Backswing, forward swing . . . backswing, forward swing . . . backswing, forward swing . . . when hitting forehand to forehand or backhand to backhand, how many of you get into this pattern, whether hitting or looping? The problem is you are doing something you should never do in a match, so why would you want to practice it? There are three parts to a swing: Backswing, forward swing, and the often forgotten return to ready position. A player would almost never go directly from his follow through to backswinging. 

Beginners and even relatively advanced players often warm up and practice as if there were only two parts to the swing, and it often costs them when it becomes habit. Often in real rallies they are set only for forehand or backhand, not both, because of this lack of return to ready position. If they don't do it in practice, why would they do it in a match? In reality, these players do tend to sort of return to ready after each shot, but either more slowly or not all the way, and so they often aren't ready for the next shot. For example, they'll hit or loop a backhand, and automatically bring their racket back after the follow through as if they were going to play another backhand, when of course they might be playing a forehand. And vice versa for forehands. 

Instead, make a practice of returning to ready after each shot when practicing. On both forehands and backhands, this basically means the racket goes through a triangle, starting from the ready position: Backswing (bring racket back); forward swing (bring racket forward and up), and return to ready position (racket drops down and back to where it started, ready for the next shot). Usually these are essentially continuous, so there might not be any stop at the ready position; you go straight through the triangle, with the move to the ready position essentially the first half of the backswing, though it could continue into a backswing for either forehand or backhand. So drop the linear strokes and learn the triangle!

These days it seems like everyone's trying to be like everyone else. That's a pretty successful way of getting good, if you copy the top players. But many are missing the benefits of doing something different. Give your opponent a different look, at least on some shots, and guess what? He might begin to struggle. This doesn't mean changing your whole game to some unorthodox mess; it means developing certain "pet shots" that are different than the norm. They give you more variation on certain shots than if you only have "orthodox" shots.

For example, a few years ago penholder Wang Hao and shakehanders Ma Long and Zhang Jike, all from China, showed up on the world scene flipping short serves to their forehands with their backhands (with banana flips, i.e. mini backhand loops over the table with topspin and sidespin), and all three reached #1 in the world. Few had done this before, and now seemingly everyone at the higher levels is doing it. Or check out videos of Dimitrij Ovtcharov of Germany, world #6 and the #1 European, and his unorthodox backhand serve from the middle of the table. Or former world #1 Timo Boll, also of Germany, who often switches to a forehand grip for looping with extreme inside-out sidespin loops.  

Some, of course, naturally do something different, by having a non-inverted surface, a different grip (Seemiller grip, or even penhold grip for some, since many aren't used to playing that), an unorthodox stroke (not usually good unless it's just as a variation), or even something as simple as being left-handed. But for most players, you'll want to do something "different" while sticking to your normal shakehands inverted on both sides game. And there are lots of ways. Below are ten examples - and I do all of these on occasion, though less now than when I was an active tournament player and honed these variations by actually using them regularly. Pick out one or two, and give them a try!

