August 8, 2016 - Three Weapons: The Triple B's

You have three weapons in table tennis - your Body, your Brain, and your Bat. The last is the least important. You can go to any club and try out others rackets and find the right fit, and you're done in one night. (Sorry, Equipment Junkies.) But the others take years to develop. 

Your body is second most important. At the higher levels, this becomes increasingly important. You can't throw yourself into shot after shot like an Olympian without having at least some minimal physical fitness. And yet there are players who play at a very high level who would never be mistaken for Olympians. And how do they do this? They use their most important asset.

Your brain is your most important asset in table tennis. It controls everything you do, either consciously or subconsciously. Consciously it decides how often you practice, what you practice, and how hard you practice. It makes the strategic long-term decisions on how to develop your game, and the short-term tactical decisions that make the most of what you have. Subconsciously it controls (or should control) all your shots from the serve to the actual strokes and racket angles. (That's why you train, so you can do these things automatically, i.e. subconsciously.) Table tennis is rightfully called "chess at light speed." It is the brainiest of sports.

Are you making full use of your brain?