How to Break Through a Table Tennis Plateau

Alois (00:00) how many times do you actually play a forehand topspin in a match? Examine it. how many times do you play a forehand topspin off block in a match? Examine it. How many times do you play loop to loop forehand topspin in a match? Examine it. and then think about all right, what actually is happening more in a match? And the the hard reality is you'll probably find that it's more around your serve and serve and return. and pushing and some of the some of the boring stuff that actually wins and loses your matches. Jeff (00:38) I want to talk about well, imagine this situation. Suppose someone has been playing table tennis three times a week for five years, but they've barely improved in the last two years. What's going wrong? Alois (00:52) Well, that's a b that's a big question and and I hear that a lot and I'm sure that you hear it a lot and I'm sure out there in in table tennis land you're hearing that a lot as well. Jeff (01:02) And not only that, I've felt that myself at times. Alois (01:05) Yes, absolutely. And I yeah, sometimes after playing for fifty years and you feel like you haven't improved. Jeff (01:10) Ha ha Alois (01:12) Yeah. So I think I think there's a few there's a few things that happen. I mean, r remember and we we always talk about this, progress isn't linear. That's the first thing. But if you really have hit a plateau and you and you aren't improving, then it's time to really start to dig in and and start to think about, okay, what can I do better? And for me, I think the best thing is to go back and start to look at what's happening in your matches, because that's what you want to improve. Jeff (01:42) Mm. Alois (01:43) So go back, look at your matches and see what's happening in those matches, where are you making mistakes, where are your winning points, and then we can start to think about, okay, how can I improve now? Jeff (01:56) Yeah, and it's interesting 'cause I think a lot of people might think in their mind they know where they're losing points, but you've got a kind of a a structured method to to really see the difference and actually find out where you are losing or winning points. Alois (02:09) Yeah, and it's n not too complex. It's just going through a video. Well, first first of all, you've got to video your match. Secondly, is go through the Jeff (02:16) Yeah, but these days everyone can do that with their iPhone, surely. Alois (02:19) That's right, exactly. so th then the second thing is, once you've videoed it, is to go back, watch the the match, but replay a point, pause, and I want you to just jot down the one main thing that either won you or lost you the point. So it might be that I my serve was too high and that allowed my opponent to start attacking at me and so after that I was no chance of winning the point. So So the the reason was your serve was too high. Jeff (02:51) Okay. Now yeah, keep going. Alois (02:53) Yeah. So it's not yeah. It's it it's not it's not necessarily the last shot that is the issue. It's what was the real crux of you losing the point. That's what you have to examine. Jeff (03:08) Yeah, now I'm interested, you've probably had quite a lot of people do this. Do are people surprised when they go and analyse their matches this way? I do they find different things to what they thought in their head by watching the match is actually causing problems or winning them points? Alois (03:24) Yeah, absolutely. And I think that comes a a around with well, we talk about just the recency bias. So y you come off after losing a match and you might have missed the last th two forehands and you come off and you think, my forehand was terrible today. But in fact, they might have been the only two forehands that you missed and the real reason was because your return of serve was no good today and you popped the ball up every time that they served. or you know, they were doing a particular serve that you really struggle with and they won, you know, eight out of ten points on their serve. So so yeah, it's it's really important to go back in the cold, hard light of day, without the emotions and actually look at every single point and work out what was the reason. Jeff (04:17) Great. And a little plug here, Alois, on the PingSkills website. There's the Vault and you can create opponents and then you can create a match. And in there you can actually do this, go through point by point and record. So you just watch the video and record it in the vault. So try out the PingSkills Vault. Now, I want to know why why is it that players plateau? Like, can't we just keep improving all the time? Alois (04:43) that'd be nice, but it I mean, it just doesn't happen. You know, I mean because perhaps you're going through different phases of your development as well. You know, maybe initially it's you've started to develop your strokes really well and you've you've made a really big improvement because you've started to get the basics right. So you now can you can play a proper backhand topspin, you can play a proper forehand topspin and so you Immediately you might jump up a level. But then it's a matter of, okay, so now what do I what am I doing with that forehand topspin and my backhand topspin? can I place it better? Can I get it a little bit faster? And those sorts of improvements might make subtle changes to your game, but it could also lead to more errors. So if I'm starting to wanting to play my forehand faster. Maybe I miss two out of three of those four hands. So Jeff (05:43) Mm. Alois (05:43) then your results may not be as good. But as long as you've got a real vision for where your game goes and what you want your game to look like, then I think that's that's okay. So so then Jeff (05:57) Yeah, it's interesting, isn't it? And because I've heard a lot of people also say that like it's easy to make gains early on and then it's harder the longer you play and maybe to to make