Timo Boll
Timo began to play table tennis at the age of four with his father in their old cellar. His father bought an table tennis table. His talent was quickly spotted. With seven years Timo Boll was discovered from the Hessian National coach Helmut Hampl who promoted him. He also trained in the Table tennis centre Pfungstadt. 1995 at age 14 he was strong enough to play in the "Oberliga"  with the adults even though only being at position 5 in the team. To daily train with him, the team moved to his homeplace. In that year (1995) he took part in the European Youth Championships in Den Haag, where Timo won three Gold medals. In 1997 Boll played his first game for the national team against Poland where he was matched with Piotr Skierski and Lucjan Bļaszczyk, and won both matches. He ends his school education with graduation from "Realschule" / Mittlere Reife.