You should always be learning in table tennis, or in any serious activity. I’m always amazed at how often players miss opportunities to learn from others, or limit their learning by only learning from a few. Here are three types of players you can learn from, both as a player and a coach.

• Students of the Game. Some players are just this – they spend a lifetime learning about all or most aspects of the game. The more you talk with them, the more you’ll learn. Ask questions. Pick their minds. Even if you are an experienced veteran, it’s unlikely you know every aspect of the game better than they do. Ask them about their matches, and you might get a torrent of info that you might learn and improve from.
• Crafty Veterans. They are long-time players who might not really be students of the game, but they know their games very, very well, and know how they win. Why not learn how they win, and adapt some of that for yourself? For example, I knew a veteran player with a big forehand loop and a super-heavy forehand push. Normally he loops with the forehand, but sometimes he will suddenly and tactically change to his super-heavy forehand push, catching opponents off guard – and gets an easier ball to attack on the next shot. Plus, this makes him unpredictable, and opponents often get nervous against him.
• Hedgehogs. What is a hedgehog in this context? It’s a concept often in business to describe one who does perhaps one thing really, Really, REALLY well, and does it over and Over and OVER, thereby building up big profits. Others can’t compete with this single-minded focus. (This is a simplified version of the concept.) In table tennis, this would be the player who is not a student of the game, and not really a crafty veteran, but has learned to do one or two things really well, and just wins over and over on this. Perhaps the player just pushes and blocks. Or just goes backhand-to-backhand with everyone. Their game may be simple, but they probably know that part of the game inside-out – and likely better than you. Why not learn from them, and perhaps adapt what they do well as part of your game? Or, at the least, learn how to play against it, since if one players does something well, others will as well.

At tournaments, players warm their shots up - forehands, backhands, looping, blocking, and so on. Then they go out to play - and half the points start out with their serve, one of the few things in their game that they didn't warm up! This has always puzzled me.

I think most believe that serves don't really need to be warmed up, that they can pull them out at any time without practicing or warming them up first. This might be true if you have truly weak serves, whose only purpose is to get the ball in play. If so, then may I humbly suggest getting some coaching so you can learn to serve well, and then practice your serves until they are a real weapon, as they should be? Then, once your serves are at a threatening level . . . that's when you need to warm them up before matches so you can have them at 100%. Even simple serves are better when you warm them up - you serve them lower, with more spin, and with more depth control. If you warm them up first, you can also serve more deep, aggressive serves without worry about serving off the end. (What, you don't have a deep, aggressive serve that threatens your opponent? Develop them! And note that they should either be fast, breaking serves with spin, or fast and dead.)

When I go to tournaments, I often bring a bag of balls and a ball net for picking them up. When I get the chance, I go to a back table and practice them. Or find a practice partner and take turns serving, where the other player works on receive. Or just catch your partner’s serve and serve back. Then, when it's time to play a match, they are much more effective than they would be without practicing them first.

1. They know that most of the game takes place in the head.
2. They know how to focus.
3. They can’t wait to get to practice.
4. They are students of the game.
5. They love to talk about table tennis.
6. They have spinny serves, but their go-to serve is often a no-spin serve that looks spinny.
7. They attack deep serves, and can take a short serve and effectively push it long, short, or flip.
8. They love to attack the middle (opponent’s transition point).
9. They keep their equipment and bodies in top shape.
10. They play for titles, not rating points.
11. Pickle-what?

In my day, there were players who received short serves much better with their backhand than with their forehands. Every coach in the world would tell them to work on their forehand receive against short serves, especially flipping. But a few players would still stubbornly receive with their backhand, even against short serves to the forehand - and they did so effectively. The response from most coaches? Instead of learning from this, there was an overwhelming, "Work on your forehand receive!"

There was a rationale for this. If you receive with your backhand against a short serve to the forehand, it can leave you out of position for the next shot. However, while you might not be able to cover as much of the table with your forehand on the next shot, players have shown that they have no trouble getting back to cover the next shot. There's also the problem that if you favor the backhand flip too much, you may face a player who can serve both short to your forehand and long to your backhand with the same motion, and it might be impossible to cover both your backhand. So, yeah, develop the forehand flip.

However, much of the thinking on this has changed, because of the rise of the backhand flip, in particular the banana backhand flip, which is essentially a mini-loop over the table. (Google it on Youtube.) But even without the extra topspin from a banana flip, for many players, backhand flipping is just easier than on the forehand - and so such players shouldn't hesitate to sometimes receive backhand against short serves to the forehand. (Many or most of the best players in the world do this, including Ma Long.) It's very important to have a good forehand flip as well, but if you are better with the backhand against short serves to the forehand, then go ahead and use it when you can. It may look funny but it can be effective!!!

These three are perhaps the mental pillars of playing well. While I’ve known this for decades, I recently read a book that really reiterated this. I kept hearing about the book Inner Excellence: Train Your Mind For Extraordinary Performance and the Best Possible Life by Jim Murphy, a former professional baseball player. I finally decided to buy and read it. It was pretty good, though of course some of it is similar to what various sports psychology books suggest, but it put a lot of good info together. Page 54 emphasizes BFF - Belief, Focus, Freedom (i.e., play free). What does this mean?

• Belief – You must believe in yourself. If there is any doubt, your subconscious picks up on this, leading to hesitant or erratic play. It’s not a matter of waiting until you play well and then believing in yourself; you must believe in yourself first, and go from there. Once you can do this, your play will improve, and you’ll have even more reason to believe in yourself – and it’s a self-fulfilling prophesy as you ride it to the top.
• Focus – You have to clear your mind. If you have other things on your mind while playing, or aren’t really concentrating, your play will suffer. 
• Freedom – You have to let yourself go and play freely. Don’t try to consciously control your play; let your training take over. Your conscious mind should only operate between points, and only on simple tactics. Otherwise, just focus on watching the ball and let your training do its job.