Great read. Have a talk a couple of years ago where I used him. The change from sawdust to a foam mattress was one I highlighted as well. Such a great story
This reminds (adjacently) of Conan Doyle's The Story of Spedegue's Dropper - about a young cricketer who tries out bowling the ball so high that it drops like a mortar onto the top of the stumps. Batsmen have no defence against it, and in short order he ends up playing for England against Australia - and being pivotal in winning. However, he never plays cricket again after that one match (doctors suggest his health isn't up to it)... though his technique didn't become adopted as Fosbury's was.
Re. John Hilton.... I was a 13 year playing table tennis when he won that European championship in 1980. Pimples in/out was a hot topic (scorching relative to any other table tennis topic a 13 year could come up with in 1980)
And yes the authorities *did* change the rules to enforce two colours (specifically red and black), but not until 1986. And until they did... six years of ferocious pre-serve, under-the-table bat twizzling.
Unrandom book plug; the only table tennis novel I've read, but an absolute doozy... Howard Jacobson's "The Mighty Walzer"
Great read. Have a talk a couple of years ago where I used him. The change from sawdust to a foam mattress was one I highlighted as well. Such a great story
This reminds (adjacently) of Conan Doyle's The Story of Spedegue's Dropper - about a young cricketer who tries out bowling the ball so high that it drops like a mortar onto the top of the stumps. Batsmen have no defence against it, and in short order he ends up playing for England against Australia - and being pivotal in winning. However, he never plays cricket again after that one match (doctors suggest his health isn't up to it)... though his technique didn't become adopted as Fosbury's was.
[https://www.arthur-conan-doyle.com/index.php/The_Story_of_Spedegue%27s_Dropper]
Re. John Hilton.... I was a 13 year playing table tennis when he won that European championship in 1980. Pimples in/out was a hot topic (scorching relative to any other table tennis topic a 13 year could come up with in 1980)
And yes the authorities *did* change the rules to enforce two colours (specifically red and black), but not until 1986. And until they did... six years of ferocious pre-serve, under-the-table bat twizzling.
Unrandom book plug; the only table tennis novel I've read, but an absolute doozy... Howard Jacobson's "The Mighty Walzer"