Does one need to be a top player to be a top coach? The question often comes up, and there's an easy answer. No.

However . . . and this is a big HOWEVER . . . it's difficult to become a top coach without being a top player first. It's a matter of opportunity. If you are a member of a National Team, you train for many years with other top players and top coaches, and if you are really paying attention and become a student of the game, you gain the experience necessary to be a top coach.

It's possible to be a very good basics coach, one who can train new and intermediate players very well, without being as experienced working with top players. But the key problem to watch for here is that many coaches who teach basics teach them in a way that will later hurt the player. For example, some hold back on teaching the loop in rallies, especially the backhand loop, for so long that hitting becomes ingrained, and so looping never becomes ingrained or comfortable. Or they have the player use beginner's sponge so long that their development is held back because they develop a game around beginner's sponge instead of a modern game based on modern sponges. So even coaches of beginning and intermediate players need to have enough experience with top players to see how they develop so they can teach players a foundation that leads to becoming a top player.

Some believe you can be a self-taught coach, and there's some truth to this. But there will always be major holes in your coaching if you don't have the opportunity to spend lots and lots of time with top players and coaches when they train. Even tactical coaching is limited if you haven't spent a lot of time with the player you are coaching when he's practicing. You might be a good tactical coach from personal experience and from watching top players on video and analyzing what you see, but you have to see what the player is doing in practice to see what he can really do. You might see him have trouble with a shot and not know if he normally has trouble with that shot or if he's just off or nervous. You might see a weakness in an opponent that seems to play into your player's strengths, but if the player hasn't practiced that type of sequence, he might not be comfortable doing it. So being around top players and coaches when they train is important if you truly want to be a top coach. This doesn't mean you can't be a decent coach; but to be a top coach you need the full experience.

Suppose you were not a top player, but somehow spent years watching top players train and work with top coaches, and really paid attention? Then you could also become a top coach. However, it's difficult to find such opportunities unless you are a top player. If you aren't a top player and want to be a top coach, you have to find opportunities to be around top players and coaches when they train, even if it means volunteering to help in some way, or just observing, perhaps for years, as you learn what top players learn in the many years they train to become a top player. This means showing up to watch their training sessions or attending training camps, where you observe, analyze, and ask questions.

There’s also the problem that you can’t really train one-on-one with a top player if you aren’t also a top player, but you can still hit with non-top players, feed multiball, run group sessions, and perhaps block for top players in some drills. (One key thing for non-top players who want to be top coaches – become an expert in feeding multiball. How do you do this? First, watch top coaches do it – both their technique and the drills they do. And second, by practicing, not just with players, but on your own, by yourself, with a box of balls. And then volunteer to do it in group sessions.) There are numerous examples of non-top players, or players who were good but never national team level, who became top coaches.

You want to be a top coach? Start attending training sessions and camps, but not as a player, but as an observer or assistant coach (possibly as an unpaid volunteer), and that’s where you learn. If your level is high enough, most coaches would gladly welcome an assistant coach who can be a practice partner (if an odd number of players) or feed multiball – and while doing this, you learn from that coach and from the top players in the session. Do this long enough, and become a student of the game, and you’ll start really seeing the sport differently – and you’ll be on your way to becoming a top coach.

Technically, a match begins with the umpire tossing a coin to see who serves first. In reality, most matches aren't umpired, and so they "hide the ball" under the table, and the other player chooses. Whoever wins gets the choice of either serving first, receiving first, or choice of side. (Once you make your choice, the other player gets next choice, and so on.) It should be 50-50 who gets first choice - but for an experienced player, it isn't really. Here are a few completely honest ways to increase your chances of winning the first choice.

If you are hiding the ball…

1. Watch the opponent's other matches and see which hand he typically chooses.
2. Put the ball in your left hand against a righty player, and vice versa. For some reason, most players are more likely to point diagonally with their playing hand. The exception is if they are holding their racket, in which case they will more likely point diagonally with their non-playing hand.
3. Slightly flex the muscles of the hand not holding the ball and hold that hand a little lower. Subliminally, opponents pick up on this and choose that hand. Make sure to do the hiding in a nice, smooth motion. If you do it slowly or with obvious care, he'll think you are being tricky and choose the other (correct) hand. Which means, of course, that sometimes you can hide the ball slowly with obvious care and do everything opposite of the above! (I do this sometimes successfully.)

