By Larry Hodges

The most fundamental tactical decision a player makes when playing a match is deciding what serves to use. There are a wide variety to choose from – far too many to cover in this article. But they can be divided into six basic types, based on the types of return expected. The basic types are long and short backspin serves, long and short sidespin/topspin serves, fast deep serves, and no-spin serves.

By Larry Hodges

With some coaching and practice, most beginners find it relatively simple to hit forehand-to-forehand or backhand-to-backhand drives. But they find it difficult to reproduce these shots in a game situation.

In a game situation, there is the degree of uncertainty as to where the ball is going, the necessity of moving to the ball before hitting it, and the difficulty in going from the serve or receive into a topspin rally. So how can a beginner go about incorporating his drive strokes into a game situation? Below is a ten-step plan for doing so. Follow it, step by step, and watch how fast you improve! 

Do each step in order for as many practice sessions as it takes to feel comfortable at it. It's okay to do more than one step in a given session, if you feel comfortable at it – but don't go through the steps too fast, or you won't be very comfortable in the latter steps and won't improve as fast. Start out each drill slowly, aiming for consistency, and build up speed to a medium speed rally. Then go on to the next step.

In all drills – except step ten – return all shots to the same spot so your opponent can block or counterdrive consistently. This includes the serves and receives in steps seven through nine. If you can't return the ball to the same general area consistently, you aren't ready to go to the next step yet!

By Larry Hodges

One of the most common problems players face in their table tennis is the inability to recognize the difference between learning the shots, and learning to win. There's a big difference.

Many players have a good idea of what to do out at the table—but just don't have the strokes. This article is not directed toward these players, who generally know who they are. These players need to see a coach to fix up their strokes, and will improve as fast as their strokes develop.

By Larry Hodges

So you want to improve your game? Well, here are some hints on how to get started. Basically, you will need good coaching, hard practice, experience, physical conditioning, and a good mental attitude.

COACH: Coaching should be your first priority. You can either get personal lessons or go to a clinic.

By Larry Hodges

What does it mean to move up a level in table tennis? I'd define two players to be on different levels if it would be a major upset if one defeated the other. Another way of looking at it would be to say that if the stronger player plays his normal level, he would win pretty much every time. Based on this, I'd say a level in table tennis ranges from about 300 points at the lower levels (under 1000 or so), to about 100 points at the higher levels (over 2500 or so). For most USATT members, a level would be about 200 rating points or so.

By Larry Hodges

So you've decided you want to beat the neighborhood or club champ, and move up to the next level. Then you're going to have to practice. You know – go out to the table with another person who's also tired of losing, and do practice drills (not just games) to improve your game. There are a number of factors you should consider to maximize your time. First off, everybody should not be doing the same drills. What drills you should do depend on:

By Larry Hodges

The biggest difference between a serious table tennis player and a basement player is spin. Serious players use spin on both their serves and rallying shots, both to control the ball and to force errors from their opponents. What we are going to do is go over the types, effects and purposes of the various spins, how to create spin, how to read spin, how to handle spin, and how spin actually makes a ball curve in flight.

By Larry Hodges

At the 2004 USA Nationals, Cheng Yinghua, 46, became the oldest Men’s Singles Champion in history, and the four semifinalists averaged over 40 years old. This was unique in a sport that is usually dominated by younger, faster players.

When asked what the younger players needed to do to compete with these veterans, four-time U.S. Men’s champ and full-time coach Cheng said, “The younger players had not put enough training time and effort into the fundamentals.