Table tennis looks easy right? Well, looks can be deceiving. I went into the Patna River Estate Community Centre, Diego Martin, on Sunday thinking the sport would be a piece of cake. After all, how hard could it really be to hit a ball across a table? Table tennis guru Joseph Mansano proved me wrong. Mansano, 73, has been playing the engaging sport for the past 50 years (35 competitively), and he had no intentions of going easy on me—even though I’m a girl. First of all, he pointed out that I was holding the racquet the wrong way. I never knew there was a particular way to hold it and so I held it the way I’ve always held a racquet whenever I played table tennis for fun. Mansano, a member and former third vice president of the Table Tennis Association (T&TTA), who now heads his own club called the Tarantulas Table Tennis Club, explains there are two main ways to hold the racquet—the shakehand grip and the penhold grip. The shakehand grip is the most versatile and universally used of all grips. He recommended I use this method as it’s the easiest when learning table tennis. To use this grip, I had to fit the edge of the blade snugly in my hand between my thumb and forefinger while gripping the handle with my middle, ring, and little fingers. Then I had to place my forefinger flat on one side of the racquet with my thumb sideways on the other side of the racquet head. “It is important not to grip too tightly,” Mansano explained. “Do not let the wrist flop back and forth or up and down as you stroke the ball, either. It will cause you to miss the ball.” Mansano, who played the sport in England for 17 years, says the penhold grip is used by those who are comfortable with the sport. As the name implies, this grip is similar to holding a pen for writing. The thumb and index finger hold on to the racquet handle, while the other three fingers curl around the back of the racquet. Mansano says the easiest way to get the ball back to one’s opponent is to block or chop the ball. “This is because it’s difficult to retrieve the ball because of the speed it is travelling at.” My only complaint is that I think the ball did not like my racquet. I found myself running for the white four-millimetre ball more times than I would have liked. Mansano’s friends, all in his age group, seemed to take pleasure in repeatedly telling and showing me what I was doing wrong. “You have to hit the ball so. Look at me,” said Carlthus David, 79, as he took the racquet from my hand and proudly showed me how. His 80-year-old partner and fellow table- tennis player chimed in, “Doh worry, yuh will get it, eventually.”
I did.
Maximum respect
Finally, I got the hang of it. I began to relax and enjoy the session with Mansano. Table tennis is fun and while it’s not as physical or challenging as other sports, it will make you build up a sweat. And if you do it often enough, Mansano says your body will see the results. The pain in my right shoulder proves him right. Table tennis requires a lot of concentration and discipline. Mansano says it also strengthens the biceps and triceps muscles and improves one’s sight, concentration and self-control. “You have to concentrate on the ball that travels anywhere between 40-60 miles an hour, so you need to follow that ball, and you’ll find over time that your reflexes and sight are improved. This sport also gives you the ability to focus on the positives instead of the negatives in life, because the training involves no smoking, no alcohol, very little liming and plenty of rest,” he noted. “You cannot get vex. Getting vex is out of it. You have to have maximum respect for your coach and players...One of the things I have found is that you form close bonds and friendships through table tennis.” Mansano says table tennis is also a unique sport and one can start learning from as early as five.
“You can go well into your 80s playing this sport,” he said.
Good condition
Mansano says table-tennis training is rigid. It’s the main reason he believes not a lot of women are drawn to the sport. “Are you saying that women can’t handle rigid sports?” I asked, bluntly. “Well, it has been my experience that women don’t like the training involved in table tennis. They find it is too difficult. You can’t just run in to play.” Before playing table tennis competitively, Mansano says one has to undergo a physical and fitness programme. He encourages players to eat a balanced diet and maintain a healthy weight. Being overweight, he notes, is a no-no. “You cannot be fat. You have to become fit before you can play. This is a sport that needs you to be in good condition.” Up to the 1980s, Mansano says, table tennis was a household sport. These days, the sport is losing its appeal. “The sport’s popularity declined after the 1990 insurrection. A lot of players stopped practice and many migrated. There was definitely a downturn in the number of the people playing.” Mansano hopes the sport will one day regain its place in T&T. He’s working assiduously to make that happen. Mansano founded the Carenage Blasters Table Tennis Club at the Carenage Regional Complex in 2000. It provides training for youths. Table tennis is an engaging sport. It reminded me somewhat of my zumba experience. Once you get the hang of it, you forget you’re even working out. In order to get the best out of your table-tennis experience, make sure you have a fun partner to play with. It will make the experience even more rewarding.
Source: www.guardian.co.tt