Being decent at cricket and good at carroms without any formal training bolstered me to label myself as someone with a knack for sports and games. I had never put an effort to solve the mystery behind how I turned out to be relatively good at carroms. As far as cricket is concerned, understanding and implementing the techniques, such as reaching the pitch of the ball and gauging the length and bounce of the ball must be attributed to observing greats like Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid. Though Table Tennis had tapped my life much later than cricket and carroms, interest in the game and ability to understand the techniques took a highway and rode at a faster pace. Winning a tournament in the college a year after practice gave me more than required confidence, masking the fact that most of the players in the tournament were pretty new to the game.
Years after my college, a motivation to lose weight directed my legs towards YMCA, Secunderabad to inquire about Badminton membership only to know that it was not among the list of games they offer. Luckily, I found Table Tennis sitting in the list. Advanced players made me realize the huge role of luck in my tournament win during the college days. Mistakes correction and new strokes practice helped me take my game from beginner to intermediate level. The improvement in the game is yet to take many steps to satisfy my hunger for betterment. But the realization of the indirect and intangible table tennis benefits and effects due to my focus on the game has amazed me.
Focus and Priority Shift
Before stepping into YMCA, I used to tell people that “many people eat to live but I live to eat”. The statement seemed stupid just a year after resuming the practice. Flexibility and foot work play a crucial role in Table Tennis, in any sport for that matter. Realizing the importance of healthy weight maintenance and focusing on food habits to achieve the flexibility didn’t take much time. A drastic drop in pizza and mysore bajji eating frequency and giving up soft drinks was my first step towards that. Reduction of consumption frequency from once in a month to once in 2-3 years of the foods whose sight itself makes my mouth water was not at all easy. But the tenacity to improve the game made it easier than I had thought.
My body thanked me for taking the first step by offloading around 5 kilograms. Proceeding to the next steps took a couple of years due to a hiatus in practice during covid. Focus on food habits graph took a surge after experiencing a never before panic due to the pace at which lives had vanished during covid. Usually, such panic driven habits stay ephemeral, but the resumption of Table Tennis drove me to stick to those. Many times, I wonder how I got transformed from a voracious to a mindful eater.
Onward
Eating the right food in the right quantity has been helping me stop the right-side movement of the weighing scale indicator. But many factors must shake hands with weight maintenance to increase the longevity in terms of number of years of play and daily practice time. One among those is, fitness. I relied on skipping rope, cycling and brisk walking to improve the cardio health which helps in enhancing game time. When I was at my maximum weight, I struggled to ride a cycle even for a couple of kilometers and do 100 skipping rope jumps at a stretch. Years of investment in cardio exercises has helped me overcome those struggles. 8-10 kilometers of cycle ride is no more stressful, and 5-6 kilometers of walk has become normal.
The gratification of making such a little progress is no match to my hunger, because I meet people who challenge me at Table Tennis even at 70s and 80s. I play with 84-year-old Harnadh Babu and 75 years old Devendar, who still participate in tournaments and win medals. Exhibition of their skill and the enthusiasm to play at an age when most people feel that they are done and dusted with life has been an inspiration. Keeping myself able to play as long as possible has become the goal.
The Indefinite Hiatus
I was greeted with one more hiatus in practice after covid, the only difference is, the first involved panic and the second involved delight. At first, I was adamant to accept the pause, pushed hard to accommodate Table Tennis in the schedule. Giving up the practice for the joy I am experiencing seemed totally justified. At this point of time, I am confident that I can resume the practice in a year or so because the focus on healthy food habits and fitness which Table Tennis has rubbed onto me are still intact.
