Placement is often the unsung hero of many players. I often watch up-and-coming players compete, and it's obvious which ones have been conditioned to focus on placement - it's a huge difference. (As a coach, among the top juniors I have a pretty good idea of which do this well, which do not, and their general tendencies.)

I remember watching two top juniors play, and while it was close, one of them tended to dominate the rallies, and won. Why did he win? His shots weren't better; he simply placed them better. He had a great instinct of when to go to the wide forehand, wide backhand, or middle (mid-point between forehand and backhand, roughly the middle). When he went wide, he went as wide as possible, never giving the opponent an easy ball. It's not enough to be aware that you need to move the ball around; you need to do this regularly for a long period of time and learn as you do what types of placements and patterns work. When you do this, it becomes instinctive. (Good tactics is maybe 90% reflexive.) If a coach harps on the player to be aware and (between points and matches) think about placement, more and more it becomes habitual, until you barely need to focus on it anymore - the player does it instinctively.

Placement is key to all players of all ages and styles. In general, you need to develop the instinctive habit of when to go to each of the three spots (wide forehand and backhand, and middle), while also being able to adjust this to each player. When I talk to a player between games or in a timeout, if I talk placement, it's usually whether to focus on two spots, or play all three, and when.

For example, against one player who was strong from both wings but was very good from the wide forehand, the key was to attack the wide backhand and middle, and rarely go to the forehand unless it was essentially an ace. Since some of the rallies were long, it was tempting to move the ball around more, but that's exactly what the opponent was waiting for. Instead, I had my player just go to those two spots, wide backhand and middle, until the opponent made a mistake, or he changed directions to the wide forehand - and then my player was all over that with his forehand.

Against another player, we attacked all three spots, but with one goal in mind - end the point to the wide forehand, since that's the spot the opponent often left open. So we rallied until we saw that shot, and then went after that open spot.

How can you incorporate instinctive ball placement into your game?

1. Make a habit of playing all three spots - and make sure you are really going to the wide angles and to the opponent's middle. (Going to the middle takes practice since it's a smaller target, it moves, and different players have different middles, depending on whether they favor one side or the other.)
2. Study what happens with these shots. For example, if you go to one opponent's wide forehand, should you go back to the same spot? Some players will jump all over it if you go there twice; others get caught moving back into position and the second one is the one that gets them.
3. Keep doing this, match after match, for a long period of time. My best guess is it takes about a year of regular match play to really make this type of placement so instinctive that you almost always go to the right spot.

So . . . are you ready to POP your opponents?

Depending on the coach and the location, you may be paying anywhere from $30 to $100/hour for a professional coach. So you want to get the most out of it. Here are some things to consider. Don't be shy about discussing with the coach what you want out of a session. Here are six things to consider.

1. Warmup. You might try to warm up with someone first so as not to spend much time on this with the coach.
2. Improving and fine-tuning shots. This is where you take the shots you already do pretty well and, as the subtitle says, fine-tune them. For this, the coach is likely more of a backboard, blocking while you tee off with your forehand and backhand loops and drives. Or, if you are a defensive player, you are the one blocking or chopping while the coach does the attacking shots.
3. Fix weaknesses. This is what most go to coaches for. Between you and your coach, work out what weaknesses you need to fix. Then work to perfect the technique, with the coach again acting as a backboard for you to work on the shot. Or it might be something else - footwork, serve, receive, and so on. Make it your goal to turn these weaknesses into strengths!
4. Develop overpowering strengths. This is often the forgotten part. While you need to work on your weaknesses, if you want to really improve a level, you need strengths that threaten players at that level. Discuss with your coach what your strengths or potential strengths are. Then work both on them, and on the techniques that set up that strength. For example, if you have a big forehand loop, then you want serves, receives, and rallying shots that set that up, as well as the footwork to get it into play.
5. Develop new techniques. Think about your game and watch top players and figure out what new techniques you need to develop. Sometimes it's something obvious, like a backhand loop. Other times it's something less obvious, like a serve that might set up your strengths. Discuss these things with your coach.
6. Play points. All the technique work doesn't help if you don't put them into play in game-like situations. Often toward the end of a session is a good time to do this with the coach. You might try improvised points, where you have to start the rally by using the technique you were working on. For example, if you are developing a backhand loop against backspin, play points where you serve backspin, the coach pushes to your backhand, you backhand loop, and then play out the point.

To reach your maximum potential, don't try to be exactly like someone else, or you'll just be a shadow of that person. Instead, focus on being the best you. This includes learning from top players, of course, but that's only part of it. Here are four things you should build on, roughly in order of importance.

1. Proper technique - the foundation, and most important
2. Copy top players
3. What comes naturally
4. What you invent

How does this work? I'll use myself as an example.

