By Larry Hodges The first four are psychological, the rest are tactical ideas. 1. Remember the mentality and feel of a great match you’ve played, and get back into that mode. 2. Take ten seconds to stare at something in the distance to clear your mind. 3. With nothing to lose, relax, have fun, and just play. 4. Ignore […]
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Judging the Depth of a Serve
Posted onBy Larry Hodges One of the things coaches stress is that you should be aggressive against deep serves. (A short serve means that, given a chance, the ball would bounce twice on your side; a long serve would only bounce once.) Against a short serve, you can rush and angle the server by taking the […]
Wanting to Win Versus Hating to Lose
Posted onBy Larry Hodges These are both great incentives in practice. Some want to win so badly that they’ll practice, hour after hour, to achieve their goals. Others hate losing so much that they’ll use it as incentive to train forever to avoid it. A little of both often helps. The problem comes when you have […]
Straighten the Belt, and the Rest Falls into Place
Posted onBy Larry Hodges Imagine when playing that your body is a belt. If your feet are in the wrong position, or if your grip is off, then it affects everything in between. If your foot positioning and grip are both correct, then like a belt that’s been straightened, everything in between falls into place. Isn’t […]
Progressive Drills to Improve Rallying Skills
Posted on(By Larry Hodges ) Many players rally very well in drills, but not so much in matches. Once they get into a match, they not only lose consistency, but they also rally like a drill, hitting the ball right back at the opponent rather than trying to win the point with placement. Here is a […]
The Grinding Mentality – How to Play It and Against It
Posted onThe Grinding Mentality – How to Play It and Against It (By Larry Hodges) The Grinder is a style of play, or really a mentality, where your single-minded focus is on not making any mistakes, and not giving the opponent any easy shots. This often means trying to stretch out rallies as long as possible, […]
Top Ten Things to Remember in Doubles
Posted onTop Ten Things to Remember in Doubles (By Larry Hodges, tabletenniscoaching.com/blog) Most players play doubles as if it were just a version of singles, but that’s a mistake. Doubles is actually far more complicated since there are two players on each side, so there are four different playing styles interacting, plus all the movement as […]
If You Can’t Do It Without a Ball, How Can You Do It With the Ball?
Posted onIf You Can’t Do It Without a Ball, How Can You Do It With the Ball? (By Larry Hodges) Shadow-practice is when you practice a stroke without the ball. It’s the best way to develop proper technique and streamline your strokes, especially with help from a coach or experienced player. You do need to combine […]
Every Point is the Biggest Point of Your Life
Posted onEvery Point is the Biggest Point of Your Life (By Larry Hodges) What’s the most important point in table tennis? The next one. It’s that simple. And yet players constantly fret over the previous point, the one that’s over and never to be replayed. As far as you are concerned the next point is for […]
Coaching tip of the week: Style Disadvantage or Tactical Problem?
Posted onCoaching tip of the week: Style Disadvantage or Tactical Problem? (By Larry Hodges) Many players do not know the difference between a style disadvantage and a tactical problem. My experience is that style disadvantages are relatively rare, as any sufficiently advanced player has developed enough shots to reach his level so that he can compete […]
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(by: Bowmar Sports) In this Butterfly Training Tips, Sean Zhang is executing three types of Opening Play Variations.… Read More
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(by Steve Hopkins) Nestled in Rosemead, California, at the heart of the San Gabriel Valley near Los Angeles,… Read More
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