The worst thing a coach can do is try to fill a player's head with all sorts of things he must do to get a shot right, and the worst thing a player can do is try to memorize all these things. A coach might look at a player and see several things that need fixing. But the last thing he wants is for the student to have to be thinking something like, "Let's see, my feet need to be like this, my arm like this, I have to rotate this way, keeping the racket at this height and my elbow bent this much, and then I need to start the swing with this part of my body, followed by that part, then that part, and finally that part, and make sure contact is like this, and then follow through so my racket goes here." That's how you might program a computer, but not a human brain!!!

Instead, the goal of a player (and therefore the goal of the coach) is to find the right "feel" of the shot. If all the aspects of a short are done properly, it should feel right, and once a player does a shot just right (perhaps with a coach pointing out the "right" ones), the player should never memorize all the aspects that went into making the shot right. He just needs to remember the feel of the shot - the feel of the stroke, the contact, and the timing, all of which go together.

Once a player gets the feel right, all he has to do is repeat that feel over and over, with minor changes based on the incoming shot that mostly affect racket angle. At its most basic level, that's all there is to learning a new technique - getting the feel right, and then repeating it. However, it's not always that easy. Two common problems are 1) getting the feel right when there are two things wrong, and 2) getting the right feel for forehand and backhand shots while using mostly the same grip.

Often a player has trouble doing proper technique because he's doing two things wrong, leading to an awkward but at least workable shot. If the player tries to fix one of the problems, the stroke falls apart unless he simultaneously fixes the other problem, which can be difficult to do together. For example, a player may have an improper grip, leading to an awkward stroking technique. But if he fixes the grip, it messes up the timing in the awkward stroking technique, and so the player gets worse, not better. The player has to both change the grip and the stroking technique at the same time. To do this takes practice, often with a coach - but once done properly, the player can remember the "feel" of the proper grip and stroke, and then he can learn to do it over and over.

Often a player learns the right feel for a forehand and backhand shot, but with different grips. This usually won't work - most players use the same grip for forehand and backhand shots, with only minor changes. (You don't have time for major grip changes.) So a player needs to not only get the right feel for each shot, but the right feel using a grip that can be used for other shots.

So focus on getting the right feel for your shots, and it'll feel more and more natural as you develop the timing - and soon you'll be feeling (and playing) like a champion! 

One of the more important concepts you should use in your training is to isolate specific techniques so you can work on them. At its most simple you work on individual shots, such as a forehand or backhand drive, loop, or push. Most players understand this and spend countless hours perfecting these shots.

However, once these shots are perfected in practice, should you go straight to matches? Probably not. Instead, the next step would be to isolate various combinations. For example, many players regularly loop against backspin, and then follow with a loop or smash against the likely blocked return. First you'd want to develop the loop against backspin, and the loop or smash against block. But once you have these two shots down, it's time to put them together. For example, you do a drill where you serve backspin to your partner's backhand; he pushes it back to a pre-set spot (such as your middle backhand); you loop a forehand (or backhand) to your partner's backhand; he blocks to your forehand; then you loop or smash that ball anywhere, and then it's free play until the rally ends. As simple as this is, this is one of the most important drills for most developing players.

Another example might be to have your partner push and then block to your backhand, and you backhand loop the first (or drive, if that's how you attack backspin), and follow with a backhand loop or drive against the block, then free play. This backhand one-two combo is extremely valuable and comes up in matches all the time, and yet many players fail to practice it.

There are many other example, though opening against a backspin and following up against a block is probably the most common. They key here is that you have to lift some against the backspin, while you don't lift much against the follow-up shot against a block, but unless you practice it, you might find yourself accidentally lifting the second ball and watching it go off the end.

If you are a hitter you might serve fast topspin to your partner's backhand; your partner counter-hits back your backhand; you backhand hit to your partner's backhand (or some other pre-set spot), he counter-hits to your backhand again (not too hard), and you step around and smash a forehand, then it's free play.

