Table Tennis - An enthralling game played on the margins

                       

If you want to know which Sport requires the quickest of reflexes, your google search would probably list Table Tennis as one of the top three. It's a fascinating game which requires all the top skills any sport demands - Hand-eye co-ordination, reflexes, body movement, footwork, anticipation, focus, power, placement, consistency, guile, variety and many more. I got introduced to this game by one of my very best friends, Vivek Prasanna. He taught me the basics, the need for regular practice, chop, top-spin and everything else. Unfortunately, I neither had the skill nor the patience to become a player that would have made him proud. This passage is on someone whom I feel is closest to Vivek, in terms of playing and teaching skills.

Muralidharan Padmanaban, an unassuming character I have known for less than a year and a half, is a top class Table Tennis player and a great friend of mine. He picked up the racket at the age of 23 around the year 2007 - approximately 2 years after I started playing. As I write, Murali is at least 10x the player I am, if I am kind to myself [I'm not a great benchmark either]. I'm not sure who taught him the game, but whomever it is, they have done a magnificent job. It's also important to recognize how well Murali has focused on the basics, that has made him the player he is today. In the last year or so, we were taught countless lessons by Murali on how to control the return, how to block the top spin, how to play the side spin, how to get right behind the ball. He has this knack of explaining things with complete patience and I always thought he would make a great trainer. In addition to being extremely skilled in the sport, Murali is also a compassionate human being filled with empathy and that will help him as well. 

Being a certified Table Tennis Coach, Murali has recently started a small TT Academy named "Paddlerz" in Coimbatore. Still in its nascent stage, all he plans to do is - engage people who love the sport, train them the basics, work on the psychology required for matches, focus on physical and mental fitness and a few other key areas needed for the game. I encourage all of you to pay a visit to their facebook page, reach out to him for more details, check out the academy when you find time and importantly enroll your kids if you are impressed with what you hear and see. 

You don't come across all the fancy material and colourful interiors when you are inside the academy. All you could witness is a bunch of top quality ITTF boards, enough space and Table Tennis equipment everywhere. But trust me, anyone who gets trained by him, is sure to learn the game the right way. So solid are Murali's basics [both on the game and life] and endeavour to make people successful. In the end that's all what matters, to learn the Sport.