About Bailey – Co-Founder
Hi there, I am Bailey – one of the co-founders of the PingPongPye website. I have been playing table tennis for too long now and coaching for almost the same. My sporting life has revolved around table tennis for over 10 years now. Throughout my trails and tribulations of this sport I have learnt a lot. I have found some personal techniques that have supported me through my journey and I am sure they will also work for you!
Before we get into that I would like to give you some information on my background and what my story is.
No Win Was Ever Good Enough For Me.
When I was young I played a lot of football and while I was a fairly reliable team member I was never especially good at the sport. This was the same for most sports I tried, I was always okay but never anything special. This is equally true for table tennis. I started at about the same time as 5 other people around my age and my ability constantly reflected I was somewhere in the middle of that pack. However, about a year into me playing I was entered into a local league team with these other starters. I got a taste for competition. I now had a measurable and observable rate of improvement by comparing my wins and loses as the season progressed.
While, I wasn’t ever too bothered about the results between me and the other fresh players I was now obsessed with my own rate of improvement especially compared to my teammates. I wanted to become the best. This newly found intrinsic motivation drove me to work harder for my victories. I slowly but surely overtook my teammates. Over the next few seasons I joined teams with higher ranked players and saw my own win percentage increase drastically.
However, every good win was not enough for me, I was always thinking about the next one – who was the next player on my table tennis hit list. As I gradually crossed names off of this list I started to put immense pressure on myself to not lose to them again, I always saw losing to a player a step backwards. Even as I got older and started to outgrow my small local scene, this mentality followed me into larger tournaments and county level play. While I was in university I represented Newcastle in the premier division of the university leagues where I had a fairly low average. This slowly broke me down until I decided I was done with table tennis.
After a short brake I returned to the sport with the entire purpose of enjoying it and trying not to care about the results. During this period I played some of the best table tennis of my career. I enjoyed coaching more as well. I travelled all over the country coaching table tennis meeting and spending time with people who had a true passion for table tennis. This is why I believe it is my time to pay it forward.
It is my turn to share my passion for table tennis and hopefully reignite or spark a passion for you!
Don’t Make My Mistakes
When I first started playing table tennis I had a coach whose whole life was based around table tennis. His wife played with him, his son was a very good player and his grandson also played. He ran his own little club in a small village and brought through some incredible players during his coaching career. Unfortunately, about 3 months into my table tennis journey he passed away. The whole club and most of the village was devastated.
His wife kept the club going with the support of her grandson. While I did continue to play at the club there, was very little coaching taking place. I didn’t realise it at the time but my progression had been completely haulted. A few years later I got picked up by a county level coaching team. It was here that i realised that my technique, while effective at the lower levels, was completely incorrect. This is because I had been effectively teaching myself from watching local players. This took a long time to unlearn and I still have bad habbits and an unorthodox style to this day because of this.
This is why I want to support players in their progression, so you don’t need to do what I did and unlearn bad technique. This is especially the case if you are a new player trying to learn table tennis without the aid of a coach.
My Goal Is To Support Your Progression
It is simple really, my goal is to help you progress your table tennis abilities. I want to do this through sharing my experiences both as a player and as a coach but most importantly through the eyes of someone who loves table tennis. Playing table tennis should be about enjoyment and through enjoyment you will find progression.
So whatever your goals are, whether it be you want to beat the best player in your office or to build yourself up to national competitions this website and the content produced by myself and the community will help you get there.
Also, this is a community – you can reach out and I will be happy to answer any questions that you may have. Even if you don’t have a question feel free to just say hi!
Anyway, that is my story and why I am here. I hope you enjoy your experience here on Table Tennis Coaching and I look forward to hearing from you!
Bailey
About Ebony – Co-Founder
Hello! I am Ebony one of the Co-Founders of the PingPongPye website. I have been playing table tennis for over 10 years now and recently started working through my coaching qualifications. Over the past 15 years or so I have learnt a lot and found unique techniques which work for me, that I will pass on to you!
The Impact Of Having a Coach
Growing up I loved sports, I used to participate in as much as I could, to the point where I was doing something every night. On Fridays, I would go to three different clubs after school. It was’t until I got a bit older than I narrowed down the sports I was playing in, here I took a keen interest in table tennis. This came from both my parents and grandparents because my dad and granddad both played the sport. The latter of the two even played at county level. Unfortunately, I never got to meet my granddad, but I still have all of his trophies and pictures to remember him by. Having these made me want to improve – maybe one day be as good as he was and represent my county.
From here I joined my first local club, it was just around the corner from me however, there were no coaches there and you just turned up to play against other people. This club was at a local church which had a lot of older people playing, it didn’t take long to realise that some of these players played alongside my granddad at county level. This further ignited the passion in me to make him proud and to get better. I spent about 5 years at this club, turning up every week and never saw much progress. I was still losing to all the players that were beating me when I first started. Even though, I could now hold rallies with people I was never in control and it never felt like I was going to win. This made me realise that something needed to change if I was going to improve and hope to play at county level.
I found another local club but this time there was a dedicated coach. Within weeks, I could see some improvement in my game and wanted to keep going. I was told about tournaments that take place across the country that I should enter. I still remember my first tournament to this day, I traveled across the country and stayed overnight ready to play prepared for a great day. I arrived at this competition where I found my group that had 2 other players in; I lost both games 3-0 and was traveling back home before 12 o’clock. Although some may find this disheartening, I didn’t. Rather than making me want to quit this only made me want to get better. I was determined that when I go to my next tournament I could take an end off someone or even beat them. I continued training at my new club, by the time I went to my next tournament I felt much more prepared – I came away as runner-up! This was all because I changed clubs and was now getting coached.
I continued training with the aim to one day match the level achieved by my granddad. This day finally came where I represented my counties B team. This was an amazing achievement for myself which I had been working towards for almost 8 years. What made this even more special, was that the day I played was also the birthday of my granddad, this made all the time and effort so worthwhile.
My Experience Of Coaching & Helping Others
I want to be able to help you with your progression. This could take the form of either preventing bad habits or supporting you by building on what you have already learnt.
I have had a few years of practice where I coached the development squad at Loughborough University. My first year I volunteered, doing one session every week. Over the year I realised that my coaching was working. I could see the difference in the play styles of those that came regularly. This made me want to coach more and help others to achieve their goals. Due to this, I offered to do the role full time and take on more sessions. The feedback, on my sessions, was very positive. Attendance was consistently high, having a full room of players every week right up until the end – this was never the case when they did not have an assigned coach. I enjoyed seeing them progress but more importantly, I could see them enjoying table tennis more and more as they improved. I would love to be able to share this with as many other players as I can.
My Goal Is To Help You Reach Your Potential
My goal for this website is to help you progress and reach your potential. I will do this by sharing my experiences of both being a player and a coach. I believe that you should be playing table tennis with passion and enjoy the sport. I hope I can share my passion with you to help you enjoy your time playing and see yourself progress.
If your goal is to be able to play with your mates and hit a ball or if it’s to play at county level or higher, then this website is for you! The content produced here will aid you in your development towards your goals.
If you ever have any questions feel free to leave them below, I will be more than happy to help you out. I look forward to hearing from you!
Ebony