“People Who Lose Do Useless Practice” by Jun Mizutani: Repeating useless practice leads to bad habits

BOOK
From Losing People Do Pointless Training, written by Olympic gold medalist Jun Mizutani

In 2002, the Japanese men’s team, which had been in a slump until then, began to reform.
Two promising young players, Ryosuke Sakamoto and Seiya Kishikawa, were sent to Borussia Düsseldorf in Germany and trained under Mario Amizic. One year later, Jun Mizutani followed them to Düsseldorf.

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 achieved an unprecedented 10 overall titles. He competed in four consecutive Olympic Games, starting with Beijing 2008. At the Rio 2016 Olympics, he won singles bronze and team silver, and at the Tokyo 2021 Olympics he captured mixed doubles gold and team bronze. He is known as one of the most successful players in Japanese table tennis history. He is currently active as a commentator on TV and other media.

Chapter 1　"Training That Shows Up in Matches" and "Pointless Training"

"Training to develop prediction" means "creating situations in practice that you cannot predict yourself."

When I thought going to Germany would make things easier, everyone turned out to be Mr. Yoshida

　In training at Aomori Yamada, I was always pushing myself to my limits. My natural self was lazy, and I was the type who would cut corners in practice, but I couldn’t slack off in front of Mr. Yoshida. At the same time, when I was pushed to the edge, I realized that I could actually do this much. It was hard and painful training at the time, but because I managed to get through it, I think I was able to win the All Japan Championships in my second year of high school.

　When I went to Germany in my second year of junior high school, I thought that being away from Mr. Yoshida would let me relax and be more free, but that was not the case at all.

　In training at Borussia Düsseldorf in Germany, all of my Opponents were stronger than me and older, so if I made a mistake, they would show an obvious displeased expression and say, "Why would you make such a mistake?" That turned into fear and then tension. In other words, all of the Opponents started to look like Mr. Yoshida.

　So I wanted to show what I could do. If my Opponent acknowledged me as strong, they would choose me for practice, so I kept working hard to make sure my Opponent recognized me too.

*"Borussia Düsseldorf" = One of Europe’s top prestigious teams in Germany’s Bundesliga Division 1. In the past, it included the first professional player Koji Matsushita, Ryosuke Sakamoto, Seiya Kishikawa, and Jun Mizutani.