(by Larry Hodges)
Some players try to work on the strokes by trying to learn the stroke, contact, timing, footwork, positioning, and reading of spin . . . all at the same time. That’s like trying to teach the alphabet to a kindergartner by asking him to write essays.
One thing at a time!
You’d teach the kindergartner the alphabet, then the proper spelling of simple words, then simple sentence structures, and so on, until they are ready to write an essay, such as the one I’m writing now. Somehow I got out of kindergarten.
Similarly, in table tennis, you want to break it down in parts, even at the advanced levels. Sure, you could learn to, say, backhand flip serves by just doing so in games against various serves. And you would learn it that way. But you’d learn it at a higher level if, instead, you first learned the proper technique against a short, simple backspin serve first, then once that’s mastered, learn to do it against, heavy backspin, then no-spin, then sidespins, then side-topspin, and any other spin combinations, and then you’d learn to do it against varied spins where you don’t know what’s coming. By taking it in steps, you’d learn each step much better than if you tried to learn them all at the same time.
Make a list of the various table tennis techniques you’d like to learn. Break them down into each part of the technique. Then focus on learning each of those parts before putting them all together.
To give an example, I’ve recently made a comeback as a player, with some success. One of the big issues I’ve faced is my backhand is relatively weak and passive. So, I’ve been working on making it more aggressive. How? First, I’ve simply hit backhand-to-backhand with my practice partner, playing it as aggressively as I could while still being consistent. A key issue is that I often held my racket too far in front in my ready position and so was too slow in bringing the racket back for backhands – and so I ended up with weak, rushed backhands. So, I’ve isolated that one aspect and worked on it. I also found I sometimes step with just one foot for some backhands instead of moving with both feet, as I do with the forehand. I also had a grip problem – and so I worked on that by itself. When I feel comfortable with my new techniques, then I’ll do more random drills where I have to adjust to different incoming balls, including being ready for both forehand and backhand. If I’d jumped to that from the start, I wouldn’t be able to perfect as much as possible the various parts of the technique that can lead to a much higher level in the end.
So, break down each technique to its basic parts and learn each, and that way the techniques won’t break down on you!
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