You can also add some serve and receive. For example, have your partner serve short backspin to your forehand (or backhand); you push back to a preset spot (and perhaps push short); partner pushes to your backhand; you backhand loop. Or some other version of this.

You can also add some more randomness to the drills. For example, you serve backspin to your partner's backhand, he pushes back randomly anywhere on the table, you loop (forehand or backhand) to his backhand, and he blocks either randomly or to a pre-set spot, and then free play. Or, if you do that drill well, go random on this drill from the start. If you are a hitter serving fast topspin, your partner can return anywhere and you have to follow with a smash, forehand or backhand. (Note - there aren't too many pure hitters at the higher levels anymore, alas.)

Think about your game and what types of shots and combinations you use (or should be using). Isolate two shots that you commonly do in combination. Then design a drill for those two shots and go out and practice! 

Returning serve skills can be broken down into three specific skills. To be a great returner of serves you need all of them. The three are the ability to 1) read and react to the serve; 2) make consistent returns; and 3) make effective returns. Let's look at all three.

1. Read and React to the Serve.
   All the great shots in the world won't help you if you can't read and react to the serve. This means reading and reacting to what type of spin is on the ball; the direction; the depth; the speed; even the height. You read the spin by watching the direction of the opponent's racket at contact with the ball, and by watching how the ball travels through the air and bounces on the table.  
2. Make Effective Returns.
   This means returning the serve in such a way that the server loses his advantage, and either get into a neutral rally or one where you have the advantage. For example, you may attack the serve by looping, driving, or flipping to put the server on the defensive. (Down side: it's easy to miss.) You may place the ball so the server is unable to follow with a strong shot. (Down side: it's not easy to receive accurately against a varied serve with lots of speed and/or spin.) You may push aggressively with heavy backspin to stop the server's attack. (Down side: Server may loop it, and turn your backspin into his own topspin.) You may push the ball back short so the server cannot loop. (Down side: it takes great ball control, and it's easy to pop the ball up, go into the net, or simply not push short enough.)
3. Make Consistent Returns.
   It's not enough to make effective returns; you have to be consistent. Most top players will tell you that returning serves is all about ball control. They may attack the serve when they see the chance, but mostly they just want to neutralize things while being extremely consistent. This doesn’t mean just pushing every serve back; it means using all of your receives to mess up the opponent, but doing so at a level where you rarely give away a free point.

Here are some other Tips of the Week on returning serves. Receive is often called everyone's weakness, but it doesn't have to be. Many players turn it into a strength. Why not you?

• Reading Service Spin
• What is the Goal of the Receiver
• How to Return Different Serves
• The Many Ways to Receive a Short Backspin Serve
• Returning Long Serves with the Backhand
• Returning the Tomahawk Serve (or a Lefty Pendulum Serve)
• Returning Hidden and Other Tricky Spin Serves

Returning serves effectively takes longer to learn to do than any other part of the game. This is due to the incredible variations in spin, speed, direction and depth available to servers. Worse, a good server disguises every aspect of the serve, especially the spin. We're going to focus the most difficult part here - reading spin. (For more info on spin, see my article Everything You Wanted to Know About Spin - But Were Afraid to Ask.)

Ideally, a player should read the spin off the server's racket. No matter how many motions a server goes through, all a receiver has to do is read the direction of the racket at contact, and he will have read the type of spin. This is easier said than done.

The receiver also needs to read the amount of spin. Against a somewhat grippy inverted rubber, this is roughly done by a simple formula: racket speed - ball speed = ball spin. What this means is that a server's racket speed at contact will convert to ball speed and ball spin; if the racket moves fast, but the ball comes out slowly, then most of the energy has been converted to spin. (It's actually a bit more complicated than this. You get more spin if you accelerate into the ball rather than moving the racket at a constant speed, but it's close enough. Plus you have to take into consideration the grippiness of the rubber, as a non-grippy surface will have less spin.) 

A server disguises spin in three major ways. First, his racket may go through a semi-circular motion, with contact at any point on the curve. This way, a server may give different spins with the exact same serve motion - the only difference is where in the serve motion contact is made. At the advanced levels, this semi-circular motion is so short and quick it's very hard to pick up. 

