(By Brian Pace)
Adjusting Tactics in Tournament Play
In competition players go for the shots they are the most comfortable with, the shots that we have mastered, as well as the shots that expose your opponent. Tactical conflict is created when the players doesn’t acknowledge that the shot they are playing is not being effective. This will result in a bad string of points, as well as playing in a way that benefits your opponent. Adjusting Tactics is one of the skills you have to master, and it is not a technical or physical skill. It is by far a mental and emotional skill that needs to be developed. This blog post will take you through the process of implementing tactics, surveying the outcome, and adjusting tactics. These are the major 3 aspects that create the language behind HOW you get to 11 points before your opponent.

Implement Tactic: Attacking Opponents Forehand
In this tournament match, the tactic that I’m implementing is attacking the opponent’s forehand. In the vast majority of tournament play, most players consider the counter-attack a high risk shot, especially if it is an attack that has a high amount of power. So they revert to blocking instead of attacking, which leaves a position open with regards to controlling the sequence of play. If the player is reluctant to counter-attack you know that in the heat of the moment, their first instinct is the use the block.

In this clip you will see that attacking the forehand first forces the player to continue to stay in defense mode that resulted in 2 more blocks before losing the point.

In this clip the forehand position is being attacked off of the serve, which catches the opponent off guard. Also observe that the player could only reach their arm out to attempt a block, which has him in defensive position.

For full article, please click here