Review: Eastfield Allround table tennis bat

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There’s a new table tennis brand on the market. The new brand, Eastfield, is the creation of Ben Larcombe, who runs the popular Expert Table Tennis website. The first bat to be released under the Eastfield brand is the Eastfield Allround table tennis bat. This bat is aimed at players who are learning the game and want more control and feeling, rather than blistering speed. Ben very kindly sent me an Eastfield Allround bat to try out. I’ve been using the bat on and off for the past month in my coaching sessions. Here’s my review… Keep reading

Small steps training drill

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Some players are guilty of not moving their feet when they play. Instead, they reach or lean when trying to hit the ball. This is not good. When you reach or lean, you have far less control over the ball and are far more likely to make mistakes. To help improve a player’s footwork, I often get them doing a small steps training drill. The aim of the drill is to make small steps, left or right, to get into the ideal position to play shots as best as you possibly can. In this blog post, I show you how to do the training drill. The post includes both a video demonstration and a written explanation. Keep reading

How to recover from a dip in form

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We all have periods when we feel our progress has stalled or our form has dipped. This is entirely normal. I often remind the players I coach (and myself), that improvement doesn’t take place in a straight line. In reality you will experience lots of ups and downs, but gradually moving in the right direction. In this blog post, I look at what can cause a dip in form and what you can do about it. Keep reading

Tactics for beating a good junior player

Tactics for beating a good junior player

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Any adult who has played competitive table tennis at any level has faced the unnerving and unglorified challenge of trying to beat a junior player. And not just any junior player. A junior who has been coached. A junior who has good technique and some great shots. A junior who plays without fear. It’s a difficult situation. There is no glory in beating a junior, but if you don’t try your best, you can easily get beat. In this blog post, I’ll give you some tactics on how to beat a good junior player. Keep reading

Why learning to play table tennis is like learning to drive a car

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Most players I coach have at some point had to listen to my dreaded table tennis car analogy. I usually reel it out when a player is having difficulty learning a new stroke. The player says something like “it’s difficult to think about what I need to do and watch what you’re doing at the same time”. Ding! This is my cue. It’s time for my table tennis car analogy. For your benefit, here it is… Keep reading

How to warm-up before a match (if you only have five minutes)

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One of the challenges of local league table tennis is that you often don’t get very much time to warm-up. By the time you get to the venue, you may only have five minutes to warm-up with your team-mates, and then it’s straight on with the matches. Your first match isn’t great. You’re a bit tight and tense and you don’t play anywhere near your best level. You moan to yourself about the fact that you haven’t had a proper warm-up. What can you do about this? In this blog post I explain how you can improve your warm-up routine, even if you only have a few minutes to warm-up. Keep reading

The backspin serve challenge

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Here’s something fun for you to try. Ryan Jenkins, a Welsh international table tennis player, has set a challenge. You have to do a backspin serve which bounces once on the server’s side, once on the receiver’s side and then bounces back over the net to the server’s side again. You get five attempts. Every time you do a successful serve, Ryan will donate £1 to Pink Pong. Ryan got 3 out of 5. Will I get more? Keep reading

Review: Palio Expert 2 Table Tennis Bat

Review: Palio Expert 2 Table Tennis Bat

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One of the most popular table tennis bats for beginners is the Palio Expert 2. As there is a lot of interest in this bat, I thought I would write a review. I also have a Palio Expert 2 table tennis bat, which I sometimes use in coaching sessions with beginners. As I’ve had many hours of playing time with the bat, I feel well placed to give my expert view. Here’s my review… Keep reading