September 21, 2012

Table Tennis Tactics

This past week I've been jumping back and forth from working on the page layouts of "Table Tennis Tactics: A Thinker's Guide" and 246 other things. Here's an excerpt from the book:

Table tennis is a game of utter complexity and utter simplicity. If you get too caught up in the myriad of complex strategies available, you'll be lost in a sea of uncertainty. Think KISS—"Keep It Simple, Stupid." On the other hand, if your thinking is too simple, you aren't maximizing your play.

There's no conflict here. Much of tactics involves simplifying things so the game becomes simple and easy. If you use tactics that force your opponent into predictable returns that feed into your strengths, you've won the tactical battle and made the game simple and easy. In this book we'll cover the tactical and strategic ways of doing this, as well as the tactical frame of mind that makes tactical play come naturally.

Most matches are tactically won on at most two or three tactical things, not the zillions that are possible. It's finding those two or three out of the zillions that's key. (Hey, I may add this to the book! Addendum - just did.) And if you can't think of zillions of tactical things to do, you need to start thinking tactically! To further quote the book:

Tactical thinking is a habit. I know some brilliant people who do not think at the table, and some not-so-brilliant ones who know exactly what they are doing out there. Which do you choose to be? It’s a choice.

Help is on the way! The book should be out by December in time for the USA Nationals, and perhaps sooner. (If I get going on it, it might be ready by November.)

One Day Till the MDTTC September Open!

Have you entered yet? Deadline is past, but for only $5 late fee you can still enter until 7PM tonight, and avoid others talking and making cracks about you behind your back. This weekend could be the beginning of your professional career, the big breakthrough where, out of nowhere, you suddenly are looping and smashing like a pro, and nobody can stop you, allowing you to drop out of the drudgery of work and join the elite athletes who spend their days sipping tea by poolside (after training eight hours/day) while you are slaving away at a desk.

USA's Ariel Hsing wins Intercontinental Title at World Cup!

Here's the ITTF Story. This puts her in the Final Sixteen. 

Drill Your Skills with the Chinese National Team

Here are three coaching videos. I may have posted the first two in my blog sometime in the past, but the third one (Forehand Receive) is definitely new. (It has four parts - Pushing Short, Pushing Long, Looping, and Flipping.) They are in Chinese with English subtitles.

  1. Forehand Serve (7:42)
  2. Backhand Serve (6:36)
  3. Forehand Receive (7:47)

Journal of My Paralympic Journey

Tara Profitt's journal about her time at the Paralympics and the table tennis competition.

Table Tennis on a Gigantic Rock Slab

This is great (4:16) - but it's practically tennis! Now we know how to handle short balls - don't step in like coaches teach you, just crawl on the table! Can anyone recognize the language they are speaking?

White Ping-Pong Table

We have a White House, white chocolate, and Gandalf the White (yeah, he didn't stay grey long). Now we have a white ping-pong table - and it looks snazzy! White balls, anyone?

Batman!

Yes, that's Batman with a ping-pong paddle, in an illustration used at the Buenos Aires Grand Prix by the Argentina Table Tennis Federation.

***

Send us your own coaching news!