How to Recover Table Tennis Form and Confidence in Training

Table Tennis is a sport of reflexes, speed, delicate techniques and automation along with split-second timing. When one of these things goes out the window it can create a less than pleasing shift in balance and cause errors and flow-on effects like lost confidence. How many times have we played a match and thought or said out loud, "I just can't play a forehand today" or "My backhand just isn't working." This can occur in matches or in training.

You can read my blog on 'How to Deal with Losing Confidence When Your Best Shots Start Going Wrong' or check out more free and useful articles from my Coaching Blog.

The mighty Chinese Team training
Image from TTDaily

Expectation: A Danger for Athletes in Table Tennis

It's a common phrase, if you expect too much, you will only be disappointed. This blog talks about expectations can adversely effect your match-play and mentality. We have seen plenty of upsets where the pressure got too much for players 'chokes' from substantial leads. Ma Lin had significant leads in a handful of WTTC finals but always ended up losing and as a result never became World Champion.

This is just one example of an incredibly number of issues that can come from expectations and can really harm your game and ability to perform and remain mentally strong in competition.

Wang Hao, three time Olympic Silver Medalist

Basic Rules of Table Tennis and Common Myths

When I'm coaching in the club I get a lot of social players coming up to me to clarify rules on some basic areas of the game. I figured since I'm trying to branch out and make posts which relate to all levels that it was a good idea to make a post on the most common areas of conflict among new and social players. Here are the basic rules and common conflicts:

Be diplomatic, learn the rules of table tennis to save disputes! 

Why Blocking is a Vital Table Tennis Skill

Not many players talk about their blocking game, most of them are out there focusing on service or forehand and backhand loop, developing kill shots and methods of aggression in their game. Blocking in fact plays a crucial role, not necessarily in your matchplay, but in your value as a training partner. Here I will tell you why being able to block at a high level is necessary and how you can improve your blocking skills by incorporating blocking drills into your practice.

For more advice and tips, visit the rest of my Coaching Blog with dozens of free coaching articles on various areas of the game!

Blocking is a Vital Table Tennis Skill