When I began playing all I knew was serve and bomb any ball that came my way. Many said you need to develop your table tennis short game and as a teenager, those wise words had no meaning to me.
What is a short table tennis game?
It’s what many find boring; short serves, short touch, pushing and flicks. This part of the game if developed correctly can stop your opponent from attacking you and can enable you to execute both your backhand and forehand. I often tell my players, to avoid prejudgment when watching others knock up with their backhands and forehands. Think about it like a car you must start from first gear (short game) up to fifth gear (big topspin shots). If you watch someone executing both wings, you’re only seeing the car in motion. You have not felt how it handles the road, the acceleration, and its true capabilities. Therefore stay focused on your game and try to avoid pre-match jitters when seeing someone’s backhand and forehand in action.
Pic courtesy of Roger Hance
How can you develop your short game?
Practice your serve
Work on flicking, this involves good footwork (stepping in and out)
Short touch, good timing is key
Positive long push
Training ratio:
Most clubs and players focus on footwork and both wings (backhand and forehand). In truth, you may have the best backhand or forehand in the world but if a player stops you from implementing those strokes, your shots are effectively obsolete. I suggest training your short game just as much as the long game and for me personally, I like to coach my players 65% short & 45% long. The ratio changes depending on your personal game and style. So be aware and willing to adapt.
High quality
Often I see players pushing, touching and flicking but the quality is poor.
Short touch: must be low, spinny and if possible only have two bounces on the opponent’s side.
Long push: must have a variety of heavy and not so heavy spin (which look similar in action. The push should be deep, fast and well placed making it tough for your opponent to execute an aggressive attacking shot.
Flick: whatever flick you’re executing the aim is to put the opponent under pressure and not necessarily make a winning shot out of it. Often players think they must make a winner out of a flick and that’s not the case. A flick is a mini topspin taken early which means the opponent has less reaction time. Therefore a well placed or deep flick will more often than not give you a weak return of which you can capitalise on.
The short game is often seen as boring because it feels action-less. Therefore it’s important to find ways of making this part of training fun. For example how many can you touch short (2 bounces only) when receiving 10 serves. This is great for mental stimulation, competition and a clear view of current ability and future developments.
The short game is the fuel for anyone looking to drive their supercar.
I believe table tennis rivalry whether it be; coaching, players, clubs, etc. is and should be seen as a healthy form of development.
Table Tennis Player
As a player, one of the best ways to grow and develop yourself is by having a person or persons seen as rivals. Great examples of rivalry in sport include Roger Federer and Nadal, Mohammed Ali and Joe Frazier, Messi and Ronaldo. These greats became extraordinary because they pushed themselves beyond normal capability in view of becoming better than their rivals. Positive rivalry depends on your character some will avoid rivalry and see it as a negative impact on their career or focus. The fact of this matter is you must focus on yourself (primarily) because you are unable to control someone else’s action. But if you notice what others are doing it can help you develop and drive you further than someone who’s solely focused on themselves.
Mohammed Ali and Joe Frazier Rivalry
Table Tennis Coach:
I am Unsure about other countries but in England, it feels as if there is a lot of rivalry between coaches, is this healthy? Yes and No. As a coach, I believe we coach to develop players and the game and by having strong coaching rivalries we can damage players and development as a whole. It’s good to learn from other coaches and develop players to the best of your ability but try to avoid aggressive rivalries.
Table Tennis Clubs:
We see very strong club rivalry in English Football but does it elevate the game? In my opinion yes it does, it makes every aspect of each club and the fans wanting more. I do believe table tennis should collaborate much more as we are an individual sport but maintain a vision of development alongside other clubs. We must find a way of having more full-time clubs and this would enable further growth and healthy rivalry.
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I think many players over the years have become great and even better than what they may have believed possible because of local, national and international rivalry. If you have a good balance of rivalry it will enable you to grow and push beyond what was first thought.
Your rivalry can change but you as a person must not change, the mindset must stay the same. Use your rival as someone or something healthy which makes you a better person.
