OOAK Table Tennis Forum

I'm honored that Gao Jun has kindly accepted my offer of an interview! Kudos to MNNB for finding her contact details!
It will be conducted similarly to our other interview here, where I gather everyone's questions, and I will compile them and send them to her. So if you ever wanted to ask her something, here is your chance!

Gao Jun (高军) China/USA
Style: single-sided penholder, shortpips,
Blade: customised Butterfly Matsushita Pro
FH: Butterfly Challenger Attack



Jun was born in Baoding, and resides in Gaithersburg, Maryland, USA.
She won a silver medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics in the women's double event, with Chen Zihe. After retiring from the Chinese National Team, she moved to the U.S. in 1994. She competed for the United States in three consecutive Olympic Games from 2000. In 2009, Gao was inducted into the USATT Hall of Fame.

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OOAK Table Tennis Shop | Re-Impact Blades | Butterfly Table Tennis bats
Setup1: Re-Impact Smart, Viper OX, Victas VS 401 Setup2: Re-Impact Barath, Dtecs OX, TSP Triple Spin Chop 1.0mm Setup3: Re-Impact Dark Knight, Hellfire OX, 999 Turbo
Recent Articles: Butterfly Tenergy Alternatives | Tenergy Rubbers Compared | Re-Impact User Guide

The Matsushita Pro is listed as a defensive blade. The Pro Alpha and the Pro Special are both faster composites than the all wood Pro. Why did Gao Jun choose a slow, spinny blade for her up-to-the-table blocking and hitting game? How has the blade been "customised" to suit her game?

(BTW - are these reasonable questions / the sort of questions you're looking for?)

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"So long, and thanks for all the fish
So sad that it should come to this" Sung by the dolphins in The hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy

This is such good news that Gao Jun has accepted the interview! She has won medals at the Olympics and the World Championship.
She has such passion for the sport and stayed playing for a long time, competing with many generations of TT players.

I will keep my list short.
-the all time best TT players Men and Women in your opinion?
-player(s) you respected most.
-coach(es) you respected most.
-Is there more or less pressure playing on the Chinese National team now, compared to when you were on the team?
-I am a CPen so I'll ask this question: design the ultimate penhold player. If you are a coach, will you train and make another Ma Lin (with traditional BH) or another Wang Hao or another PH style?
-As a short pip player, do you miss the 38mm ball?

Thanks.

Yes, perfectly fine!

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OOAK Table Tennis Shop | Re-Impact Blades | Butterfly Table Tennis bats
Setup1: Re-Impact Smart, Viper OX, Victas VS 401 Setup2: Re-Impact Barath, Dtecs OX, TSP Triple Spin Chop 1.0mm Setup3: Re-Impact Dark Knight, Hellfire OX, 999 Turbo
Recent Articles: Butterfly Tenergy Alternatives | Tenergy Rubbers Compared | Re-Impact User Guide

1. As a pen holder, what's the hardest serve for you to return (speed, placement and type of spin)

2. Do you study your opponents before hand and play to take advantage of their weaknesses or do you start out "playing your game" and only alter tactics if you are struggling?

3. How do you stay focused during a game - what do you think about?

4. Do you practice to improve your weaknesses, or do you concentrate on making your strengths even better?

5. Why do you play pen holder style?

6. What type of tactics used by your opponents give you the most problems to play against?

7. How often do you change your table tennis rubber (replace the same sheet with another new one) and how often have you changed your blade?

8. When chosing your equipment what's the most important part of equipment to get right first - blade, forehand rubber, backhand rubber, or something else?

9. What made you chose the equipment set up you have - how long did it take you to settle on this setup?

10. If someone was new to table tennis and asked you why they should play table tennis what would you say to try and encourage them to chose table tennis?

11. In another interview you mention how important control is to your game. But what do you mean by control? Is it ball placement, or control of the spin or the speed of the rallies.

12. When you make notes on players or are scouting opponents, what type of things are you making notes of?

13. You have said elsewhere how important practice is. However, can you recommend any practice routines a player can do if they are by themselves and don't have a table to use eg it's just a player, a bat and a ball.

14. Having been world number one, you've seen life at the very top. How do you mentally handle losing to players you used to beat and how to you cope with not being able to play as well as you used to?

15. When you were part of the china national team, did the coaching system actually encourage certain styles and try and stop players from playing others? If they did, which styles did they encourage / support and which did they try and discourage?

16. Do you think there is a good mix of styles in the women's and men's games? If no, which styles would you like to see more of and how do you think this can be encouraged?

17. If you could introduce or remove one rule from table tennis, what would it be and why?

18. As you switched to the USA from China, how did/do your friends and coaches in China react to you?

19. You mention in another interview that to improve standards one factor is giving youngsters the opportunity to succeed. Do you think Chinese nationals who switch to playing for other countries - for whatever reason - is good for the game of table tennis and the countries they start to play for or do you think this removes some of those opportunities for youngsters to succeed?

