Ask The Coach
Posted by Jeff Plumb on September 11th, 2008
If you’ve got a Table Tennis question, then be sure to ask the coach. What better way to get your question answered than ask the PingSkillers - Australian Olympic Coach Alois Rosario and myself.
As the section has been getting more and more popular, we’ve had a few requests to add an RSS feed. It was a great suggestion so we’ve implented it. If you want to subscribe to the ask the coach feed, simply click on the RSS Subscribe button on the right navigation bar of the ask the coach page. Let us know how well this feed is working for you. This will work exactly like subscribing to this blog (again using the RSS subscribe button in the right navigation bar).
Here are the current stats over time as to the number of questions we have been answering.
| Month | Questions Answered |
|---|---|
| August 2007 | 6 |
| September 2007 | 3 |
| October 2007 | 5 |
| November 2007 | 7 |
| December 2007 | 5 |
| January 2008 | 15 |
| February 2008 | 21 |
| March 2008 | 45 |
| April 2008 | 34 |
| May 2008 | 39 |
| June 2008 | 34 |
| July 2008 | 49 |
| August 2008 | 68 |
As you can see the number is trending up which is great. Keep those questions coming. We love to talk about Table Tennis here at PingSkills!
Thomas Huff
commented on December 2nd, 2008 at 11:00 am
I have played tt for a long time and have decent coaching as an adult, in the US and the UK. I primarily play long pips on my BH as an over the table blocker. I use the BH for the greater part of my game.
I have health limitations that originally prompted my change from chopping to blocking (Legs and Feet). Weight transitions for hitting and looping are thus problematic, and although waist turn is sometimes a problem, (FH) that stems rahter, from thoughtless, read…sloppy, techique. I could whine about frictionless long pips being banned, but would rather just move on as best I can.
I have a variety of weaknesses in my tactical execution, but one that evidenced itself again this past week at a three day tournament is that I respond oddly, to me, when confronted by tempo changes by an opponent. If they go soft on a shot I tend to follow their form rather than look for an opening (FH or BH), but if they loop hard or hit or smash (BH)…I tend to squeeze the blade more tightly, rather than loosening my grip or playing with a “soft hand” and the go long
As I said, I have worked on this and I have even tried having people smash balls at me, setting them up for loop kills or similar and even crank a robot up to max, and in practice I can eventually sort it out and loosen my grip, but in the heat of the moment during a match or a tournament I really never have the soft hands I need. (Not limited to tournament or even match play)
One other thing on a different note. I have a difficult time really watching a ball to my forehand. Again practice is one thing, but when the tempo changes I tend to bottle and really loose what is going on my forehand, missing the ball badly. This is not limited to competition either.
Sorry not a comment, but perhaps I am not alone with these concerns.
Thanks for all you are doing for the sport.
Thomas
I was really sorry when Mike Johns died. His loss to tt in general was profound. I would think that those in the Aus. TT community, who are old enough to remember would have been touched in an even greater way. I was saddened even though my acquaintance was only tangentially with Mike and his brothers through John Hilton.