How Important is a short touch in modern table tennis?
Short Touch
In today’s modern, (high-level table tennis matches) the short touch is far less seen compared to high-level matches back in the ’90s. This is mainly because of the modern backhand flick which enables a player to impart an offensive stroke on near enough any short ball. Does this mean the short touch has become obsolete in top-flight matches or in table tennis as a whole?
No, it has not!!!
We must still look to implement a short touch when possible and it can aid us, towards winning matches. If you flick every ball the opponent will be ready for an oncoming flick. This gives them the ability to prepare and contract your positive stroke against you. Implementing a good short touch mixes the play and put your opponent into an uncertain situation, giving you the upper hand.
eBaTT – Table Tennis Tutorial – P2 March 2019 (How to execute a quality short touch), Video
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The Exercise:
Short touch, is one of the hardest shots to execute under pressure and execute correctly when receiving a short backspin ball. The aim is to get the stroke technically correct and impart a little backspin which elevates the pressure on your opponent. The short touch can be executed on any short ball especially backspin. This Stroke stops your opponent from attacking you in an aggressive manner.
The Aim:
1. Produce backspin, 2. develop the correct technique 3. point of contact on the bat 4. Timing point, when to connect with the ball in flight (after the bounce)
How it’s done:
1. Grip, the grip tightens at the point of contact this increases control. 2. Contact point, aim to hit the ball near the top end of the rubber near your hand and the handle. 3. The technique, stabbing motion via an extension movement through the elbow. 4. Acceleration, making sure the bat acceleration at the point of contact with a thin contact on the ball.
And please don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel to receive our two coaching video tips every month, published on the 1st and 15th. Feel free to share and comment below. Thank you to Bernie for creating and filming the video
Short touch is like an art form, it takes a delicate touch but at the same time, you must possess a positive action to make this shot high quality.
Did the English Senior Nationals have table tennis atmosphere?
In short no!
I must admit, there were huge developments from last year’s nationals. Credit is due when something has been upscaled because it’s easy to criticise from the sideline and as a business owner my self, it can be hurtful when others disrespect or criticise your work from an outside perspective. Personally, I pride myself in giving 100% to every task so when I’m critiqued or receive negative feedback I’m able to hold my head up high and say it’s OK, let’s try and learn from this. This is only if what I did was wrong (make a note) my effort is never penalised I’m only being critiqued on my work.
English National Table Tennis Championship Final
From what I saw, a great deal of effort was implemented via TTE into making the nationals a prestigious event and I am not pointing my fingers in that direction. But here’s where I would like to see further developments.
Table Tennis Atmosphere:
I watched a few matches on Friday, Saturday and Sunday and the atmosphere was dead on Friday. It slightly upscaled both on Saturday and Sunday but was not at a level where I believe it should be at.
French Senior Table Tennis National Championships:
I also watched the French National Championships and that was a different world altogether. There is a huge qualification system with 4 tournament rounds that enables up to (I believe) 100 players to qualify. In the main event there are 128 players and that’s where the fun begins with lots of exciting matches and of course upsets. In this year’s semifinals, none of the top 4 seeds reached that stage and one player was seeded 21. As soon as you tuned into the live video feed, you could feel and hear the buzz in the hall, it’s truly what sport requires to flourish as a whole.
Firework intro for Players
Here’s a list of what I saw in comparison;
English table tennis:
No crowd day one
Small crowd days 2 & 3
No light effects
No real support from the crowd
Little engagement with the crowd
Commentary (not my words although I agree was poor)
No special intro
No mascot
No clappers or bangers
Little to no music
Split into two halls
French table tennis Championships:
Big crowd
Spotlights on players as they enter the court
Crowd; chanting, supporting, truly vocal throughout each match
Clappers, bangers and drums
Music constantly implemented sparking the players and crowd
Special player intro’s with music and fireworks
Commentators really engaging and fun to listen to with comments such as; Oh La La la la
Table tennis mascot
One hall
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German Table Tennis Nationals
Table Tennis Nationals is held once a year:
I appreciate it’s all easily said compared to being done. But let’s be honest we have one major event per year in England and it’s clear that a lot has been put into it. Therefore if a lot of investment (time, money, effort, energy) then let’s invest wisely.
