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Effective Use of Timeouts

Effective Use of Timeouts Butterfly Table Tennis Coaching by Han Xiao Most players know that each player has one timeout over the course of the match. However, too many times I have seen matches between beginner or intermediate players where time outs are not used at all or are used ineffectively. In almost every match […]

Receiving Hidden Serves

Receiving Hidden Serves by Han Xiao Today’s topic comes courtesy of Larry Hodges, who is a coach at the Maryland Table Tennis Center. Larry has been talking to me a great deal lately about the huge problem of many high level players serving almost exclusively illegally in competition without umpires willing to fault them on […]

How To Play Table Tennis – Reverse Pendulum Backspin Serve

How To Play Table Tennis – Reverse Pendulum Backspin Serve Join table tennis superstar Elizabeta Samara as she teaches you how to hit her famous reverse pendulum backspin serve in ITTF’s “How To Play Table Tennis Series!“

Player Archetypes: Defensive Styles

Player Archetypes: Defensive Styles Butterfly Table Tennis Coaching by Han Xiao Last week, we focused on identifying common attacking archetypes, what their characteristics are, what traits a player needs to excel with the archetype, as well as some general tips for excelling with each play style. This week, we’re going to do the same with […]

Player Archetypes: Attacking Styles

Player Archetypes: Attacking Styles by Han Xiao Recently, I received a question from Adam Formal about player archetypes. Since Adam does some coaching, he wants to know what some of the common player archetypes are and how to decide which style or archetype fits a particular player. To answer Adam’s question, I will do a […]

Serving More Deceptively

Serving More Deceptively Table Tennis Coaching by Han Xiao Our topic today comes from Tae Hun Moon on the ButterflyOnline forums. The question is how you can make your serve more deceptive by creating a more confusing contact point and trick the opponent. This is a very common question among players since many players know […]

Getting More Spin on Your Serves

Getting More Spin on Your Serves by Han Xiao This question comes from Fabio Pellerin on the butterflyonline.com forums. Fabio wants to know how you develop a spinnier serve. For example, how you can increase the amount of backspin you put on your pendulum serves. This is a very common problem for many players, since […]

The Spin-Nospin Serve

The Spin-Nospin Serve by Han Xiao Today, we’re going to discuss one of the most classically successful serve combinations of the past couple of decades: the spin-nospin serve. This is actually a two-serve combination: a heavy backspin serve along with a nospin serve with the exact same motion. It is often extremely simple looking yet […]

Pushing

Pushing by Han Xiao Pushing is an underrated skill among many players, especially intermediate players who feel that they have a good grasp on how to push. We spend a lot of time on more glamorous shots such as our attacking shots, or other necessities such as footwork and blocking. Meanwhile, pushing is often a […]

Using Misdirection

Using Misdirection by Han Xiao At all levels of play, misdirection is a good way to win points, especially when you don’t want to play an extremely risky shot. It can be effective on the attack, on the counterattack, as well as on the serve and service receive. Here are some tips to make using […]

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Accelerate More With Your Wrist and Forearm

November 12, 2025
Basic Exercise: Blocking and Attacking: Robot plays 1 spiny, fast & long topspin ball to Backhand, Jhon plays… Read More

Kou Lei – Multiball Training: Backhand Blocking

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(by: Bowmar Sports) In this Butterfly Training Tips, Kou Lei is working with a player by executing a… Read More

Apply More Pressure With Your Index Finger

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Basic Exercise: Blocking and Attacking: Robot plays 1 spiny, fast & long topspin ball to Forehand, Jhon plays… Read More

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(By Larry Hodges) Stop what you are doing. Go to 7-11 or some other store that sells chewing… Read More

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(by: Bowmar Sports) In this Butterfly Training Tips, Jonathan Pino is executing a Random drill focusing on Stroke… Read More

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(by Steve Hopkins, photo MLTT) Week 5 of Major League Table Tennis delivered dreams and drama in Westchester,… Read More

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(by Steve Hopkins, photo WTT) Six players in the World’s Top 10 competed this week in the WTT… Read More
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