Some players try to work on the strokes by trying to learn the stroke, contact, timing, footwork, positioning, and reading of spin . . . all at the same time. That’s like trying to teach the alphabet to a kindergartner by asking him to write essays.

One thing at a time!

You’d teach the kindergartner the alphabet, then the proper spelling of simple words, then simple sentence structures, and so on, until they are ready to write an essay, such as the one I’m writing now. Somehow I got out of kindergarten.

Similarly, in table tennis, you want to break it down in parts, even at the advanced levels. Sure, you could learn to, say, backhand flip serves by just doing so in games against various serves. And you would learn it that way. But you’d learn it at a higher level if, instead, you first learned the proper technique against a short, simple backspin serve first, then once that’s mastered, learn to do it against, heavy backspin, then no-spin, then sidespins, then side-topspin, and any other spin combinations, and then you’d learn to do it against varied spins where you don’t know what’s coming. By taking it in steps, you’d learn each step much better than if you tried to learn them all at the same time.

Make a list of the various table tennis techniques you’d like to learn. Break them down into each part of the technique. Then focus on learning each of those parts before putting them all together.

To give an example, I’ve recently made a comeback as a player, with some success. One of the big issues I’ve faced is my backhand is relatively weak and passive. So, I’ve been working on making it more aggressive. How? First, I’ve simply hit backhand-to-backhand with my practice partner, playing it as aggressively as I could while still being consistent. A key issue is that I often held my racket too far in front in my ready position and so was too slow in bringing the racket back for backhands – and so I ended up with weak, rushed backhands. So, I’ve isolated that one aspect and worked on it. I also found I sometimes step with just one foot for some backhands instead of moving with both feet, as I do with the forehand. I also had a grip problem – and so I worked on that by itself. When I feel comfortable with my new techniques, then I’ll do more random drills where I have to adjust to different incoming balls, including being ready for both forehand and backhand. If I’d jumped to that from the start, I wouldn’t be able to perfect as much as possible the various parts of the technique that can lead to a much higher level in the end.

So, break down each technique to its basic parts and learn each, and that way the techniques won’t break down on you!

Of course lobbing is good for your game.

• It wins points that would otherwise be lost.
• It allows you to practice off-table footwork, which can improve your footwork for counterlooping, fishing, or chopping.
• It helps you develop topspin touch and control, which can help your counterlooping and fishing.
• It gives you practice reacting to a hard-hit ball.
• It gives great difficulties for some players, especially shorter players.
• It’s great for exhibitions and demos.
• It’s fun!

Of course lobbing is bad for your game.

• It can lead to the bad habit of lobbing when you could make a more effective, less defensive shot.
• It can lead to the bad habit of backing up from the table too easily rather than controlling play closer in.

So . . . there seem to be more reasons for lobbing then against. In general, read the reasons NOT to lob first, and make absolutely sure not to fall for these bad habits. Then learn to lob for the reasons given for why it is good for you. And yes, it’s fun!

In dodgeball, the goal is to avoid getting hit. When the ball is thrown at you, you use your footwork to get out of the way. Otherwise the ball will probably hit you in the torso, which is where a good dodgeball thrower aims as it’s the largest target.

In table tennis, when blocking on the backhand side, your goal is the reverse – you want to get hit. More specifically, you want to catch the ball with the center of your torso. Except, of course, you hold a racket out and block the ball so it never hits you, and instead rebounds back to the opponent’s side.

That, in essence, is a backhand block. Many players make the mistake of reaching for the ball, contorting their arm and body into various positions while trying to have a repeatable block. Instead, as the ball comes at you, you should focus on stepping in its way, blocking its path with your body. If you think of it this way, the footwork becomes more natural. And then, with the ball in front of you, you simply stick your racket out and block, this time using a repeatable stroke that doesn’t involve reaching except as an absolute last resort.

A similar way to look at it is to imagine you are a soccer goalie who has to block the ball with his body. However you imagine it, the key is to get the body into position so you can block the ball in front of the body with minimal reaching.

And now that you’ve learned all this on the backhand side, guess what? It’s the same on the forehand block, except that now you are basically “blocking” the ball with your right side, or rather the area just to the right of your right side, where you want to hold your racket for the perfect forehand block (assuming you’re a righty). Then apply the same principles above and you’ll learn to step to the ball rather than reach on the forehand block as well.

And now you are ready to rock with your block!!!

Once you have reached a certain level, it’s easy to rest on your laurels. That doesn’t mean you don’t work hard to improve your game. It means that you work hard only to improve the parts of your game that you have already developed.

Instead, be a learning player. You should experiment and learn something new every time you play. If you don’t, then you are stuck in a rut and will find it difficult to improve as fast as you could if you kept learning. Experiment! Try out new things. In particular, try out different serve variations, different receives, deceptive moves on a shot, changes of pace, and different placements. I played a much stronger player recently and got a game off him for one reason only – I discovered that if I occasionally dead-blocked to the middle of the table, he got soft, while if I did it to his forehand or backhand side, he was all over it. Guess what I did? But I wouldn’t have learned that if I hadn’t experimented, and now I have a new weapon against him – and probably against other, similar players.

Experimenting doesn’t mean you spend most your practice time trying out all sorts of shots. There’s a time and place for everything. In most drills, you need to focus more on repetition so you can perfect the shots. But mastering a shot doesn’t mean you shouldn’t also be experimenting, especially in game situations.

So, what are you experimenting on and what have you learned?

When you practice your spin serves – and you do, right? – after a few minutes, your arm and wrist are tired and you’re sweating right? No? Then you aren’t putting in full effort and therefore not getting full spin.

When I say “tired” and “sweating,” there’s some literary license, but the point is that serving with great spin is rather physical. If you want to maximize your spin, you have to maximize your racket’s acceleration and velocity, and the grazing motion.

Many players practice their serves with a focus on just control. Control is good, but it’s only one aspect of a spinny serve. You have to put in enough energy to really make that ball spin, and with all that racket acceleration and speed, still graze the ball. It’s not as hard as it sounds, but it takes practice.

And if you are practicing your spin serves with less than maximum spin, then you are practicing serves that aren’t that spinny, which is a bad habit (unless you are faking spin and serving no-spin). It’s practice, so go for maximum spin, and learn to control it. With practice, you will do so, and then your spin serves will be a major weapon. Turn your practice room into the spin room!