My father has always been a real practical man. One of the things that he told me that always stayed in my mind is that you should always do the right job with the right tools. In my own projects, I always strive to live by this maxim. I've applied it to everything in my job, as well as most of my hobbies. But I never applied it to table tennis equipment.

You see, I have been a table tennis enthusiast for a good many years. It all began when I moved to college. I lived in a dorm that had very old tennis equipment in the basement. The table tennis paddles were so old that the seem to be falling apart. The boards were uneven, the nets sagged, and the table wobbled every time the ball hit it. Even so, we had many fantastic games. The dorm decided to buy new table tennis equipment just before I moved out. They allow me to bring home the old stuff, and I decided to install it in my basement.

I loved playing on that rickety old table, but it appeared like I could just get to a certain level. I never thought it was the ping pong equipment. I thought it was my playing. You see, I was not the best athlete. How could I guess that what was holding me back was the tennis table equipment?

In fact, I wouldn't have guessed except that I got to play at an area table tennis competition. My friend who is really serious about the game, invited me along. The table tennis equipment there was a very high quality one. People had table tennis paddles made with machinery that I had never seen before. The interesting thing was, as soon as I played on their table tennis equipment, I understood why I had never practiced some of the advanced techniques.

It is not possible to learn advanced ball control on a table that is slanted and warped. Although I had a good game for my own set of table tennis equipment, when I was doing it on a regulation table, my game was off. I don't have to mention that I was eliminated early on. The first thing I did was buy new table tennis equipment. You can be certain I will do better next time!