By Larry Hodges
Suppose you have a tricky serve that gives your opponent all sorts of problems. But suppose it's also one of those serves that he can get used to, and only works by either surprise or by the opponent's not being used to it. Should you hold back on this serve for key points in the match?
By Larry Hodges
In the this modern game of topspin, many players battle to see who can get more topspin on the ball, with more speed and more consistency. After all, isn't that what tends to win games?
Yet you might want to consider whether you want to join in this escalating topspin battle every single point. Why not throw a changeup at them - a "dummy loop" - and watch them mess up? Go for less spin, and mess up your opponent's consistency!
By Larry Hodges
Ratings can be a cancer on junior table tennis. They change the focus from improvement to immediate results and leave juniors nervous and defensive in their matches. They also take much of the fun out of the game for juniors who become obsessed with fear of blowing their rating.
By Larry Hodges
A common problem for players at all levels of table tennis is being backhand oriented. Backhand orientation (B.O. for short) means that you favor your backhand over your forehand, trying to cover too much of the table with the backhand. Once developed, the forehand is the more powerful shot, so this is a mistake.
B.O. is a disease. It infiltrates your game, multiplies and divides, and takes over your entire playing style. Left untreated, you may find yourself blocking lobs with your backhand! But treated properly, there is hope.
By Larry Hodges
No matter what your level is, at some point you've had to go up against some up-and-coming junior player. If he was your average up-and-coming junior, and you are an average adult, and the two of you were roughly equal in level, then the following was probably true:
1. The junior was faster and quicker than you.
2. You spent much of the match on the defensive, trying to withstand a barrage of all-out attacks from the junior player – much of which would hit, much of which would miss.
By Larry Hodges
Many players who want to improve make the mistake of trying to play mostly stronger players. The result is the opponent controls play, and all the player can do is react to the stronger player's shots, or go for wild shots. A player may develop some shots this way, but it'll be hard to develop new shots or to learn how to use them in a game situation.
By Larry Hodges
From November of 1999 until August of 2003 I did a weekly "Tip of the Week" for the USATT home page. You could read them there, but do you really want to look up all 171 of them, one by one? Besides, you can't really curl up with a computer screen in bed, or take it to the table tennis club. And so, organized by type (serving, receiving, rallying, tactics, psychology, equipment, general), here they are! (A few have been expanded into regular articles.)
By Larry Hodges
A great way to improve the sharpness and steadiness of your shots is to shadow practice them. This means practicing your shots without the ball. One of the best things that ever happened to me when I was a beginner was when I was told to shadow practice my forehand and backhand drives and loops, and side-to-side footwork, one hundred times a day. This was a primary reason why I went from beginner to 1900+ in under two years.
By Larry Hodges
Table tennis is often advertised as a sport that all can play, where size makes no difference. However, it's not necessarily true. While you don't have to be big to win (1971 World Champion Stellan Bengtsson: 5'2"), or small (1990 U.S. Champion: Jim Butler, 6'5"), being big or small does make a difference tactically and in choosing a playing style. It's how you use what you have that counts.
By Larry Hodges
Whether you are a world-class athlete with a Schwarzenegger body or a frail octogenarian, your body has a set of built in physical limits. By training, you can increase you limits, but at any given time, there is a limit over which you can do no better. This is a physical fact. However, to reach that physical limit you must try to reach beyond it. If you aim for a specific level which you feel is your best, you cannot go beyond your best – but you very well may do worse.
How does one reach "beyond" their best? The answer is in confidence. Many players practice hard to develop consistency, and from this consistency they develop confidence. This is backwards! Be confident first – then consistency will come. Believe you can do it, and you will! (Or, for you realists, you will at least do as well as you physically can.)
What causes a person to miss "easy" shots? When you miss an easy smash, did you really misread the spin that badly? Or did you have a very small, almost insignificant loss of confidence, and try to guide the shot, rather than just let your subconscious control the shot?
When you go for a shot, your brain sends nerve impulses (electric impulses) to the muscle cells, ordering them to contract in certain ways. The order, intensity and duration of the impulses control the manner in which the muscle fibers contract. There is no way you can control this complicated set of directions consciously. Only by training can the brain's subconscious areas learn the exact set of nerve impulses to be sent in a given situation. Any conscious control throws the while set of impulses into disarray, leading to an easy miss.
Instead, remember making the shot in the past and what it felt like. At first, you should copy what a top player does. But once you've made the shot once, there is no reason why you shouldn't make it every time! YOU CAN! (And if you believe that, then you are well on your way toward improving the shot.)
Confidence allows you to let go consciously and let your brain do what it's been taught (or is being taught) to do. Good players think between points, but never during a point. Just blank out your mind during a rally watch what happens.
So believe in your shots, even if there is no logical reason to. Have confidence in your sots. KNOW that your shot CANNOT MISS, and it probably won't.
