March 2, 2026

Tip of the Week
Play the Inner Forehand Against Backhand Players.

Weekend Coaching and Playing
We have a glut of coaches at MDTTC, so I only coached one junior group session this weekend. I did a lot of multiball the first half. I generally start with four simple multiball drills, and then go on to others, often personalized for the player. The four are: forehand-forehand footwork; backhand-backhand footwork; forehand-backhand footwork; and backhand-forehand-forehand drill, also known as the 2-1 dill or Falkenberg drill, which incorporates the three most common moves in table tennis. (The sequence is backhand from backhand side; forehand from backhand side; forehand from forehand side, then repeat.) After that, I worked in individualized shots, such as looping or smashing, and some pushing as well. The second half I had the players in my group hit among themselves, seeing how many they could hit in a row at a slow pace. The hardest part for younger kids is the “slow” part. They are used to going faster with a coach, and when they hit with another kid and the balls start spraying around they end up with very short rallies. As I explain and demonstrate to them, once you can stroke the ball consistently with a good stroke, then hitting hard is easy.

Meanwhile, I decided to play in the MDTTC Elite League on Sunday. Due to injuries, I hadn’t played a sponge match since October last year, and played less than ten all of last year. I had been training a couple of times a week for the last few months with Lidney Castro (when I was in town and uninjured), with both sponge and hardbat, and in practice was playing pretty well. I’m hoping to win medals in senior and hardbat events at the US Nationals coming up in July.

To prepare for the Sunday Elite League, I first played in the MDTTC Friday Night League. (I founded it in 1992!) I’ve only played in it once in the last decade or two. I immediately discovered that the ball moved way too fast for me. I wasn’t “match-tough,” and so struggled, going five games with a 1600 player and losing to a 1900 player. At that point I realized I had a long way to go to get back in shape.

But then, almost by magic, when I played in the Elite League two days later on Sunday, everything suddenly clicked. After a so-so first match against a 2300 player, I played really well the next two, playing at close to a 2200 level. I was looping and smashing forehands from all parts of the table, my backhand was a wall, my receives were consistent, everyone struggled with my serves, and I moved like an oiled cheetah. I was back!

Except . . . late in the second “good” match I was forced off the table. My opponent ripped a forehand to my wide forehand. I had almost no time to react, and yet reacted, counterlooping a winner. But as I put my weight on my right leg, I felt a stab of pain in my right knee. And then, as I followed through, another stab of pain from my right side. Those are the two injuries I’d battled with all last year.

It wasn’t debilitating, and I finished and won the match. But while the side was only a twinge and probably okay, the right knee definitely was a problem. I played one more match, trying to protect the knee, but it was only getting worse, and I had to default out after that.

So, I’ll likely take the next month off, and then see how the knee is. I’ll still coach, of course, and act as a practice partner when needed, but will have to go easy on moving.

One thing I’m strongly considering is long pips on the backhand (no sponge), so I can play a bit more when the knee becomes a problem. My backhand is mostly just a steady blocking shot anyway; I mostly attack with my forehand, where I like to attack from all parts of the table, especially when I serve. (When I’m “on,” I attack almost any long serve with my forehand. Yeah, at 66 I can still step around against long serves to my backhand! But for tactical reasons, I’ll sometimes just topspin them back with my backhand to force a backhand-backhand rally.)

I recently tried out short pips on my backhand for a short time. I’m really good with them in drills. But when we get to game-type rallies, I run into a problem. With short pips, you have to stroke the ball more, and in fast rallies I’ve never been quick enough at the table to do that on the backhand side. I get away with this with inverted where I basically rebound the ball back, but with short pips I can’t. But using short pips is a great way to force yourself to play the backhand more aggressively, and after using it for a short time, my backhand is better. If you play inverted on the backhand but aren’t aggressive enough in backhand rallies (when counter-hitting, not looping), I suggest trying short pips for a short time as well, even just a few drills – it’ll force you to stroke the ball more, giving you a more aggressive backhand when you go back to inverted.

From this point on, I will be hesitant to enter doubles events at major tournaments like the US Nationals. If injured, I can drop out of singles. But I’d be letting my partner down in doubles, and so would feel obligated to play – and would then get injured worse as well as not being able to play well.

Major League Table Tennis

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Here’s their Facebook page – lots of TT comics!

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