Ask The Coach Show | Table Tennis

Welcome to the ask the coach show where PingSkills answers your table tennis questions!

This week the show consists of:

 * The Joke of the Week

 * The Topic of the Week - Mental Preparation

 * The Tip of the Week - Level of your Training Partners

 * 3 Questions

 * And a fun fact

Hello sir, I want to ask what happens if the ball touches the playing hand or forearm, game continues or we lose point immediately ? Second, what if the playing hand touches the table while game play ? It will be a great help if you can mention the ITTF rulebook rule number for these issues.

We are often encouraged to aim at our opponent's crossover point. What should we do when our opponent hits towards our crossover point? What are some good drills for handling this situation?

What are the reasons that an offensive player with inverted rubbers would move back from the table?

4 Points to Victory Blog Post

The Hidden Force Behind Every Victory

Challenge Your Training Blog Post

Bounce - The Myth of Talent and the Power of Practice

Welcome to the first ask the coach show in a long, long time! We are excited to be back and have a great show ready for you.

The show consists of:

 * The Joke of the Week

 * The Tip of the Week - Use a phone to record yourself

 * The Topic of the Week - The Olympic Effect

 * A single question for this episode

 * And a fun fact

I want to prepare for a tournament that is 4 months away. What should be my strategy 4 months before, 2 months before, a month before ,a week before and a day before and on that day?

The Talent Code by Daniel Coyle

4 Points to Victory Blog Post

The Hidden Force Behind Every Victory

Challenge Your Training Blog Post

When I get short balls, I like to flick them, and when balls are long I topspin them; however, mid-length balls are difficult. They are too long to flick, but just enough over the table so that I can't lower my bat. I generally automatically prepare for a long stroke, but then at the last second recognise that it will not be long, and awkwardly lunge forward with a weak return. Passive or defensive players generally have more half-length balls than aggressive players, so I tend to struggle against their returns, especially if it is backspin. The main questions are, what stroke should I use for those type of balls, and how should I prepare to avoid weak returns and getting off balance?

Due to a shoulder injury, I played mostly defensively with my backhand (pushing, chopping, blocking) the past couple of months, instead of being more active. I just slapped a random thin (1.3) inverted control rubber on the backhand and started defending, and to my surprise, did quite well with it. Now that my shoulder has mostly recovered, I'm wondering, should I stick with it or should I switch back to my old style? My backhand was never my strong suit, however I was decent at opening up the game with it but I was never able to keep the pressure up because I think my movements were too large and inefficient. Also, if I keep playing defensively, should I adjust my setup? I tried long pips but that was catastrophic and broke my brain a bit. Maybe short pips or a 1.5 rubber to block more aggressively?

Hi coaches! sam here, im just really curious... what year was the celluloid ball last used, and when did the plastic ball make its official ittf debut?

The latest research into muscle memory seems to indicate it takes about 10 hours of practicing one skill to train your brain to have good muscle memory. Doing two activities during the 10 hours reduces the learning of the first training. The other thing that was suggested was to push the boundaries in learning the one skill you are training for. I was told the Chinese when training young kids focus on one stroke for 3 months. How would you do this in training without becoming boring? Do you think there is any validity of this approach in Table Tennis?

Singapore Smash

Who Am I Episode 10

Welcome to another ask the coach show where we answer your table tennis questions. If you have a table tennis question then head over the PingSkills website and ask away. We love talking about table tennis. I hope you enjoy this week’s show.

How to select the serve to use in different situations ? When do we use long serve? When do we use backhand serve? Which serve should should be use at 9-10 ?

I noticed that when I was playing with (two different) 2 mm thick rubbers on FH side, almost all my topspins was landing to the table. And with maximum thick rubbers, I have some troubles. When I do FH topspins, several FH topspins in a set flies off the table.  Is it coincidence? With thinner rubbers is it easier to do FH topspins? Or depends on many other things: blade, opponents' strokes, position during the stroke (technique), etc ?

Hi Alois, I have this problem where I struggle to sleep well the night before a league or tournament because I am too excited and tend to overthink about the matches. I always end up not playing at my usual level during the contest. This has happened to me 2 times already and I hope that it doesn't happen again in the future. How do you calm down in the night before a tournament or league?

I recorded two matches of my local RR matches (approx 20 mins each) uplinked to youTube channels. I am looking for feedback to what I am already doing well & areas for improvements, tendencies, serves & returns. What are your thoughts & fees?

Choosing A Table Tennis Bat

Who Am I Episode 10

We answer 4 excellent questions in today’s show that will hopefully help you in your table tennis journey. One listener also correctly identified our current who am I athlete and wins either one hour of online coaching or one month’s free premium membership. We also give our tip of the week and round out the show with some OMG facts.

I can do under spin, side spin pendulum serve, but unable to figure out how to do top spin serve. Saw a few videos but not sure what am i missing. Please share some tips and/or videos to help learn it. 

Hello guys, I just replaced my Rakza 7 rubber on my/your bat.I did everything right from your ytube video. Is it normal to see ball indentations on the new rubber? Thanks, Bernie

I have just been watching basic strokes showing the position and movement of the bat, but the demonstration shows the ball bouncing to a convenient height to return the ball. What do you do when the ball bounces low and short, in other words, it could bounce twice in the middle of the table unless you get to it quickly?

