Although my ankle is still sprained, I was able to help coach my club mates at a local table tennis tournament in the city of Dang Jin, 45 minutes west of Cheonan. (송몬성 목사 1조기 주모 탁구 대회)


In the individual event, there were 64 players total, with 8 round robins of 8 players.  The top 32 advanced to the championship bracket, while the next 32 advanced to the consolation bracket.  Of my club's 4 players, 1 made round of 16, 1 made quarterfinals, 1 made semifinals, and 1 placed 1st. (멋있이요 하고 마있어요!)


With 16 teams in the team event, the format was 4 round robins of 4, with the top 2 teams in each group advancing to a single elimination bracket.  The format was unique because all 4 players on the team played 1 match:  "A" played singles, "B" & "C" played doubles, and "D" played singles.  Our team went 6-0 and placed 1st.  I wish I could say my coaching was the difference


There are two major differences between table tennis in Korea as compared to table tennis in the United States.  First, EVERYONE serves illegally!  As a certified umpire, I cringe every time someone hits the ball right out of their hand, doesn't toss the ball high enough, or even throws the ball back, instead of straight up.  But no one seems to care, so all is well, I guess

Secondly, if my ball goes into your court (the table next to mine), I will wait for your point to end and then retrieve the ball.  Anytime a ball goes into my court, I will stop my point, pass theball back to the court next to me, then restart the point I was playing. 

This is NOT the case in Korea.  Players are constantly walking into others' courts to pickup balls, even when they are within feet of a player IN THE MIDDLE OF A POINT.  One of my club mates almost whacked a guy in the head because he tried to pick up a ball near her feet.  Another time, when my club mate was up 10-9 and about to win the game, a player rushed through her court to pick up his ball and almost clipped her in passing.  AGAIN, in Korea, no one seems to care, so it's only a big deal to me.

Adapting to a culture also means adapting to its sports culture.  You can keep a person from umpiring, but it's hard to take the ump out of the person!