Site Products
Larry Hodges

Coaching Tip of the Week – Use Your Strengths, But Test Your Opponent

(By Larry Hodges)

It’s wise to approach a match with the idea of using your strengths, but don’t forget to test your opponent as well. You don’t want to lose a match because you didn’t know about a glaring weakness in his game! This is why it’s often good to scout out an opponent in advance, or ask other players about him, so you can go in knowing what his weaknesses might be. Ideally, this allows you to play your strengths against their weaknesses. But while it’s difficult to win without using your main strengths, you can often win by matching your average shots against his weakness, or even your weakness against his even bigger weaknesses. (I remember once watching two players with big forehands go at it an entire match, backhand to backhand, with each player keeping the ball very wide to the others backhand so the opponent couldn’t use his big forehand. So it became a battle of their weaknesses.) So test your opponents – serve long & short with different speeds and spins; test their forehand, backhand, and middle; attack at different speeds; try various types of pushes, and so on. Don’t risk not knowing your opponent’s weaknesses!

Stay “In The Loop” with Butterfly professional table tennis equipment, table tennis news, table tennis technology, tournament results, and We Are Butterfly players, coaches, clubs and more.

Latest News

Use a lot of Wrist and Forearm

October 21, 2025
Serve, short game, flip with defense to offense (wait function) Jhon serves short backspin, robot plays short backspin… Read More

Never Use “Full Power”

October 21, 2025
(By Larry Hodges) When you see a ball you can put away, mentally (and possibly physically) your eyes… Read More

Pan Am Teams: Argentina and Puerto Rico Score Gold, TeamUSA Settles for Two Silvers

October 20, 2025
(by Steve Hopkins) The Americans were the second seed in the Men’s Team event, and they performed exactly… Read More

WAB CLUB FEATURE: Greater Vancouver Table Tennis Club

October 20, 2025
(by Steve Hopkins) Founded in 2019 by Wilson Peng Zhang, the Greater Vancouver Table Tennis Club (GVTTC) is… Read More

Butterfly Training Tips with Maybelline Bravo – Backhand Loop & Pivot Forehand Loop

October 20, 2025
(by: Bowmar Sports) In this Butterfly Training Tip Maybelline is executing Backhand Loop, then a pivot and Forehand… Read More

Nishant Lebaka – Forehand Smash Changing Position

October 19, 2025
(by: Bowmar Sports) In this Butterfly Training Tips, Nishant Lebaka is focusing on his Forehand Smash from the… Read More

Kou Lei – Combo FH Push to Attack

October 18, 2025
(by: Bowmar Sports) In this Butterfly Training Tips, Kou Lei is working with on of his students on… Read More

That’s a Very Common Mistake

October 17, 2025
Serve,Short game and attack with Wait function: Jhon serves short backspin, robot plays short backspin drop shot to… Read More
View All News

Get the latest from Butterfly

Stay “In The Loop” with Butterfly professional table tennis equipment, table tennis news, table tennis technology, tournament results, and We Are Butterfly players, coaches, clubs and more.