Singapore - Table Tennis

Proving I'm an All Around Athlete
I've never been particularly excellent in any one sport but I take pride in being able to play many without looking like a complete idiot. I first started playing table tennis in Wales and played some more in college. I've not played since. A few days back Pingle phoned me "Babe, you have a ping pong match tomorrow, you against MC. Go buy two paddles and some balls." MC is Pingle's competitive athletic girlfriend and she hates to lose, same as me. She used to play for a club or her high-school team or something. This was going to be fun.

When I walked into the table tennis store I knew I'd made a mistake - this was the type of place that professionals shopped. "Hi I'm looking for two paddles, nothing fancy." The salesman stared at me blankly then his brow furrowed - a fisherman trying to guess whether he should tug quickly or let out some slack before reeling in slowly. "You want plywood or graphite? We have some nice plywoods at 80 grams but the rubber is Chinese, so that adds weight." In my younger days I would've tried to bullshit to appear knowledgeable. "Sorry, I just want the two cheapest paddles you have - I'm a complete amateur who smacks the ball around for fun." The salesman pointed to two pre-packaged models hanging over the cash register - the equivalent of the cheap snacks at the grocery checkout.

That MC picked us up in her car, almost on time, demonstrated her seriousness. She's a lot like me: good intentions but half-lazy and prone to canceling things at the last minute. We were on our way to a nearby sports center. It's a sportsman's dream: you can play soccer, tennis, ping pong, badminton, squash or even go for a swim. The ping-pongers shared an auditorium with the badminton players. There was a woman practicing with her ping pong coach and I thought to myself that if MC is half as good as her I won't win a single point. As MC changed, I warmed up with the Pingle. She's talented - just not in anything requiring hand-eye coordination. I teased her and called her "spaz."

MC arrived ready. She'd completely changed her outfit and was no longer smiling. After a short warm-up she said "Hey, one thing: no smashing." Huh? No smashing? That's like playing golf without a driver. I agreed but knew I wouldn't keep my word. We started the battle. We were both pretty rusty. The table seemed smaller than I remember - many of my shots were sailing long. I won the first game by a small margin and we switched sides. Second game, I won again by a few points. A pattern began to emerge: she'd get ahead early, I'd catch up and around 10 all, I'd win a few key points and that would be the difference.

We played for about an hour. It was a lot of fun. I was lucky to escape without a loss - MC is pretty good. Oh and yes, I did reel off a few smashes here and there, I couldn't help myself. "When are you leaving for Paris?" she demanded. "I want a rematch, man!" That's when my agent stepped in: "No time. He has tennis with Ying-Ying on Thursday, a long bike ride on Saturday and squash with Gina on Sunday." MC was insistent "what time is your flight on Sunday?"