US Nationals notes
Mary Lei
I heard a lot about Barney Reed, the junior champion,
so I decided to watch his match against Sean in the men's singles.
He played very well against Sean and was in the lead at times.
While I was impressed by his play I was a little disappointed
by his attitude. He seemed very depressed when he missed a point;
he failed to listen to his dad in between games; and when he finally
lost the match; he sat on the table in distress. In my opinion,
if he had focused less on himself, less on winning and concentrate
more on the game, he could do better. Table tennis must be really
frustrating; I saw a lot of players stamped their feet and threw
their rackets in despair.
I had a great time at the tournament; I only beat one guy in the
round robin but I had good exchanges with others most of the time.
This year, I have succeeded not to focus on winning but just to play
the sport. As I relaxed, I found out I have great strokes and surprised
my opponents. Also I discovered the gratifying experience of meeting
other players, exchanging information and words of encouragement instead
of walking away disgusted at myself , as in previous years.
Sportsmanship is what the Nationals is all about.
Another thing I really enjoyed : as the unofficial camera person
for Amy Feng, I captured almost 2 hours of Amy's performance at
close up for self-study. Now I know why her style of play is
described as "explosive". Congratulations to Amy for consistently being #1.
Some notes from my memory:
In the team tryouts, Tawny Banh had an upset over Wei Wang;
Wei later avenged the loss on Anita Zacharian; in the women's singles
quarterfinals, Wei outlasted Virginia Sung in 5 games to get into the
semi-finals; the last 2 matches were expedited. The women's singles
winners at the Nationals were Amy, Lily , Wei and Anita.
An interesting mixed doubles featured Sean/Tawny Banh against Todd Sweeris
and 12 year old Jessica Shen. Todd/Jessica finally lost in the 3rd game
with a score of about 28-26 ??. Very good returns by Jessica.
In the men's team trial out, Jimmy Butler lost to Darko Rop after
Jimmy led the third game by 20-13.
N. Sukumar
>I just want to give my 2 cents on the Nationals:
>I heard a lot about Barney Reed, the junior champion,
>so I decided to watch his match against Sean in the men's singles.
>He played very well against Sean and was in the lead at times.
>While I was impressed by his play I was a little disappointed
>by his attitude. He seemed very depressed when he missed a point;
>he failed to listen to his dad in between games; and when he finally
>lost the match; he sat on the table in distress. In my opinion,
>if he had focused less on himself, less on winning and concentrate
>more on the game, he could do better. Table tennis must be really
>frustrating; I saw a lot of players stamped their feet and threw
>their rackets in despair.
Some general comments in the same vein. It is my observation
that by and large the junior players are very prone
to temper tantrums in tournaments out here (not to discount
the fact that some of the men also do the same). It probably
is a manifestation of the typical behavior that is exhibited (and
accepted I might add) in many of the other US sports. There
should probably be a pt. taken for bat abuse or abusive
language during a match (aka as in tennis). I find Sean O'Neil
to be very composed and one who plays in the true spirit of the
game .... no wonder he has achieved significant success in
the game. On the other hand, there are those who even at the
slightest mistake hurl out invectives! Did play in the Detroit
teams event earlier this year where the above was all too evident!
TT is probably frustrating (as is any sport I reckon); however,
it's probably no reason to vent out one's inability (!) or
poor play in less than acceptable ways ......
>I had a great time at the tournament; I only beat one guy in the
>round robin but I had good exchanges with others most of the time.
>This year, I have succeeded not to focus on winning but just to play
>the sport.As I relaxed, I found out I have great strokes and surprised
>my opponents. Also I discovered the gratifying experience of meeting
>other players,exchanging information and words of encouragement instead
>of walking away disgusted at myself , as in previous years.
>Sportsmanship is what the Nationals is all about.
>.[rest deleted]
And that's the way it should be (IMO). Apart from the
competition-aspect of the game, it also is a means to interact
with other players on a personal level. Skill aside, success
in the game depends to a great extent on the players' mental make-up
and approach to the game. One's comport during a match tells a
lot about the player he/she can become in the years to come. I don't
think those who're fraught with anger and frustration in matches
can get very far (by and large) in the long run .......
On another note, I found that there is a tendency (very strong I
might add) not to play players below one's rating. This was all
too evident on the last day of the team event in Detroit ...
most of the matches were walkovers! We had won 5/5 on Saturday
and had a very good chance of winning group D if we had played
on Sunday. However, since the remaining two matches on
Sunday were against sub-2000 players, the other guys on my team
did not want to play! So, even though we had 3 players
available for the match, the others gave w/o, while I was
the only one who played out my matches! Rather strange to say
the least .....! This was my 1st visit to Detroit ..... is
the above atypical/typical? Not playing because of injury or
sheer fatigue is one thing; however, not wanting to play for
there are no pts. to gain is another matter. There probably
should be some modification in the rating system which penalizes
those who default for no rhyme or reason (hard to define one might
contend) and/or at least some incentive for higher-rated players
to play those below them. Any comments?
-suku.
--
N. Sukumar Home Phone: (708)491-1522
Theoretical & Applied Mechanics Work Phone: (708)467-3154
Northwestern U, Evanston IL 60208 E-mail: n-su...@nwu.edu
WWW: http://pubweb.acns.nwu.edu/~suku/home.html ** GO BLAZERS **