All serious table tennis players should set long term goals. Having a goal ensures that you keep making steady progress and spend your practice time effectively instead of stagnating as you practice aimlessly. Read more
Archive for the ‘Coaching’ Category
Writing Out a Game Plan for Improvement
Sunday, April 1st, 201212 Drills That I Use
Saturday, December 31st, 2011
To dramatically pick up your game, you need a solid routine of various types of drills. Here are the drills that I personally use on a daily basis. Read more
What I Do When I’m Losing
Sunday, November 20th, 2011
I’m playing a very important match in a tournament. I am losing 0-2 in games and now losing 0-5 in the third game. What should I do? Read more
Being an Effective Coach at Tournaments
Sunday, August 28th, 2011
Encouraging and coaching fellow club members at tournaments is one of the best aspects of a competition. In this article, I’m going to outline how to coach another player between games. Read more
Perfecting Your Serve
Monday, July 25th, 2011
Serves are the only part of the game where you have full control. You can dictate how the rally will develop by having a serve strategy and executing on it, so focus on this part of your game. Committing considerable time to this craft can be the fastest way to progress. In this article, I will be outlining nine tips that I personally use to perfect my serve. Read more
Active Blocking
Saturday, June 25th, 2011
Most players label topspin shots into several categories such as: loop, block, or smash. However, modern attacking players have developed an offensive block called an active block. Active blocking is a combination of a block, loop, and counterloop. It is best used off-the-bounce against a slow to medium speed loop. Read more
Who’s the Coach?
Saturday, April 16th, 2011
My full-time job is coaching students aged 5-75. Regardless of age, I expect each of my students to listen to my coaching as I give them advice point-by-point and apply what I am teaching them during each coaching session. During a coaching session, I am in charge; my student’s job is to listen to my advice. Read more
Breakfast of Champions
Wednesday, March 23rd, 2011
From Asia to Africa to Europe, there are thousands of professional table tennis athletes who are aspiring to be the next World Champion. One of the key elements to reaching the top is consistent training six hours per day. Most top players wake up, eat breakfast, train three hours, eat lunch, rest, then train three more hours in the late afternoon. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day to fuel an intense early morning session. Read more
The “First Strike” Principle
Wednesday, March 23rd, 2011
Seventy-five percent of the time, whoever attacks first wins the point (this statistic applies to two offensive players in competition). One of the questions players most frequently ask me is, “Samson, how can I attack first?” Here are four tips for the beginning player on how to initiate the attack. Read more
Changing Your Strategy Mid-Game
Tuesday, March 1st, 2011
I played a match this weekend with one of our up-and-coming junior girls. For two games, we battled it out, my steadiness versus her vicious hitting. On her serve, I’d either topspin the serve back and start countering, or push it, she’d loop, I’d block, and we’d be countering. On my serve, I’d mix in side-stop serves which she attacked, or backspin serves, which she’d push, I’d loop, and she’d jab-block or hit so aggressively I stopped using them. In most rallies, within two-three shots I’d be back fishing, then lobbing, and she wasn’t missing.
help