April 13, 2026

Tip of the Week
Eleven Points for Developing a Modern Advanced Style.

A Review and an Interview
My fantasy table tennis novel “The Spirit of Pong” was just reviewed for a Topeka Book Club, and I was interviewed about my writing by Jeff Cates – with lots of table tennis. (Here are all my books - buy some!) Here is the review and interview:

Weekend Coaching and Hating to Lose
Due to a writing seminar I attended on Sunday, I only coached two group sessions this past weekend, both on Saturday. In the Intermediate group, much of the focus of my multiball group was the same as last week – transition from looping backspin to looping or hitting topspin, on both forehand and backhand. In the more advanced group, much of the focus (as always) was on footwork. Most players get this, but some still don’t always quite get the idea that 1) you don’t wait to see if you have to move; you assume you have to move, and prepare with a light bounce on your feet as your opponent is hitting the ball, and 2) you move to the ball with your feet even if you could do so by just reaching for the ball.

When they got to games, I could often tell which players were affected by not wanting to lose – all of them! But there were three ways players responded to this. Some got passive, especially when it was close, and were scared to attack. Others stayed aggressive, but shots they’d make in practice they’d miss because they were worried about losing, and so couldn’t play free. Others had learned to mostly clear their minds and played mostly free, even under pressure. That’s what you need to strive for.

John Olsen had written me that, “Players that excel, I have found that it's not so much that they love to win, but they hate to lose.” And there’s a lot of truth to this. In theory, you’d think wanting to win would be more important than hating to lose. Sometimes that’s true. But often it’s hating to lose that motivates players, as well as wanting to win.

Top players (all sports) hate losing far more than the average person. They are competitive by nature. However, it is this very hatred of losing that, counter-intuitively, keeps their hatred of losing from affecting their play. They know that if they worry about losing while playing, it will affect their play and they are be more likely to lose. And so, from years of mental training and learning to focus in matches, they’ve learned to clear their mind when it’s time to play, all so they won’t lose. Result? Players who really, Really, REALLY hate to lose are often at their best in big matches and during big points. On the other hand, players who don’t like losing but not as much as top players are more likely to let his fear of losing affect him, and thereby lose because of it.

Top players often have a history of being bad losers as juniors – it’s a motivating factor. Those that overcome it become top players. The key is to use it for the first, but put it aside in matches so you can play free. Many players get passive under pressure because they are afraid to lose, and so never learn to play well under pressure. You have to overcome your fears and play your normal game under pressure. Ideally, you train not to avoid losing, but so you can improve and win! (And “win” means different things to different players – it could mean winning against your friends at a club or in the basement, in a league, a rating event, a club or state title, or national or international events.)

Major League Table Tennis

New from NCTTA – National Collegiate Championships

Butterfly Training Tips

New from Pingispågarna

Learn the Hook Serve
Here’s the video (3:26) with Dutch National Table Tennis Team Member Milo De Boer, from Acceleraq.

New from the Table Tennis Teaching Channel

New from PingSkills
Ask the Coach.

55th Anniversary of a Ping Pong Diplomacy That Changed the World (1971–2026)
Here’s the USATT article by Joshua Dyke.

New from Steve Hopkins/Butterfly

New from the ITTF

Panda Pong
Here’s the video (15 sec)!

I Played a 2x Olympic Champion
Here’s the video (8:25) from Adam Bobrow! He takes on Chen Meng, World #1 for 76 weeks in-a-row and 2x consecutive Olympic Singles Champion.

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