[Video] How to return Craig Bryant’s 4 killer serves

[Video] How to return Craig Bryant’s 4 killer serves

Last month I posted a video “4 killer serves to destroy your opponents”, featuring service expert Craig Bryant.  I got several requests asking how you can return these serves. Luckily, I just about had enough footage of myself returning each serve (at least once!), so I have put together this new video explaining how to return Craig’s serves. Keep reading

When returning serves, DON’T PROD THE BALL

When returning serves, DON’T PROD THE BALL

Returning serves is hard. It’s the thing most players at the beginner and intermediate levels struggle with the most. But there are ways you can get better at returning serves, even if you have only just started playing table tennis. In this blog post, I give some simple advice about how you can return more serves, plus I share a BIG NO-NO, something you should never do… Keep reading

How to add more variety to your service returns

How do you return a backspin serve, which lands short, in the middle of the table? You actually you have far more options than you think. You can be very creative in how you return a short backspin serve. I picked up some great tips in a group coaching session I attended this week, which was run by Craig Bryant. In this blog post I share some of the things I learnt from Craig about how to improve the variation of your service returns. Keep reading

How to attack more during matches

Players learning the game (and also some players who have been playing for 30 years) can find it difficult to attack during matches. Is this you? You may have the aspiration to attack. You may tell yourself that you want to attack. But the opportunity never seems to present itself, especially against a better player who doesn’t give you any easy balls to smash away. In this blog post I explain how you can attack more during matches. Keep reading

3rd ball attack training drills

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

10 training drill ideas for the first five shots in a rally

In this blog post I share 10 training drill ideas for the first five shots of a rally. There are two drills each for service, receive, 3rd ball, 4th ball and 5th ball. Each drill includes a diagram, step-by-step instructions and suggestions for making the drill harder. Keep reading

The quickest way to improve your win percentage

Table tennis rallies are short. In fact they are very short. Various studies over the years have shown that the average table tennis rally is anywhere between 3 and 5 shots. What can we do with this information? For me, it seems fairly obvious. If you want to increase the number of points you win, you should focus a lot of your training on the first five shots of a rally. Keep reading