Making an event special is done by one key ingredient, atmosphere. If you get the buzz feeling inside the hall it will be felt by those watching from the outside.
I am always interested in hearing your thoughts and opinions so please comment below
Another year since the last English Table Tennis Championships.
Table Tennis Progress:
It’s nice to see TTE taking people’s views and advice. They have introduced an open qualifiers event which enables anyone to qualify. I’m glad and happy this has been implemented but…
I would like to see the national event on a greater scale. We have 40 thousand registered Table Tennis Players and only 32 participate in the main event. I honestly believe we could upscale this event with events of 128 to 64 and 32 depending on categories.
Why bigger scale?
More opportunity for players to be involved and apart of this special event
More spectators and support
Increased odds of upsets and surprises
Who will win this match? Alex or Florian?
Exciting French National’s
Player Organisation
I don’t want to dwell into the current state of TTE and our National Championships. Therefore I’ll talk about the player’s organisation.
3 key elements required to perform:
Least decision making as possible: this means to prepare you bag, bat any every physical thing required for the event the night before. This enables your brain to focus on fewer things and zone into the task at hand.
The draw: There are different views when approaching a draw. Some want to play and avoid the draw. They get nervous or overthink and sometimes predict their future. Others like to plan their match play and how to face each opponent. I won’t say there’s a right or wrong but I will say the best always prepare.
Get used to the environment: Go and train at the location pre-tournament. If you know which table you will begin your matches, train in there. Find the weakest spot in the hall and train there also. Use the match ball, play a match (if you wish) and develop inner confidence with the location. All of these implementations can and more often than not will give you marginal gains.
Nationals in England
Currently, we don’t have it right but the beautiful thing is many other countries do. Therefore in my opinion modelling is required, this will kick start our development of the nationals. Once we have the system in place, incremental changes can be developed to suit our nation.
Most people who play or have played know the basic rules in table tennis. If you don’t here’s a link for table tennis rules.
Table tennis has and most likely will continue to evolve.
Table tennis has evolved so much that many recreational table tennis or (ping pong) players abide by the older rules. Such as celluloid balls, up to 21 points, 5 serves each, no ball toss etc. This means if you are unwilling to adapt and change, table tennis as a sport will gust rate the hell out of you.
Rules are important:
Rules are extremely important, it’s like building a cupboard from Ikea without instructions. You would put many holes in the wrong place, you may break a few pieces, some things would be the wrong way round etc.
Rules allow people to express themselves but with limitations and a clear outcome. How you reach the outcome is down to you. It also may pave the way in which we perform and carry out the task at hand.
Should rules be broken?
Depends on who you ask, Arnold Schwarzenegger says, “break some rules but don’t break the law”. Personally, I love this quote and in many ways, I follow his philosophy. My wife, on the other hand, will not and does not break the rules. This may be because of upbringing, past experiences or developed via culture.
Arnold Schwarzenegger playing table tennis
For me personally, there were little rules growing up. My mum was hardly home and if she was she wasn’t exactly a stickler for rules. On the other hand, my wife was brought up in a lovely family home with 4 siblings. This meant order was required in making sure everyone and everything was in check, keeping piece inside the home.
Pros and cons of rules:
If you are like me and break the rules you can find yourself in many sticky situations. Lots of mistakes, lots of disagreements, lots of seemingly (failures). But on the positive side, you may find lots of success, new ideas, exponential growth, unique methods, super learning, wonderful experience, development of strong mindset, grit, survival, and finding ways thought of as impossible etc.
