Professional coaches always seem to know what to say to a player between games or in a timeout. That's why they are professional coaches. A good coach has essentially seen it all and can see the patterns that lead to tactics that will work in that match. They also understand the psychology of table tennis and know how to best get their player into the right frame of mind.

But suppose you are coaching someone between games, and you aren't a professional coach or top player who has seen it all, and aren't all that sure what to say to the player between games and during timeouts? (A good example of this would be parents who are coaching their kids.) Here's what you do - and #4 and #5 is probably most important.

1. Speak slowly and calmly, even if it means saying less. If you sound like a nervous wreck, think how that's going to affect your player.
2. Keep it simple. What's the best serves to use? Best receives? Best rally shots and placements? No more than 2-3 things is best.
3. Be specific. Don't tell them to focus on better receives; tell them what specific receives work better.
4. Find ways to raise their confidence. If they look nervous, don't tell them to relax - that doesn't work. Tell them to imagine it's just another practice match at the club. Have them stare at something in the distance for ten seconds while clearing their mind. Tell them, "You can do this." Simple statements like that work. Ask them what their game plan is - a lot of nervousness comes from not being sure what they should do. Having a general game plan, and actually stating it, often fixes that. Just as importantly, thinking tactically keeps one from thinking about winning and losing. You can’t think about two things at once.
5. If you aren't sure what to say, ask questions. Ask them what their go-to serve is - that's a good way to make it clear in their mind what serves they should use. (I am a professional coach, and I often ask this of my players, even if I know the answer. If he gives a different answer, then perhaps he has confidence in that serve - and then I suggest what I had in mind as another serve to use as well.) Ask how he thinks he should receive the opponent's most common serve. Ask where he thinks the opponent is weakest. Ironically, these questions get two birds with one stone - they not only get the player thinking tactically, but they also get their mind off winning and losing - see the end of #4 above.

And there's a great benefit to coaching someone even if you aren't a professional coach - it gets you thinking tactically while seeing real-world tactical issues, and makes you a better tactical player. Good luck!

So, you want to react to an opponent's shot like the pro's? That's simple - as long as you follow the three principles to fast reactions. They are:

1. Ready position. If you have a good ready position to start from, it's much easier to react quickly. Many players have poor ready positions, and so aren't ready to move right away. You need to recover quickly from the previous shot (very important, often a problem!), stay balanced, weight on front inside part of your food, feet at least shoulder width apart (as far apart as you are comfortable - watch the pro's, but remember they do physical training that allows their very wide stances), with racket pointing right at the expected contact point of the opponent. Never wait to see if you have to move - expect to move.
2. React, don’t guess. Many players feel panicky and so try to react too soon, and so their first move isn't the right move. Take your time and make sure your first move is the right move - don't try to guess. (There are a few exceptions to this, such as if the opponent is predictable or if he's about to put the ball away and you have to guess where it's going.) Always remember - You have more time than you think! It's surprising but true that consistent quickness comes from taking your time.
3. Move to the ball. In a fast rally, many, probably most players react first by reaching for the ball. NO!!! Always react first by reflexively moving your feet. (There are times where you are caught out of position and are forced to reach - but only do this while also stepping.) The key thing is that reacting by moving your feet is a habit you can develop with practice. It needs to become your first instinct. One way of developing this habit is to focus on balance - if you keep stay balanced, you are forced to move rather than lunging at the ball.

And that's all there is to it. Did I mention you have to practice to develop these things?

Whoever controls the table controls the rally. It's one of the oldest maxims in table tennis. This usually means playing close to the table with quicker shots than your opponent, forcing him to back off, and thereby both playing more defensively and having more table to play. The Chinese dominated with this from the 1960s until the 1990s, often with blocking and quick-hitting. Then the game changed as loopers began to dominate, often controlling play from a couple steps back.

But then a strange thing happened - history repeated. Loopers began playing closer and closer to the table, and they began to (mostly) dominate against those who backed off. It's an ongoing battle, but in general, players who play quicker shots closer to the table have an advantage over those who back up.

How do you develop such close-to-table play? One of the best drills for this is the simple forehand-backhand drill. Have your opponent block side to side (or feed multiball), and you simply go side to side, attacking as quickly as you can. Most shots should be top of the bounce, but you might start taking some even on the rise, especially on the backhand. The quicker you do this in the drill - consistently - the better you'll develop the habit for use in games. One interesting thing - I found this to be the perfect drill with a lefty player (I'm a righty), since both players can play crosscourt forehands into their practice partner's backhand, while the partner practices quick side-to-side backhand blocking. For me, this was perhaps the most important drill that led to my improvement during my early years.

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.