Coaching
Coaching (7)
Playing Table Tennis on a consistent schedule will certainly improve your ability to win more matches, but like any other activity, the only way to get better faster at Table Tennis, is to practice. Generally, it's best to get instruction from a certified coach, so as not to develop bad habits which in the long run can stall the learning process. The Austin Table Tennis Club has a Certified Regional Coach that you can contact about individual and group training. Getting better at Table Tennis makes the game more rewarding and enjoyable!
We all play table tennis for fun and recreation. To keep our interest though we need to improve or we become stagnant and soon lose interest. This is true in any thing we try. If we fail to improve or discover new things we get bored and usually look form other ways to spend our time. The great thing about table tennis is that no matter what your age there are always thing to learn and improve on. The main way to do this is with practice. I am going to set some guide lines that make a good practice.
- You should have a long term goal to work toward. Sometimes it is a tournament or event to peak for or maybe just a club event. This gives you time frames to structure practices so you will be at your best playing level when the time comes. You should have 6 to 10 weeks of training between tournaments and start your training with basics and physical training at first and as the weeks progress get more into actual play senarios.
- Each session should have a main purpose(or goal) , with other things brought in as secondary work. You may work mainly on the forehand counter drive , but then also work on forehand to backhand transition.
- You should maintain intensity all the way through your practice , take breaks at intervals to maintain focus. If you find that at the end of your practice you aren't maintaining focus, you may have to shorten your practice or vary the drills more. 7 minutes at a drill is about the right time and then take a short break and start again.With a partner you can alternate blocking and drilling. It is important for both to focus and block and drill at a high level.
- Consistancy is the way to improve. You should train regulary and actually train more than you play. When you play games you tend to do old things that you are trying to either get rid of or improve on and revert back to old habits.
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Proper stance is a very important part of your table tennis game. As I look around the club I see most people standing like statues. It is very difficult to move from this stance and when you hit the ball your head is too far away from the ball to make accurate shots. Good movement and accuracy are important if you want to raise your playing level. To help achieve this goal a proper stance must be practiced. In the proper stance your knees should be bent and your shoulders slightly bent forward. Your legs should be a little more than shoulder width apart. You should try to keep your eyes as close to the level of the ball as possible. You should be slightly in the forehand stance, not parallel to the table. You should be able to just touch the table with you racket when receiving serve. From this position you can move quickly in and also right to left to receive . You should always be moving forward , not falling back when making your stroke. Keep your head down and watch the ball until contact. When moving move both feet. Don't reach for the ball or just take one step. When you reach or just take one step you get out of your stance and become off balanced , making it had to get to the next ball .When striking the ball from the backhand , you should be directly in front of the ball and the stroke should come from your middle. When receiving a forehand the elbow should be bent and your head should be as close to the ball as possible for the shot you are making. I cover this in my coaching clinics and we work on these techniques each training session. Tips , bend your knees and widen your feet apart. When close to the table stay slightly in the forehand stance. A good exercise to do to help you be able to do this is half squats . Also give yourself more room when receiving serve. When moving move both feet.
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It is very important to practice movement. To become a good player you must have good movement side ti side and back to front. One way to practice movement is doing it as a warm up. During your warm up practice your footwork side to side then back to forward. Correct foot movement is important. The foot farthest away moves first and then you do a "skip" step to finish move. Do these drills in 30 second intervals with a short rest between each . Jumping rope is a good way to increase your movement and also help your timing.
Another movement drill is have someone block to different parts of the table and you counter all with the forehand. You can also practice moving by serving different places and moving to return the ball with only one side , return all with the forehand and then practice returning all with the backhand. Try to move to get into proper position before you counter. Try a wide movement drill where you are blocked to the back hand side and then to the wide fore hand side , try to hit all balls with the fore hand. These are examples of side to side drills.
Back and forward drills need to be practiced also. One of the problems with moving back off the table is we don't move into the table when we should. A good drill for this is have someone "kill" the ball and you move back to return and then have them drop shot and you move in . Another good drill is to loop several balls and have opponent block them and each time step back for 3 loops and then on 4th step back in and "kill" the blocked ball.
A lob drill is also good. Have one player lob and the other hit the ball about 60%. After 3 or 4 lobs, move back in and hit the ball , then the hitter lobs and drill is repeated.
Another drill that is good is side step drills, have your opponent push or hit the ball right at you so you have to move to make a good shot. Don't just stand there , move either to fore hand or back hand and make the return.
Movement is the key to being in the proper place to make a good return. Movement drills and transition drills are the most important in your steps to
becoming a good player.
Another movement drill is have someone block to different parts of the table and you counter all with the forehand. You can also practice moving by serving different places and moving to return the ball with only one side , return all with the forehand and then practice returning all with the backhand. Try to move to get into proper position before you counter. Try a wide movement drill where you are blocked to the back hand side and then to the wide fore hand side , try to hit all balls with the fore hand. These are examples of side to side drills.
