OOAK Table Tennis Forum

I played in our regional league's men's singles at the weekend and made it to the semi finals. I have attached an extract from the tournament report below.

...was victorious in the other semi-final beating Gt Horkesley’s Richard Goodhand, again in three sets. Goodhand was another to cause shockwaves, aided by his unconventional bat, he narrowly beat fourth seed ......in deuce in the final end.

(Goodhand being me). I played really well at the tournament and surprised myself getting that far. Then when I read this comment, it felt like much of the credit was being taken away. I was hardly the only player there to be aided by his bat! In fact, there was another guy who reached the vets finals who uses the same Dr N type pips, but no mention of his bat in the report! I guess others have this same experience, which seems to me to be just sour grapes? Or am I being overly sensitive? I get used to derogatory comments about the pips, but to be honest I thought those who watched my matches might appreciate the defensive work I got through. Or maybe it was only because of my bat, and I actually did nothing at all!

I'm looking for some support from fellow pippers at my hour of need!

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I agreee, it's poor choice of words... Makes you wonder if someone might have hinted to the editor that you only won because of your bat...and the editor tried to put it politely...

They really should have said something like 'aided by his unusual style'...

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Yes, you're being over sensitive.

I worked for years in the press industry, and jounalists (especially sports journalists) run out of things to write very fast. When they get stuck on how to make this report sound different to the previous dozens/thousands, the first half baked phrase that pops into their head will usually do.

Yes, a more thoughtful, well considered word choice could have been more meanful to the readers, and "nicer" about your acheivement. But this would have required both time and an understanding of the style you were using, both of which the writer very probably lacked.

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Its poor journalism because it shows bias. Accurate writing is a key part of what I do and it takes several years to develop a competant style. I know alot of my posts contain typos but thats because I never proof them these days. The issue here however is not a major thing and hinges on one adjective.

Analysing this we have three key words:
'shockwaves' = a positive statement for Dingwol
'aided' = a negative statement
'unconventional' = a journalists style which is neutral and works quite well

Basically Dingwol knocked out one of the favourites, hence shockwaves and is a reasonable statement. Translating tt to a general audience the term 'unconventional' is not bad, virtually all other competitors will use sponge not OX and at least one sheet of inverted, in contrast Dingwol uses Scalpel and short pips. So far so good, however 'aided' is not a positive phrase and could easily be replaced by any of the following neutral terms, 'played with', 'used', 'utilized' etc...

I know what Shoebox is saying avoiding repetition is important to a journalist and accuracy detracts from the style: the phrase is using metre to be punchy. Consider my writing style however, I focus on technicality rather than entertaining phrases but its not unreadable, the target audience gets the gist despite the fact that I often follow a forumula that avoids pronouns (or else I'm just being lazy). In other words I aim to construct 'self-contained' sentences but this style works.

The solution is to go back win repeatedly then the 'unconventational bat' becomes the norm.

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Mathias - you make me feel better. I agree with what you say - I wrote back to the reporter and asked why he only drew attention to my bat and not the other guy using Dr N Monster OX. I'm sure it's because I'm new in the league and upsetting a few people, but hey, that's my game plan and I actually do it pretty well some of the time.

I'm feeling better now - thanks all you lot.