This article, by Geoff Ware, illustrates the necessity for (and benefits of) young table tennis pros training abroad.
The late and great Richard Bergmann, winner of seven world championships, was probably the greatest defensive player of any era. However, one of the most memorable aspects of his play was the vast number of occasions when he was out of the game and beaten, yet still managed to come back and win!
He would have been proud of a young 17 year old girl from Hampshire, Hannah Hicks, who seems to be acquiring an even more frightening reputation and this in games only up to eleven. In last weekend’s Soderspelen Grand Prix held on 24th and 25th January 2009, in Boros, near Gothenburg, Hannah was a revelation and hailed the comeback queen.
The Swedes have probably never heard of “it’s not over until the fat lady sings” but some of the comments over Hicks’ play plainly indicate the depth of their feelings. “If you are behind 5-8, you have a chance, but if you’re losing 7-3, or 8-2, then it’s over and you have lost. All you can do is pray for a couple of lucky balls and even they have to be ‘good lucky balls’.”
Hicks just seems to thrive in the situation where all is lost. In the girls’ open 17s, down 11-12 in the fifth against Jennifer Jonsson, the top Swedish cadet, Hannah returned a difficult edge ball in an impossible way to get back into the match and win from there. In the semis against Daniela Moskovits, an awesomely talented young player, from a position of 0-2 and 6-10 down, Hannah never looked like losing and ran out the winner 10-6 in the fifth. On the Sunday in the Girls’ 20s, Linn Sandstrom, the current Swedish top 12 champion, never recovered from being 8-2 up against Hannah in the second game and lost 0-3. Again in the semi-final against Linda Jonsson from the Swedish Academy, to the amazement of a very knowledgeable crowd, Hicks returned an almost impossible edge ball just over the net on the backhand side, to roll it a yard along the net cord before it dropped over. Hannah won 3-1.
It seems that in Hannah’s case when the going gets really tough, there is, as it were, a wake up call in the brain - “Okay it’s fat lady time”. From there on not only does Hannah seem to focus 100% and more, but she hardly puts a foot wrong. Doubt is sown in the minds of her opponents and then it is truly over.
This was one of the top Grand Prix tournaments in Sweden and Hannah reached the finals in both 17s and 20s, knocking out four seeds on the way before losing to Chinese opposition, but leaving a number of very good Swedish girls behind on the podium.
Interestingly enough over the last season and a half Hannah has beaten 17 of the top 24 girls in Sweden, who participated in the current Top 12s in December 2008, including all four of the top girls in the 20s’ class and the top three in the 17s’ event.
Why does Hannah play in Europe? Quite simply in her own words – “I am going to be a professional player, but it’s not really possible to reach the next level by just training and playing in England. I have to train and compete in Europe now and later in Asia to keep moving forward”.
Two Hampshire boys, Garth Kinlocke and David McBeath, have also taken the step of moving temporarily to Sweden to train and compete. David finished in eight place in boys 17, whilst Garth was seventh in the Men’s Class 1 at Soderspelen.
Source: ETTA Website - http://www.englishtabletennis.org.uk
#ce n'est pas la fête pour
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