Table Tennis - From Gen-Y to Gen-Z

(Week 1st ??)

(Week 3rd ??)

Year 1997, I was in 7th Standard & had started learning advance techniques in 'In-line Roller Skating'. I was the only one in my school to own a pair of In-Line skates that my dad brought for me from Singapore, and those did give me an edge over other players because I had a better control & agility. After having won a district level competition at the in Amritsar, I wanted to practice for Punjab level tournament (state level).

In my school 'Ajanta Public School', we had a 'Zero Period' (or Sports period) . It was a 45 min of fun filled time before our regular boring never-ending study classes would start. It was then when I was introduced first time to Table Tennis. I still remember it was a small room on the 1st floor with 2 Mango-tree-wood tables that had an irregular surface (because of moisture & mishandling, the wood had swollen unevenly and so the ball would bounce unpredictably). I remember I fell in love with TT from day one. The love for the game kept on growing till an extent where I'd be excited to go to school ONLY for playing TT (I NEVER fancied studies tbh, I wonder how I even graduated, but that's a topic for another blog).

I used to switch between TT & Skating in the Zero Period which caught attention of my school principal (Mr. Ramesh Kapoor) who called me in his office early morning one day (it was a haunting experience going to his room because no one I knew ever left his office without receive a beating from him ). But to my surprise, it turned out he was impressed with my skating (he told me he'd watch me skating from his office glass window and he'd even tell his visitors about me). It was good to discover that I was NOT going to get any beatings that day from him .

I was ordered to "choose" one sport, either TT or skating. I wouldn't be allowed to do both at the same time. And of course, I decided to go for TT.

As TT was my new found passion & you guys probably know me very well by now, when it comes to passion, then I'm unstoppable. I take my #Passion very seriously, when I love doing something, it takes over me beyond my control. (Gave a TEDx Talk about my 6P Formula #Passion, #Practice, #Patience, #Persistence, #Precision #Perfection: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpMx1VDeG58&t=15s)

I'd be a regular for the TT practices, I'd reach school even before my coach, sometimes I'd be the first person to reach school be it Winters, Summers or even if it was raining outside. I kept practicing & excelling at the game.

Year 1999 (class 9th), by this time we had participated in many inter-school tournaments in Amritsar but we never won any of them. One day, I & other TT players were called in Principal's office in the middle of an ongoing class (it was a strong sign that something was unusually wrong, we wouldn't come out alive from his office). To our surprise, we were informed that a new student ('Rahul Batra' , who was standing in front of us with his dad, 'Mr. Subhash Batra' who himself is an international level TT champion) was admitted to our school in my class and we were informed that he was a champion in TT. At the first glance, Rahul didn't look athletic at all, he was way over-weight and I refused to believe he could even last a game with me.

Then, we were asked to have a game with him. A TT game in the middle of an ongoing boring social-studies class, bring it on man! We reached the TT room, and I was the first one to face this dude. I challenged him to serve. First serve, second, third.... 20th service and I for the life of me couldn't figure out how to react to his strange spin . None of us lasted a game in front of him. Yes, he was indeed a champion & because of him and his dad's coaching, we were about to be the future champions.

Year 1999, I, along with 2 Rahuls (Batra & Sharma) qualified to represent our school for the CBSE state level TT tournament held at 'Shri Guru Harkrishan Public School, Amritsar'. We beat our rivals 'Manav Public School' in the finals and became CHAMPIONS (refer the newspaper cutting, this is the ONLY picture of me related to TT , I dare you to find me in this pic ). And since we had won a state level competition (a first in our school history in any sport), sh*t were about to get real. We were to participate in CBSE NATIONAL LEVEL Tournament and my dad couldn't have been more proud of his son for the first time in his life .

Year 2000 (10th standard, my board exam year), 3 of us participated in Nationals in Jaipur and did well but couldn't secure any position.

I kept playing TT even during my graduation (2003-2007) and stayed in my university campus TT team for 3 years and in the 3rd year, my team won a university level tournament and 1/3rd of my yearly tuition fees was refunded (the first and last time I had won something in TT).

I can't express in words how it feels to see my little spider #ZyraBawa who is 5+ Years old, showing the same passion & enthusiasm for Table Tennis as I did ever since I started playing TT at the age of 12.

I was a good player but I promise to teach Zyra to become a much better TT player than me. I want her to win Gold medals (not by becoming a "Haani-karak Baapu" , but by being a friendly coach) and I'm sure she'll make her dad proud one day .

#zyrabawa #GuyWithAirplaneOnHisGlasses #PaperModelGuru #tabletennis #tabletennistraining #tabletennisplayer #hobbies #lifegoals #coaching #training #determination #selfmotivation #continuousimprovement #leadershipbyexample #leadingbyexample