On the other hand:
If you’re like my wife, you will not; try out new things, ponder over small mistakes, have fewer experiences, predictable often using systematic methods, let fear control you, follow others, be indecisive etc. But you will be trustworthy, organised, committed, play fair, rarely get in trouble, rarely make mistakes, consistent etc.
Are rules important?
Yes, 100% they are but if I had a choice (which we all do) I would choose to take positive qualities from both. This includes; Pushing the boundaries, look for loopholes and explore beyond to gain those special experiences via personal goals and vision. Yet I would also benefit from being committed, focused, have clear outlines and be organised.
I think if you are able to combine both elements you will witness great success.
Many of the best players explore the limits of scientific rules, both in physical and mental capabilities.
Breaking table tennis rules:
If the game is up to 11 why not play;
1. some games up to 100 points?
Why not play half table only?
Why not play two red rubbers one anti-spin?
Why not serve behind the arm/body creating illegal serves?
All these things wild explorations will elevate your game because you will have to adapt. As human beings, we are the best creatures on the planet at adapting because not only does our body adapt but our brain also looks for solutions.
Of course, once the official game begins re-group, focus and use your new skills to find ways of winning inside the rule book.
The choice is yours, become one way or another or be everything.
I know it’s easy to say, table tennis belief can be developed.
Before We Believe:
I think the biggest issue we all have is hearing, listening and doing what others do. I don’t like this saying but it’s so true “most are sheep” which often kills potential. We are the most privileged species on the planet, yet most follow and few create. We have a gift which enables us in more ways than any other thing on the planet.
So why do we let our surroundings dictate us?
One Simple Reason:
Fear of what others think, do and say! Most would live a fake life, their whole lives because they fear what others may think or say.
What a shame, to live under a shadow when you only have one life (that we know of).
The older you get the shorter your time becomes but while you’re still breathing you still have time to make your life yours.
Develop table tennis belief
Table Tennis Belief:
The game has evolved so much over the past 30 years and we are seeing less and less versatility. I think it’s a shame for players and for the sport. I appreciate that it’s highly unluckily to become a world champion if you only chop, or chop block on your backhand or lob & fish. But only one person becomes a world champion every two years, so why not play the way you want?!
In order to love what you do and enable your skill to truly flourish, you must develop your own style. This means finding what works for you and believe in that pathway.
An insight into achievement via work and belief
Table Tennis Styles:
If players were given more freedom to explore, experiment and have a personal style I believe we would retain more players. I think many players are boxed via associations, clubs and coaches. The sport requires expression and it’s moving more and more towards a single formula of play.
There is no human on the planet that has the same DNA so why are we teaching all our players a systematic style of play?!
Believe in yourself, express yourself and find what suits you. If you do this, you may not be a winner or seen as “normal” but you are true to yourself. And being true to yourself means you are truly living.
I am very interested in your thoughts and opinions so please leave a comment below
As a teenager my table tennis confidence was huge. I believed I could beat anyone and if you beat me I would shake your hand and say “I’ll beat you next time”.
One thing can change everything:
I lost my confidence aged 18 after my coach in France told me I would never achieve my dream of becoming a world champion. My game and self-belief were zapped out of me and for a year I tried to find that spirit and inner table tennis confidence I possessed as a teenager. I had had occasional good results which would re-spark my confidence but it wouldn’t last long. At 19 I put my bat down and felt that would be it for me as a table tennis player.
Psychology book tailor-made for Table Tennis
I was coaching table tennis but I opted out of physical play and rarely held a bat in my hand unless absolutely necessary. Luckily for me staying inside the sport as a coach saw me come back when I was 20 years old. I thought my past coaches words would have left me and I could move on. Yet I found myself constantly up and down in terms of table tennis confidence (Match Play). I was asked to play in the German league I was honoured and thought it may help my confidence but instead, it killed it. I decided to stop playing competitively and only play in my local club and leagues. My main focus in table tennis changed from a player into a coaching career driven towards helping and aiding players who wanted to upscale their games.
