November 18, 2015

Mental Strength – with Jan-Ove Waldner's Tips for Peak Performance
Wow, what a great book! I just read Mental Strength (available from Amazon), by sports psychologist Gregor Schill, former Swedish star Malin Pettersson, and of course Jan-Ove Waldner, the legend and arguably the greatest player of all time. There are nine chapters:

  1. Mental Training – in Theory
  2. Attitude and Enjoyment
  3. Self-Confidence
  4. Stress Management
  5. Winner Instinct and Goals
  6. Preparations and Continuous Development
  7. Focus and Concentration
  8. Twelve Tips for Sports Parents
  9. Mental Training – in Practice

Most chapters starts with Waldner's comments, followed by Schill's (which usually build on what Waldner said), followed by Pettersson's, followed by exercises. I marked my copy up with notes; here are some highlights. (There is great stuff by all three, but I'll focus here on some of the best stuff from Waldner, with apologies to Schill and Pettersson. Otherwise this would be one very long review! Most of the text that's not attributed directly to Waldner or Petterson is by Schill.) There are lots of charts and color pictures.

Preface by Jan-Ove Waldner. "Since I have always been very conscious of how important the mental or psychological game is within table tennis, it went without saying that I would share my thoughts on the subject when Malin and Gregor asked. Because, in truth, the question is not whether you should train the mental aspects, but rather how you should train them." This basic concept, so obvious to champions, is lost on most players.

Chapter 1: Mental Training – in Theory. It starts by going over some of the mental challenges players face. I thought about some of the junior players at my club and every one of them have had difficulty with some of these. They also gave results of a survey done at the Olympic Games, with results that were somewhat obvious to some of us, but might be surprising to many. "Out of all the survey participants, 29% used some form of Mental Training. Of those who went on to reach the finals, the number was 58%; and of the medalists, as many as 67% regularly engaged in purposeful, goal-oriented Mental Training." And from this, there were two conclusions: "1. Mental Training works, and 2. Those who really want to be the best, leave nothing to chance."

There were a number of other important sections, such as a section on Think Confidently. "Think as if you knew for sure that you could do it." You should be surprised when you miss, since otherwise you aren't very confident, and if you aren't confident, you won't play well - yet most players don't understand this.  Under the "Don't Use Don't" section it explained how the subconscious mind – the part that controls your play – doesn't understand the words "don't" and "not," and so you shouldn't use them. (Tell yourself what you want to do, not what you don't want to do. When you tell yourself not to miss, all your subconscious hears is "miss.") There's also sections on "Thoughts and Images," on "You Always Have Access to 'Your Best You,'" and on "Feelings and States of Mind."

Chapter 2: Attitude and Enjoyment. Waldner: "Your attitude and how you behave is incredibly important, both to you, your opponent and to the team, if you're on one." "I often change my behavior based on who I am up against." (He then gives examples.) You also learn about "Realistic Optimism."

Chapter 3: Self-Confidence. Waldner: "This is my strong suit." "I always turn negative thoughts and situations to my own advantage. If I don't feel 100% satisfied, I take so-so things and elevate them so that they become fantastic things instead." The chapter goes on to explain the value of self-confidence, how to tell if you have it, and how to train for it. (One item I underlined was, "Link your development to process goals, not results.") It also goes over the value of affirmations, a habit I've noticed most top players use, and gave examples.

Chapter 4: Stress Management. Waldner: "I try to keep my thoughts focused on tactics, such as what kind of serve I want to use and how to follow up. I always focus on the next ball." This is one of seemingly basic things that so many don't understand. The mind can only think about one thing at a time, and if you think about tactics, you are not worrying about losing or getting distracted. The chapter went on to give examples of training stress management.  

Chapter 5: Winner Instinct and Goals. Waldner: "During practice I still keep score inside my head, even if we aren't playing a match. It's good to find little things that give you motivation." This is such a great tip I plan to bring this up with my students! (I've done this myself, long ago when I used to train, but it was so long ago that I'd forgotten about it.) The chapter goes on to give examples and training methods for this, including this (obvious?) nugget: "In order to win, you can't be afraid to lose." This is something stressed by nearly all champions – Michael Jordan, for example, always pointed this out. Many players are paralyzed by fear of losing. Hating to lose and being afraid to lose are not the same thing.

Chapter 6: Preparations and Continuous Development. Waldner: "I have always looked a great deal at other players to learn how they play and act in different situations . . . in other words, I make sure to use others in order to develop myself."