Back and forward drills need to be practiced also. One of the problems with moving back off the table is we don't move into the table when we should. A good drill for this is have someone "kill" the ball and you move back to return and then have them drop shot and you move in . Another good drill is to loop several balls and have opponent block them and each time step back for 3 loops and then on 4th step back in and "kill" the blocked ball.
A lob drill is also good. Have one player lob and the other hit the ball about 60%. After 3 or 4 lobs, move back in and hit the ball , then the hitter lobs and drill is repeated.
Another drill that is good is side step drills, have your opponent push or hit the ball right at you so you have to move to make a good shot. Don't just stand there , move either to fore hand or back hand and make the return.
Movement is the key to being in the proper place to make a good return. Movement drills and transition drills are the most important in your steps to
becoming a good player.
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I like most players stuggle with service return. Some players just have better serves and hide the spin really well. This is going to cover right handed serves. First of all is whether the serve is backspin, topspin or no spin. You have to watch your opponents racket at ball contact to see what spin he is putting. If he makes contact as the racket is moving down then it is backspin and if he makes contact as he "pulls' the racket up it is topspin. The problem with reading serves is players serve with the same racket angle no matter what spin they are serving, so you can't just look for an open angle or closed angle. Sometimes you can watch the elbow and if it come up higher than normal it is topspin. You also should not crowd the table when receiving serve. Take your time and watch the ball. If it is topspin the ball will have more of a arc and also jump forward. If it is backspin the ball will have more of a flat trajectory and or stand up after the bounce. When returning topspin either you can topspin it back, block it back or if deep enough chop it back. When returning back spin you can push it or if deep enough loop it. An advanced way to return short serves is ti flip it, but you need to be sure of the spin. The next thing is sidespin and how much. If your opponent is serving forehand then the spin will usually pull the ball to the right so to return this serve you need to make contact with the ball on the right side (a forehand return of forehand serves is the best way to accomplish this). When someone serves backhand serves the sidespin will pull the ball to the left so you need to make contact with the left side of the ball( a backhand return of these serves is the easiest). Dead ball serves are the last type of serve and usually not hard to read but are on you so fast that your reaction is slow. That is why you must not crowd the table and be calm. When someone serves you fast your natural reaction is to react fast. You need to have time to either open your racket and flat hit the dead ball back, chop it back, or set up and loop it back. When looping a dead ball treat it like a backspin ball and wait for it to drop before looping. When you are having trouble returning serves try a negative (90 degree) racket angle with a very loose grip. just push through the side of the ball and the racket will absorb most of the spin and return it to your opponent. If you are having trouble with deep serves, give yourself a little more room, let the ball drop and either chop or loop it back. If you chop or loop hard you can over come most spins.
Pay attention to the service motion of your opponent and you will begin to see what he does to serve different serves. Another rule that is common is that if someone can serve heavy topspin they can't do heavy chop and if the can do heavy chop they can't do heavy topspin.Also your opponents style of play will help determine his serves. Lastly practice your own serves and make them the best they can be.
Pay attention to the service motion of your opponent and you will begin to see what he does to serve different serves. Another rule that is common is that if someone can serve heavy topspin they can't do heavy chop and if the can do heavy chop they can't do heavy topspin.Also your opponents style of play will help determine his serves. Lastly practice your own serves and make them the best they can be.
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Here I am going to discuss types of drill and I don't mean the type to make holes or put in screws. These drills are a important part of your improvement playing table tennis.
Types of drills:
1. movement drills
2. Transition drills
3. Counter drills
4. Loop drills
5. Push drills
6. chop drills
7.Flip drills
8. Opening drills
9. Smash drills
10. Random drills
11. mutiball drills
12.Blocking drills
13. combination of types of drills
Today I will discuss #3 counter drills and their importance. I watch most people warm up and they either hit the ball everywhere trying to "kill" the ball or hit the ball too hard . when you are warming up, counter drills are important. they get your body moving and your timing set. You need to start out slow and hit the ball to the same place each time so both you and your opponent or practice partner can benefit from the warm up. as your timing and accuracy get better you can pick up speed. If you can't hit more than 10 in a row the speed is too fast. So one use of counter drills is to warm up and get timing.
You should use counter drills to work on your strokes and placement. You should start out slow here also as it is mostly important to stroke the ball correctly and have good placement than speed when working on strokes. As you get better you can pick up a little speed. Counter drills are performed to the different angles of the table. the one most used and the least important for countering is the wide angles corner to corner. The more important counter drills are down the line and down the middle. Also placement should be deep on the table , as close to end white line as you can hit. Try for consistancy and accurancy . The speed will come later. The reason why these drill are most important are that you are practicing hitting the short part of the table(only 9 feet). When you only practice cross court drills you get used to the 11 foot 3 inches and miss when you try to hit at your opponent or down the line. Also most opening shots should be hit at you opponent to jam him and also not to give him a good angle for attack unless the serve or serve return give you a good angle so that you can hit a bigger angle. Counter drills are a important part of learning and keeping your timing and strokes. you should start out eack session whether playing or practicing with some types of counter practice.
