WHEN I VOLUNTEERED to try out table tennis for Vision, I was mainly concerned about how much of a fool I was going to make out of myself. Yes, I had played casually at school for a number of years but, after leaving school in 2010, I was fairly sure that I would be more than a little rusty. Still, watching a clip of Forrest Gump on Youtube reminded me of the sport’s fundamental requirement: never to take one’s eye off the ball!
When I entered the sports hall it was a pleasant surprise to find many of the members so casually dressed. For sure, the team members were dressed in club shirts and matching shorts but most people were in T-shirts and some even wore jeans. However, despite the casual appearances, it was clear once play commenced that everyone took this sport very seriously.
To begin with we knocked up casually, no one trying to hit the ball as hard as they could. Following the initial knocking up period most of the group took part in a doubles round-robin across three of four tables, moving from table to table depending on whether your pair won or lost the match. The standard of this group ranged from total beginners to players with a few years experience. The last table was reserved for team members who it is fair to say where probably playing at twice the pace of the ordinary members of the society. For my part, I largely just participated in the round robin but later on I did go and play one of the team members for a bit of a laugh.
In the first few games of the round robin, I was truly dreadful. I had never previously played proper doubles table tennis and my awful movement probably lost us approximately five points every single game. I also tried to slam the ball at every possible opportunity and consequently lost us even more points. However, perhaps most criminally, I took my eye off the ball causing many shots to go long. I even missed the ball completely on a few occasions.
When I found myself on the bottom table I realised I needed to adopt a more serious approach. I was letting my partner down. I started to be more attentive and decided to try and just return the ball rather than just hit it as hard as I could. My movement also started to improve and the games I was playing in started to become more competitive.
After a while, it was time for my partner and me to temporarily swap out. During this break, I had the opportunity to watch the team members at close quarters. Their very technical serves and the speed at which they played made me particularly uneasy. Whilst watching, I politely enquired as to the team’s progress so far this term. I discovered that the A and B teams were undefeated in both BUCS and the local league. This made me even more uneasy. How was I even going to win a point against one of them?
All of a sudden, it was time to take on the Team Captain. Even if he did not have prodigious skill with a table tennis bat I would still have been afraid of Andy Bevan: he is six foot six inches tall. I told him not to go easy on me and he was true to his word. The game probably lasted around 90 seconds and the only point I got was through an unforced error.
When I made my way back to the round-robin after this sound beating, I realised I needed to make my serve a bit more difficult to deal with. Initially, this led to the loss of a few points as several serves went long or wide. However, before long they started going in more consistently.
After a frustrating first hour, I started to enjoy the session as I got more and more accustomed to playing the game again. The round robin was played in a relaxed atmosphere: although everyone was serious during the points, this did not mean people did not have a laugh in between. However, the thing I liked most about the club was that anyone was willing to play anyone even if they were a total beginner. I would definitely recommend the session to anyone who wants to have a bit of fun on a Saturday afternoon. There is also a session at 4 o’clock on a Monday afternoon for those lucky enough to be without lectures then.