Power of words:
At 27 a special man entered into my life Sule Oleleyo former no.1 Nigerian player and 5x African champion. He worked with me at Harefield Academy for 1 year and changed my belief. He literally said the opposite of what my coach said! Sule said you’re so talented you must play. You can’t be a player forever but you can be a coach for life. He went on to say “enjoy playing each time you play, not everyone is privileged to compete at high national or international level”. Those simple words I would say to myself when I came back into competition “enjoy the moment you may never have it again!”
Beginner Bat new to the Game
Due to confidence
My level of play skyrocketed beating 6 players inside the top 15 and playing at the highest division in British League. I created a team that went on to win the Senior British League and I was apart of that team.
At 30 I was unlucky with health issues and it was effectively my last stint of Peak Performance.
7 years on I was asked to play in the Belgium League and after performing well, my table tennis confidence in match play shot right back up. I trained with a friend this week and a few weeks ago this player pushed me close in some games and even took some games and a match of me. Today I won every game giving my opponent no more than 5 points per game, I felt like I teenager again!
Intermediate – minimum of 6 months of play
You’re in charge of Confidence
Three things are required for you to play confidently:
Surround yourself with people who support you and believe in your ability.
Words are powerful but you choose which ones may or may not impact your life. I chose the wrong words initially but eventually, I listened to the right ones. Listen to the ones that make you a better person.
Enjoy, when you play not to lose or only to win, you implement fear and anxiety which does not allow you to perform at peak level. Enjoying the occasion, whether you perform or not every occasion is special as long as you put in 100% effort, the reward will be the experience.
Confidence is your choice don’t let others dictate your capabilities.
*Regardless of your level, you will require good equipment to execute skilled strokes and shots, eBaTT Recommends
Advanced – Local club level, minimum 1 year of play
I am always interested in your thoughts and views so please leave a comment
Wow, the table tennis culture in Belgium is so different.
Playing table tennis in the Belgium League
Nearly 20 years ago I played in Belgium at a club called Soka. The club had plenty of teams ranging from lower divisions through to the top division ‘Super Liga’. The Belgique super league has been famous for many years attracting lots of superstar table tennis players. Players include Samsanov, Primorac, JM Saive and many others. Moving forward in time I was back playing in Belgium, for a different club and here are some lessons and experiences which may interest you.
My experience
I have competed seldom over the past 7 years and most of the time it has been local competition. The play included once or twice a year to help friends and students at SBL but most know my focus is on coaching these days. Yet this felt like a mini-renaissance, I was asked to compete on behalf of another club as a player. This was no favour nor was it to help my teams out, it was me providing my skills as a player to a club.
Mindset
It was a weird and honourable feeling to for me. My head was giving excuses as to why I may lose and why I should not compete! I entered the hall and began watching my opposition knock up, again I questioned my ability to be there and could I beat these guys?
Our brains implode with information through a new experience and this was exactly how I felt especially when I was told before the match “this is an important match”. Luckily for me, my first match was against a defensive player. This gave me immediate confidence, I’ve always believed to be good against defensive players and I used the confidence to win that match 3-1. Two matches are played simultaneously and I glimpsed across on occasion eyeing up my next opponent blasting balls. Again my mind started began procrastinating saying all sorts of things like it’s OK you’ve won be happy.
As you can see our minds like to make us feel secure by giving excuses or looking for ways to protect us. I managed to win all 4 of my matches. My confidence by the 3rd and 4th match was at a massive high and I was able to execute my match play as if I was in the practice hall.
How and why was I able to turn my initial doubts into confidence and winning convincingly?
I purposely put pressure on myself, by posting on social media that I’m competing. I knew this would provide me a sense of external pressure and build my internal pressure. I wanted to put myself in a position where I felt uncomfortable and see if I could find a way to overcome it.
Admittedly I was very nervous the first match. All eyes on me from 90% of the club members and players, the club has paid for me to come and perform and I was told by the president that this match is important prior to the event.
So… how did I manage to control the pressure, something many fail (including myself) to handle or control?
