Site Products
Larry Hodges

Top Ten Reasons You Might Not Be as Good at Table Tennis as You Could Be

Posted on

Top Ten Reasons You Might Not Be as Good at Table Tennis as You Could Be

By (Larry Hodges) 

  1. You have faced really good serves and yet have made no serious attempt to learn them yourself.
  2. You don’t think you have enough talent, when long-term training almost always overcomes any such lack of talent.
  3. You’ve mistaken your bad playing habits for playing style.
  4. You’ve developed playing habits that allow you to win now against players around your level, but don’t work well against stronger players, and you simply can’t bring yourself to change the way you play and risk losing against your peers.
  5. You mostly play games instead of doing drills that focus on specific aspects of the game that you need to work on.
  6. You are too nervous in tournament or league matches because you’ve never studied Sports Psychology.
  7. You are strongly opinionated about how the game is played and so don’t learn from coaches and top players.
  8. You have the physical fitness of a couch potato.
  9. You don’t practice as much as you should – which not only would make you better, but would improve your physical fitness.
  10. You have nice strokes but don’t really know how to use them. See Learning to Win, or perhaps a book on Tactics – like Table Tennis Tactics for Thinkers!

Latest News

The Correct Way of Stretching for Table Tennis by Coach Meinhard Korte

May 23, 2026
(by Coach Meinhard Korte) The biggest mistak table tennis player make with stretching is doing long static stretches… Read More

From Nervous to Focused: Real Competition Advice from Years of Professional Play

May 22, 2026
(by Coach Bob Chen) Practical ways to turn pressure into clear actions during a match. How to manage… Read More

Anqi Luo – Forehand Flip & Backhand Loop Follow up

May 22, 2026
(by: Bowmar Sports) In this Butterfly Training Tips, Anqi Lou is working with a student on a Forehand… Read More

WTT Youth Contender Mississauga

May 21, 2026
(by Steve Hopkins, photo WTT) USA's Sally Moyland continued her consistent play this week at the WTT Youth… Read More

The Unstoppable Spin: Why We Can’t Quit Table Tennis? By Coach Di Liu

May 21, 2026
(By: Coach Di Liu) The Unstoppable Spin: Why We Can’t Quit Table Tennis? Have you ever found yourself… Read More

The Mental Edge That Won the World: Lessons from Team China at London 2026

May 20, 2026
(by Dr. Alan Chu, PhD, CMPC) The Mental Edge That Won the World: Lessons from Team China at… Read More

Chirag Pradhan – 2026 US Nationals Trials

May 19, 2026
(by: Bowmar Sports) In this Butterfly Training Tips, Chirag Pradhan is in action at the US Nationals Trials… Read More

Develop an Overpowering Strength

May 18, 2026
(By Larry Hodges, Member of US Table Tennis Hall of Fame At the beginning/intermediate levels, most matches are… 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.