Invariably, when a player is caught out of position and so can't get to a ball, they think they are slow. I know players who voice this regularly, constantly yelling, "I'm too slow!" Sometimes I correct them, but usually I just shake my head slowly. Almost always the problem wasn't that they were too slow, but that their previous shot left them off balance or out of position. What does this mean?

Suppose a player steps around to play a forehand from the backhand. Done properly, the player should literally follow through back into position. If you don't, you are doing it wrong, and that's why you are "too slow!" to cover the wide forehand.

Other times a player is rushed in stepping around the backhand to play this forehand, and so ends up following through to the left (for a right-handed player), and so can't recover in time to cover the wide forehand. Again, they yell "I'm too slow!" But even here, the problem isn't being too slow; it's either they chose the wrong time to step around, or they didn't recover properly. Even when not rushed, many players finish off-balance, and so can't recover quickly. Instead, you should follow through onto your left foot (again, for righties), and use the weight on that foot to immediately and smoothly push yourself back into position..

It's not just stepping around the backhand to play forehands. You also have to play forehand or backhand when the opponent plays shots to the middle, and that puts you out of position. If you don't follow through back into position, or if you finish off-balance, you'll be vulnerable to an aggressive shot to the corners.

Placement also counts. If you step around your backhand to play a forehand, if you go down the line you give your opponent an angle into your wide forehand that you likely cannot cover. So you should only go down the line if going for a winner or with a slow loop that allows you more time to recover. Instead, in that situation, mostly go crosscourt wide to the backhand, or to the opponent's middle.

Occasionally, of course, an opponent will simply make a great shot that catches you out of position. If that happens, accept that he made a great shot and focus on making sure it takes a great shot to catch you out of position.

If you truly have a physical handicap that honestly makes you too slow (including extreme age!), then that's a separate issue - but then you should focus on staying in position, except perhaps when stepping around to end the point with a forehand. But even here, you should focus on positioning and balance so that you don't end up yelling "I'm too slow!" when in fact you should be yelling "I'm so out of position or off balance!" Doesn't have the same ring, does it? So next time, why not just yell, "Positioning!"

In last week's tip I wrote about toweling. In it, I mentioned the Pavlovian Response, also called Classical Conditioning.

It's not just towel breaks. You should develop the same routines before matches, and before every point, both serve and receive. If you do so, you'll develop that Pavlovian response that prepares you for the match or point.

Watch the top players in any sport and you'll see they have routines that prepare them for what they are about to do. Perhaps the best example is watching a major league baseball player before he bats. Watch a few of them and you'll see they each have their own routine in both the on deck circle before batting, and before every pitch. It's not only a physical preparation, it's a Pavlovian preparation that prepares their subconscious.

There are many routines. Watch the top players, especially when they are about to serve, and you'll see theirs. The most common one is bouncing the ball on the table.

Here are my routines. Before a match, I jump up and down a few times to physically and mentally prepare myself. Then I stare off at something in the distance for ten seconds to clear my mind, and I'm ready. (Many top players play music before a match to prepare - some have the same music each time. I remember when a number of players used to prepare by listening to Rocky music!)

When serving (usually my forehand pendulum serve), I always start by pulling up my playing arm sleeve with my non-playing hand; then I put my non-playing hand with the ball just behind the table; then I bounce the ball on the table a few times; then, most importantly for me, I swing my playing arm back and then forward one time. This prepares me for the serve; if I skip any of this, everything seems off. But as long as I follow the routine, I'm in the zone whenever I serve.

For receiving, I always start two steps back, with my non-playing arm up to let the server know I'm not ready. I lower my head; then I raise it, and step forward to the table into my ready position. I wait about one second and then lower my arm, and I'm mentally ready to receive.

What's your Pavlovian Preparation?

According to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, "A towel is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have." The link above gives some of the many ways a towel helps, such as (I'm not making these up!) "use it to sail a miniraft down the slow heavy River Moth; wet it for use in hand-to-hand-combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (such a mind-boggingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can't see it, it can't see you)" and so on. But amazingly, Douglas Adams left out the value of towels in table tennis.

Let's start with the obvious: you use a towel to wipe sweat away and to wipe your paddle and the ball off. (If it's humid and you sweat a lot, ideally have two towels, one for you, one for your paddle and the ball.) But there's another huge reason to have a towel in table tennis, and it's not so "You can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta."

The other reason for a towel is so you can towel off every six points. You might way, "Why do I need to towel off if I'm not sweating?" Putting aside the question of why you aren't sweating (you should if you are playing the Olympic Sport of Table Tennis), there's a more practical reason. It gives you an ongoing habit that allows you to take a mental break, clear your mind, and focus. If you do this regularly, it becomes part of your routine, and really helps the mental aspect of your game in a Pavlovian way. Your subconscious is no different than a dog's in this. (Besides coaching table tennis, I'm a writer, and I also use Pavlovian techniques - after many years of doing so, all I have to do is drink a Dr Pepper and I go into writing mode.) When I coach players, I'm always harping on making towel breaks a habit.

The game is more mental than physical and taking that towel break is an important mental weapon. Take it!

Most players who watch top players play look like this. That link should take you to a 22-second video of five cats looking side to side as they watch a ping-pong match. Those cats are enjoying the epic match they are watching, but they are not learning anything. All they are seeing is a little ball go back and forth.

Instead, zero in on and watch one of the players and what he does. Focus on specific things - the feet, positioning, serve, receive, strokes, placement, shot selection, etc. Ideally, watch a game several times, each time focusing on something different. That way you can really learn what the top player was doing, and learn from it. If possible, watch parts in slow motion. For the tactical aspects, think about why the player did what he did, and how that might relate to your game. For the technique aspects, get up and shadow-practice what you saw. If the player you are watching can do it, so can you!!! (At least you can strive to, and you'll get a lot better that way then if you don't. It's a lot easier learning new things by shadow-practicing first without the ball, and then later working on it at the table with the ball.)

If you just watch the match as a spectator, all you really see is a ball going back and forth, back and forth, back and forth . . . nice kitty!!!

It's great to develop great mechanical proficiency like the top players, who often seem to play like machines. As noted in last week's tip, "They make even difficult shots with such seeming ease and consistency that they make it look easy." But while you are developing that mechanical proficiency, you can be an artist as well.

Instead of blindly looping, driving, blocking, or whatever every shot, sometimes throw in something more creative. Throw an opponent off by hitting a softer shot. If an opponent backs up, drop one short. Aim one way then go to another spot to catch the opponent going the wrong way. Throw a sidespin shot at the opponent - perhaps a sidespin loop or sidespin block, or sidespin a serve back. Or maybe a chop block. Vary the spin on your shots, especially loops and pushes. Throw an occasional chop at the opponent, maybe even a no-spin chop that they'll loop off. All of these variations are the "trick" part of table tennis, where you artistically do something to mess up the opponent other than just pounding him into commission with sheer power or consistency.

Even Ma Long, now considered by most as the greatest player of all time with his two-winged power shots (and perhaps the greatest forehand of all time), is known for throwing in chop blocks that tie opponents up in knots, as well as great placements with his attacks. Jan-Ove Waldner, the player most commonly called the greatest of all time before Ma Long, developed much of his game around throwing opponents off with his constant shot variation and changing of pace, spin, direction, and depth. Ma Long is a machine who can also be artistic; Waldner was an artist who was also a machine.

So, are you a machine or an artist? Be both!!!