Second, a server may disguise spin by mixing up spin and no-spin serves. (If a receiver thinks there is spin on the ball, and there isn't, it's the same as misreading a spin.) There are two ways the server may do this. A server may contact the ball near the throat of the racket, where the racket travels slower than the tip. Or he may fake a grazing motion, but just pat the ball with the racket straight on. In both cases, the server may use an exaggerated racket snap after contact.

Third, the server may put so much spin on the ball that it is simply difficult to read the amount of spin.

The only way to learn to return serves is to understand them, and to practice against them. So how do you read the spin?

As your opponent is serving, keep your eyes on his racket. (Against a high-toss serve, you may glance up to see when the ball will be coming down - but as it comes down, you should be watching the racket.) Ignore the direction the racket is moving until contact. Then, right at contact - SNAP! Take a flash "video" in your mind of the split second of contact. In this split-second video, you should be able to see the direction and speed the racket was going at contact. From this, you can judge the type of spin. From the racket speed, and the speed of the ball after contact, you can judge the amount of spin. 

What happens if you absolutely cannot read the spin off the racket? Or if contact is hidden? If the contact is hidden (which isn't legal, though it often isn't enforced), you will have to read the spin mostly from the ball alone. The type of sidespin on the ball should be easy to read from the general racket motion - left to right or right to left. It's the reading of topspin vs. backspin that's tricky.

A ball with backspin tends to travel in a line, and slows down when it bounces on the table. A ball with topspin drops quickly, and jumps when it hits the table. A sidespin ball will curve sideways in the air, and jump sideways when it hits the table. If you let the ball come out to you and take the ball late, you will have more time to read this, and make the proper adjustments. However, reading from the ball alone will make your receive more tentative and late, and so less effective.

Eventually, reading spin will become more and more natural, and you won't even think about it so much. Then you can concentrate on what to do with the ball.

How does one go about changing bad technique? Most players use halfway measures, and when that doesn't work, they give up and go back to their old habits. They may try minor adjustments when a major one is needed. They may change from one poor technique to another. They may practice it properly, but then, before the proper technique is ingrained, they'll play competitive matches and fall back into old habits, thereby re-ingraining the poor technique. They may have an improper grip or stance which causes the poor technique. Or they simply don't know what needs to be fixed. How can you overcome this? Here are five recommendations.

First, drop out of tournaments and match play for a while and focus on fixing the technique. Hit regularly with a coach or practice partner as you fix the technique. Playing matches will just reinforce the bad technique. If your goal is to really overcome poor technique and replace it with good technique, then you need to have an extended period where you focus on this, i.e. saturation training. That means only playing with a coach or practice partner, and doing drills where you can isolate the new technique so you can focus on doing it correctly.

Second, exaggerate the proper technique. If you don't rotate your shoulders enough on a shot, practice over-rotating until it becomes comfortable to do it the proper way. Shadow practice the proper technique over and Over and OVER until you can do it in your sleep, on your deathbed, and most importantly, at deuce in the fifth.

Third, watch top players (live or on video) who do the stroke well, and visualize yourself doing it that way. The more you visualize it done properly, the more likely you'll do it properly. Then shadow stroke it as you visualize it.

Fourth, make sure your grip and stance are correct. If you get these two correct, then everything in between tends to fall into place. If you get one of them wrong, then fixing a problem somewhere else won't work unless you fix the root cause of the problem - the grip or stance.

Fifth, work with a coach. Fixing bad technique is his job. Let him do his job.

Let me emphasize item #1 above. In general it's best to play lots of matches and get as much tournament competition as possible when trying to improve (along with lots of regular practice, i.e. drills), but when you are making major changes to your game, it's best to take time off from competition. Perhaps make a goal to have your game ready for tournament competition for a specific tournament (or series of tournaments) six months or so away, and train specifically for that. I don't think you need to take six months off from playing practice matches, but perhaps two months of focused practice without matches would greatly help you in making these technique changes.