Ping! Pong!

It isn't everyday Singaporeans flock at whim to contest in table tennis, or any other sports at all, in a manner of confession. Hell, the lifestyle here sings of the extravagant luxury of food, or to be blunt, eating. Though we are picked to the bone, to work like our island's buoyancy depends on it. We are positively drowning in fatigue over here, hello? Then again, I might be nailing onto something here whilst I digress. Then again, again, that's always how I start off, no?

Even the blue moon has never risen over sports being a normal professional rice bowl, yet, ours is a state quite handsomely dressed in the grandeur of contemporary sporting embellishments. Painstakingly blessed by a not-so-regular client of mine, Lady Luck, a familiar acquaintance invited me over to my former residence for some good old bouts of table tennis. 

How I had hankered after an opportunity like this to re-connect myself with the sport. I desired the cries of victory, though most of the time they were in the form of sighs of relief. I miss the occasional comedic instances when the elusive plastic ball would, ever so coincidentally, hit us where it hurt the worst, and how we boldly enacted and experimented with all kinds of unorthodox shots. In the events that they did accidentally score us legitimate points, the frozen expression on our opponents' faces
bought us a priceless and surreal memory, ha ha!

Fun and leisure aside, the fervour to pursue a profession in table tennis has me dangling by the narrow hook of hesitation. Should I go in for the dive and allot half my goals to chance, or will I fare badly and end up juggling table tennis balls for a living? I daresay I can hold my own against world class players if I play at my limit, which still has plenty of room for growth. 

The invisible speed of the ball, the positioning of my bat, the angle of contact, the reaction time, the stamina and the mental focus are all operations in an intense equation that must be sustained and instantaneous. According to personal experience, one of the best balls is when the ball is slammed over the net with such piercing accuracy that it miraculously strikes the tip of the table edge, before ricocheting at such an acute and incalculable projectile. Depending on how powerful the force behind the ball, you'd have to either be extremely close to the table's corner or as far as possible to parry that, and maybe, send the same type of ball hurling back. 

It would also be wise not to underestimate ping pong's range of motion because the smaller it is, the quicker the game play and flexibility. If your opponent is a pro and a screw ball lover, consider your game half screwed.

As with everything else, there are pros and cons in table tennis. There are loads of other sporting hobbies people should draft into their lifestyles. What's better than the upsized combo of health and fun?