5 TT Stories / Jokes and a Digression

1. 

Whether it's good players or "Lousy" players, it doesn't matter...  and his next line was something like, as long as they call me, I'll go. Wow, this quite pro guy actually used the word "LOUSY" in a public setting where other amateurs within earshot are playing ...

2. 

This guy, quite a serious player I played with, revealed that he keeps his old / spare table tennis racket in his "storeroom". I was like... is your bedroom / living room really so small? I'd expected a serious player to keep all his racket(s) close by; even if not for convenience, surely you like / enjoy the sport enough that it would be an object in the house that elicits positive feelings, so you don't tuck it away in the storeroom?

 3. 

Imagine a serious player actually singing "Bu yao hai pa" mid-match, which is a line from the Wang Leehom song to encourage his doubles partner not to be scared / play timidly. I responded with a line from another, in my opinion, superior Leehom song (DYGQC) to not seem less musically knowledgeable than him, which on hindsight was a really weird thing to do. 

4. 

This Chinese-speaking coach actually laughed at my joke in which I said "越初学的，用的板就要越好”, which translates to "The more beginner you are, the better the bat you should use". Funny thing is, I stand by the humorous advice. 

5. 

"Very good serve," said Mk.

"Reserved only for you," I replied. 

"Thank you," said Mk, smiling. 

Funny thing was, I think that was one of the longest conversations I had with him. 

A Digression on Joke 1

So I understand this quite pro guy is willing to play / train with those he considers "lousy", which is remarkable when we consider the exorbitance of competitive table tennis - and here I mean the steep degradation curve of rubbers and their equally steep prices. One must be really infected by the enthusiasm of his fellow players to be willing to degrade one's $110-a-piece rubber playing those whose skills fall severely short of what one expects in a training partner. In other words, through him, I came to the realisation that it is only true enthusiasm that can compensate for the awful feeling of rubber degradation - where you no longer have peak stickiness to play your best game - or the wasteful and time-consuming feeling of having to replace rubbers every week. Only "enthusiasm" - the word I borrow from this guy - in the collective, communal sense can withstand the pressures of competitive TT and its moments of ennui. And knowing that is quite valuable.