China Dominating

They do sometimes have combined camps but it is difficult even with the combined effort to match the dominance of the continued and consistent progress of the Chinese program.

what if china offers to share some of they're knowledge?

I don't think it's as simple as knowing "chinese-only secret method". I believe every competent coach knows the theory. It is just the implementation of the theory that is problematic. Just like agriculture. Sure, you don't need to do agriculture to have good fruits/vegetable: by chance, there will be some. But if you do practice agriculture, you can be sure of the amount and quantity of the supply.

China is successful in this regards. They promote the sports while other countries just "enjoy" the success of occasional successful TT players. There is simply little or no support for TT players.

Arnon, thanks for those thoughts.  It is a nice summary and well said.

Enjoyable blog-video guys.

Have either of you read Bounce by Matthew Syed? He tries to dismiss the myth of the "talent" theory of excellence and talks about hours of purposeful practice. He's keen to make the point that "just practice" won't make a difference; it's both quality and quantity of practice that makes successful players.

I think that's one thing that the Chinese have always done well, and that the rest of the world are only now catching up to. I believe it was the Chinese that first had the idea of Multiball for instance.

I read somewhere that they dedicate "practice players" to analysing and imitating the style of non-Chinese table tennis players so that the top Chinese players can practice against, for example, a replica of Timo Boll's style and characteristics. In addition, the very top players will play against practice duos - two players that have played as a team for a number of years, where one plays the forehand shots and the other plays the backhand. This allows even the world number one to play against "better" opponents, as that's one of the best ways to improve.

HI Duncan,

I have read Bounce and enjoyed.  A lot of his principles are also in a Malcolm Gladwell book titled "Outliers".  Here is a blog Jeff wrote about the book.

I do like the principles.  I think training is the single most important factor to a players success and yes the Chinese are very good at that.

Here is a link to the Blog by Jeff: 

“Outliers” by Malcolm Gladwell – Book Review

Thanks Alois. I'll investigate Outliers.

What's your opinion on "talent bands". You must've taught some youngsters/adults that "just can't get it", or are some players simply slower to learn than others?

Must also be quite frustrating for you to see youngsters give up seemingly easy when everything doesn't go immediately to plan.

Hi Duncan,

There is always a difference in how quickly players pick things up.  I think often this is related to how many different experiences they have had up to that stage.  It may have been different sports they have played or just different opportunities they have had to explore hand eye coordination exercises over their life.

As for players that give up, I suppose I just accept it now.  I used to become frustrated especially when players that seemed to be doing well, gave it up.  My attitude now is that players need to have an inner desire to improve.  If that isn't there, then everything becomes difficult.  You can encourage them when things aren't going well but ultimately it needs to come from them.

how long do the chinese juniors train?