Serves are the only part of the game where you have full control. You can dictate how the rally will develop by having a serve strategy and executing on it, so focus on this part of your game. Committing considerable time to this craft can be the fastest way to progress. In this article, I will …
Category Archives: Tips
Active Blocking
Most players label topspin shots into several categories such as: loop, block, or smash. However, modern attacking players have developed an offensive block called an active block. Active blocking is a combination of a block, loop, and counterloop. It is best used off-the-bounce against a slow to medium speed loop.
Who’s the Coach?
My full-time job is coaching students aged 5-75. Regardless of age, I expect each of my students to listen to my coaching as I give them advice point-by-point and apply what I am teaching them during each coaching session. During a coaching session, I am in charge; my student’s job is to listen to my …
Breakfast of Champions
From Asia to Africa to Europe, there are thousands of professional table tennis athletes who are aspiring to be the next World Champion. One of the key elements to reaching the top is consistent training six hours per day. Most top players wake up, eat breakfast, train three hours, eat lunch, rest, then train three …
The “First Strike” Principle
Seventy-five percent of the time, whoever attacks first wins the point (this statistic applies to two offensive players in competition). One of the questions players most frequently ask me is, “Samson, how can I attack first?” Here are four tips for the beginning player on how to initiate the attack.
Changing Your Strategy Mid-Game
I played a match this weekend with one of our up-and-coming junior girls. For two games, we battled it out, my steadiness versus her vicious hitting. On her serve, I’d either topspin the serve back and start countering, or push it, she’d loop, I’d block, and we’d be countering. On my serve, I’d mix in …
Serving to Set Up the Attack
A discussion I had with Dan Seemiller (5-time U.S. Men’s Champion) has always stuck out with me. It was back in 1990-1991, when I spent two summers staying at his house all summer as his assistant coach for all his summer camps. He said that the thing that confused him the most about players was …
Playing the Wide Angles
Why don’t players focus on this more? For the great majority of shots, everything should go to one of three spots: wide backhand, wide forehand, or at the opponent’s middle, i.e. playing elbow. And yet most intermediate players tend to play most shots to the middle backhand or middle forehand.
Mistakes
Mistakes. From recreational level to World Champion, everyone makes mistakes. However, there is a huge difference between the average players and the pros. The average players make the same mistakes repeatedly. Once they are down 2-0, or lose the match, or driving home after the tournament, they discover the fault and possibly think of a …
Training with a Robot
Top players and coaches agree that table tennis requires a variety of training types. Some examples of training include drills, robots, multi-ball practice, serving practice, matches, plus a variety of physical training. Within those types of training, a multitude of variations are excellent. To be a complete player, one must be able to win against …