“Ping… Pong… Ping… Pong…” Two table tennis players were having a knock-out competition in order to get into the semi-final. The scoresheet showed a score of 10:9. Everyone in the court held their breath, including the audience, cameramen and coaches. My eyes filled up with worry and hesitation. After a few seconds, I stood up and spoke to the referee determinately. “Time out!”
I was the coach.
My name is Eric, and I have been a table tennis coach for 4 years. The transformation from being a table tennis player to a coach was a big turning point for me. Honestly speaking, I had never thought about being a table tennis coach before. I was just an ordinary table tennis player with a great passion for table tennis. Luckily, I met someone who changed my life completely.
His name is Mr. Chung, he was my table tennis coach for 16 years, and I will never forget the moment when we first met. It was one day when I went to my clubhouse to play table tennis with my friends as usual, and I saw a muscular and tall man staring at me through the glass of table tennis room, carrying a bag of table tennis balls. He looked like a professional table tennis player, so I invited him to play with us.
“Increase the spins of your serve.”
“Balance your body when hitting the ball.”
“Compensate the spins by changing your racket’s angle.”
He gave me a lot of useful advice. I was extremely excited since I improved a lot from his tips. “Can…can you teach me more?” I asked him shyly. He smiled at me kindly and nodded his head. I became his student from that moment onward.
I trained with Mr. Chung every day after school. Mr. Chung explained every skill of table tennis to me in detail and with patience. He demonstrated every action clearly until I fully understood. Sometimes I found it very difficult to perform a specific move (like returning a backspin ball with back flick), and I would think of giving up.
“Hey boy! This may be difficult, but never give up on yourself when learning. You want to improve, right?”
Mr. Chung pulled me back on track whenever I thought about giving up. I have learnt all the basic skills and tactics I know through his brilliant coaching.
Everything seemed to be going smoothly. I had joined a couple of table tennis competitions and got satisfactory results.
“Pang!” I fell down and injured my right anterior cruciate ligament during one training session. This was a very serious injury for athletes. The doctor told me that I might not be able to move my legs properly and flexibly even after recovery. After the long recovery period, I was asked to play on court again. 7:11, 10:12 and 3:11 were the final results. I had lost 3 games consecutively to a reserved player of another school. I felt so powerless as my legs would react too slowly to be able to play an intense competition. My blank face showed the emptiness in my heart. I thought I could no longer continue my career in table tennis. Tears appeared in my eyes; I didn’t want to give up on my favorite thing in my life.
After my failed matches, Mr. Chung came and handed a tissue to me.
“My career is over! This is the end of everything!”
“Never give up! Remember?” Chung sir tried to comfort me. I sobbed about my difficulties and what happened during the matches.
“Everything is fine. There is always a way out. Um... How about being my assistant coach?”
I hesitated. I knew it was very difficult to be a coach, but it was the only way out to continue my table tennis career.
“Can…can I be a coach?”
“Why not? Nothing is impossible! Just believe in yourself and never give up!”
Tears in eyes roll down my cheeks. I nodded my head energetically and accepted the Mr. Chung's offer.
Starting from that day onward, I became a table tennis coach. Even I couldn’t believe it. The transformation from a player to a coach has been the biggest turning point of my life. This was not only a change in my identity, but it was also the beginning of a huge change in my personality and life.
At the beginning of my coaching career, I was not a good coach. The shocked and confused face from my students showed how poor I was at playing. I tried to teach everything to my students, but I failed to demonstrate them in a proper way. Sometimes I would be annoyed when my students failed to perform the skills properly.
“You such a poor coach!”
“My son has learnt nothing from your teaching.”
“Stop wasting my daughter's time!”
No one can imagine how embarrassed I was when I received so many complaints from students’ parents. It was a nightmare! Fortunately, Mr. Chung helped me to explain my hard situations to them. Also, the responsibility of a coach to encourage students reminded me not to think of giving up so easily and I started to reflect on my coaching. I realized that my communications skills were poor, and my students might not get the advice that I said. As a result, I made corrections on my teaching. For example, I began to speak slower and encouraged my students to voice out their difficulties actively.
From the satisfied faces of my students, I knew that I had succeed. I no longer received complaints from parents, but instead I received words of appreciation. The kind of satisfaction and happiness in my heart could hardly be expressed in words.
Time flew, and the Mr. Chung's hair colour gradually turned from black to white. Mr. Chung soon retired from his 50-year long coaching career. He passed all of his students to me and said, “you are my best successor.” What a show of recognition! Looking at the long list of student names, I swore not to waste Mr. Chung's efforts. I would use everything I learnt to teach my students, inheriting his passion and willpower in table tennis. Mr. Chung sparked the biggest turning point in my life---from being a table tennis player to a table tennis coach. It allowed me to extend and continue my table tennis career. It also made me a mature person with persistence because of the responsibility I carried. I named this turning point as my ultimate evolution as it led me to become an almost entirely new person. I am sure I could not be where I am today without Mr. Chung.
“Cheer up! You can do it! Never give up and enjoy your match.” I encouraged my student in front of me, just as Mr. Chung said to me at the dugout.