Recently, I’ve noticed more and more people suffering from a new condition, which I have named ‘table tennis fever’. It can afflict young and old, male and female and can strike at any point of the year. Have a read of the symptoms and see if you’re a sufferer too… Keep reading
When you go to a practice session you have an important decision to make, do you prioritise working on your strengths or your weaknesses? In this blog post I examine the pros and cons of different approaches. Keep reading
I had great pleasure in attending the Werner Schlager Academy between 14 – 17 May 2015. Based in Vienna, it is a training base for over 50 professional table tennis players. It’s one of the main table tennis centre’s in Europe, rivaled in size and facilities only by the German national table tennis centre in … Keep reading
Many players at the beginner and improver level find it difficult to play forehand topspin strokes against backspin balls during match-play. They might be able to do it in training drills but when it comes to matches it doesn’t work. In this blog post I explain a simple idea for playing more forehand topspins. Keep reading
At the recent 2015 World Table Tennis Championships in Suzhou, Chinese players were completely dominant. In this blog post I ask whether Chinese dominance is a problem for the sport and what other countries can do to catch-up. Keep reading
It’s the last match of the season. My final opponent is an older female player – slim, tall, silver haired, with a determined spring in her step. I am expected to win, but I feel a little uneasy. I’m not quite sure how to approach the match. Part of me feels like I should be … Keep reading
Here’s a familiar scenario. Two players warm-up doing forehand drives cross court. And then they do more forehand drives. And then some more. Then they may do some random play varying spin and placement, but with the real purpose in mind. At some point, one of the player’s gets slightly bored and says ‘shall we … Keep reading
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
Most table tennis coaches have one ‘secret’ to playing great table tennis, which they favour more than others. It could be a certain type of grip, playing distance from the table, mental preparation or any number of tactical or technical innovations. My ‘secret’ – the one thing I emphasise over all others with the players … Keep reading
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