• Proper technique. When I started out, I had lessons where we focused on good technique. As it says above, this is the most important aspect.
• Copy top players. When I started out, there was no Youtube, no Internet, and table tennis films were expensive. So I often learned by studying printed photo sequences. When I did get to see film, I studied that as well. I spent a huge amount of time copying Kjell Johansson's forehand smash, Stellan Bengtsson's forehand loop (including tapes of his famous 1977 men's singles quarterfinal match with Mitsuru Kohno, which Kohno won 21-19 in the fifth and would go on to win the event), and so on. You should pick out top players you like who play somewhat like you - or what you want to play like - and copy their technique.
• What comes naturally. Not everybody is the same. Early on, one player urged me to copy the long, sweeping forehand loop of 1975 World Champion Istvan Jonyer. I tried, and while I could do it okay, I had a more naturally quick stroke. However, while I learned to loop, hitting and smashing came more naturally to me. In fact, at a Seemiller training Camp in the late 1970s, we did a drill where we served and looped against backspin. I struggled so much that I finally just started smashing the pushes. At various times Danny, Ricky, and Randy Seemiller all tried to help me with my looping - but after watching me smash push after push, Ricky finally said, "Larry, just keep hitting!" I did learn to loop, but my smash was always my strength. (In the modern game, I strongly recommend focusing on looping - but whether you use a relatively long or short swing is a key thing to consider.)
• What you invent. This is particularly true when serving. I've invented a lot of serves. One of them is my infamous forehand "twitch" serve, where I seemingly serve backspin, but right at contact I rotate the racket with a quick twitch so part of it is moving up and sideways at contact - and so it's a topspin even though the serve looks like backspin. But there are others. I invented on my own all sorts of shoulder fakes, so players would think I was hitting one way, but I'd go the other.

So - don't try to be someone else, be the best YOU. As much as possible learn proper technique. Copy from top players. While focusing on good technique, do what comes naturally. And invent a few things, often the "fun" part!

Here are six scenarios when serving short. You should incorporate these into your own serving game and learn to follow them up with strong attacks. For these scenarios, I'm assuming your forehand loop is stronger than your backhand loop, and so you'd want to favor it when possible. If you prefer to backhand loop, then make the simple adjustments. With experience, all players should build up various scenarios that match their strengths and playing style. Also note that while I'm emphasizing push returns below, receivers may also flip or push short. If I wrote up every scenario here . . . it'd be a book!!!

1. Backspin/no-spin to backhand. Most often you'll get a push return to your backhand that you can attack. You can either backhand loop or step around and forehand loop. But since it gives the receiver such a wide angle into your backhand, you have to go way out of position to forehand loop. But on the plus side, the receiver has no angle to your forehand, so you can cheat a little bit to your backhand side if you do want to play forehand.
2. Backspin/no-spin to wide forehand. This is an awkward receive for some players, and so can lead to weak or erratic returns. However, it gives the receiver a wide angle into your forehand. To guard against this, you have to stay centered, and so the receiver can just push down the line, taking away your forehand loop.
3. Backspin/no-spin to middle forehand. By the simple trick of serving to the middle forehand instead of wide forehand, you take out the extreme angle to the forehand. Many players also find it awkward playing forehand against balls toward the middle of the table. However, many will simply step over and receive backhand. (Note that this also applies to serving to the middle backhand, but in general that doesn't give receivers as much trouble.)
4. Backspin/no-spin to middle. This often gives you the best of all worlds and is often the go-to serve for most top players. It takes away both extreme angles, and so you have less table to cover. The downside is that the receiver can choose whether to receive forehand or backhand, and so can go with their strength.

That is the question, and whether you're Ma Long or Hamlet, you have to decide. Back when I started out, the answer was easier - except at higher levels, you mostly looped against backspin, and (except at higher levels) mostly hit against topspin or blocks, though there were plenty of forehand loopers, mostly playing from off the table. But as techniques advanced, and with modern sponge surfaces, the tide turned dramatically – and now intermediate players regularly do what only the top players used to do, especially on the forehand side, but often on the backhand side as well.

In the modern game, looping is almost always the better shot, if you can do it. The extreme topspin allows you to play almost any ball aggressively and yet consistently. (The exception is short balls, where the tables is in the way.) With sponges from when I started out, you needed a bigger swing to create this extreme topspin, and in a fast rally, you just didn't have time for this unless you backed well off the table. But with modern sponges and better techniques, even intermediate players can do this without backing up much, and so their shots are more aggressive and more effective.

So . . . which should you do?

If you are a beginner, you should start out with the basic strokes, which means hitting in rallies and (after you've played for a time) looping against backspin. But once you are proficient with these, it may be time to move beyond that.

If you are a junior player who dreams big, then you definitely should make looping the focus of your game. Do it on both wings, forehand and backhand. If you are a good athlete, you should do the same. This doesn’t mean you don’t block as well, but only when forced to.

If you are older, or aren't in good physical shape, you should consider focusing more on hitting and blocking. These are easier to do physically, and you can develop a winning game with them against just about anybody below the elite level. Or you might consider doing some physical training so you can play like the stars! Or you might decide, to heck with it, I'm going to play like the stars, and develop your game as a looper, like the best players, even if you might be better with more hitting and blocking.

In the end, it's a personal choice. I started out as a hitter many decades ago and reached a 1950 level in a little over two years. (I was a late starter at age 16, but I trained hard and long from the start.) Then I spent two years learning to loop and incorporating it into my game, and spent that time around 1800-1850 level. Then my game exploded - but I always could both loop and hit. Now, at age 63 (!!!), I can still easily loop in drills, but in games it's harder and harder to do so in a rally. And so I'm back to more hitting in rallies if I want to win. (It's also a primary reason I retired from regular tournaments, but still play hardbat tournaments, where I can just hit.)

So . . . what's your pick?