Most players learn early on to serve to set up their game. However, many do not do this with their receive. They will instead focus on just getting the serve back in the most consistent way they can that doesn't too easily set up the opponent. This works to an extent, but it's not utilizing your receive as well as you could.

If your game is centered around looping, then you want a deep push when possible. Then why are you taking the safe way by pushing long, thereby letting your opponent loop, and take away your own loop? Instead, learn to push short, which will often cause the server to push, usually long. Then you get to loop!

Similarly, if you are good at looping against a push, why would you flip too many serves? It takes the deep push out of the rally.

If you are a strong rallier, then you want to get into topspin rallies where your opponent isn't dominating from the start. Then you might want to focus on consistent, well-placed flips to get into such rallies, while mixing in long pushes that might force weak or inconsistent opening shots.

If you are stronger on one side (such as the forehand), then attacking a serve to a wide corner opposite your strength often forces a crosscourt return to your strong side. But it depends on the opponent - aggressive returns like this also allow the opponent to make a quick return to your weak side.

If you are equally strong on both sides, then perhaps you'd want to flip the serve to the middle, which takes away the extreme angles on the return. Then you just stand ready to attack from both wings, with your opponent already out of position from having to play a forehand or backhand from the middle.

Similarly, think about both your game and your opponents' games, and figure out what are the best receives for you. Remember that all receives should do one of the following: Be extremely consistent (but likely allow the opponent to attack); be neutralizing (so you take away the server's advantage, but don't really get an advantage); or aggressive (where you get the initiative, but make more mistakes receiving). Which mix of these receives best fit your game?

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!!!