By Larry Hodges

From November of 1999 until August of 2003 I did a weekly "Tip of the Week" for the USATT home page. You could read them there, but do you really want to look up all 171 of them, one by one? Besides, you can't really curl up with a computer screen in bed, or take it to the table tennis club. And so, organized by type (serving, receiving, rallying, tactics, psychology, equipment, general), here they are! (A few have been expanded into regular articles.)

By Larry Hodges

A great way to improve the sharpness and steadiness of your shots is to shadow practice them. This means practicing your shots without the ball. One of the best things that ever happened to me when I was a beginner was when I was told to shadow practice my forehand and backhand drives and loops, and side-to-side footwork, one hundred times a day. This was a primary reason why I went from beginner to 1900+ in under two years.

By Larry Hodges

Table tennis is often advertised as a sport that all can play, where size makes no difference. However, it's not necessarily true. While you don't have to be big to win (1971 World Champion Stellan Bengtsson: 5'2"), or small (1990 U.S. Champion: Jim Butler, 6'5"), being big or small does make a difference tactically and in choosing a playing style. It's how you use what you have that counts.

By Larry Hodges

Whether you are a world-class athlete with a Schwarzenegger body or a frail octogenarian, your body has a set of built in physical limits. By training, you can increase you limits, but at any given time, there is a limit over which you can do no better. This is a physical fact. However, to reach that physical limit you must try to reach beyond it. If you aim for a specific level which you feel is your best, you cannot go beyond your best – but you very well may do worse.

How does one reach "beyond" their best? The answer is in confidence. Many players practice hard to develop consistency, and from this consistency they develop confidence. This is backwards! Be confident first – then consistency will come. Believe you can do it, and you will! (Or, for you realists, you will at least do as well as you physically can.)

What causes a person to miss "easy" shots? When you miss an easy smash, did you really misread the spin that badly? Or did you have a very small, almost insignificant loss of confidence, and try to guide the shot, rather than just let your subconscious control the shot?

When you go for a shot, your brain sends nerve impulses (electric impulses) to the muscle cells, ordering them to contract in certain ways. The order, intensity and duration of the impulses control the manner in which the muscle fibers contract. There is no way you can control this complicated set of directions consciously. Only by training can the brain's subconscious areas learn the exact set of nerve impulses to be sent in a given situation. Any conscious control throws the while set of impulses into disarray, leading to an easy miss.

Instead, remember making the shot in the past and what it felt like. At first, you should copy what a top player does. But once you've made the shot once, there is no reason why you shouldn't make it every time! YOU CAN! (And if you believe that, then you are well on your way toward improving the shot.)

Confidence allows you to let go consciously and let your brain do what it's been taught (or is being taught) to do. Good players think between points, but never during a point. Just blank out your mind during a rally watch what happens.

So believe in your shots, even if there is no logical reason to. Have confidence in your sots. KNOW that your shot CANNOT MISS, and it probably won't.

By Larry Hodges

One of the most common problems coaches face when coaching beginning and intermediate players is getting them to relax their arm when stroking. This writer has not only faced this problem hundreds of times as a coach but has also faced it as a lifetime weakness in his own playing game.

If the muscles in the playing arm (or any other muscle) are tight, then they will not stroke properly. The tight muscles will fight you as you stroke, costing both power and control. Instead, try to keep your arm loose--like a rubber band.

By Larry Hodges

A common problem for players who smash a lot is to have trouble lifting the ball against heavy backspin when looping. A common problem for players who loop a lot is to follow their opening loop against backspin by smashing a blocked return off the end. The two problems are related, and have to do with the back shoulder – the right shoulder for a right-hander.

By Larry Hodges

The following gems have been accumulated over a long period of times, from various top players and coaches. I think you'll find a lot of them really hit the mark.

• If your opponent hits the ball aggressively at your crossover point between your forehand and backhand (where your playing elbow is), return it mostly with your backhand if you are close to the table, with your forehand if you are away from the table.

By Larry Hodges

Many players at tournaments often find themselves either giving or receiving coaching from another player or coach at some point. But just what does a coach (or player) say to a player between games? What magic words are spoken that transforms a losing game into an inspired victory?

If I had those words, I'd sell them for a lot of money.

By Larry Hodges

Are you tired of reading about players looping winners from all over the court? Are you sick of reading about serve & follow techniques, knowing that you can't possibly do it yourself unless your opponent cooperates? In other words, are you a member of the Slow of Foot Majority?

By Larry Hodges

There are only three directions you can hit the ball: to your opponent’s forehand, backhand or somewhere in between. But most players play shot after shot to the forehand or backhand, simulating exactly what your opponent has probably spent much of his practice time doing--hitting forehands or backhands. (When you do go to the forehand and backhand, you should go wide!)