WASHINGTON, DC — Charlene Liu stands in the far right corner of her table tennis club and scans the seven tables, her eyes noting every strategic move used by players. She grins with satisfaction as one of the youngest — he’s 10 — uses a supple wrist movement to spin the small white ball.
Coach Liu’s students are improving — and that means everything to her.
It’s all business when Liu competes: she moves about the table like a cat, stalking, her eyes on the ball.
She is participating in the U.S. National Championships in Las Vegas from July 4–9 in the Over-60 category.
But she’s far from a household name in the Washington area sports world.
No matter. Serious table tennis players know all about Charlene Liu.
Members of her club say it is a privilege to train with a world class champion, who is still at the top of her game. Douglas Wonderlic, 78, the oldest player in the club, said Liu teaches strategy — what shot follows your best offensive move, and so on — and not many coaches do that.
“If this were tennis, it would be like we have a chance to take lessons from Chris Evert or Jimmy Connors,” said Wonderlic. “Something that would never happen in tennis, but can happen in table tennis, and it is a great opportunity.”
Liu, 64, the founder of the only table tennis club in the city, Washington DC Table Tennis Center, lives her lifelong dream of coaching and playing a game she loves. She moved to the U.S. from China during in the 1970s with her husband. She was in her 20s and pursuing her master’s degree in computer science.
Throughout the journey, she knew she wanted to earn enough money to start her own table tennis club in Washington, an underserved area with no professional club.
“I thought there was no hope for table tennis if the capital city of the United States did not have a club, and that’s why I spent all my life’s savings to start (one),” said Liu, who opened the club in 2014 in Northeast Washington.
By then, she had completed her dual master’s degree in computer science and obtained a Ph.D in sports psychology at the University of Georgia. She took a computer IT specialist day job.
Apart from coaching, Liu also plays in national and international table tennis tournaments every year. She won the Over 60 category in the 2016 World Veterans Championships held in Spain in May. She took the bronze medal in the 2014 World Veterans Championships in New Zealand in the same category. In all, she has won more than 33 national titles in U.S. Open and U.S. Nationals since 1996.
The awards from all her victories adorn the walls of her club — reminders of what she’s capable of achieving. Posters of famous competitors like Timo Boll and Jun Mizutani are also on display.
Thomas Olausson, a Swedish player, says Liu has experience in breaking down elements of the game to students and that has helped a lot of players reach 2,000 points — the rating that puts one in the professional mix of players. She is the only female player over the age of 60 in the U.S. to be rated above 2,000.
Players like Olausson from across the globe — Sweden, Brazil, Venezuela, China and the U.S. — train under her. Now and then, a good smash gets applause from other players, and competitors get friendly nudges when they do well.
She changed her “pen hole” style (gripping the paddle like a pen) to “shake hand style” (between your thumb and pointing fingers) in order to help her son, (James) Tianzhou Duan, learn the best possible version. He started playing at 11, and went on to professional table tennis. He graduated from MIT in June with a Ph.D in management
His mom’s biggest accomplishment? He says it was staying at the top of women’s table tennis consistently over the last 20 years while also coaching.
Liu is training to compete in the 2018 World Veterans Championship in Las Vegas, the first time the championship has come to the United States since the tournament was launched in 1982. She expects the tournament buzz will provide a big boost for the game in this country where table tennis is seen by some more as a parlor game akin to darts or horseshoes.
“The table tennis scene in the U.S. will definitely change after the championship in Vegas,” she said.
She also aims to get more kids to enroll in her club — young people who will take the responsibility of carrying the table tennis baton forward.
Liu said she and her husband often face off against each other in friendly games at the club.
“I always beat her when we play,” Duan said.
Liu disagreed.
“He will tell you that he can beat me — but I would say I can beat him a good number of times,” she said, and with a twinkle in her eyes.
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