The first game
My opponent struggled with my serve and I ran away winning 11-3, this is one of the reasons I always bang on about the importance of having good serves. Second game it all changed he was able to return my serves and began to put all the balls back on the table, furthermore I lost focus looking at my next opponent and I lost 11-9.
My mind began to get scrambled again “what if you lose this game? You’ll be 2-1 down and it will be hard to come back, then you may lose the other games!”. And you said, “you’re good against chop!!!” It was time to put my teachings into practice and often a good start can lead to a good ending.
Finding a way
My mantra is finding a way, I quickly changed those thoughts to
1. Focus on the moment
2. How can you win tactically
3. Lowering my pulse rate by focusing on my breath.
This allowed me to ignore all the variables and hone in on my skill and what I can do to win. I found some new tactics and slowly drew away point by point. The possible outcomes and negative thoughts disappeared and I was in the zone. I believe I won the next two games under 5.
Table Tennis Characters
I wrote a blog 2 weeks ago about how a character is required in our sport. Well, character in Belgium is in huge abundance which explains why they get people to come and watch plus support the sport. My second match was against the player I was viewing while I played my first match. You had to be there to believe it!
FIRST POINT – I won, (via my serve) this young man was effing and blinding for about 30 seconds.
SECOND POINT – I won, (third ball attack) my opponent goes mental at himself with verbal abuse and physically he goes to kick the table skimming it (luckily for him). Lots of verbal diarrhoea both out loud and under his breath, nothing aimed at me in fact as he prepares to play the next point, he says well played (LOL). The other amazing thing I noticed was how the umpire says nothing at all of this physical and metal outcry.
The THIRD POINT – he misses a shot and that was it he literally gave up. I tried to stay focused because sometimes this kind of giving up attitude allows a player to play freely and occasionally even better than their normal play. Furthermore by staying focused it employs that you are not taking them lightly regardless of their state and reinforces their (giving up attitude) making it virtually impossible for them to win. Even though I tried to maintain focus in game 2 he regrouped swinging left right and centre taking that game off me 11-7. My corner told me to go to his forehand when attacking. I knew it was important to get a good start and hopefully get him to lose his cool again. I did just that and he began playing as if he had lost the match and I just focused on winning one point at a time. Tactically I decided to go to his cross over which seemed to work better than going to his forehand side. (Lesson for youngsters) listen to advice but if it doesn’t seem to work or you’re uncomfortable, change tactics accordingly.
The madness continues:
Players often swore between points, lots of outspoken verbal diarrhoea some players drunk beer in between points and I saw one guy snap his bat in half after losing. Yet, with all this drama every player is courteous and polite in so many respects regardless of their outcry. For example, players wished you “Bonne Match” (have a good match) before play commenced, an immediate apology was given if a net or edge occurred. Gestures of well played, sorry and honesty was truly amazing to see. The respect for the player, game and club was beautiful to see such as; If a ball interrupted play players would always ask did the ball disturb you? And if the umpire thought it did not the opponent would correct them and say no by flipping the scoreboard and giving you back the point. Even though there was lots of verbal and physical outcry it was clear to see that was the personal character being expressed and they never I portrayed any animosity towards the other player.
Table tennis culture in Belgium
This was fascinating to me, they have 30 thousand registered players in a very small country. Yet they have produced a world no.1 and many world-class players over the past 30 years. They have a top division professional league where some top players get up to €50k per season.
A very large proportion of the clubs are based in a full-time table tennis hall which has a bar, lounge seating area and its open 7 days a week. They provide for the local community and the community supports them by offering sponsorship. This particular club I was playing for had over 50 different sponsors scattered all around the hall.
