I lost my form!

Hello Jeff or Alois ; Sometimes when I play matches with my friends, practice partners, my coach etc , I sometimes play normally, sometimes really well(l counter-attack etc.) and sometimes I don't attack properly at all and I'll keep missing shots, instead I just keep chopping. At times, I had also had situations where in I try to smash all balls and miss. Why does this happen? How can I play consistently? How can I focus better? How to become mentally tougher?

Thank you,

Ganesh [Nickname: Maverick],

A big fan of pingskills ;

 :)

Hi Ganesh,

This is a very common problem with players in fact for every single player.

It is not possible to play your best every time you step out on the table.  First you just need to accept this and realise that is what happens.

Secondly you can start to work on things that you can change.  For example if you start to feel tense during a match you can implement some techniques that may be able to help.  For example you may be able to take a deep breath that will calm yourself. You can also change the focus of what is happening out on the court.  Instead of focusing on winning focus on playing some good Table Tennis.

Take a look through our other Ask the Coach questions on the topic of Mental Preparation.  These will also help you.

Thanks for your support.