This summer, USATT junior and cadet teams went to ZhengDing, Chinese Table Tennis National Training Center, for a team training camp. There were six U.S. girls and eight U.S. boys in total and three wonderful coaches: Coach Emilia, Coach Lily, and Coach Keith. We trained with the ZhengDing team girls for two entire weeks. It was hard work but completely worth it.

I went to China with many errors in my game but learned to improve and correct a lot of them. We trained about six hours a day and there a lot of other people from many different countries such as India, Sweden, Canada, and France. The first few days were only training but then we got the opportunity to play some matches against the players from India. They were really good but we all tried out best and actually tied with them in a team match. In the last few days we also played some matches with the Chinese players. Most of us lost all our matches but it was good experience, and it showed us that we still have a long way to go and improve.

My experience from China really helped me learn a lot and the U.S. coaches also helped a lot. We learned why the Chinese players are all so good; they practice a lot and train really hard. Even if we only trained with them for two weeks, I feel like we all gained a lot of knowledge and experience. So when I’m practicing back here in the U.S., I’ll always work as hard as I did in China and I’ll be sure to improve.

– Lily Zhang