If you are choosing the ball…

1. Watch the opponent's other matches and see which hand he typically hides it in.
2. Players tend to hide the ball more often in their serving hand, i.e. not their racket hand.
3. You can sometimes see a slight flexing in the arm holding the ball.
4. Players tend to hold the hand with the ball slightly lower.
5. Watch out for experienced players who cross you up, especially on #3 above!

When I hide the ball and let the opponent choose, using all the tricks in part one, I'm pretty sure I get first choice nearly 2/3 of the time. When the opponent hides the ball, I'm pretty sure I get first choice 3/5 of the time. Of course, this comes with practice - and I've been doing it for 47 years. And, of course, none of this works if the opponent knows you are doing it!

At the lower levels, most players serve long both because they haven't learned to serve short effectively yet, and because opponents aren't yet skilled enough to attack them consistently and effectively. As you reach higher levels, long serves become less effective if used too often. But if used at the right time, they are extremely effective, for two primary reasons.  

1. The surprise factor leads to "free" points where the receiver misses or pops up the serve. 
2. The receiver has to guard against deep serves, and so is less effective against shorter serves.  

Note that it does take practice to develop effective long serves. Some develop a fast topspin serve, but a pure topspin serve is rarely effective – most opponents reflexively make good returns off them, even if rushed. To be effective, a long serve needs to be fast and deep, and either break with sidespin, or fast and dead (so opponent, used to some topspin, either puts it in the net or overreacts and goes off the end).  

But when should you use these long serves? That comes with experience. The two reasons above are why I advise players to develop all three types of serves: short (given the chance, would bounce at least twice on receiver's side of table); half-long (given the chance, second bounce would be right about the receiver's endline); and long serves (first bounce on receiver's side of the table is near the endline). But there's a third reason to use deep serves - to develop an instinct for when to use them effectively. Here are some things to take into consideration.  

1. How long since last time you used the serve. 
2. How effective the serve was when you used it.  
3. How the receiver is standing. If he's jammed to the table or leaving a corner somewhat open, it's time to serve long.  
4. How he received the last few serves. If he's handling your other serves well, it's time for a change.  
5. How much confidence you have in the serve and follow-up shots, where you might be on the defensive if the serve is attacked. 

So, put variety in your serves with short, half-long, and long serves. Always remember that while Short Serve is an anagram for Hot Servers, Fast Serve is the one many experienced players are often afraid of - it's an anagram for Vets' Fears!

I've always wanted to implant a camera in the eyes of up-and-coming players to record what they see when they watch top players play. They should see all sorts of great technique and tactics, right? But I'm afraid what I'd actually see is this. Yes, all they're really watching is the ball going back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. You don't learn much from that, do you?

Instead, to learn from top players when you watch them, focus on the player and what he's doing. See how he prepares for each shot (positioning and ready stance), how he executes the shot (backswing, forward swing, contact, follow through), and how he repositions himself for the next shot. THIS is how you learn, not from watching a small sphere shoot back and forth!

And now we're going to do a little exercise. Go to this Selective Attention Test (81 sec), and follow instructions. Notice how easy it is to see what you are looking for, while completely missing other things? Make sure when you watch a top player to focus on each aspect of what he does, and try to get a complete picture. Otherwise you might miss the obvious dancing gorilla of his technique!

Often I see players do drills where they try smacking the ball back and forth as if they were pros. (If you are a pro, then this doesn't apply to you.) They rally at a pace they can't control, and so their balls fly all over the court or miss. If they do hit but not at the place they are supposed to be drilling to, then the opponent's shots go all over the court or miss. It's pandemonium! Drills should not be, "hit-hit-mishit-miss." They should be "hit-hit-hit-hit-hit-hit-hit-hit-hit-hit..."

Some think that by practicing at such speeds, they can learn to play at that speed. The part they are missing is that they are practicing missing as much as they are practicing hitting the table! By flailing away at the ball, they aren't improving their technique, control (putting the ball where you aim), or consistency. Instead, work on having great technique, control, and consistency. Have a coach or top players look at your strokes (or watch them on video yourself and compare to top players) so you have good technique. Do drills where you focus on hitting the ball within six inches or so of where you are aiming for control. Count how many shots you can do in a drill to work on consistency. When you have those three, hitting hard is easy.

And then, maybe, just maybe . . . you'll be a pro!