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
Most adult players have faced the seemingly embarrassing scenario of losing to a player half their size and quarter their age. If this has happened to you, don’t be too embarrassed, because last week two players ranked in the top 100 in the world had a similar experience. At the Safir Open in Sweden, 11-year-old … Keep reading
There’s been a huge surge in interest in table tennis this week, thanks to the ‘Expert in a Year’ challenge attempted by London coach Ben Larcombe and his friend Sam Priestley. The challenge has been getting plenty of attention in table tennis circles, but over the past week it has gone viral. It was featured … Keep reading
I love showing players I coach how to play topspin shots. It’s one of the things which makes me happiest as a coach, especially if the player I’m coaching is an older player. You sometimes hear coaches say that if you haven’t learnt topspin by a certain age, you should forget it. It’s too technically … Keep reading