Hardbat Clinic at the Classic Nationals

August 12, 2023

(by Larry Hodges, Photo Credit: Steve Claflin) On Friday night, Aug. 11, I ran a free hardbat clinic for players here at the Classic Table Tennis Nationals at the Austin TTC, Aug. 11-12. Twelve players participated. Cesar Serna assisted as my practice partner – he’s seeded #6 here in Open Hardbat with a 2201 hardbat […]

Active Feet on Receive

August 7, 2023

(by Larry Hodges) Watch a top player when he’s about to receive, either live or, better still, on video so you can replay or even do slow motion. While players often have some differences in their stances and how they move, most have two things in common. First, they start out low. Second, as the […]

Total Confidence

July 31, 2023

(by Larry Hodges) In table tennis and other sports, your subconscious is trained in a training environment, where there’s no pressure and so players can relax and just drill their shots or play practice points. With no pressure, there’s little hesitation or rushing of shots. If one of those happens, the player or coach makes […]

Subconscious Adjustment as a Habit

July 27, 2023

(by Larry Hodges) Everyone plays a little differently, and it’s important to play as many different players as possible. Some might think this is so you can learn to play every style, and there’s some truth to that. But that’s only for learning to play general styles – two-winged loopers, one-winged loopers, hitters, blockers, choppers, […]

Five-Minute Rule

July 18, 2023

(by Larry Hodges) Nobody likes losing. (If you do, Dumb Ways to Lose might help.) There are always those players who smile immediately after losing, but usually that’s either hiding an inferno on the inside, or it was against a much stronger player where they simply enjoyed the opportunity. The reality is that losing a […]

Forehand Back Foot Placement

July 10, 2023

(by Larry Hodges) When you first start out, players are taught to move the back foot backwards for forehands. (This would be the right foot for righties, the left for lefties.) This makes it easy to backswing and opens up a larger hitting zone from the side. Historically, this is how forehands were taught. However, […]

Consistent Rallying Pace

July 3, 2023

(by Larry Hodges) One of the toughest things is convincing developing and even advanced players to slow down for consistency. Too often they want to play at a rat-a-tat superspeed, believing that the way to develop fast rallying speed is to practice using full speed before they can control it, and that consistency will eventually […]

See Things from Opponent’s Point of View

June 26, 2023

(by Larry Hodges) One of the hardest things for players and coaches to do is see things from the opponent’s point of view. They think about what they want to do, and about tactically playing into specific weaknesses of the opponent. But they aren’t really seeing things as the opponent sees it. It’s easy for […]

Coaching Tips of the Week: Stepping Versus Lunging

June 19, 2023

(by Larry Hodges) Many players reflexively reach for the ball when caught out of position. This means leaning toward the ball, with your weight on the foot in the direction you are trying to move – and so you can no longer move in that direction! And so, rather than move into position you are […]

Accelerate Through the Ball for Power

June 13, 2023

(by Larry Hodges) Mike Tyson once said, “I tried to punch his nose bone into his brain.” That’s a rather graphic way of showing how to maximize power as well as killer instinct. (That’s a separate issue.) But it is one of the reasons why he had such power. In boxing, they tell you to […]

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