Malin had some nice tips here – here are a few excerpts:

  • "I was often told 'practice a bit more than everyone else and you will become a bit better than everyone else.' Sure, that is good advice, but to always train purposefully, and know what you want to improve is even more important. Just asking your coach what you need to improve simply isn't enough. It is just as important to be curious yourself, and think about what it is that you need to get better at."
  • "It is important that the coach starts by asking questions, to force the player to reflect over what he/she needs. Then the coach can input his/her opinion. But always start by making the athlete think about it first by using relevant questions, which in turn makes the athlete understand why you practice or train in a certain way."  
  • "If you know that you practice a certain serve because it can help you attack faster with your forehand and win points, which in turn leads to making it through a few more rounds in each competition, then you may be more careful about following through with your serve training without anyone having to tell you to do so."

Chapter 7: Focus and Concentration. Waldner:

  • "Of course I can lose my focus when the ball hits the edge of the table or if my opponent psychs me out; but if I am balanced and prepared for it, I can still keep my concentration."
  • "The point is to eliminate everything else around you, and try to focus on tactics. Sometimes I fix my gaze on someone in the crowd, but what I am actually thinking about might be which serve I should try next, for example, or how my opponent usually acts in this particular situation."
  • "That is why I have learned that thinking about the outcome is not something that benefits me. If you focus too much on the results, a tied score may be enough to increase your tension; and if you are afraid of losing ranking points, or not winning a certain prize, then it becomes much more difficult to go with the flow and enjoy the moment. For me, it's all about winning the next ball – that's it. I don't worry about the rest."

This was followed sections on Focus and Concentration in Theory; Focus on the Process, Not the Outcome; and Focus and Concentration in Practice. The latter goes over eight points:

  1. Optimal Tension Level
  2. Focused, Being in the Now
  3. Plans, Routines
  4. Optimal Physical Preparation
  5. Clear Goals and Feedback
  6. Belief in Yourself
  7. A Feeling of Satisfaction
  8. Balance Between Challenge and Ability

Malin has a lot to say on this, such as, "In order to really find the right focus before a match, it may help to take a few minutes by yourself and think about matches in which you played really well. Re-experiencing previous victories is one way to find that wonderful, self-confident felling you want to have when you go in to play a match." There's also a nice quote from track superstar Michael Johnson: "Physically relaxed + mentally excited = world record." The chapter finishes with a nice section on Creating Triggers – ways to get yourself into the same mode as when you are at your best.

Chapter 8: Twelve Tips for Sports Parents. This probably should be required reading for all parents of junior players. There's a list of 12 Tips here that I might blog about sometime later.

Chapter 9: Mental Training – in Practice. This was a short chapter that gave examples of practicing mental training at four times:

  • Well Ahead of Performing (basic training)
  • Shortly Before Performing
  • While Performing
  • After Performing

The book finishes with a 12-week blank diary, with sections you can fill in.

Now for the down side on this book: at $28 for book that's 95 pages (not including diary), it's expensive. (Also, it's only in print – no ebooks.) So if money is the issue, I suggest you and a few others from your club go in on it, and take turns. You'll be glad you did. When it's your turn, take notes, perhaps with a marker or colored pen (that's what I did), and make sure to jot down the important points. And if you find it something you'll want to refer to regularly, then get your own copy. (Added bonus – lots of great color pictures of Waldner!)

Ask the Coach Show
Episode #187 (5:01) – Strategy for Varying Serves (and other segments).

Ma Long Training Regime
Here's the article from Table Tennis UK. Includes link to video.

Zhang Jike – Is It Over For Him?
Here are articles with different viewpoints. I have to go with Matt on this one – Zhang Jike will likely be better than any of the non-Chinese for the next few years. But he might only be #4 in China among teammates Ma Long, Fan Zhedong, and Xu Xin. At the moment he's dropped to #5 in the world, behind #4 Dimitrij Ovtcharov, but that's what happens when you have a string of losses as Zhang has had. (How many of us would love to have such a "string of losses" and be "only" #5 in the world? That's no joke!) He'll likely be back to top four soon, though Dimitrij and perhaps a few others might have something to say about that!

The City of Brotherly Love Welcomes Third Butterfly Thanksgiving Teams Event
Here's the article by Barbara Wei.

Interview with Victor Liu
Here's the USATT interview with the cadet star by Rahul Acharya. 

2016 USA Olympic Table Tennis Trials Set to be Held in Greensboro
Here's the article and video (2:01) from Time Warner Cable News.

Elizabeta Samara: Table Tennis Is Everything To Me
Here's the article from Butterfly on the world #19 (#16 last month) from Romania. 

Swedish Open 2015 - Best Rallies
Here's the video (3:22).

Quadruple Ghost Serve
Yesterday I linked to a video of a guy serving three balls with backspin at the same time so all three came back into the net. That's been topped – here's a video (21 sec) that came out yesterday of a guy doing it with four balls! (He also does some other backspin trick shots.)

Google a Turtle
Here's some of what you get if you google "Turtle Table Tennis Pictures." (A lot of other paddle and ball pictures came up, so I only included a few of them.)

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