2 April 2020

Table tennis on a grand scale

Tosin Ige

Tosin first joined the Aberdeen Tennis League in January 2017, and has not missed a round since! That's 16 rounds and 91 matches. No wonder he seems to have pitched camp at the top of group one, recently winning it for the fifth time in a row! Not bad for a lad whe grew up playing table tennis.

I got into tennis about 6 or 7 years ago when a couple of my friends suggested we go play at the local tennis centre as a way of being active and keeping fit. Prior to this I hadn’t really played before and had no training whatsoever. However, I played table tennis growing up and I just thought of tennis as table tennis on a grand scale. That’s how the journey began.

Tennis is a great way of keeping fit and being active. I enjoy the art of point construction(though not always possible depending on who you are playing), the different styles and techniques you can use and I feel it’s such a fun game to play. 

I joined the Aberdeen Tennis League because it provides more opportunities to play and compete in a friendly environment. It allows me to test myself against players on different levels and also learn a thing or two from those I play. In addition, it helps my ranking.

In the first few years, I think I was predominantly a defensive player, staying on or near the baseline and chasing everything down from there. These days, I play more offensively when I can, trying to dictate the points and coming to the net at opportune moments. 

Without a doubt, playing in the league has been the biggest contributor to my improvement especially since for the most part I’m learning on the job!

My ranking has improved since playing in the league. I have been able to work on my serve and my offensive game. Also, it’s helped me to vary my game to suit who I’m playing in order to get the best chance of winning.

The current lockdown has not been too bad although obviously I’ve not been able to play tennis, which I love to do, or work out in the gym among other things. My suggestion to get through it would be to use this extra time to do those things you didn’t have time to do before. It maybe learning a new skill, reading those books or even keeping fit. There are many exercises out there that don’t need anything gym equipment, just using your body weight. Very importantly, having a structure to your day will help a lot.

Even though my knees are feeling the strain these days, I’ll still be playing in the league hopefully for a long time to come. I enjoy it as it’s a lot of fun. I’ll definitely recommend anyone to join as, apart from the benefits of playing already mentioned, it’s also a great way to meet new people.

When tennis resumes, you can join the Aberdeen Tennis League here