React to Opponent’s Forward Swing (By Larry Hodges) When you watch a top player, they seem to have almost supernatural reflexes. The other guy will crush the ball, and whether he gets it back or not, he always seems to react instantly. How does he do this? The secret is he’s not reacting to the […]

Top Ten Reasons You Might Not Be as Good at Table Tennis as You Could Be By (Larry Hodges)  You have faced really good serves and yet have made no serious attempt to learn them yourself. You don’t think you have enough talent, when long-term training almost always overcomes any such lack of talent. You’ve […]

Coaching Tip of the Week: Confidence, Then Consistency! (By Larry Hodges) Many players practice hard to develop consistency, and from this consistency they develop confidence. This is backwards! Be confident first, and then, with practice, consistency will come. Believe you can do it, and you will. (Or, for you realists, you will at least do […]

(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: 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 […]

(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 […]