I would like to ask though: the training with the second club looks only like "10mins of warm up and then 90 mins of matches. No drills no combinations no practise. Only matches."  Does such a system make sense to you? I mean...matches surely have their importance but playing ONLY matches without a chance to recognize mistakes or working at them? What do you think about the training system difference?

Guess the latest 'Who Am I'

Today we discuss how Alois used short pimples on his backhand for a year. We answer questions about receiving, the service rule, and the playing styles of Mima Ito and Vladimir Samsonov. We hope you enjoy the show.

Since the server has so many different options for a serve, what should the receiver be thinking of before the point begins?

What is the plan of Vladimir Samsonov's playing style?

I like to play close to the table. So I’d like to play like Mima Ito who is currently ranked third in the world among female players. She uses short pips on her backhand. When she returns ball during rallies, she pushes back the incoming ball forward, especially on her backhand side. She doesn’t use a conventional BH stroke. Actually she covers about 70-80% of the table using this style of play. She used her FH drive only when the ball come to the far right. I use regular FH and BH strokes. But I have been thinking of stopping to swing a BH stroke and using her playing style. What do you think of her playing style?

In Dima's matches, I see that he uses the tomahawk serve a lot and he is tossing the ball very sidewards and it looks pretty obvious that it isn't a legal serve. But the umpires don't fault him for that toss. Why is no one stopping Dima from his sidewards toss?

Links In This Episode:

Perfect Pushes

In today’s episode Alois tells us about the best match he has ever seen. Jeff tells 3 funny jokes that he heard on the radio and we give you our tip of the week. Of course we also answer your table tennis questions as the name of the show suggests!

How do you do a backhand sidespin loop?

Are head-heavy, handle-heavy, or balanced bats better for any specific playing styles, or is it just purely a matter of preference?

How do I serve low and close to the net?

Because of Corona there's no training possible in my area for the time being. So I wonder if a dry run at home could be helpful just to maintain the feeling for the ball and the stroke movement. So anything one could do with a ball and a bat. Thanks.

Hi pingskills, what is the best match at the top level you have watched? My favourite match to watch is Ma Long vs Joo Sae Hyuk in the 2014 asian games. I love watching attacker vs defender kind of matches in general because of the intense long rallies that won't break down too quickly unlike attack vs attack rallies. 

Links in this Episode:

The Chinese New Year was on the 1st of February. Jeff was born in the year of the tiger and Alois in the year of the dragon. We discuss lots of topics including what you can learn from the recent Australian Open tennis tournament. We of course answer your table tennis questions just as the name of the show suggests. Make sure to visit our website if you have a table tennis question of your own to ask.

When training table tennis, do we need to do some running for stamina as a complementary training? For the case when we can only play table tennis twice a week, what kind of running would be suitable? How about for competitive players, do they usually do running as training also?

What should you do if you suffer an injury Mid-match? Or what should you do if your opponent is the one getting injured?

Is there any measurable standard for friction/grip of the table surface? At club level I see a fair bit of difference from table to table (venue to venue) that impacts spin effect off the table (degree of kick). I just wonder if there is any "rule" for standardisation or not.

Is it OK or sound technique to engage a bit of shoulder moving forward (letting elbow & wrist relax & hang, going for a ride like a door off of hinge) as I switch weight from right foot to left?

Links:

Who Am I Episode 8

Advanced Forehand Topspin

Have you ever heard of the show Guiding Light? It came up in today’s episode as part of our OMG Facts section. If so, let us know if it is something we need to watch! As usual we have a tip of the week for you, a terrible joke from Jeff, and we answer 4 of your table tennis questions.

Before learning FH topspin vs backspin I learnt topspin vs block. I did many FH practices vs block. I have never did practices FH topspin vs backspin. I automatically started to feel how to do FH topspin vs backspin. I tried to learn BH topspin vs backspin analogically but it didn't work. I practiced BH topspin vs block many times, practiced BH topspin vs backspin several times. Almost no result. I will continue practice BH topspin vs backspin, but I want to know how to practice it correctly? Should I try hard and try to lift the ball with fast and agressive? Or should I do relaxed movements? But If I use relaxed movements I can't lift the backspin. If I try hard, I feel that I am doing wrong practice. Because I get tired after several strokes, my muscles get tired and feel pain. How should I practice?

Hi guys, could you please recommend a good table tennis robot for an intermediate player please.

As usual, we discuss your table tennis questions.

I find myself hitting the top of the net a lot and usually the result is the ball goes off the table and I lose the point. Very frustrating. I see a lot of players hit the net and it usually falls on the table. I think mine go out because I hit harder than they do. What do you recommend to rectify this? 

Hi, I'm having a problem blocking heavy topspin. It never used be problem but now I seem to be blocking too early or too late, the ball flying off the table or straight into net. When I practice against loopers I try to watch the angle of my bat but I don't seem able to watch the ball all the way to my bat, getting really frustrated. Any advice?

I noticed that some of the pros do a mini jump whenever they are flicking with the forehand. It's like they contact the ball in mid-jump. Why do they need to jump before they flick? And it looks very risky because they could lose their balance after the flick.

I would like to add after/before motion to them to make them much more confusing, but when I try to, my service breaks down and loses consistency and spin.I am wondering if I should practice adding after/before motion to my serves during practice or focus more on improving my serves and add confusing motion later. My question is: is after/before something you add on to a serve later as you improve, or is the motion built into the muscle memory of the serve itself?

Forehand Topspin

Counter a Slow Spinny Topspin

Deception with Serves

Serving and Receiving Videos