the same substantial gains. And I don't know, I guess that's true in some ways, but I've I've also seen people play for five years and then suddenly make a big jump. So yeah, what what are your thoughts on that? Alois (06:22) Yeah, and and those those big jumps can come because of some sort of revelation in their game as well, you know. It might be Jeff (06:31) Mm. Alois (06:32) that that they haven't actually looked at their matches previously, suddenly they start watching the matches and they see, okay, this is what's real, this is what's actually happening, and they make a jump. Or it I mean it can be something as you know, motivating as watching a world championship. or you know a a good player comes and visits your club and you see what they're doing and you think, I c maybe I can do that. So yeah, so there's there's lots of little things that can influence your overall development. Jeff (07:06) Yeah, interesting. Interesting. Now, another sort of question we get asked all the time is can you just simply play lots of matches? Will that make you better? Alois (07:16) It helps. Matches matches definitely help to make you better, but you also need to think about establishing some base skills as well. so if you're always playing matches, then you're not getting the opportunity to perhaps practice enough the things that you want to improve. So for example, if I want to improve my forehand placement, that might only happen say 10 times in a match over 20 minutes. Whereas if you go out in the practice situation and work on your forehand placement, then you might get 100 opportunities in those 20 minutes or or more. So it's a it's a matter of how do you set up the time that you have to be able to improve the skills that you want to improve. And Sure, eventually you want to put it into a match situation and be able to execute that skill in the match as many times as it comes up, but you also need the opportunity to practice that a bit more. Jeff (08:30) Yeah, and that gives you that opportun that focused yeah, and you yeah, good use of your time. That makes sense. So when people are practicing then, is there a tendency for them to practice what they know? Like how do we balance practicing what we're already good at with trying to find something new or develop our placement, like you said? Alois (08:53) Yeah, there's th there's always that balance because often we go to the things that we enjoy doing or the things that we're good at. Jeff (09:01) Yes. Yep. Alois (09:05) or some people always only practice the things that they're bad at and and wanna wanna try and plug a hole. So the the value of practice comes from seeing what's happening in a match and then seeing, okay What do I ni really need to improve? But also, why am I winning points? So when you do that analysis, you'll see that I won ten points by serving effectively or serving short to their forehand. So you have to also remember they're the things that are winning your points. So you do need to keep practicing them and maybe just finding ways to get those a little bit better as well. Jeff (09:51) Yeah, okay. So keep practicing those but then try some new thing, balance it out. So we do you do want Alois (09:55) Yeah. It's a Jeff (09:56) some kind of discomfort when you're when you're trying to learn something new. Is that expected? Alois (10:02) definitely. Yeah, defin definitely you want some discomfort. and that's where some some players fall into the trap of only practicing the comfortable. and some players fall into the trap of only focusing on the things that they're bad at. and but I think a lot of the time we we probably focus too much on doing the things we can already do, like playing forehand. Topspins. Jeff (10:33) Yeah. Alois (10:34) how many times do you actually play a forehand topspin in a match? Examine it. how many times do you play a forehand topspin off block in a match? Examine it. How many times do you play loop to loop forehand topspin in a match? Examine it. and then then think about all right, what actually is happening more in a match? And the the hard reality is you'll probably find that it's more around your serve and serve and return. and pushing and some of the some of the boring stuff that actually wins and loses your matches. Jeff (11:10) Well it's interesting, isn't it? Because like practicing your serve doesn't have to be boring. Like if you're trying to get more spin or more placement, I think there's probably ways you can make that fun. Alois (11:20) Absolutely, and and the same with pushing, like, you know, just being able to practice your push and get your push better, get it shorter, you know, be able to clip the net on the way over. There's there's always ways to make training a little bit more interesting, but it's a matter of you understanding that that's going to actually get you results and that's gonna get you better. So yeah, so examine the things that is winning and losing you points in a match, not just training drills. Jeff (11:52) Yeah, it makes a lot of sense. And now, earlier on you we were talking about how you could make big jumps and improve suddenly. But say you are plateauing and you're just not sure why you're improving. How do you know whether that's like a technique problem or a tactical problem? Alois (12:09) Yep. a lot of the ti well, again, if you go back to your analysis, that's gonna tend to give you a bit of an idea because if you have an opportunity to push the ball short or be able Jeff (12:27) Yep. Alois (12:28) to push the ball long and you're missing that, then it's a technique issue that Jeff (12:32) Yeah. Alois (12:32) you need to that you need to think about. Okay, how can I get better at at just being able to push that ball on the return. if it's a tactical thing, it might be that, okay, the what I need to be doing here is I need to be pushing the ball long rather than pushing the ball short. or I need to be pushing the ball short