Your Coach(es) Best Tips

"Son, buy a decent bat."

My Chinese coach says " follow body"

Baal wrote: V-Griper wrote: "It's all timing" -Wang Zhen aka Eugene Wang. I heard Eugene say that once too.  It is so true!  And he pretty much never mistimes a shot.  So how to do it?  "Concentrate on making back-swing the same speed as ball is coming at you if you are having problems with timing.  Bring racket back fast if ball is fast, slow if ball is slow, it keeps you from rushing, which is more common a problem than being late."  I got this gem from Eric Owens.

Another good one from a coach in my wife's home town in China.  Most people think that they are in a perfectly neutral stance when it feels like they have equal weight on both legs.  Actually, most of the time when it feels like that, you actually have more weight on right leg (assuming you are right handed) because for most people the right leg is stronger.  Because of this you move slowly to the right on a strongly angled ball. It is almost impossible to move in that direction if the right side is supporting more of your weight, so first you have to transfer weight to left side and then move.  In worst case, you lose balance and end up with the right leg far in front of left at end of the shot.  Once that happens you are totally hosed for the rest of the point.  To avoid this catastrophic footwork error, (1) increase strength in left leg, and until that happens, (2) be aware that a truly neutral ready position is one in which it feels like there is a bit more weight on your left leg.    

V-Griper wrote: "It's all timing" -Wang Zhen aka Eugene Wang.

I heard Eugene say that once too.  It is so true!  And he pretty much never mistimes a shot. 

So how to do it?  "Concentrate on making back-swing the same speed as ball is coming at you if you are having problems with timing.  Bring racket back fast if ball is fast, slow if ball is slow, it keeps you from rushing, which is more common a problem than being late."  I got this gem from Eric Owens.

   "MONSTER NAMELESS IS A MERE GNAT...."

Stay calm.
Never have visual contact, eye-to-eye, with your opponent. Only monitor opponent's racket hand and the ball.
   Foget opponents's civil name and his rating standpoint..
Keep up your own preferred playing rhitm and pace; don't be hurry-scurry when serving.

Thus could you beat anybody.

I learned those proficient guidances back in my remote sweet youth, ... years ago. And those stil working for me only too well.    
Why need I volumes of boring, prolific books if a single word of wisdom is sufficient?


Thanks to the guidance, I can now play any Chinese monsters without any fear in my heart.. Fear kills.

A monster nameless is NOBODY, just a gnat insignificant.    Nothing to be fidget about.....

Dear COACH, i will preserve your every word thankfully. Thanks for giving those useful teachings to make me a rockfast player mentally. BE HAPPY IN THE AFTERLIFE, DAD.

For the most part my coach doesn't say much.  He doesn't need to.  I made it clear up front to beat me without mercy. Then it is painfully obvious what my faults are.  I have been taking lessons for about 6 months now, two hours a week.  I am learning to adapt after losing points the same way over and over and over and over again.  Just getting ball back is not good enough because if it is a weak return I won't even get my paddle on the next ball.

My coach doesn't say too much about footwork.  He simply hits the ball at the edges or at the elbow.  He loves hooking loops across my elbow area where I think should use my BH then I realize too late that I need to step to the left to hit it with my FH.  I have to watch how he hits the ball so I can predict sooner where the ball will go.  Again,  I have to adapt and move.  I have come to realize that I got to start moving as soon as I can after the coach hits the ball to be in position.  Too often I wait too long to move. 

My coach didn't say too much about serves.  It it obvious that I made a poor serve when I have a hard time just trying to get back the third ball.

My coach did show me how to hold the paddle when serving so I could use my wrist more.  It made a big difference because now when I serve I make what looks like the same strokes but simply use my wrist more or less to vary the spin.  I am told it is hard to read my serves easily.  I also use my loser grip to add more top spins to my BH loops.  BTW, I like my Firewall Plus but the handle is big and it is harder to flex the wrist without the handle bumping into my wrist. 

Sometimes it is a little frustrating using this beat me without mercy negative feedback approach.

I tend to be a little too aggressive. My coach says that I should give the other person a chance to screw up.  However,  when I am playing with the coach he doesn't screw up much so I must be aggressive to win points.   BTW,  I have told the coach that I think he is too passive but then he is playing me and giving me a chance to screw up.

"Nobody cares how many practice matches you win."

Edited by BRS - 07/26/2013 at 9:39am

"Don't rush - take your time - you have more time than you think"

Two pearls of wisdom from my old coach (University team)

a) table tennis is a really simple game. All you need to do is to win one point. The last one.

b) brain, feet, body, hands - that's the right sequence. The great players are those who can learn to finally skip the "brain" step.

And I should add - the great veteran players are those who can play using just the last part of the sequence. (the first three either not needed or don't work anymore)

power7 wrote: One I heard recently that made me laugh. "I can teach you that, but will you be able to use it in a game?"

"Don't give up your day job..."   and always expect your shot to come back.

AcudaDave wrote: "keep the ball on the table"

When you block a ball coming slow but loaded with spin, don't just put the bat passively thinking all you have to do is to get the angle right. Even if it's coming slow it'll pick up speed once it hits your bat and shoot off the table. Flick it on the top a little bit to counter the spin + put a little bit of yours on it.