Coaching Tip of the Week: Topspin Defense

September 16, 2019

Coaching Tip of the Week: Topspin Defense (By Larry Hodges) Look through almost any table tennis instructional book or video, go to almost any table tennis camp, and you’ll hardly ever see or learn anything about topspin defense. (Also known as “fishing.”) It seems to fall through the cracks for most coaches – it’s not […]

Coaching Tip of the Week: Smashing Lobs

September 9, 2019

Smashing Lobs (By Larry Hodges) Smashing a lob is more difficult than it looks. There are several reasons for this. The height of a lob makes the ball bounce upwards, something you aren’t used to hitting. If it bounces higher than your head, hitting it can be awkward. When it hits the table, it jumps […]

Coaching tip of the week: Don’t Get Mad; Get Determined

August 26, 2019

(By Larry Hodges) Some players get very upset with themselves when they lose a match that they think they could have won. Some don’t show it or have a frozen smile, but are just as upset or disappointed on the inside, they are just trying to be a good sport about it – but they […]

Coaching Tip of the Week: Strategic Tactics

August 19, 2019

(By Larry Hodges) Tactical thinking is what you do to win now; Strategic Thinking is what you do to develop your game in the long run. You need both; here are two articles on this: Strategic Versus Tactical Thinking The Balance Between Tactical and Strategic Thinking But there is also what I call Strategic Tactics. […]

Coaching Tip Of The Week: Serving Short

August 12, 2019

Coaching Tip Of The Week: Serving Short (By Larry Hodges) One of the most fundamental rules of serving is that you have to be able to serve short. A deep serve may be effective against some players, and up to a certain level, it may always be, but if you cannot serve short, you will […]

Tip of the Week – Serving Long

August 5, 2019

(By Larry Hodges) Serving deep has one major advantage and one major disadvantage. The advantage is that it forces an opponent to contact the ball as far from his/her target (your side of the table) as possible. The disadvantage is that it allows an opponent to attack more readily, especially with a loop drive. (Note […]

Do You Want to Know an Opponent’s Rating Before a Match?

July 29, 2019

(By Larry Hodges) If you know your opponent’s rating before a match, you have several advantages: You can use tactics and techniques that will generally defeat that level; If the opponent is lower rated, you can go in with confidence; If the opponent is higher rated, you can go in feeling you have nothing to […]

Coaching tip of the week: Take the Shot

July 8, 2019

(By Larry Hodges) Many players hesitate in taking an aggressive shot because they are afraid of missing. On the contrary, if you are afraid of taking a specific shot, then (unless it’s a championship match), any good coach will tell you that’s a reason to take that shot, so you’ll learn to do it under pressure – […]

Tip of the week: Learning to Win

June 24, 2019

(By Larry Hodges) One of the most common problems players face in their table tennis is the inability to recognize the difference between learning the shots, and learning to win. There’s a big difference. Many players have a good idea of what to do out at the table – but just don’t have the strokes. […]

Tip of the Week – Six-Step Training Progression

June 17, 2019

(By Larry Hodges) Developing your table tennis game is a steady progression from the simple to the more complex. Many players, however, get stuck at the beginning or intermediate stage, and never move on toward developing the more advanced parts of their game. It’s a common syndrome–players spending year after year trying to completely perfect […]