Pub – Drink – Play
Effectively the system works like this, there’s a bar open to the public. Players enjoy a drink and socialise with their friends and compete for both, on a social, local, national and even professional level. The local community support the club via multiple local businesses. Often the sponsors are players inside the club and they get multiple benefits via sponsoring the club. Tax benefits, supporting the local community, their company is viewed by internal and external people and they get to have a beer on the house. The beautiful thing was seeing families attend the club to watch dad, mother, brother or sister compete. After the match, both teams sit down for a drink and a meal were discussions about table tennis flows.
Table tennis pub clubs:
Maybe it’s time for us to incorporate a similar structure in England? Lots of pubs are closing down, this gives scope and possibly reviving pubs across England. All that’s needed is pubs that have some land where a hall can be built to accommodate a playing area/facility.
The benefits:
People attend the pub to play
Join their friends who play
Watch TT (entertainment while they have a drink)
Burn off the beer calories
Social evening
Compete
Provide for the community and unite the community via a social gathering
To see little clips and pictures of the club in action please visit my social media networks (Insta or FB)
Table tennis never ceases to amaze me, the sport can give so much to a person’s livelihood. All we have to do is invest in building a culture that understands and wants to take part.
How important are table tennis balls and do the characteristics and different ball companies, truly affect your game?
The History of Table tennis balls
Since I first began playing there has been two major changes to the ball, the size and the material of the ball. These changes can be seen both as a positive and negative. Nevertheless, they both have been implemented and thus we must all make best use of the current situation.
Table Tennis Makes and Brands:
The balls vary from brand to brand and depending on your ball purchase the quality will vary from little to greatly. Some brands such as butterfly have a glossy shine but depending on which class of butterfly ball you purchase, you will notice a considerable difference in texture and quality. Different brands produce and develop the ball slightly differently which can make it very hard to choose which ball to train or play matches with!
Same Brand Different Quality
Table Tennis Ball Variation and Characteristics:
Texture: is the ball shiny, or smooth?
Round: is the ball symmetrical?
Bounce: what is the height and bounce, if you hold two different balls at the same height and drop them you may see a difference in the bounce of the ball? Is it the same or does one bounce higher? Is the weight or density different? Does one ball bounce longer because it’s denser?
Speed: does one travel faster due to a smooth surface?
You must understand how a ball can affect your game to enable yourself the best possible outcome. You will often hear people say, “it doesn’t matter what car I have as long as it gets me from A to B”. This statement is true if that’s all you require but if you have a specific requirement, any car just won’t cut it. For Example, if you want to go off-road, you may consider a Land Rover, if you want to win on a race track a formula 1 car is your best bet and if you have a big family, a 7 seater may be a good option.
Does a table tennis ball really matter or affect your game?
To a ping pong player (home, social club, or office player) any table tennis ball will suffice and rarely will you hear a complaint about a ball having a soft spot, or unsymmetrical! Yet a professional player will spend a good few minutes checking a selection of balls prior to his/her big match. As mentioned above any car will get you A to B but once you become proficient at anything your requirements become a lot more tailored.
A table tennis ball, does and can have a big effect on a players game and you must understand what, why and How.
What – If the ball has a soft spot, you will find variation in the ball (bounce) characteristics, some jump up too high, another may skid through. This will affect your timing and technique which can also affect your mindset.
Why – You must try your best to train with high-quality table tennis balls, this develops technique, confidence (via consistency) and develops good timing.
How – Have a variety of high-quality tournament balls and vary your training by using different balls on any given occasion. Most importantly prior to an event or tournament, find out which ball brand is being used and practice with those balls as soon as possible. Each ball has a slightly different characteristic, therefore, the more practice you get with the ball beforehand the better you’ll manage on the day.
Over Thinking:
Table tennis is one of the most technical sports in the world and often due to its unthinkable variants, people overload themselves trying to out-think the sport. It’s nice and its good to know what’s best for you and your game but sometimes its just as good to just get on the table and fight with your heart. The elements are often shared and you can use them as your advantage if you just accept what’s in front of you while your opponent fights to beat you and the elements.
Try to create and have the best elements in your favour but if all that fails, then do what every dog in a corner (FIGHT), your way towards that winning edge.
