July 01, 2005

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Palo Alto Online

Table tennis club offers up motivation

by Patricia Bass

Jackie Lee spends five hours a day taking out her frustrations on a little, white ball. Back and forth it goes, over the net and back.

Every workout is another day closer to redemption, another step closer to becoming an Olympian in table tennis.

Lee, a 19-year-old Cal student and member of the Palo Alto Table Tennis Club, narrowly missed making the 2004 table tennis Olympic team in what she calls a "political fluke."

There were two qualifying events - singles and doubles. She took fourth in singles, making her a member of the national team and a good prospect for the Olympics. When it came to choosing doubles partners, however, her teammates who had placed first through third in singles chose their partners before Lee. Thus, Jackie, was stuck with a less-skilled partner and wound up losing her Olympic qualification match.

"It was very frustrating and disappointing to know that someone who had qualified below me in singles was joining the Olympic team just because a higher-ranked player had chosen them for a doubles partner," Lee said. "But it's like any sport, there's a lot of politics involved."

Luckily, this frustration only increases Lee's motivation for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China. According to Lee, it never made her feel less motivated, it only caused her to work harder for a new opportunity. Besides gaining a spot on the U.S. National Team in table tennis, the qualifications had provided a valuable source of motivation for the intense training she is going through now.

Currently, her training includes five hours of table tennis a day at the Cupertino High gym, along with sprints and physical training.

"Table tennis actually requires a lot of fitness and endurance, unlike basement ping-pong where you can just stand there," Lee said. "You have to be fast and last [through] a lot of matches. The professional tournaments will have you play two or three matches a day, but when I was younger I used to have to play 10."

When she's not practicing individually, Lee plays with the Palo Alto Table Tennis Team, which is part of the newly created NorCal Table Tennis League. The league was created by 2000 table tennis Olympian and current Milpitas player Shashin Shodhan.

"The Bay Area has a large number of elite table tennis players, and once I asked, many were willing to play in a league," Shodhan said. "This country lacks an organized table tennis league, and I hope that within 20 years our league will spread nation-wide."

Each of the teams play an average of two matches a month, from July 1 through November 20, with two championship matches in December. Palo Alto opens league play tonight at 6 o'clock at Cubberley Community Center.

Shodhan organized the league partially in order to create a place for players to practice for the 2008 Olympics. He plans on competing for a spot, especially after training with the team as an alternate in 2000.

"The Olympic trials (in 2000) are both the biggest accomplishment and biggest disappointment in my life," Shodhan said. "I was an alternate, so I didn't get to actually play in the Olympics, but it was a great life experience. I got to experience international cultures, and the training made me dig deep, especially our training in China."

Besides using his experience in professional table tennis to create the six-team NorCal league, Shodhan also uses it to teach younger players.

"Sydney (in 2000) definitely helped me be a better coach because I learned so much about the mental side of table tennis," Shodhan explained. "I did so much visualizing - my mind was more active than it ever was."

Shodhan passes on this knowledge to his students, like 15-year-old Mont Vista High sophomore Sean Lee, a promising member of the United States boys' Cadet (15-under) team and a teammate of Jackie's. The two are not related.

Sean Lee has traveled from Spain to Montreal for international matches and been sponsored by Butterfly, a table tennis sports gear company, making him technically a pro.

"It (the publicity) is exciting, but I still feel like I have so many areas to improve on," he said. "For table tennis, I need to be ready for anything, make a new decision for each ball, and create a strategy."

Table tennis strategy involves a few key focuses, like "making your opponent uncomfortable," according to Lee. He tries to manipulate his opponent by sending the ball in certain places that cause the other person to stretch, move, and "almost fall to the ground."

Sean Lee says that older players often use "time-delaying tactics" like wiping their brow between serves and slowing down the game so that Lee will lose his momentum, which Lee says is the key to winning.

The competition is not the only obstacle in the game, though.

"I need to develop, but it is hard to develop in a sport like this," Lee said of table tennis. "Everything is about going to the right school, getting a good job - not everyone is like Kobe or Shaq."

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