurologically "different" hurt or help one more?

Firstly, consider what entrepreneurship, music composition and competitive table tennis have in common. We could say they are all scientifically / technically oriented and competitive endeavors that one typically engages in at a young age. So what do Mark Zuckerberg, Peter Thiel, JJ Lin and Tomokazu Harimoto have in common? They are all considered highly competitive and outstanding individuals in their respective fields, easily, geniuses. And they all happen to be autists. (The social awkwardness, the inability to sustain the kind of eye contact and normal verbal patterns that come to other celebrities naturally, and the obsessive dedication to their craft / passion. These are undeniable signs of autism.)

The question then is do these autists just happen to be some of the biggest name tech founders, musicians and table tennis players of the day - the exception not proving the rule - or is there a deeper pattern at play?

Listening to or going to a studio or mega stadium performance by JJ Lin or imagining life without Zuckerberg's Facebook and all the social media on which it was modelled, one cannot deny both Zuckerberg and Lin are highly idolized men with world-changing talents. Although table tennis is much more limited in reach, it's hard to avoid hearing mention of Harimoto every time a major international match is played, so charismatic is his playing style, at least to the commentariat. When Harimoto burst onto the table tennis scene, he was recognised as a once in a generation TT genius, but perhaps because we live in an epoch when it is no longer fashionable to make further judgements, his autism was barely mentioned. Yet it strikes me as an undeniable reality everytime I watch him play. I believe it is precisely this neuro-cognitive divergence that enabled or contributed to his sporting success. The autist's capacity for obsessive, intensely focused repetition is a rare gift that allows them to reach a very high level of practised precision. For Harimoto, the gift was put into table tennis and his name has since become synonymous with the sport.

Mainland China style rote learning might be all the rage in table tennis now, but might we not tap upon autists to show us how table tennis can be played brilliantly without the aches and tribulations of overtraining like we see happen to the once badly injured Ma Long? Sure, top players from Wang Chuqin and Timo Boll to Truls Moregardh are not autistic and can owe their successes to rather conventional styles of play and mental training. You may even say "but it's not real science" to those who take psychology too seriously as a sports science. I'll be first to advocate skepticism towards claims of special knowledge about the psychic realm. Ultimately as long as TT remains a big tent for all kinds of brains, there'll always be infinite possibilities and no falling into boring patterns - in this purest of spectator sports.

Defining "really good table tennis"

What is really good table tennis?

There's a stall at my local hawker centre that sells really good peanut porridge with fishcake (soft & fried), chicken wings and omelets. The stall owners - a couple - cook these five items really well. Consistently nice taste, no hint of poor taste or sogginess. They may not have won any major culinary award, but their experienced and precise methods for preparing these 5 items is enough for patrons like me to keep coming back, sometimes forming long queues. 

Really good table tennis is like that - it's not so much the ability to execute moves worthy of showing up at the Olympics or TT World Cup finals, but the absence of poor / soggy moves. Good TT is often characterized more by the absence of clumsiness and blundering choices than by the profusion of high-speed smashes that captivate the audience. Of course those will happen too, but they are opportunistic, not key staple. And the two (or four) players involved may only have five winning moves between them but that's enough variety to keep the audience entertained because the process of getting to those moves is ever new.

To achieve good table tennis, one must be aware that it's a game of minute differences. Especially in terms of spatial awareness (or depth perception) and force sensitivity (or precise energy transfer). A young player I encountered recently for the first time across the table immediately discerned that there was something off about my racket, and sure enough there was - a secondhand backhand rubber was cut to a smaller size by something like half a centimetre at its bottom corners - and he cannot help but notice it. 

Given the importance of depth perception, one has to possess perfect vision to play really good table tennis. As for the precision of energy transfer, it's best to have training partner(s) with whom on the basis of good energy transfer you can practice generating greater and greater force, ball speed and spin. A player must be constantly challenged by people other than his familiar partner(s) in order to overcome weaknesses and blindspots that happen to be convergent with said familiar partner(s). Such practice and challenges will no doubt eventually lead one to be able to play really good table tennis. 

Creating an Active Lifestyle Interior - Basement edition

The lack of space for living an active lifestyle can be a very urban, first-world problem. We have built cities that facilitate population-dense living while neglecting the human desire for spaciousness, the sheer physical space required for recreational sports and exercise. The empty sprawl needed to accommodate virally safe and socially distanced sporting spaces may be unrealistic in cities like Singapore or Taipei (where I've lived) where table tennis is quite widely beloved. But who is stopping you from setting up a table tennis den and gym in your own basement? The usual cave amenities like play / movie room would coexist with active lifestyle features in this humble approximately 1600 sq ft, 149 sq m basement. 

Here is a concept plan:

Although the layout might seem messy at first glance, it is anything but. The basement is a place of rest, privacy and play - beyond the usual upstairs play-station. I have made this happen and labeled the relevant 5 areas. 

(1)  Right down the stairs is a benchpress machine. As it's one of the least frequently used, it is placed here. 

(2) In this reading nook is an indoor exercise bike for times you need a physical recharge from sitting too long. 

(3) The highlight of this basement is a co-sharing space between movie, video games and table tennis lovers. The movie screen sits in front of a moveable shelf that can be cleared for a table tennis game with friends, while the sofa can be pushed back for game spectators or referees. 

(4) The pantry - essential for any sports-oriented basement - provides all the necessary refreshments, helping avoid needing to climb upstairs. 

(5) A well-sized bathroom to freshen up before the sleepover. 

Interlude: Insider TT baseball

Someone once asked me who is my favorite opponent at TPCC. I think that's the wrong question. Shouldn't it be who are the opponents worth a fight? If I had a shred of humility, I'd not include myself but the need to be definitive is overriding. So though impossible to include everyone due to acronym constraints, who will make up this hall of fame? Here's the official comedy movie, Donald J Tramp in 3K. 

David "Captain, SH"

Old Zhang "Penholder"

Noname Xiao Zhang "Penholder"

Augustine "Penholder"

Luke "Power Player, SH"

David W. "Penholder"

Jason "The Creative, SH"

Tony "Penholder"

Ronny "Shakehand Master"

Alex Yang "Casual Pro, SH"

Min "The Chopper, SH"

P - empty letter, unless Pang, Koen comes

Keegan "The Undefeated, SH"

Kelvin "Power Penholder"

Kevin "Power All-rounder, SH"