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Tip of the Week: Playing Short Pips on the Forehand

May 7, 2019

(By Larry Hodges) Now that Sweden’s Mattias Falck made it to the final of Men’s Singles at the Worlds using short pips on the forehand, there’s going to be a sudden increase in players playing this way. I think that’s a very good thing – I miss the days where there were far more contrasts […]

Coaching tip of the week: Rope-a-Dope Defense

April 29, 2019

(By Larry Hodges) Suppose you are playing a relentless counter-hitter, who plays every really bang-bang, and you are struggling to stay in these rallies. Point after point ends with either you missing or making a weak return the opponent smashes. How do you get out of this? There are three main ways. First, attack first […]

No More Excuses – Develop World-Class Serves with TNT

April 22, 2019

(By Larry Hodges) Unlike most other advanced techniques, you don’t have to be athletic or play at a high level to develop great serves. Anybody – yes, that means you – can develop great, even world-class serves. They just need a little TNT – Technique, Necessity, and Time. You have to have proper serving Technique. […]

Tip of the Week – The Lead Problem

April 15, 2019

(By Larry Hodges) Have you ever played one of those matches where you played really well, went up 2-0 in games, and then stopped “playing to win” and instead “played to not lose,” and so changed how you went up 2-0 in games to start with, and so lost the match? Or had a lead […]

Remember Your Best Match

April 6, 2019

(By Larry Hodges) We all have good and bad matches – but this is NOT some random thing. Poor play usually comes from poor mental skills. But here’s the amazing fact – EVERYBODY has great mental skills some of the time. The key is to make that most or all of the time. How do […]

Coaching tip of the week: Positioning After Serve

April 1, 2019

(By Larry Hodges) One of the interesting things is to watch a player’s ready position after the serve. Most do not position themselves well. Most go to the same position no matter their serve. Suppose you serve short to the middle of the table and then position yourself perfectly. If you have a strong forehand, […]

Advanced Sponge but No-So-Fast Blades

March 25, 2019

By Larry Hodges Most players at the beginning/intermediate level use blades that are too fast. This not only hurts their control, but it also develops bad habits where the player uses the speed of the racket to rebound the ball back instead of stroking it, leading to poor strokes that won’t work very well at […]

Challenge an Opponent’s Strength

March 18, 2019

By Larry Hodges Sometimes it’s a good tactic to go after an opponent’s strength. After all, his game is probably based on getting that shot into play, and so you are probably going to have to face it – so rather than have the opponent choose when he’ll use it, why don’t you pick the […]

Coaching Tip of the Week: How to Beat a MUCH Stronger Player

March 11, 2019

(By Larry Hodges) Let’s start with a reality check: A much stronger player (MSP) is going to beat you if he plays his level. That’s why he’s an MSP. But everybody has “off” days, and if you want to maximize your chances of knocking off a MSP (other than simply improving your own game, in […]

Coaching tip of the week: Be an Olympian – in Your Mind

March 4, 2019

(By Larry Hodges) If you think of yourself as an Olympian when you play, you’ll play better than if you think of yourself as some scrub at a club. But how can you psychologically pretend to be an Olympian, and how does that help? Great question – and here’s The Twelve Core Psychological Characteristics of Olympiansfrom […]

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