September 24, 2008
Meiji University: A Table Tennis Player's Dream Come True
Group Photo - Tokyo 2008
By Ming Curran
Playing at Meiji University is a table tennis player's dream come true, and after going there in the summer of 2007, I'd often day dream of the intense training and friendly practice partners I'd encountered there. Ever since, whether feeding multi ball to the little kids on Saturday mornings or just reminiscing with Thor and Anders, (We'd all gone to Meiji together in 2007. See Thor's article from last year Japan and its table tennis was never far from my mind. Anders and Thor felt exactly the same way, so all three of us were thrilled when we found out that we'd been invited back!
With our travel plans finalized just a few weeks before our August departure, we started preparing for the trip. We added more running and conditioning to our training regime, cut out fast food from our diet, and bought Japanese for Dummies.
When the plane touched down in Tokyo we felt strangely at home, and the ride from Narita to Chofu felt more like the end of a trip than the beginning. We were all a little nervous though, and hoped that most of our friends from last year would still be there. The first night we were itching to play but knew we needed to go right to sleep if we wanted to stave off jetlag.
The very first day, Meiji was competing in a tournament, so we accompanied the whole team and cheered them on. We were happy to find that most of our friends were still there, and it was a festive air as we stuttered greetings in pidgin Japanese/English, enjoying our reunion with our friends from last year.
The tournament itself was an awe-inspiring experience. Thor is the coach and Anders and I are the top two players on the #4 ranked college team in the U.S., so it was humbling to see hundreds of college players competing at such an incredibly high level. I have a slight suspicion that the University of Minnesota wouldn't be ranked quite so high in Japan.
Once arrived back at the training facility, Thor, Anders, and I all breathed a collective sigh of relief to find Cook still cooking, fresh off vacation and ready to astound and please with his splendid array of finely prepared meals (His curry is to die for).
We got into a comfortable training routine very quickly, as the training was almost identical to the previous year. We were surprised by how much improved we were from the first time we'd stepped into the training hall, the year before.
The level seemed even higher than last year, and our average practice partner was around 2500. Despite their higher level, the Meiji players were very nice and very patient. They were always enthusiastic about training with us and encouraged us in each practice session.
We trained six days a week, two practice sessions a day. Each practice session lasted about 3 hours, with the first half an hour being devoted to stretching and running. In the mornings we'd do drills, and the afternoon was devoted to either matches and multi-ball, or matches and drills.
The training was very intense and all the players was extremely focused, but don't think that the players don't enjoy their table tennis. No matter how hard of a practice, good shots were always duly commended and horrible misses greeted with rueful grins and playful jests. On our fourth day at Meiji a physical trainer came and all the players (us included) went through a series of extremely demanding exercises. We made it through the one legged backwards hopping ok, but the backwards crab walking was torture and I think Thor -or "Papa Slim" as he's affectionately known at Meiji- was getting pretty winded.
The thing that stood out most to me about the training was the rigidity of the schedule, and continuity of the training. The players all eat breakfast together in the morning, stretch together before practice, (each of the 20 or so different stretches is timed and done in unison) eat dinner together, sleep in the same dorm, and shower together. Day after day. This environment is extremely conducive to improvement. It's relaxing, and allows you to get into a rhythm. By the end of our stay, play felt effortless (although a good deal of credit for that goes to the smooth play and amazing consistency of our practice partners).
In between training we managed to fit in a few games of Monopoly, a little karaoke, and even a visit to the historic Nihon Ki-in for a game of Go. It was an incredible trip, filled with the best table tennis of our lives. We improved a great deal and I personally came back with a greater appreciation and enjoyment for the sport. We all miss Tokyo, our home away from home, and all the friends we made in Japan.
Many thanks are due, especially Greg Cox, Chris Burner, Hideko Konishi, Yoshihiro Hiroaka and Coach Takayama.
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