1. Serve from forehand side. Nearly everyone serves from the backhand corner these days, with a few tomahawk serves from the forehand. Throw in a few forehand pendulum or backhand serves from the forehand side. The surprise factor will often make up for your starting a bit out of position.
2. Serve short sidespin to the forehand. So many players serve over and Over and OVER to the middle and backhand it's almost silly, and when they do serve short to the forehand, it's a simple backspin ball. Instead, learn to serve short to the forehand with sidespin that pulls the ball toward your forehand, making it awkward for the opponent to return the ball down the line. You can do this with a backhand serve, a reverse pendulum serve, or a forehand tomahawk serve. Or do it with a regular forehand pendulum serve.
3. Slow, spinny loop. Most people these days loop either hard or harder. Try letting the ball drop a bit more, and go for a super-spinny slow one. If it goes deep, it'll drive blockers crazy. If it lands short, it'll drive counter-loopers crazy.
4. Dead loop. Fake spin, and instead give a dead loop. You sell this by using an exaggerated follow-through right after contact (including a big wrist snap), making it seem spinny.
5. Dead push. Push without spin, but with an exaggerated follow through to fake spin.
6. Sidespin push. Come across the ball as you push. This is especially easy on the backhand, with a right-to-left motion (for righties), with the ball breaking to the right. It's especially effective wide to the right, breaking into a righty's opponent's backhand.
7. Ginzo push. Most players push to keep the ball in play. Throw in a few super-ginzo (i.e. extremely heavy) pushes, and watch opponents struggle. It's easier if you take the ball a little later for this, but advanced players can do this quick off the bounce.
8. Dead block. Block it dead, chop block, sidespin block - these will frustrate many opponents and set you up for a conventional attack. They are especially effective and easy on the backhand side.
9. Countering change-of-pace. Rather than bang every ball in a fast counter-hitting rally, sometimes hit one soft. Either keep it low and short to the net, or deep on the table.
10. Flatter flip. Most players flip short balls with topspin. (It's called a flick in Europe.) Sometimes try a flatter one. Hit it a bit softer since you don't have topspin to pull it down, but not too soft. (Recently I've seen a number of top players experimenting with this variation.)

What can a player do if he is having trouble reading the spin on the opponent's serve? At the lower levels, this usually means the opponent's serving motion is too quick for the player to pick up contact. At the higher levels, it's often because the opponent is hiding his serve, a serious problem since many umpires do not enforce the serving rules and allow players to illegally hide contact, making it difficult to read the spin on the ball. However, the techniques for returning these hidden serves are essentially the same for those at lower levels who struggle to read the spin off any serve. So what can you do when you have trouble reading the spin, whether against a good server or against an illegally hidden one?

Before hidden serves became illegal, players at higher levels learned to read the spin from watching the ball itself, and how it moved through the air and bounced on the table. But since it became illegal to hide contact, this became almost a lost art. And yet it's something players need to learn or they'll have great difficulty in many matches. Here are ten tips on how to do so.

1. Don't do too much. Accept that if you can't read the spin off the serve quickly as the ball leaves the opponent's racket, you are not going to consistently make strong returns. Instead, your goal is to make consistent controlled and well-placed returns. (Actually, that should be the primary goal even if you read the spin.)
2. Take the ball as late as you can. This gives you more time to react to the spin. Most often players do read the spin of a serve, even if it's hidden, they just don't read it quickly enough to react. The more time you have to read it, the better.
3. Assume the serve is topspin or sidespin until you see otherwise. Even if you don't read them immediately, backspin serves are much easier to adjust to at the last second than topspin and sidespin serves. Backspin serves are almost always slower and they slow down even more as they hit the table, and you can just push or softly loop or roll them back. Topspin and sidespin serves jump as they hit the table making it difficult to react at the last second, and if you push them, they shoot off the end or side of the table. So you should generally assume the serve has topspin or sidespin and aim low with a controlled forehand or backhand drive, or possibly by chopping. If it's backspin, you can make a last-second adjustment much more easily than against topspin or sidespin.
4. Return the ball softly but with placement and depth. Generally keep it wide and deep to the server's weaker side, usually the backhand. Make him move way over to this backhand side if he wants to use his forehand, and then you can block back to his open forehand side. Or go to the wide forehand to draw the opponent there, then block back to his open backhand side. Depth is extremely important; a soft return that goes deep can be effective. A soft return that lands in the middle of the table (depth-wise) will usually get hammered.
5. Read the spin by the way it moves through the air. A topspin ball drops quickly, a backspin serve floats, and a sidespin serve curves sideways. The differences are subtle but you should be able to pick up the differences.
6. Read the spin by the way it bounces on the table. A topspin ball jumps at you, a sidespin ball curves sideways, and a backspin ball slows down.
7. Read the spin from the label. This is tricky, and it's doubtful one can really read the spin this way if the ball is spinning rapidly. But some claim they can do so, even at higher levels. At lower levels, where there's less spin, you can pick it up. Also, this allows you to read no-spin serves, where you should be able to see the label.
8. Read the spin based on past serves. If you keep pushing serves that look like backspin but are actually topspin or sidespin and so they keep going off the end or side of the table, perhaps the next time you see that serve that looks like backspin you should accept that it's topspin or sidespin.
9. Treat topspin and sidespin almost the same. If you use a regular drive stroke, the spin won't take on your racket that much. As long as you give yourself some margin for error by not being too aggressive, you can treat them almost the same. Your return off a topspin serve might go a little deeper, and off a sidespin serve a little more sideways, but not as much as you'd think. When your returns go shooting off the end or side it's usually because you are pushing topspin or sidespin serves.
10. React to no-spin serves. A no-spin serve that looks spinny is usually more effective than a spinny serves that looks spinny. You can read them using the methods above, except that with no spin, there's no curving in the air or change in the bounce on the table, and you can see the label. Against a no-spin serve, you can use almost any stroke, but adjust to the lack of spin. Often players push these serves high since they are used to pushing against backspin, or they drive them into the net since they are used to driving against topspin. 

