Put your opponents under serious pressure with short, long and wide pushes

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Hands up if you regularly practise playing pushes? I’m guessing there aren’t many hands in the air right now. I can partly understand why players avoid practising their pushes. They find it boring. They think a push is defensive, safe and passive. But rather than seeing a push as a passive shot, you should approach pushing as an opportunity to put your opponent under some serious pressure. In this blog post, I reveal how you can become a pushing master and win lots more points. Keep reading

3rd ball attack training drills

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You can win lots of points with strong 3rd ball attacks. You serve, your opponent returns, you attack. If all goes to plan, you win the point on the third ball. Even if you don’t win the point on the third ball, you are likely to be in control of the rally. To be a strong 3rd ball attacker you need to practice lots of different serve and receive routines. In this blog post I share a few 3rd ball attack training drills. Each drill below includes a diagram, step-by-step instructions and suggestions for making the drill harder. Keep reading

How to identify and exploit an opponent’s weakness

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Every player has weaknesses. An inexperienced player will have lots of weaknesses. A better player will have fewer weaknesses. The very best may seem as though they have no glaring weaknesses, but they will have areas of their game which aren’t as strong as others. There are loads of weaknesses a player potentially may have. In this blog post, I share my list of the most common weaknesses and how you can exploit them. Keep reading

Tips for maintaining a positive attitude when you’re losing

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All players have bad games. Sometimes when a match isn’t going well, a player’s head will drop and they will stop competing. This is the worst kind of defeat. No one feels good about losing control of their emotions and giving up. You learn very little from the defeat. There are no positives to take away. Ideally you want to eliminate this type of loss from your game completely. How can you do this? Here are a few tips on maintaining a positive attitude when you’re losing… Keep reading

Tactics for beating a big flat hitter

Tactics for beating a big flat hitter

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One of the more awkward playing styles in local league table tennis is the big flat hitter. Rather than attacking with topspin, they prefer to hit through the ball with a very flat contact. You play a slightly loose shot and then BHAM! The ball gets smashed past you. You trudge off to the back of the hall to collect the ball. Next point, BHAM! The ball flies past you again. What should you do when playing a big flat hitter? In this blog post, I share a few tactics to help you win more points. Keep reading

Learning from Desmond Douglas at Westfield table tennis camp

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In December, I attended the Westfield table tennis camp in Northamptonshire. This was my second visit to the Westfield table tennis camp. The first time, back in 2014, I attended all three days. This time I only attended one day. I would have liked to have done all three days, but with a 3-month-old baby back at home, it would have been a bit unfair on my partner! Here’s my review, including lessons I learned from table tennis legend, Desmond Douglas… Keep reading

The perils of coaching, losing a league title and Chinese obsessions – reflections on table tennis in 2015

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Without doubt, this has been my busiest table tennis year. I’ve coached more hours than ever before, played in two different leagues and written 40 articles for my website. I even found time for a trip to Vienna to learn from one of the world’s top coaches. With so much going on, I thought I’d share some of things I’ve been up to, including a farcical coaching accident, losing a league title and becoming slightly obsessed with Chinese table tennis players. Keep reading

5 alternative match-play exercises to help you improve

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Sometimes it’s useful to mix things up your training, especially the match-play element. You don’t always have to play the standard best of 3, 5 or 7 sets up to 11. There are alternative games you can play, which help you to work on weaknesses and strengths, put you outside your comfort zone and keep you focused and engaged. In this blog post I share five alternative match-play exercises I use as both a coach and a player. Keep reading

Frustrate your opponents with steady blocks, aggressive blocks and trick blocks

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One of my favourite shots in table tennis is the block. In many ways, it’s a very simple shot. Little physical effort is required, you just need to get your body and bat in the right position and work with the speed and spin already on the ball. The other player does all the hard work, whilst you use all their speed and spin against them, putting them under lots of pressure to keep the rally going. In this blog post I look at different types of block shots you can use to frustrate your opponents. Keep reading

How to make an existing serve even better

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When coaching a player for a first time, they will often ask me to teach them new serves. They want serves which will bamboozle their opponents and win them lots of cheap points. But before I reveal my serving secrets, I ask them to show me their existing serves. And you know what? In most cases, the player already has a couple of decent serves, but they use them in a very predictable way. So before teaching any news serves, I always try to improve the serves they already use. In this blog post I reveal some of the things we work on (and you should do too)… Keep reading