Trial training | The answer to all questions

A back and forth: Table tennis training requires plenty of balls. Photo: dpa/David Kluthe Oops, where is my ball going this time? Way across the board. Jeez! I actually consider myself someone who can play table tennis. And then comes the next topspin serve, fast, long, on the backhand - and again: ball gone. It's been going on like this for minutes. Oh man!

I'm standing on the left side of the table tennis table, diagonally opposite my trainer Domino. She takes balls out of a basket every second and plays them on my backhand. Domino, actually Viet Than Tran, is the reigning Berlin champion and will also be my trainer in the next few weeks. She explained to me earlier that table tennis is a dialogue. The opponent asks a question - and you need an answer. My realization after five minutes of baking balls into nowhere: I have nothing to answer to some questions.

nd editor Jirka Grahl tries out various sports, this time table tennis. In January he wants to compete in the table tennis tournament of thousands.

That's hard. Since the summer, I've been playing table tennis regularly again with my buddies Douglas, Nathan, Robin and Heiner - in a backyard in Prenzelberg, where we pull a pretty pink wooden plate out of the shed. Singles, doubles, English – sometimes there are nice rallies. We chop and belt, Kraftwerk songs blare out of the Bluetooth box, and there's beer and conversation along the way. We are ambitious enough that defeats are annoying, but of course we never “train”. At best, we understand the technology instinctively. Now in late autumn we hang battery-powered lamps over the plate in the drizzle, with droplets glittering on it. Returns are made in the semi-darkness, more by hearing than by sight. It's still a lot of fun.

But during the first training session with Domino, I now have doubts: Do we backyard experts even play table tennis? Or are we still playing ping pong? How does table tennis really work?

In this country, everyone learns the sport from an early age, in the East and in the West. As a child in the GDR, I loved going to holiday camps in Mecklenburg in summer, winter and even autumn. Because there were night hikes there! Disco! First kisses! And the absolute highlight – the table tennis tournament! The day I won't forget was when I received the gold medal for the first time at the KFL "Hans Litten" Canow in front of everyone: warehouse manager!

Maybe I can now taste a little of the sweetness of my former success? From January onwards, the table tennis tournament of thousands will be taking place again in Berlin, the TTT, which was held for the first time in East Berlin in 1960. Today it is the oldest popular sports tournament in Germany. I played there myself as Steppke, and at one point I was third at district level. I now want to compete again at the TTT in 2027. Maybe I'll win a match or two?

Until the tournament attempt, I will take you on my table tennis journey in this column: What can the material do, what psychological tricks help at the table, how to train smartest - there are a lot of questions that need to be answered. A very urgent one has now been clearly formulated: How do I bring this damn backhand ball back?

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