The league season in Cambridge finished a couple of weeks ago. It was my second year playing in Division 1. Last year my team finished 2nd. This year we finished…..2nd again! In this blog post I give a review of my season, sharing a few highs and a couple of big lows, including a 7 match losing streak. Ouch! Keep reading
If you play in local league or amateur tournaments, you will come across all kinds of weird and awkward styles. These are players with strange looking strokes and movements. They may not look great, but somehow they have developed an unorthodox playing style which works for them and can be infuriatingly effective. In this blog post I give four tactics to try when playing against weird players. Keep reading
I have great pleasure to announce that I am now a full-time table tennis coach. Over the past few years I’ve been doing both my day job and table tennis coaching on the side. But my coaching has been going so well, it has become viable to do it full-time. I am hugely excited by this. In this blog post, I share some of my plans for the future and also explain how my new career has got off to a disastrous start! Keep reading
I’m taking a short pause from my table tennis blog because of illness. I was admitted to hospital last week and diagnosed with bacterial meningitis. Fortunately I was diagnosed and treated quickly, so I was able to avoid some of the really bad complications you can get with the infection. I am now recovering at … Keep reading
Last week, I went to the Quarter Final session of the Team World Cup in London. I could write a gushing blog post about how amazing all the professional players are, but I don’t fancy doing that. Instead, I thought I’d write some light-hearted ramblings about my experience. So stick with it. I’ll try and entertain you with my witty (this might be pushing it) table tennis anecdotes and observations. Keep reading
Table tennis is a fast game. You need quick reactions to cope with the random patterns of play. One way you can improve your reaction time is by simply watching your opponent. In this blog post I explain why watching your opponent helps you to react quicker, move quicker and play better quality strokes. Keep reading
I’m always looking for opportunities to receive coaching myself. This helps me improve as a player and a coach. Recently I had a coaching session with Eli Baraty – a top coach who has helped produced many national title winners. Eli helped me with a few things, in particular getting more whip on my forehand topspin. Keep reading
Last weekend I coached at a beginner training day in London. The purpose of the day was to teach some basic table tennis skills – drives, pushes, serve and receive. Throughout the day, I picked up on several mistakes the beginner players were making. They were making the same mistakes as the beginner players I coach in Cambridge. I’m sure they are the same mistakes any beginner player makes in any part of the world. So I thought it would be useful to share some of these mistakes, why they need fixing and what you should do instead. So if you are a beginner player, this blog post is for you… Keep reading
Over the past week, I passed a new milestone. My table tennis video lessons on YouTube have been viewed over one million times. Woohoo! I’m very excited by this, being a bit of a digital statistics geek. I’d like to see a big thank you to anyone who has ever watched, liked, shared or commented on one of my table tennis lessons on YouTube. And please send me your ideas for new table tennis video lessons. Keep reading
Angled shots are great way of stretching your opponent, keeping him off-balance, and opening up the table so you can control the rally. In this blog post, I explain what I mean by ‘angled shots’, why they are effective and how you can practice angled shots in your training sessions. Keep reading