I don't know when I first started playing table tennis, there was no great awakening, table tennis has always been a part of my life. My father was a table tennis coach so it was just something I did with my dad and as soon as I was older enough I helped him with his school club. When I was 15 he started giving me a bit of money to help him out, he always said "you will never make it rich coaching table tennis," I think he was only partly right and 25 years later I'm still at it.
In those 25 years there have been so many changes to the sport it has been hard to keep up, but along with all these changes have come the challenges of learning new coaching techniques, having to adapt to new equipment and just generally keeping up to date.
Living on the most south-westerly corner of the furthest reaches of Western Europe presents it's own challenges, just getting news and information on local table tennis, regional, provincial or on a national level has proved problematical. I set up TTIreland not only to try and let others know what was going on and provide a platform for promotion and publicity. But it was also so that I might actually find out what was going on myself. I like to think the website is in some way successful in achieving those aims.
Reading or surfing the net still provides me with the opportunity to continue to learn about our sport, I have also attended a number of generic coaching courses at the NCTC in Limerick and recently completed both my Athletics and SAQ Level 1 qualifications. I have had to branch out or move sideways in my continued coaching experience, as the opportunities to further my table tennis education have been limited especially since the new regime.
However I think what has been the most significant factor in keeping me motivated and inspired to progress is my own coach education programme. Every year I try to visit a club or attend a training camp somewhere abroad, sometimes with a group of players and sometimes on my own. Over the last few years I have been lucky enough to visit some great clubs and work with some very talented and experienced coaches from all over Europe. (Articles on Malmo, Brittany, Austria, Denmark, Belgium, Slovakia and UK trips can be found on TTIreland)
This year I am forty and I had always planned to mark the occasion with a trip to China. I started looking into it a couple of years ago and had not quite put those plans into to action when Kate delivered the news that we are going to have our 4th child this summer. However Kate, a qualified Level 1 coach and experienced table tennis widow, insisted that my trip to China go ahead with one proviso that I get back in good time for the birth!
So I am now all set and fly out to Beijing in a couple of days time to spend the next couple of weeks training 5 hours a day in the Baoding Table Tennis Centre a couple of hours south of the capital. Peter Nilsson, who was the Irish National Coach before Colum Slevin put me in touch Nordic Travel (www.nordictravel.dk) a small company based in Denmark. Jiewei Chen has been my contact and she has been easy to contact and has provided me with all the information.
Baoding TTC has 35 professional players, 4 of them are Chinese National players. Niu Jian Feng ranked No.2 (world list until March 2005), Bai Yang (27), Jia Jun and Wang Ting Ting (37). Tang Yengsheng is the Head Coach with 5 senior, 5 middle and 2 junior coaches as well as a number of "practice trainers." The club has also produced a number of Paralympic Gold Medal winners Xi EnTing, Wang Hao and Ge Yang.
The city of Baoding is 137km south of Beijing (1hr by train) in the Hebei Province that covers an area of 40,000sq-km, with a population of 11 million.
I had to apply for a Visa from the Chinese Embassy in Dublin. I downloaded the form from their website (www.chinaembassy.ie) but unfortunately you can not apply through the post. So I had to arrange to deliver and collect the Visa from Dublin, not so easy for someone living in West Cork. As I don't have an Irish passport it cost me 33 Euros and had to include all my travel details including my booked ticket and passport. You do not have to have any vaccinations but I had Typhoid, Hepatitis A, Diphtheria and Tetanus, just to be sure, it cost me around 120 Euros in doctor's bills. Unfortunately I had a bit of a reaction and came down with a bought of flu for a week and managed to share it with the rest of the family.
If I had been able to go a little later in the month I could have joined in with the Norwegian Junior National Squad who will be training in the centre at the end of June. But as this was not possible I will be on my own and flying without the aid of a translator. How this will work out I have no idea.
I have done some research about the region on the internet and have been told some outrageous stories regarding the food, the language and the travel. I feel assured that I will also have my own stories to add to them in time but my biggest concern is whether I am even going to be fit enough to last a week let alone what I work out as 70 hours of training. At home I am on or around a table tennis table 8 hours a week on average but that is nearly all coaching young kids, active retirement or Special Olympic athletes and I spend nearly all my time using multi-ball and observing. I actually get to train about 1 hour a week, one of the main reasons I hardly ever play competitively, 70 hours represents a year and half training for me. That is the hardest concept for me to grasp.
Travelling out to China is probably not as big a deal as it used to be some years ago. The idea of going out to China when I was still a junior was not even on the agenda. Here in Ireland it is becoming a regular occurrence. A few years ago Con Higgins went out with the North Monastery and now Ulster appear to be making it an annual trip under the guidance of their Coach Jing Yi Gao. However for me it is a huge deal and I am very excited, I can not think of anywhere I would rather go or anything I'd rather do than play table tennis in China.
If I get the chance I will post something up in the TTIreland forum while I am away and when I get home I'd tell you all about it.
Nordic Travel www.nordictravel.dk
Chinese Embassy www.chinaembassy.ie
Baoding Table Tennis Centre, China
by Owen Kelly
It is so difficult to know where to begin when it comes to my trip to China. I set out a goal, worked out the how's and where's and planned a timetable. It is very satisfying to then achieve my goal and for it to surpass everything I had imagined.
As I expected very few of my friends have shown any interest in my experiences centred around table tennis but with 6 hours a day spent in the pursuit of learning about the sport and surrounded by table tennis players, coaches and fans. I have never felt more able to wallow in all that is this great game of ours.
