Expert in a Year

Ben Larcombe, a TT coach in Great Britain, has started a challenge - training a beginner to become an expert level player in 1 year.  His blog is here: http://www.experttabletennis.com/

 

 

Edited by GMan4911 - 02/14/2014 at 7:12pm

I think we first have to ask what the definition of "expert" in this case is.

NOPE. He's dreaming.
Unless he's using the research definition of fine motor tasks of "40% accuracy" as being an expert.
Otherwise, in general,1 he a day for a year gives 365 hours, at most 366 hours. That is not even scratching the surface of the rule of thumb of 10000 hours.

GeneralSpecific wrote: I think we first have to ask what the definition of "expert" in this case is.

Edited by viva - 02/14/2014 at 8:21pm

Could you do something like that in other sports that require this level of skill?  It is absurd to think you could do it in TT.  2400 in a year?  No. 

Work 20 mins on serve, Next 20 mins on return and  last 20 mins on 3rd ball attacks - repeat until day 365!

viva wrote: GeneralSpecific wrote: I think we first have to ask what the definition of "expert" in this case is. Here : His definition of an expert player is to be ranked in the top 1% of active players in your country, which, in England, would put you in the top 250 players.  Here in the US, according to ttspin, there are ~8100 active players so that would put you in the top 80 with a rating of around 2450-2500

Impossible. I don't see it going past a 2000 level at best.

Sam seems to have taste and potential for TT. I will not be surprized if the project succeeds.

They train in such a small area haha

Looking at his very first video before training in december 2013 and comparing it to his latest video in january 2013, he's made some good progress.

Top 250 in UK sounds tough but I think he'll be able to get pretty close!

DDreamer wrote: APW could confirm this but I'm pretty sure top 250 in England is nowhere near US2450-2500. I suspect US2450-2500 is closer to UK top 50ish.

You are correct.
Top 250 (2100 +/-100) is doable if he's talented (whatever that means)and is entered in all the grand prix tournaments and gets the upsets necessary.

Desmond Douglas is the classic example. Basement player at about 14-15yo, England senior international by about 18, top10 in Europe by 20 or something like that. I hope PPP or APW jumps in and clarifies.

Edit: For reference, Helshan WEERASINGHE is our top junior and is ranked #51 among Euro junior boys and #13 among senior England players. He's about 2500-2600. Here he is last year. Just click on the thingy that says junior final

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWtk8hlHT2s

Edited by Tinykin - 02/15/2014 at 6:08am

other things to consider is Ben a good enough coach to create such a good player (not being mean or sarky) but does he have a track record or getting someone to the top on a limited training programe

Wait so is he allowed to play more than 1 hour everyday?

I think we first have to ask what the definition of "year" in this case is.

Only 1 hour coaching per day, but he can play or practice with a non coach ?

"The plan is to give Sam 365 hour-long individual coaching sessions over the course of 2014. He also has a robot that he will be practicing with occasionally and I’m sure he’ll still be challenging his flatmates to matches as well.

I’m also hoping that we will be able to get away for a couple of week to attend a training camp at some point during the year. I think a week of intensive training (once he’s got a little better) will do wonders for his improvement, and it’ll be a lot of fun."