News & views

How to set up a website for your table tennis club (for only £5)

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A slightly different blog post from me this week. For my day job, I work in digital communications (e.g. managing websites, email marketing, social media etc). I’ve been doing this for 15 years, so know a thing or two about building, managing and promoting websites. I thought it would be a nice idea to share my web design knowledge with the table tennis community. In particular, I want to help those table tennis clubs who don’t have a website. In this blog, I’ll explain how to set up a website for your club, what content you need and how to promote your website. Keep reading

What went wrong with my season?

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It has been a league season of mixed fortunes. Our team remained unbeaten all season in the league, yet we only finished in second place. I achieved a respectable win percentage (84%), but this was lower than the previous two seasons. We won the handicap competition, but crashed out of another cup competition in the quarter final due to a shocking performance by myself. So, what went wrong? In this blog post I reflect on my playing performance over the past few months and examine my big tactical mistake. 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

Anton Kallberg – future world champion?

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There is plenty of excitement at the moment about 18-year-old Swedish player Anton Kallberg. He has had a rapid rise up the international rankings in the past year and once again confirmed his potential with an impressive run of results at the 2015 Swedish Open. I have to confess, I’m excited too. It’s very early days, of course. There have been plenty of 18-year-olds who have shown potential, but never made an impression on the world’s top 50, let alone the world’s top 5. But I think Kallberg is different and has the potential to reach the very top. Read my blog post to find out why… Keep reading

Table tennis needs Grand Slams

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One of the things I find frustrating about table tennis is its lack of media exposure. In the UK, the only time that table tennis gets any decent national media exposure is during the Olympics. But once the Olympics are over, table tennis disappears and is forgotten about for another four years. What we need is for table tennis to be in the media spotlight more often. One way to do this would be to introduce Grand Slam tournaments, similar to tennis. Keep reading

The sport where young and old battle for glory

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Over the past three months we have seen some extraordinary performances by both young and not-so-young players in the world of table tennis. In February 2015, 11-year-old Tomokazu Harimoto got to the final of the Safir Open in Sweden, beating two of the world’s top 100 players on the way. Even more recently, 14-year-old Mima … Keep reading

Pitchford and Drinkhall rivalry great for English table tennis

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What sporting drama! At the recent 2015 English Table Tennis Championships, Liam Pitchford staged a remarkable comeback to claim his third consecutive men’s singles title. Pitchford was trailing top seed Paul Drinkhall 3-0 and defeat was looking inevitable. But he dug deep, saved two Champinship points in 5th set, before finally securing 4-3 victory. This was … Keep reading