Jiewei Chen from Nordic Travel was very helpful and kept in regular contact with me through email and phone calls. There were one or two glitches but nothing that amounted to much
I feel I should say that my experiences away from the table were as interesting and I enjoyed my visit to the Great Wall and the Emperor's Palace and all the sites that can be found in libraries, airport bookshops and TV documentaries. The one thing I had not expected however was the hospitality and friendliness that was shown to me every where I went.
Baoding City, where I spent my time can not be found on the tourist map, it is not a quaint or dramatic location to spend hour's site seeing. Baoding is rightly proud of its historical place within China and I in no way wish to run it down. But I think because of it's lack of tourist fare, being what appeared to be the only westerner walking the streets, the hand of friendship was easily extended and I heard "hello" from young and old alike where ever I walked.
The training was hard and demanding and by the end of my time a little repetitive. I kept asking myself if I could imagine the kids I knew back at home training with as much commitment and enthusiasm. The answer surprised me as I think they would, given the opportunities and rewards that these players could receive if they rose the heights of club mates like Niu Jian Feng world No.2 and Olympic Bronze medallist. You can see it in the likes of soccer and table tennis has as much stature as soccer in China.
As far as I could make out the girls of Baoding Table Tennis Centre have 17 days holiday a year and train everyday with Wednesday afternoons off and Sunday afternoon for lessons.
Niu Jian Feng's image and many others hang from the walls of the centre. With player of her calibre including Bai Yang, Jia Jun and Wang Ting Ting training in the same hall, the girls of Baoding Table Tennis Centre are constantly reminded of what could be achieved by hard work and discipline. I went with the rest of the centre to watch a match in the local stadium. In front of a crowd well over 1000 people, the local crowd in their 3-0 victory over another region roared Niu, Bai, Jia and Wang on in the National League. Dancers, singers and razzmatazz heralded these heroes as TV cameras beamed the action around the country.
The centre's facilities were basic when it came to accommodation and when I first walked into the hall and saw 20 three-quarter size table I was not overly impressed. However when I discovered that this hall was only for the 5yrs-8yrs old girls and that I would be training on the 2nd floor with 20 full size tables on a good wooden and specialist flooring I was surprised and delighted. I later discovered that the 20 tables on the 3rd floor were for the boys who don't reside at the centre but come in each day.
The training format was simple with 10 minutes forehand, 10 minutes backhand drives. Followed for me as a defender by 10 minutes forehand chop and 10 minutes backhand chop. The hour was then made up by 20 minutes of randomly placed forehand and backhand chop work. With the warm-up and the technical warm-up completed in the first hour and a half, in the morning we often then served and played out the point for 20 minutes each. In the afternoon we had around an hour and a half of multi-ball training which each player decided what to work on. The last half an hour of each session was physical training. Each session was different and included skipping, fast feet drills, line drills, strength training and at least once a week a very popular game of soccer with a tennis ball. Weights of 5kg were often used by the girls for strength/speed training.
Each 3 hour session I worked with a different girl, each who played in a slightly different style, so I was able to train against left-handers, pen-holders, defenders, attackers, long, short and medium pimples and the variety and quality of training was excellent. In the afternoon I had a two-hour individual session mostly with Coach Lee, a right-handed pen-holder who used both short and reverse rubbers. We multi-balled for at least an hour most days and the pace was frenetic but delivered with good humour. I was very grateful for the air-conditioning which became one of my best friends as the heat outside rose to the mid to high 30's.
A high point for me was the chance to play against Niu Jian Feng, it was only 10 minutes but an honour I gratefully received. I learnt a lot about Chinese technique and I am still processing the different emphasis their coaches place on the sport in comparison to my experiences in Sweden, France, UK and Germany. They do place more emphasis on speed in the women's game whilst power and spin are added on like fine icing. The coaches pointed out a lot of my technical weaknesses the majority I feel I was already aware of (I'm fat and forty!). But there was so much more and by the 2nd week I felt I had relaxed enough to be able to really see an improvement in my game. For me though, this was not a major priority as I do enjoy playing but have no real ambitions in that regard, not being able to find anyone closer than an hour and a half away to train with, proves too problematical and frustrating.
What I did want out of the experience was to further my coach education and by training as a player gave me a chance to learn as much as I could in the time available. My muscles ached but in the end I really felt as though I had achieved something.
Looking at the situation in this country (Ireland) I appreciate that a lot of the problems I face are self-inflicted. I have tried to change things through becoming involved on an administrative level and have been sucked into wasting my time away from the table. Trying to deal with individuals that really have no idea about modern table tennis and those that do have either remained detached from administration, have left or have been pushed out.
I have returned with a new outlook and will concentrate on what I enjoy and feel I can contribute to. This I feel means I have to disengage myself from the various frustrations and distractions and concentrate on what I feel I can do and not what I am not able to do.
So my trip to China has taught me a number of things. They say travel broadens the mind, well for me it may have and in consequence I intend to narrow my focus and get on with the business of coaching.
If I was in a position to recommend anything to my fellow coaches it would be don't bother with all the courses and training that might or might not be available in this country but go to somewhere where they really know a bit about the sport. In the last few years I have trained in Sweden, Denmark, Germany, France and the UK. All I feel benefited me greatly, however my experiences in China and especially at the Baoding Table Tennis Centre were a real eye opener.