“People Who Lose Do Useless Practice” — What Jun Mizutani means by “practice to train prediction” is “creating situations in practice that you cannot predict yourself.”

BOOK From People Who Lose Do Useless Practice by Olympic gold medalist Jun Mizutani

In 2016, Japan's Jun Mizutani finished writing a book titled People Who Lose Do Useless Practice. In the very year he published this book, he won the bronze medal in the singles at the Rio Olympics. He also played a leading role as the ace in the Team Event, guiding the team to a silver medal.

Five years later, at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, Mizutani won the long-awaited gold medal in Mixed Doubles and a bronze medal in the Team Event, becoming one of the most successful players in Japanese men's table tennis history.

PHOTO Yoshinori Eto

Profile　Jun Mizutani
Jun Mizutani
Born June 9, 1989, from Shizuoka Prefecture. He won every event in the age-group categories (U12, etc.) at the All Japan Championships, and later also stood atop the Junior division (U17). In the general division of the All Japan Table Tennis Championships, which boasts more than 90 years of tradition, he set an unprecedented record with a total of 10 titles. He has competed in four consecutive Olympics since Beijing 2008. At the 2016 Rio Olympics, he won bronze in Singles and silver in the Team Event, and at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics he took gold in Mixed Doubles and bronze in the Team Event. He is known as one of the most successful players in Japanese table tennis history. He is currently active as a commentator on television and elsewhere.

Chapter 1: “Practice That Works in Matches” and “Useless Practice”

What is “practice to train prediction”? It means “creating situations in practice that you cannot predict yourself.”

By doing practice that is close to real competition and places high demands on you, you can react unconsciously in matches.

Recently, when I practice, I place high demands on my Opponent.

For example, I do a drill called “3-point Footwork.” In this drill, my partner sends the ball to my forehand → Middle → backhand → forehand → Middle → backhand, and on the seventh ball I make a big leap to my forehand and make the Return. In this drill, when I have them send the ball to my forehand, I ask them to send it so tough that I can't reach it. Then on the eighth ball, I have them drive hard to my backhand so tough that I can't reach it, and from there the drill becomes free.

In another drill, I serve and have them do a Stop shot to the whole table. I then Flick every ball to their backhand, so I ask, “On the fourth ball, hit hard to the whole table so tough that I can't get to it.” If I can use a Counter topspin, I do; if not, I Block. After that, we move into a Rally between their backhand half and my backhand half. I ask them to vary the pace and Spin, saying, “At that point, stretch the ball out or add a no spin ball to create changes of pace.” From there, I also do drills where it becomes free and I ask my Opponent to hit hard to my forehand so tough that I can't return it.

The third drill I introduce is receiving with a Chiquita to the backhand of a right-hander. I ask, “Hit hard to the whole table.” I then Counter topspin the ball that is hit to my Opponent's backhand, or Block it. From there, while they vary the pace and Spin, they Block one or two balls to the forehand and one or two to the backhand, and when they send it to the Middle, the drill then becomes free to the whole table.

These high-demand, competition-like drills are not boring for the Opponent and are designed with my own match in mind. The Opponent doesn't just Block normally; they always keep the Block short, stretch it out, or make it curve. You have to ask them to make their returns with variation, and build a body that can respond reflexively to that.

Since the Opponent's ball reaches your court in about 0.2 to 0.5 seconds, if you are thinking about it in your head, it's already too late in table tennis. Unless you build a body through practice that can react unconsciously, you won't win matches.

＊Stop shot = a technique for placing the ball short on top of the opponent's table

＊Flick = a technique for hitting a ball above the table with a quick, flicking motion while applying Spin

＊Chiquita = a Backhand attacking technique used against balls above the table, returning them with topspin or sidespin. In recent years, it has become popular, especially among younger players. It was named “Chiquita” (banana) because the ball flies while curving like a banana. It is often used in Receive situations

＊Block = a defensive technique for stopping the opponent's Topspin or Smash

＊No spin = a ball with no Spin