Oh ya oh ya...what an amazing work-out with Wang Zhen. My energy was waay up and my power and consistency on my forehand was the best its ever been. Wang kept saying all practice "much much better". I played much better because I wasnt nervous this week. Last week I wasnt hitting as hard I feel do to being a bit overwhelmed by his talent. This week I said "frig" that and just let it rip. I like working hard for this guy.

Wang kept saying an interesting thing that I have never heard before..."forget about the backhand...the backhand is for fun...always be in position for the forehand". Interesting. He said that the Chinese, although they of course practice the backhand a tremendous amount..would prefer to hit forehands 100% of the time.

We traded forehands from 8-10 ft away from the table again...after a few adjustments..I was able to exchange 8-10 shots full power..all out power drives and loops. I beat him down the line a few times for outright winners and any time I tried a backhand he just laughed and told me to not do it..."just for fun..backhand"...

He told me that "gowcho"...which I say a lot...(a Cantonese word I *thought* meant "mistake"..)..in fact does not mean "mistake"...yet he couldnt tell me the English word to capture the meaning of it...(from the Cantonese phrase: "aiyaa...yamu gowcho".

In match play I lost 11-3, 11-3, 11-4, 11-8...

Hi-light of Lesson Two: Wang took off his track top this lesson because he "almost was sweating"...but he *did* take it off...

Hi-light #2 of Lesson Two: trading about 12 power drives/loops from 10 ft away...both of us going full tilt.

Low-light of Lesson Two: Not experiencing anything remotely similiar to that fh trading throughout the entire duration of match play :<

All in all...an outstanding practice...we talked more about the meaning of "recovery" and discussed the importance of reviewing any English that got taught the previous lesson and anything I was taught in regards to table tennis.

Again...we spent a lot of time laughing...this is one fun coach to hang out with.

Rick Anderson

Nice lesson updates Rick.