September 10, 2015, by Lee Chrimes

Blog 2: Training Commences for UoN Table Tennis

By Liam McTiernan.

Training has begun for the University of Nottingham Table Tennis Team. With the humidity and temperature high in China training is tough and all the players have had to adapt.

The standard of Chinese opponents is high with many having played 6 hours a day from the age of 7 or 8. In the morning sessions we are paired up with a Chinese opponent and take part in mainly regular and irregular forehand exercises. These help to improve our footwork around the table and one of our strongest, most effective shots.

In the afternoon session we practice match play situations with service and receive exercises. These proved challenging but beneficial, as the opponents have a well equipped skill set in match play situations. Another large part of the afternoon session is multi-ball. This involves a feeder playing continuous balls to the player in all different places and with all different spins and speeds. This has proved extremely vigorous and intense, however in the long run will help us develop greater speed around the table and the ability to improve our techniques and shot selection. Overall the training has been different but more intense than that in the UK and all the players including myself believe that the 10 days here will have an extremely positive effect on our performances.

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