To play at any level you have to have something you can use to win points at that level. Typically this means a big forehand or backhand, tricky serves, a strong counter-hitting or blocking game, or perhaps defensive skills such as chopping. These are a player's point-winning skills, which might be called his primary skills.

But there are also secondary skills which set up the point-winning skills. Having a big forehand loop, for example, doesn't always help if you don't have ways to set it up via these secondary skills, such as a good serve, a good receive, a spinny opening loop, a good backhand, or just fast footwork to get the player into position in a rally for the big loop.

Serves can be both a primary point-winning skill or a secondary set-up one. Players with big breaking spin serves (often long) often use them as a point-winning skill, either winning the point outright or setting up such a weak return that it essentially wins the point outright. Others have simpler-looking serves that are usually short and low, with varied spin (often backspin or no-spin that looks like backspin), that force defensive returns that might not win the point directly, but consistently set up a primary attack, usually a strong opening loop. (Receivers will generally make fewer outright mistakes against such short serves that don't have the big spinny break of a deeper serve, but because the serves are short and because they aren't always sure of the spin at first they tend to receive passively.)

Often a player seems to have a primary point-winning skill when in fact his strength is a secondary skill that sets up a point-winning one - and the point-winning one simply seems strong because he gets so many weak returns to use it against. But against stronger players, whose returns aren't as weak, the primary skill might not be so strong. These players can improve dramatically by improving the point-winning skill. Similarly, players with big point-winning skills might fall apart against stronger players who don't give them the big point-winning shot so easily. These players can improve dramatically by improving their secondary set-up skills.

Developing secondary set-up skills have a huge secondary advantage. They set the player up to attack over and over, resulting in lots and lots of attacking practice, i.e. point-winning skills, and so those primary point-winning skills improve dramatically. That's why developing good set-up serves, for example, will lead to lots of attack practice and thereby a much improved attack, leading to a higher level of play.

Examine your game and decide what your strengths are. If they are primary point-winning skills, then perhaps focus on developing secondary skills to set up these point-winning skills. If they are secondary set-up skills, then perhaps focus on developing primary skills to win the point. Often players get stuck at a level because they are missing one of these types of skills. 

In the past this was always a difficult question - should you be a hitter or a looper? It's a difficult question for many at the non-elite levels, but at higher levels there's not much question anymore - pretty much everyone is a looper. (When I refer to hitting, that includes blocking, so perhaps it would be better called a "hitter/blocker." Of course loopers also block, but not as much as a hitter/blocker style.)

Unless your goal is to be a world-class player (say, top 100 in the world), you can go either way. Players who start out young, once they've developed the basics, should probably focus on looping as their potential is high. Players who start older can also loop, but let's face it - if you start, say, in your thirties or forties, you are unlikely to be world-class. In this case it's a question of where are you more talented, and what do you prefer?

If you want to play the way the world-class players play - style-wise, not necessarily level-wise - then become a looper. If you have loose, relaxed muscles, looping will also be easier. Bigger, stronger players also tend to find looping easier. On the other hand, if you are very quick, then perhaps hitting is your forte. In some ways it's a dying style as few coaches teach it anymore except to older players - but that's also an advantage as players aren't used to playing this type of style as much as in the past. You might even consider using short pips, and really mess up some players who only know how to play inverted.

Whichever you go for, turn your looping or hitting into a weapon. Develop your serve, receive, and rallying shots to set up this shot. You want it to be a terror for opponents, who lose points both to that shot and in their attempts to not set the shot up for you - a double whammy. Perhaps work with a coach or top player on the shot, use it every chance you can in drills and games, and whether you are looping or hitting soon you'll have a true weapon. 

Ever play one of those players who can seemingly block everything back? How do they do that? It's almost as if they are playing the video game Pong - they just don't miss. You can do the same thing. Here are three keys.

First, get your racket behind the ball. This may sound simple, but it's key. If you get the racket behind the ball, then all you have to do is have the right racket angle, and the ball goes back! But how do you get the racket behind the ball? That involves proper ready stance, a clear mind, and moving your feet.

A proper ready stance means you are equally ready to move either direction. This usually means the racket tip is pointing directly at the opponent's contact point. (Some players who contact the ball quicker on the backhand hold the racket slightly turned to the backhand, since they have less time to react on that side. If they do, they often compensate by having their feet in a slight forehand stance.)