One of the best ways to learn tactics is to coach others during matches. It's a different vantage point that forces you to really open your mind to tactics going on in a match where you aren't playing, both tactics that are being used and ones that are not. It's especially helpful when coaching players near your own level, but you can learn a surprising amount even coaching much lower-level players. And if you happen to be coaching a stronger player, well, there's a lot you can learn there if you are striving to reach that level. Here are two ways you can learn by coaching others:

First, when you just watch others play, you aren't forced to really analyze what's going on. Sure, in theory you can, but do you really? Most just watch the rallies. However, if you are coaching one of the players and are going to coach them between games, you suddenly have strong incentive to watch closely and analyze what's really going on. And from this, you can learn from both the player you are coaching and his opponent. You may be surprised at how much is going on out there, both intentionally by smart players, and stuff the players at the table don't see but that you do, now that you are paying attention - and you can learn from this. What you learn by coaching a player not only helps that player, but helps you as well.

Second, it's easy for a player to get stuck in his own little tactical fishbowl, doing the same things over and Over and OVER, never realizing there's a lot more he could be doing. There are literally zillions of tactics out there, and while you aren't going to use most of them, you should be ready to use many, depending on your opponent. You need to be out there seeing what others are doing so you can pick up on some of these tactics. You won't do this by just doing the same tactics you are used to over and over; you have to get out of your fishbowl and see what others are doing.

A corollary to this is that if you are stuck in this tactical fishbowl (often without realizing it), others on the outside can see what you are doing, and a good coach or experienced player might be able to help. So it works both ways - you can learn by coaching, but you can also learn by someone else coaching you - and if the latter, he learns by coaching you! Call it the "Circle of Coaching."

One of the quickest ways to tell the difference between a world-class player and a typical club player is to compare how far their feet are apart. Top players almost always have wider stances than average players. Just go to youtube and watch videos of the best players and the difference becomes obvious. The wider stance can be tricky to learn, and if you have knee problems, weak legs, or are overweight, it may not work for you. But for most players, the wider stance is a big advantage.

First, it allows you to keep your balance when moving and when making powerful shots. Table tennis is all about balance; if you are even slightly off balance it affects both your shot and (often more importantly) your recovery for the next shot. When you go for a big forehand, the wider stance keeps you balanced and stable.

Second, it increases your power. The wider stance allows you to put more weight into the shot since there’s a longer transfer period as weight goes from the back leg to the front leg. (This is especially true for forehand shots, but is also true for most backhand loops.) With a more narrow stance, you can only transfer the weight a short distance, and so you get less power. It’s like comparing a baseball pitcher with a long windup to one who tries to flick the ball with a short backswing – the longer windup will give more power.

Third, it allows you to move more quickly. This is both because your center of gravity is lower, allowing a quicker start, and because the wider stance gives more leverage.

The downside is it takes time to learn, and is also more tiring. But the payoff is worth it. So give it a try. It’ll seem different at first, and perhaps not comfortable. You might experiment by exaggerating it sometimes so that a more normal wide stance will seem more natural.

So consider widening your stance, and watch the improvement in your balance, power, and quickness.