Training for the Olympics: Q&A with Table Tennis Champ and Workday Engineer Peter Li
By Mary Hayes Weier, Workday Staff Writer on Company News & Culture
Peter Li joined Workday as a software application engineer in 2016, after interning here while a senior at UC Berkeley the previous year. Yet there’s a lot more to Li than just great software development. As it happens, he spent much of his youth as a serious table tennis competitor. Now, at age 25, he’s training for an Olympics run.
It’s been six years since Li has immersed himself in rigorous training and competitions, but he’s no stranger to success: He was the US National Champion in table tennis for his age group in 2009 and 2010, the US Open Junior Boy’s Singles Champion in 2010, and the US National Men’s Singles Champion in 2011. He had a close but ultimately unsuccessful bid for a spot on Team USA in the 2012 Olympics.
The time is right, Li says, to give it another shot. He wants to compete in the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. “My career as a software engineer is a priority, but this is also something I want to work towards,” he says.
Li also enjoys the game at work, as a member of Workday’s Ping Pong Club. Last year more than 250 of his colleagues showed up to watch the Workday 2017 Spring Ping Pong Tournament. How did he finish? Singles Advanced Champion.
Read on to learn why Li loves table tennis, what it’s like to train, and why people shouldn’t get their understanding of the game from “Forrest Gump” and “Balls of Fury.”
When did you start playing?
When I was seven. After my piano lesson, my dad would take me to his table tennis club to watch him play. He had started playing in China, and continued when he moved to the U.S. After watching him for a while, I decided to give it a try.
I was really serious about it by the time I was nine, and entered the Junior Olympics in the under-10 age category. I first qualified for the US National Team when I was 13, and went on to play in ping pong competitions in over 10 countries.
What is the proper term for the game — ping pong or table tennis?
Table tennis and ping pong can be used interchangeably, even though ping pong seems to be the more recreational term for the sport. I don’t mind people calling it ping pong since in Chinese it is called ping pang qiu.
What do you love about the game?
Initially, I liked it because my dad liked it, and so did other kids my age. We trained together, and I made a lot of friends. So it was a great social opportunity. Also, I like that the reaction time is very fast-paced, and there’s lot of individual strategy. You set yourself up for the next move — like a chess game.
And like any other sport, it’s very competitive. You have to be able to handle pressure.
In a lot team-based sports you have a leader; someone calling the shots. In an individual sport like table tennis, you’re calling shots and executing, so you have to keep a clear mind and execute even if you’re really nervous.
You’ve competed in over 10 countries for table tennis. Is it a globally recognized sport?
Yes, it’s a huge sport in Asia. In China, there are pro players starting from age 12 or 13, practicing 8–10 hours per day. It’s also big in Japan, Korea, and Taiwan, and to some degree in Germany, France, England, and Sweden.
But in the U.S., table tennis is a small sport. People’s first impression of it is from “Forrest Gump” and “Balls of Fury,” which are not great representations of the sport. That gets annoying sometimes, but I just sort of shrug my shoulders about it. It’s a highly respected sport in many parts of the world, and my hope is that table tennis will become a more recognized sport in the U.S.
How much did you train when you were younger and playing competitively?
When I was younger and in school, I would train after school and on weekends; about 20–25 hours per week. Once I joined the US National team, I had to miss a good deal of middle school and high school for competitions, and had to learn to manage my time well. If I missed a week of school, I had to come back and be prepared to make up schoolwork and tests. That taught me good time management skills throughout college and into my career.
What does training itself entail?
Typically you do drills with a practice partner. This includes footwork and serve-attack drills. There is also multi-ball training to increase agility. And-off-the-table cardio and weight training, with a specific focus on strengthening the core. You can also compete in weekly league competitions and local tournaments throughout the year for more match practice.
This is your second attempt to make the Olympics. What was the experience like in 2012?
I finished high school in 2011, and took a gap year before Berkeley to try and qualify for the 2012 Olympics. I went to China to train for four months, came back to win the US National Championship in men’s singles in December 2011, and then went back to China to train some more for the Olympics. I was favored to make the team. But at that level, and with only three spots on the men’s team that year, anything can happen; I didn’t get one of the three spots.
Ultimately, I knew table tennis was not a stable career for me and that college was a priority. I pursued a double major and graduated from Berkeley in 2016 with degrees in computer science and business administration. That kept me very busy.
What made you decide to return to competitive table tennis?
Because it’s what I love. And I love to compete. Right now, I’m training more and more, and my target is the US Nationals happening later this year. I’m developing a competitive mindset to compete for the 2020 Olympic Trials. The only goal I haven’t achieved in table tennis is to be able to go to the Olympics, and that would be a dream come true.
