More Service Tribulations

At a tournament last fall, the cadet player I was coaching was using a backhand serve with a toss that was almost exactly six inches. He'd practiced it so he could minimize the toss, since on the backhand serve a shorter toss on that serve makes it both easier to control and harder for the opponent to react to.

An opponent complained that his toss was borderline high enough, and called an umpire. The umpire verified the toss was high enough, and all was well; even the opponent didn't complain again. The player in question not only has never been faulted for a serve, he's never even had a warning, and this was the first and only opponent ever to complain about it.

After the match, one of the club officials pulled me aside and vehemently argued that I should instruct the player to toss the ball higher on his serve so that it would not just be legal, but obviously so. I pointed out that this would decrease the effectiveness of the serve, and since the serve was legal, why should he change it? But the official was very insistent, claiming I wasn't doing my job as a coach if I didn't make...

What's Your Table Tennis Bucket List?

A "bucket list" is a list of all the things you want to do in your life before you, well, kick the bucket. I've got my own list, but this is a table tennis blog - so let's apply this to table tennis. In table tennis, coaches often tell players to set short-, intermediate-, and long-term goals. (I suggest starting with the long-term goals, and work backwards.)

So what are your short-, intermediate-, and long-term goals? (Of course, if you just play for fun, then maybe this doesn't apply to you. Or rather, it does, with all three goals to have fun at table tennis.) Below are mine (as a player). Note that my "long-term" goals are both for this year. For others, those might be intermediate goals, with long-term goals possibly years away, i.e. making a team, winning a title, or reaching a certain level or rating.

• Short-term: Beat our top cadet players at the club this Friday night and Sat & Sun afternoon. (As a coach, of course, if I do beat them, it's a disappointment. I can't win.)
• Intermediate: Get...

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Table Tennis Players

I've been thinking a lot recently about the seven habits of highly effective table tennis players. Why? Because I recently browsed a book I'd read long ago, "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People." The book lists these as the "7 Habits": 1) Be proactive; 2) Begin with the End in Mind; 3) Put First Things First; 4) Think Win/Win; 5) Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood; 6) Synergize; and 7) Sharpen the Saw. (Google the book if you want more info on any of these seven.)

There is a correlation between some of these and the habits of "highly effective table tennis players." For example, you don't get to be a top player without being proactive, i.e. striving to do what it takes to improve. However, I'm not going to try to create a one-to-one correlation between the seven habits listed and ones used by top table tennis players. Instead, I'm going to list my own list of seven habits of "highly...