Types of drills:
1. movement drills
2. Transition drills
3. Counter drills
4. Loop drills
5. Push drills
6. chop drills
7.Flip drills
8. Opening drills
9. Smash drills
10. Random drills
11. mutiball drills
12.Blocking drills
13. combination of types of drills
Today I will discuss #3 counter drills and their importance. I watch most people warm up and they either hit the ball everywhere trying to "kill" the ball or hit the ball too hard . when you are warming up, counter drills are important. they get your body moving and your timing set. You need to start out slow and hit the ball to the same place each time so both you and your opponent or practice partner can benefit from the warm up. as your timing and accuracy get better you can pick up speed. If you can't hit more than 10 in a row the speed is too fast. So one use of counter drills is to warm up and get timing.
You should use counter drills to work on your strokes and placement. You should start out slow here also as it is mostly important to stroke the ball correctly and have good placement than speed when working on strokes. As you get better you can pick up a little speed. Counter drills are performed to the different angles of the table. the one most used and the least important for countering is the wide angles corner to corner. The more important counter drills are down the line and down the middle. Also placement should be deep on the table , as close to end white line as you can hit. Try for consistancy and accurancy . The speed will come later. The reason why these drill are most important are that you are practicing hitting the short part of the table(only 9 feet). When you only practice cross court drills you get used to the 11 foot 3 inches and miss when you try to hit at your opponent or down the line. Also most opening shots should be hit at you opponent to jam him and also not to give him a good angle for attack unless the serve or serve return give you a good angle so that you can hit a bigger angle. Counter drills are a important part of learning and keeping your timing and strokes. you should start out eack session whether playing or practicing with some types of counter practice.
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Have you ever noticed how in club play a lower rated player will give a higher rated player a hard match. That is because the two players know each other, how they play and strenghts and weaknesses. In tournament play you need to know your opponent. Here are a couple of ways to know your opponent. One is to talk to others that have played your opponent or know him or her. Ask about style of play , what balls they like to attack, what serves the dislike and what serves to they serve most. The other way is to actually watch your opponent play to access these points. If he is a good topspin server plan for this. Usually a player is either good at one or the other. If they can serve heavy topspin they usually can't serve good backspin and visa-versa. Are they loopers, smashers, counterdrivers, blockers, "junk players", defenders, choppers, and etc, the list goes on and on. All the different style require different thing from you to beat them. This is called adjustment and that ability is what helps to beat your opponent. And without knowing your opponent it is hard to plan for the match and make the correct adjustments. In the future I will cover how to play against different styles. Next time at the tournament take time to know your opponents and watch your rating climb.
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When you are first starting out playing matches try to be consistant and one of the best ways to do this is by mirroring your opponent. If your opponent pushes you push. if your opponent counters you counter. If he hits soft you hit soft, hard you hit hard and so on. Most mistakes at the beginning level is made when you "turn over the ball", that is to change the spin from backspin to topspin.If you let your opponent change the spin you cut out these mistakes and can often take advantage of a poor change of spin by your opponent and either misdirect the ball or even "kill" it. By taking your time during this learning process you will begin to see which type balls are the one to roll or attack and then begin to open (topspin the ball) yourself. In advanced offensive play you will want to turn the spin to topspin as soon as possible, but as a beginner patience is the key to learning. In my recent tournament I used this type play because it had been 8 years since my last tournament and I didn't have much confidence in my openings. It worked well for me at first as all my first round opponents didn't get over 5 points a game. It even worked well for 2 rounds of the crossover but failed me in my third match when I meet someone more consistent at it than me, most of the players it worked against were 1400 level players not true beginners at all.
A few rules of learning as a beginner:
1. don't get frustrated , you will get better
2. watch the ball at contact and watch your opponent
3. Don't crowd the table (get too close), give yourself time to watch the ball
4. Learn from your mistakes and also learn from other players
5. Pick a style you like and stick with it
6. Racket should be an all around of defensive speed and rubber should be control type
7. practice your serves consistently, develope long and short serves with various spins, don't miss serves in a match
8. Most of all is pratice and playing time. You should practice more than you play
9. Learn the basics strokes well, they are the piers of your future game
A few rules of learning as a beginner:
1. don't get frustrated , you will get better
2. watch the ball at contact and watch your opponent
3. Don't crowd the table (get too close), give yourself time to watch the ball
4. Learn from your mistakes and also learn from other players
5. Pick a style you like and stick with it
6. Racket should be an all around of defensive speed and rubber should be control type
7. practice your serves consistently, develope long and short serves with various spins, don't miss serves in a match
8. Most of all is pratice and playing time. You should practice more than you play
9. Learn the basics strokes well, they are the piers of your future game
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