Like any other sport, table tennis is usually won and lost on one square foot of real estate, your brain. Sometimes all the ability in the world can't make up for a poor mental attitude or simply not concentrating hard enough. Hopefully, these tips will help improve the game that's going on between your ears.
Be prepared for anything. It may sound clichè(c)d, but it's true. You never know what's going to happen in a table tennis match. For example, you're starting the next point, you put a nice topspin on your serve. Maybe you hit a loop back with lots of spin on the ball. The return back to you from your opponent is a little too high because of the incredible amount of topspin you put on the ball. You take a wicked smash at the ball believing the point is in the bag. Then, wham! The ball comes back at you and you're not ready for it. Just like that, a point that you should have won is now lost. Why? You weren't ready for anything.
One thing you can never do in the game of table tennis or in any game for that matter is to assume. Miracle shots happen. Opponents hit shots back at you that you never expect them to get to. So no matter how easy the win looks, always be prepared for your opponent to hit your best shot back at you.
Another thing you must adopt is a "next point" attitude. Many players spend too much time worrying about what has happened 3 points before. If you develop this attitude of always looking at the next point you will become a better player much faster. You can't dwell on the bad luck or missed shots that you've had. As the saying goes, "stuff happens". Get over it. Focus on the next shot. You can't change whatever mistake you made anyway so why dwell on it? Sure, if you know what you did wrong, remember it and correct it the next time the situation comes up. Say you had an easy kill shot but you ended up rushing it and missed the table. Remember that for the next time and remind yourself to slow down when confronted with an easy shot that should be a point winner.
One great way to keep unimportant things out of your brain is to concentrate on the fundamentals. If you're an advanced player this may sound silly but it works. Concentrate on what you're going to do from the start to the end of each point, from your serve to each return. Remember your arsenal of shots that you've trained yourself to do. Tell yourself as you're playing what shot you are going to do and then execute it. Yes, table tennis is a quick game and this requires split second decisions. But the more you do this, the better you will get at it until ultimately you will be so focused on your game that it will become instinctive.
Bottom line. Keep your mind on not only the game and not only on each point, but on each shot. Make sure the shot you take is the one you wanted to take.
This is what separates the good players from the great players.
The proposal by the ITTF to ban certain long pimple rubbers was announced well over a year ago now. The reasoning was that some long pimple rubbers were treated, making the tips of the pimples less grippy then the sides, producing different spin depending on how far you bend the pimples. The rubber properties are supposed to be consistent throughout, so they propose these types of rubbers should be banned.
Trouble is, it very hard to test if a rubber is treated or not. Because most of the treated pimples were designed to have little to no friction on the tips, the ITTF proposed to simply set a minimum friction level for long pimpled rubber, anything below it would be illegal. A device that could measure the friction coefficient was not too hard to design, and could be used at tournament for testing. They admitted that this may result in some non-treated rubber to be banned as well, but this did not seem to bother them.
Since this announcement there has been very little information or discussions by the ITTF, although it's is a very common topic among long pimple players. Players that are currently using frictionless are lost, and can't plan their future rubbers because they fear it might be banned. Similarly manufacturers don't know what criteria to use to design new, or modify their existing long pimples to meet the new criteria. Retailers don't know what to stock, since any banned rubbers will be very hard to sell.
Firstly I question the reasoning behind the actual proposal. Long pimple players are already a minority, frictionless players even smaller, so can it really be in the interest of the players and the sport in general to ban these rubbers? I know there have been a few letters written to the ITTF with objections to the proposed ban. Most of these were ignored because they did not come through the right channels. Some have been discussed in the ITTF forum, but I have not seen a solid reason that makes a real case for me.
The ITTF feels justified by the decision, since the proposal was initiated by players themselves. However I wonder how many long pimple players were part of this proposal by players? Where they even consulted or given an opportunity to defend their position? Since long pimple players are a minority, they only have a small voice. Many inverted players may not care about this decision, or are happy because they struggle playing against this type of rubber. But is this a good enough reason for the ITTF to ban them? It's a right of the players that's being taken away here, and this should not be taken lightly!
Secondly I think it's outrageous that the ITTF proposal was made so long ago, and still no more details have been provided. It's left manufacturers, retailers and most importantly PLAYERS in limbo for a long time!
I have recently heard some rumours that some of the manufacturers have been given some more details about minimum friction level, and a list of rubbers that may be banned. The ban is rumoured to be effective as of July 2008. Assuming this is true, has there been any announcement by the ITTF for the players who they are supposed to represent? I think not!
I can't help but think that the decisions made by the ITTF over the years have been more political than anything, or somehow motivated by money, since many did not seem to benefit the players or the sport at all! I'm sure money had a lot to do with it so if you want to know answers, see who benefits from the decisions follow the money!
Both Michael Russell & Haggisv Van are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Michael Russell has sinced written about articles on various topics from Celebrities, Dieting and Diabetes Treatment. Michael RussellYour Independent guide to . Michael Russell's top article generates over 2240000 views. to your Favourites.
Haggisv Van has sinced written about articles on various topics from Recreation and Sports. Haggisv is a player and coach, who runs several table tennis websites and is an advisor for the One of a Kind Trading. He. Haggisv Van's top article generates over 1000 views. to your Favourites.