A clear mind means you are ready to react to the ball rather than trying to anticipate. Just watch the opponent as he hits the ball and react. Don't think or guess; just react. The only time you anticipate is when you have popped the ball up so weakly that guessing where the ball is going the only way you can react to the next shot. However, if you can read where your opponent is going early in his stroke, that's not anticipation - that's reacting, and you should react. Never react so early as to let the opponent see this early enough that he can change directions.

Moving your feet means exactly that - step to the ball rather than just reach. Some do get away with mostly reaching, but that limits your range and hurts your control.

Second, good contact. This means blocking firmly against heavy topspin. If you just hold the racket out, the spin will take on your racket and shoot up. So put a bit of firmness into the shot. Learn to use the same contact every time so you can develop your timing and precision - and then learn to change speeds.

Third, practice. Lots and lots of practice. There are plenty of players looking to work on their attack, so oblige them. The more you practice your blocking the more you'll become one of those players who seemingly block everything back. 

Many players do lots and lots of forehand footwork drills. This allows many of them to dominate the table with their forehand. But there's often a missing ingredient here - backhand footwork.

Backhand footwork is similar to forehand footwork - you need to learn to move side to side as well as in and out. For example, a coach or partner simply hits the ball side to side to the backhand side, one toward the middle, one to the corner or wider. The player moves side to side, playing backhands. Players who don't do this often have trouble covering the backhand side effectively. They can move all over the forehand court fluidly, but on the backhand side they are in trouble. Often this means either weak and erratic backhands, or wild swats.

Often coaches don't work on this much. Why? First, the forehand tends to be the stronger shot, and so coaches and players stress that - and so do lots of forehand footwork drills. Second, many forehand footwork drills incorporate backhands as part of the drill, and so they do get some backhand footwork practice this way, and so think they are doing sufficient backhand footwork drills. However, most of these drills only cover moving from the forehand side to the backhand side, not just moving around on the backhand side itself. Third, by the time players reach the intermediate stage they have developed forehands and so are doing lots of forehand footwork drills - but often the backhand isn't as developed, and so coaches have them focus on continued technique development rather than moving about playing backhand. Many intermediate players are making the transition from normal backhand drives to topspinning their backhands, and coaches are reluctant to have them work on this and do footwork at the same time. (This one doesn't apply to coaches who introduce forehand and backhand topspin shots to developing players at about the same time, as more and more modern coaches tend to do.) And fourth, by the time the player does have a solid topspin backhand, both the coach and the player aren't in the habit of doing backhand footwork drills in their sessions, and so they just don't do them.

All this can lead to a weakness in the player's game as they don't move around as well as they could in covering the backhand side. This is a problem as the backhand by its very nature is a more cramped shot, with the body in the way, and so being able to move about and attack with the backhand is key.

Besides side to side backhand footwork, you can also try in and out. Ideally, learn to topspin both, but especially the one from off the table. You should also do random backhand footwork, where balls are played randomly to the backhand and you play aggressive backhands. You can also have your coach or partner attack randomly to your backhand so you can work on your backhand blocking footwork, or perhaps topspin defend from a few steps back.

Eric Owens attributed his upset win over Cheng Yinghua in Men's Singles at the 2001 USA Nationals to backhand footwork drills. Learn from the champions!

One of the secrets of coaching is that most of it isn't teaching someone what to do; it's teaching them what not to do. There's a reason top players make it look so easy - their strokes are easy, because they are simple and relatively short. There's no wasted motion, and very few actual components to each stroke - and the each part of the stroke naturally leads to the next. A good stroke is symphony of simplicity.

The best strokes are basically the most efficient ways of getting the racket to go from Point A to Point B while creating maximum power. Roughly speaking, correct grip and foot positioning are each one-fourth of the battle. Learning where Point A is - where the racket should backswing to, and the rest of the body's backswing motion - is another one-fourth of the battle. Then letting the shot go naturally and with proper contact is the final one-fourth. If you get the grip, foot positioning, and backswing correct, the rest is natural, though it is often amazing how many weird (and technically poor) incarnations of the stroke players can come up with. Most of these involve flopping the wrist or elbow, or holding back on part of the swing, such as stopping the body rotation so that you stroke mostly with arm, or swinging only with the upper body. Once you have this perfect (or near-perfect) stroke, then it's just a matter of developing the timing to turn it into a weapon of pong destruction.

Done properly, a good stroke is a thing of beauty that channels great power with minimal effort and maximum efficiency. It's the cartographical equivalent of driving from Point A to Point B. A coach's primary job is to get you buckled in properly for this journey (grip and foot positioning), get the backswing right (get you to Point A), and then set you on your way to Point B with no detours, and nothing but constant acceleration through the halfway point (contact) and continuing to Point B.