Lost my Rhythm

Dear Ping Skills,

First, like most people do, thank you for all your videos and advice, it really helped me to improve this summer - even when I didn't have a ping pong table available to play. It helped me so much so that I started the year winning my first 42 matches! However... I've recently lost my rhythm. It happened shortly after I lost my first game. My hand feels extremely tight every time I play, and none of my normal shots go in. None of my power shots, top spin (signature shot), back spins, nothing will go in. The only thing I can get to go in are variations of a block shot, but now all the people I beat at the beginning of the year are coming at me strong, and destroying me. I don't know if this is all in my head, or if maybe I played too much within a couple weeks. Do you have any advice on how I can get my game back and get back to the top?

Thanks very much!

David Burris 

Hi David,

I think you got the problem when you said that your hand feels extremely tight.  This is due to tension.  The tension has probably come due to some internal pressure you are putting on yourself because of all the wins at the start of the year.  Sometimes because our own expectations increase we start to feel that we need to perform better.

Think about going out and playing some good Table Tennis.  Look at every point you win as an achievement, not every point you lose as a problem.

When you start to get tight the strokes don't work any more because your muscles can't perform like they normally do. They are almost fighting against each other rather than working togther to make the stroke.

So in short... relax and enjoy the game.