(By Larry Hodges) Do you often have trouble blocking or counterlooping against your opponent’s opening loop against backspin? If you are like most players, of course you do – and there’s a simple reason for it. Most players practice blocking and counterlooping in rallies where they start the rally by serving topspin. And so they […]

(By Larry Hodges) Now that Sweden’s Mattias Falck made it to the final of Men’s Singles at the Worlds using short pips on the forehand, there’s going to be a sudden increase in players playing this way. I think that’s a very good thing – I miss the days where there were far more contrasts […]

(By Larry Hodges) Unlike most other advanced techniques, you don’t have to be athletic or play at a high level to develop great serves. Anybody – yes, that means you – can develop great, even world-class serves. They just need a little TNT – Technique, Necessity, and Time. You have to have proper serving Technique. […]

(By Larry Hodges) Have you ever played one of those matches where you played really well, went up 2-0 in games, and then stopped “playing to win” and instead “played to not lose,” and so changed how you went up 2-0 in games to start with, and so lost the match? Or had a lead […]

(By Larry Hodges) We all have good and bad matches – but this is NOT some random thing. Poor play usually comes from poor mental skills. But here’s the amazing fact – EVERYBODY has great mental skills some of the time. The key is to make that most or all of the time. How do […]

(By Larry Hodges) One of the interesting things is to watch a player’s ready position after the serve. Most do not position themselves well. Most go to the same position no matter their serve. Suppose you serve short to the middle of the table and then position yourself perfectly. If you have a strong forehand, […]