(by Larry Hodges) Technically, a match begins with the umpire tossing a coin to see who serves first. In reality, most matches aren’t umpired, and so they “hide the ball” under the table, and the other player chooses. Whoever wins gets the choice of either serving first, receiving first, or choice of side. (Once you […]

(by Larry Hodges) I’ve always wanted to implant a camera in the eyes of up-and-coming players to record what they see when they watch top players play. They should see all sorts of great technique and tactics, right? But I’m afraid what I’d actually see is this. Yes, all they’re really watching is the ball […]

(by Larry Hodges) Players often hold back on their trickiest serve (often long ones) until it’s close. And that’s sometimes a good idea. But there are three problems with that. First, you won’t know until you use it if the serve will be effective against this player. Second, if you use it early in each […]

(by Larry Hodges) Most serves are too simplistic. They get the job done, but simply aren’t done with real trickiness in mind. For example, a player serves backspin with a backspin motion. They may learn variations, such as a side-backspin serve, where the racket travels in a different direction in hitting the ball, or a […]

(by Larry Hodges) You’ve spent a lot of time working on a shot, and it’s now somewhat ingrained. Suppose, in a match, you make this shot several times . . . and then miss an easy one!!! The shot didn’t feel right. A common response would be to try to adjust the shot so you […]

(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 tall to win (1971 World Champion Stellan Bengtsson at 5’5″ and three-time World and 2-time Olympic Women’s Singles Champion Deng Yaping was 4’11”), or […]