rather than pushing the ball long. So so examining why you're winning and losing those points. Jeff (13:01) Mm, interesting. So how important do you think it is to have some like a coach or someone else look at that because like how would you know like that pushing bet long is gonna be better? Like, can you diagnose that yourself or or do you really need some advice? Alois (13:19) I think you can do a lot of the diagnosis yourself because you you'll be able to feel what's happening in a match. Jeff (13:26) Yeah. Alois (13:27) but having an external opinion is often really powerful as well because they might see something completely different. And whether it's your coach or whether it's one of your teammates or whether it's a training partner or whether it's your mum, just you know, sometimes sometimes that that outside opinion just gives you a different vision on on what's actually happening. Jeff (13:51) And if it is your mum, she's always right, so take take note. Alois (13:56) And if it's your wife, she's definitely right. Jeff (13:59) Exactly. for sure. so yeah, that's interesting. So d if people are getting stuck, does age have anything? Like would you give different advice for a twenty year old to say a a fifty year old or a sixty year old? Alois (14:17) I it it all depends on your stage of development as well. So if it's a fifty year old that's been playing for forty five years, but I mean but still like if they've never really worked on their game, you could make some big changes after forty five years. Jeff (14:35) Mm. Yeah. Alois (14:38) but if they're if they're a new player, then yeah, then there's probably more things that you want to start to explore, some of the bigger the bigger blocks that you want to start to explore with with them to to get changes. Jeff (14:55) Yeah, makes a lot of sense. Makes a lot of sense. All right, so let's try and wrap this up here. Now I'm gonna put you on the spot. Difficult question here, but if a player has plateaued, what are three things they should do over the next month? Alois (15:09) First one's easy. Video your match and watch it. the second the second thing is I want you to then take that information and this is the really critical part because a lot of people will watch their match and think, yeah, I can see what happened. But the second thing is to then design your training to help you to make those changes in a match. So don't just go back and then say yeah my forehand push return was no good and then spend eighty percent of your time in training doing forehand topspin or or backhand forehand footwork. so that's probab that's the second thing. How do you implement what you've seen in the video in your training. The third one I would say is push your self to make more mistakes in training. So Jeff (16:14) Ooh, I like that one a lot. Alois (16:16) Yeah. So often often in training we feel good if we can do thirty balls on the table of, you know, one forehand and one backhand. Examine how many times that ever happens in a match and it'd be zero. So Jeff (16:33) Yeah. Alois (16:34) so I want you to push yourself to making more mistakes by being challenged a little bit more in the training. So sure, start by doing you know, one forehand and one backhand a little bit until you feel a little bit comfortable. But if that happens in one and a half minutes, don't spend the next seven or eight minutes doing the same thing. Push yourself so then you might get your partner to block wider or you might start to get them to block one or two to the backhand and one or two to the forehand. Yeah. So it Jeff (17:10) Yeah. Just something to challenge you a bit more. Alois (17:12) Yeah, exactly. Just Just try to try to operate a little bit more on the edge of your ability rather than in the comfort zone during your training. Jeff (17:22) Yeah, and I like all this 'cause it's kind of it it'll give you a bit more of a focus on on something 'cause you'll analyse your game, you'll find something, then you'll try and improve it. And you know, that challenge there is always good. Like whenever you you play some competitions and and like this feel like this is a bit of a challenge. It doesn't have to be a competition per se, but just gives you that little bit of an edge. Excellent. Alois (17:44) Exactly. Jeff (17:46) All right, well there you go. So some hopefully some really good insights for you there. Now What we're gonna do now, Alois, is move on to a couple of questions because it is the Ask the Coach show. Alois (17:56) Absolutely. Jeff (17:57) and if you wanna get some questions on the show, you can just go to PingSkills, head on head over to the website, click on Ask the Coach and ask your own question there. And who knows, you might end up on the show. now we've got some or one here from Matt and he says he practices two or three times a week for around one or two hours. And he wants to know do I need to increase the amount of training? Alois (18:22) Yeah. Always always a good, interesting question. So my response would be if you can afford more time, more time is probably good. But you can also probably utilize the time that you've got a little bit more effectively. So Jeff (18:43) Mm. Alois (18:44) so think about what we've talked about in the first part of the show. Think about training more effectively first. And then you can start to think about increasing the amount of time. I mean, if if you if you're training two or three times a week and you tell yourself, no, I've got to train five times a week, and that means that you now sleep four hours a d a night, or you're you're stressed about because you're not getting your homework done or your work done, then it's not going to be beneficial for you anyway. So so firstly see how efficient you can make your training and then if you do have more time then increase the amount of time as well. Jeff (19:29) Great answer. See, that's why we come to you, Alois for for these Alois (19:32) Yeah. Jeff (19:33) this wisdom. All right. And now the the last question we're gonna do before we wrap up the show is one from Niteen, who is good in practice, but not so good in matches. He says, in practice I can do things really well, but then when it comes to a a tournament, I struggle, especially against those better players. And he wants to know is this normal? Alois (19:57) Absolutely. But again, it comes down to what you're actually doing in practice. And and I hear this a lot from from players saying, my my forehand topspin's really good in training, but when it comes to a match, I can't play a forehand topspin. I would examine what that forehand topspin looks like in training and again it's the challenge level. If I block to you simply to your forehand, and you s you tell me, my forehand top spins really good. But then in a match, you don't know that ball's coming to your forehand. You don't have the ball coming at the same pace to your forehand. You don't have the ball coming at with the same spin to your forehand all the time. So unless Again, it goes back to what we talked about earlier. Unless you challenge yourself to make more mistakes in training, then you can't then compare that to your matches. So Jeff (21:05) Yeah. Alois (21:06) challenge yourself more in training and then you'll start to find a better, a more even level between your training and your matches. And I think that's that's often That's often the case. The second thing is that people get nervous in matches. So Jeff (21:28) Yes. Alois (21:29) so that's often a big one as well. So if that's the case, then I want you to think about what's happening to your body in those matches. Are you starting to get nervous? Can you recognize the signs of those nerves? And we've got some good tutorials on the PingSkills website about. on mental performance. So you can have a look at those and just start to get some really good basic tips like things like setting up a pre point routine or you know just some some basic breathing and and things like that that can help you during a match to to just calm yourself down so that you can feel more relaxed again probably like you are in training. Jeff (22:18) Yeah, and that sounds like it'd be a great topic for a another Ask the Coach show at some point in time, Alois but the the first point, if you if it wasn't a nerves thing, if it's just the the training and trying to match your training levels to your match levels, that makes a lot of sense to me. 'Cause remember when I first started playing table tennis, if I used to play my four-hand top spins against my coach, I could get like fifty on in a row. Because he was blocking it and I maybe I didn't realise this at the time, but he was blocking it so nicely back to me. It always came back to the same spot. So I'd be able to make that same shot. But then if I if he went away and I played just with my training partner who was the same level as me, we both weren't as consistent and the ball was coming to different spots and everything, and suddenly our consistency went out the window and we couldn't do ten in a row. Alois (23:05) Yes. And that that variation of of speed and placement and and and also just having to make a decision about the fact that you'd have to play a forehand topspin matters a lot. So if I'm yeah. Jeff (23:19) Mm. So in some ways I was thinking like, well if only they could block better, then I'd make more shots. But really I should be thinking we both need to be able to deal with this variation to get better. Alois (23:32) Absolutely. And this is probably one of the big th if you watch two kids play table tennis or two players in the office play table tennis, they don't go out there and start by just practicing their forehand to forehand and stand there like this. They just go and they have a hit and they hit hit the backhand or they hit a forehand and they've got a lot more freedom to their game than a lot of trained table tennis players do because we're so used to having the ball put to the position to the position that we know, whereas an untrained player is just ready to react and hit on both sides of both sides of their body. Jeff (24:22) Great. So we should make ours sometimes less structured, our practice in a way. Alois (24:28) I th I think even more than sometimes, I think a lot of the time, structured or structure it to be unstructured. So Jeff (24:37) Mm. Alois (24:39) Yeah. So, you know, deliberately set it up so that you don't know where the ball's coming all the time. Because that's the biggest that's the biggest killer of improv match improvement is is tr trying to structure everything in your training because then when you come to a match it is totally unstructured. Jeff (25:06) Yeah, so it's interesting, isn't it? 'Cause then this kind of question, good in practice, not so good in matches, we should try and flip it around, shouldn't we? We should be you should be not so good in practice. You gotta make it so it's more difficult. Alois (25:18) Correct. And it it it relates to the the mental aspect as well, because in training if you're completely relaxed because you know where the ball's coming, then you're not practicing at the level that you're in a match. And in a match you want to try and be a little bit more calm and more relaxed. So how do you get those two things to be closer together? How do you stress yourself more in training? How do you relax yourself more in a match so that they become more similar? Jeff (25:57) Well, that's a great question and a great spot to leave it. Thank you everyone for watching. it's glad to be back. We're calling this season two, so if you've liked it, leave a comment, send us an email, let us know what you think. And we will see you again in another episode shortly, hopefully. And Alois, once again, thank you for all your wise words. Alois (26:22) And thank you, Jeffrey. Jeff (26:23) Alright, thanks PingSkillers. Catch you later. Bye.