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How to Play the No-Spin Ball

(by Larry Hodges) There’s a simple reason players have so much trouble with no-spin or dead balls, whether in rallies or serves. The little plastic ball weighs very little and spins easily, and so even at the advanced beginning stage players are used to the ball having spin. Players learn to put spin on the […]

The Only Thing That Matters

(by Larry Hodges) Let’s keep this simple. This is how a champion thinks: The next point you play is the only thing in the worldthat matters. Note that it’s not the most important thing in the world – that type of thinking would just make you nervous. It’s simply the only thing that matters, and so should […]

Written Coaching Material for Table Tennis

(by Larry Hodges) Someone once complained that reading coaching articles was pointless since nobody ever became a champion player by reading. He was absolutely right and absolutely wrong. No, you cannot become a champion by reading about it. Coaching articles and books (including mine!) are not meant to be used in isolation. They are supplements to […]

Plan Your One-Minute Break

(by Larry Hodges) You only get one break that you can call during a match, and it’s only sixty seconds long. How should you use it? Here are four reasons you might consider a time-out, in rough order of how often you should use this reason. (Ideally, you should have more than one of these […]

If Serving Practice is Drudgery Then Perhaps Your Serves Are Too Simple

(by Larry Hodges) I’ve watched players, even top players, spend hour after hour practicing the simplest serves imaginable. Yes, you need to practice basic serves so you develop near-perfect control of their height, depth, and direction. But it’s drudgery to practice such serves over and Over and OVER when there’s so much more you can […]

What to Do in a Laugher Match

(by Larry Hodges) You’ve all played them – a tournament match that is simply uncompetitive, where you don’t have to try and you’ll still win easily. These can be dangerous matches. Why? First, make sure it’s a “laugher” match. I once coached a match where my player was rated about 700 points higher than the […]

The Loaded Push

(by Larry Hodges) Perhaps the easiest way to stop an opponent’s big serve and loop is the loaded push. Many players don’t understand how effective this can be for a simple reason – until they can do it, it isn’t particularly effective, and so when they first try it, it doesn’t work. And so they […]

Practice Until You Can’t Do It Wrong

(by Larry Hodges) There’s a common saying in high-level sports: “Don’t practice until you do it right. Practice until you can’t do it wrong.” This is another way of saying ingrain the fundamentals. You can never practice the fundamentals too much as that’s how you make it so you can’t do it wrong. Far too […]

The Slow, Spinny Loop

(by Larry Hodges) “It’s an unreturnable shot,” said US Team Member Perry Schwartzberg many years ago after failing repeatedly to block, hit, or counterloop against fellow team member Ricky Seemiller’s slow, spinny loop. World #3 Mikael Appelgren had a similar problem against Ricky, losing to him when the world’s best counterlooper couldn’t counterloop Ricky’s spinny […]

Strategy Requires Thought. Tactics Requires Observation.

(by Larry Hodges) The title is a quote from the famous Danish chess champion Max Euwe (pronounced “oo-vay”). What does it mean and how does it apply to table tennis? It comes down to knowing the difference between strategic and tactical thinking. The words “strategy” and “tactics” (and variations such as “strategic” and “tactical”) are […]

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