(By Larry Hodges) There are basically two ways to play tactically early in a match. You can either feel your opponent out to see what he can do and then adjust your tactics based on this (“The Explorer”); or you can force your game on the opponent right from the start, making tactical adjustments as […]
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Coaching Tip of the Week: Move Like a Pro
(By Larry Hodges) Most players go through the following sequence during each shot of a rally: Opponent is about to strike ball. Opponent strikes ball. Player sees incoming ball. Player decides if he has to move. Player moves. He’s slow to get to the ball and complains he’s too slow. Top players go through the […]
Coaching Tip of the Week: On Short Serves to the Forehand, Challenge the Forehand, Often Go to the Backhand
(By Larry Hodges) Assuming two right-handers play, a common rally might start with a short serve to the forehand. Many receivers don’t understand the tactics in receiving this shot. The two main things to think about are this: First, if the receiver goes crosscourt, he has the long diagonal to go after (10.3 feet, instead […]
Practice to Master One Skill
(By Truong Tu) People watch video of high level matches with many amazing rallies and think that they have to practice fancy drill combinations. We need to admit that unless we have already reached the National or International level, our rallies usually end within 5 shots or less. Therefore, mastery of the basic skills and […]
Coaching Tip of the Week: Should You Develop Your Forehand Push?
(By Larry Hodges) At the lower levels, pushing is often over-used; at the higher levels, spectators often underestimate its value. All top players have excellent pushes. However, advanced players – and even intermediate players – rarely push against deep backspin to the forehand, unless they are very defensive choppers. It’s simply better for them to […]
Coaching Tip of the Week: Two Tips to Increase Forehand Looping Power
(By Larry Hodges) If you have trouble generating power when forehand looping, try out these two tips, and you’ll be surprised at the improvement. First, keep your legs farther apart. This gives more stability and more torque into the shot. Second, contact the ball more from your side. This forces you to use your whole […]
Coaching Tip of the Week: How to Vary Your Receive Against Short Backspin Serves
(By Larry Hodges) Most players return short backhand serves with a simple push, without much thought to it. This makes the player predictable and vulnerable to third-ball attacks. The key is to vary the return. Let’s take a look at just how many effective returns you can actually do against a short backspin serve – […]
Coaching Tip of the Week: When Playing an Unfamiliar Player, Focus on Serve & Receive
(By Larry Hodges) When you face a new and unknown opponent, you aren’t sure yet how the rallies are going to go. But you can control how the rallies start. Learn to use serve & receive force rallies to go the way you want them to go, and so make your opponent adjust to you. It doesn’t […]
Coaching Tip Of The Week: The Importance of Lobbing
(By Larry Hodges) One of the strange things top players and coaches often notice is that beginning/intermediate players who “goof off and lob” during practice often improve rapidly. There is a reason for this. When a beginning/intermediate player backs up and lobs, he develops mobility and footwork, and learns to react to hard-hit […]
Coaching Tip Of The Week: Fast, Quick Motions Disguise a No-Spin Serve
(By Larry Hodges) Many players learn to put decent spin on their serves. However, they often find it difficult to disguise that spin. Why not develop a no-spin serve, with a fast, violent serve motion? Change directions as the racket contacts the ball (contacting the ball as the racket is changing directions at the split […]
Celebrating Excellence: Honored As Canada’s Table Tennis Coach Of The Year
June 30, 2025
(by Coach Raymond/Butterfly Americas) It is with immense pride and gratitude that I reflect on being named *Canada’s… Read More
WTTC 2025 (Part 3): A Gathering of Global Table Tennis Passion – Report from the Butterfly Booth in Doha
June 30, 2025
(by Buterfly Global) In the final installment of our WTTC 2025 series, we share a report from the… Read More
WTTC 2025 (Part 2): Expanding the Circle of Social Contribution Through Table Tennis – Messages Embodied in T-Shirts for the ITTF Foundation
June 30, 2025
(By Butterfly Global) In the second installment of our WTTC 2025 series, we highlight the initiatives carried out… Read More
Smarter Now Doesn’t Mean You Were Dumb Before
June 30, 2025
(By Larry Hodges) This is one of those tips where the title, by itself, should give you a… Read More
WAB CLUB FEATURE: Broward Table Tennis Club
June 29, 2025
(by Steve Hopkins) The Broward Table Tennis Club offers regular tournaments, camps, and coaching opportunities. They have been… Read More
MLTT Featured Team: Los Angeles Spinners
June 29, 2025
(by Steve Hopkins, photo MLTT) The Los Angeles Spinners hope to roll through the upcoming Major League Table… Read More
Early Action Underway at the US Nationals
June 29, 2025
(by Steve Hopkins) Action started Saturday in Ontario, California in the 2025 rendition of the US National table… Read More
Japan Takes 3 of 5 Titles in Zagreb
June 29, 2025
(by Steve Hopkins) Tomokazu Harimoto took Men’s Singles and Satsuki Odo took Women’s Singles, as Japan was dominant… Read More
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