20. If you could ask yourself one question, what would you ask yourself and what would your answer be?

thanks

Not many players use an oversized one-sided penhold blade with short pips, yet you can easily defeat almost everyone in the U.S., male or female. The style obviously works well. Why players essentially abandoned this style?

"Fast attack" penhold style is usually very demanding physically footwork-wise, yet you have been able to stay at the top level for a long time and don't seem to move all that much.

Would it be possible to play a game similar to yours with shakehand grip?

Is it possible for a shakehand player to successfully convert to penhold?

Were you ever a traditional attacking style player or were you always a blocker?

Ever thought about using the reverse-penhold backhand?

Is placement the most important aspect of blocking? Or is spin variation equally important?

Why do you play short pips and not inverted rubber?

What are the most effective serves with short pips?

You do a lot of sidespin blocks. Does that give your opponents a lot of trouble?

Is the Butterfly Challenger Attack rubber you use the same as available to public, or do you have a special custom version?

Will you play in the 2012 Olympics?

The USA used to have world top 20 players with Dan Seemiller and Eric Boggan. Why can't we develop any more top level male international players?

The ITTF currently has an admitted agenda to penalize China due to its success in world table tennis. For example, they have specifically targeted Chinese players by reducing the size of the Olympic teams (so China can't sweep all three table tennis medals) and banned players over 21 from ever competing under another association (to stop Chinese-born players from representing another country). Please tell us your thoughts on these issues?

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The MNNB Blog has had some pretty amazing stuff lately. Just click this text to check it out. | My OOAK Interview
Table Tennis Video Links: itTV | laola1.tv | ttbl | fftt | Challenger Series | mnnb-tv

My whole set-up costs less than a sheet of Butterfly Dignics

ROFL! Did you have a few drinks before you came up with that one!

Any more questions guys?

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OOAK Table Tennis Shop | Re-Impact Blades | Butterfly Table Tennis bats
Setup1: Re-Impact Smart, Viper OX, Victas VS 401 Setup2: Re-Impact Barath, Dtecs OX, TSP Triple Spin Chop 1.0mm Setup3: Re-Impact Dark Knight, Hellfire OX, 999 Turbo
Recent Articles: Butterfly Tenergy Alternatives | Tenergy Rubbers Compared | Re-Impact User Guide

you trained in china, on chinese equipment, with chinese coaches, is it only due to the sponsorship that you use non chinese equipment?

What do you see as the training situation for TT players in USA?

What do you see that needs to happen to move it in a more positive direction?

What do you think can be done to get TT to where you can ride a bicycle to a club with USATT 2000 or above players in any city in USA? (That is easy to do here in just about any city over 10,000 in Korea and probably easier in China)

What do you think needs to happen for the TT viewing audience to grow?

What would you say to non-TT people to get them interested in TT for fitness?

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Goof-off chopping bat
Gambler All Rosewood
Aurus Soft / Gambler GXL .6 sponge

Status - Out of Business Janitor/Babysitter

Any more questions guys?

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OOAK Table Tennis Shop | Re-Impact Blades | Butterfly Table Tennis bats
Setup1: Re-Impact Smart, Viper OX, Victas VS 401 Setup2: Re-Impact Barath, Dtecs OX, TSP Triple Spin Chop 1.0mm Setup3: Re-Impact Dark Knight, Hellfire OX, 999 Turbo
Recent Articles: Butterfly Tenergy Alternatives | Tenergy Rubbers Compared | Re-Impact User Guide

How old are you? and how long your practice and exercise everyday?

How many times you changed your rubber or blade in last 5 years?

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Blade: 729 F1 || FH: Joola Rhyzm max || BH: Tenergy 05 Max updated: 1/2014

Q: It seems that almost all of the top women now are shakehanders compared to the top men where there are still many penholders. Does the style of play among women differ in some significant way that puts penholders at a disadvantage? If true, could you discuss why this is so?

 

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Giant Dragon Kris Special : RITC 802 w/Dawei 2.2 35d fh : : Donic Blue Fire M3 2.0 black bh
Member of Charlotte Table Tennis Club, Charlotte, North Carolina, USA
Visit Charlotte Table Tennis Club on Facebook

Last day for any questions... Ill compile the questions tonight...

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OOAK Table Tennis Shop | Re-Impact Blades | Butterfly Table Tennis bats
Setup1: Re-Impact Smart, Viper OX, Victas VS 401 Setup2: Re-Impact Barath, Dtecs OX, TSP Triple Spin Chop 1.0mm Setup3: Re-Impact Dark Knight, Hellfire OX, 999 Turbo
Recent Articles: Butterfly Tenergy Alternatives | Tenergy Rubbers Compared | Re-Impact User Guide