Top 5 Ways to Boost your Table Tennis Skills

1. Match Plays

 

If you are preparing for a competition or just for a scheduled ranking in your club it is essential to practice your tactics during tune-up games. Sparring is very vital to strengthen not just the basic but the over-all application of tactics and strategies. During sparring you have the opportunity to match up with different level of players. Most of you will think that is a complete waste of time to play with someone lower leveled than you. Playing a newbie or an intermediate player has its advantages too. How do you think you will be able impose your game if you are playing against a better performer? You need to practice in different levels to gain the maximum advantage of learning:

1.      Lower level players than you – since you are on the advantage you will be able to practice your point set-ups, third ball play etc. It would also be perfect to correct your stroke since you will be in control of the game.

2.      Same levels as you are – work out new tactics and force your control on the opponent.

3.      Higher level – Learn new things and power up your game.

2. Playing In a Group

Belonging to a group with different level of skills with varying playing styles is vital to progressive learning and development in this sport. It will give you the right training environment that is both constructive and conducive in upgrading your current level. With proper guidance from your coach, training with different playing styles will help you acquire the right “automatic reflexes and conditioned responses that will help you overcome opponents. These are the crucial formative years where importance on acquiring the right adaptive skill is honed and focused on. You will be covering an even wider series of action and develop a series of mechanical reaction to adapt to any kind of rally situations. This is the ideal learning environment where each and every player would share their strength and learn from each other. Opening their weakness but eventually overcoming them as they get to know them more and more.

3.  Individual Focus

Given the time and attention you are giving for this sport you already know the importance of having someone to mentor you. With enough quality time with your coach and careful analysis of your style and performance on a regular basis done on one on one basis, you will be able to realign your priorities in training but with or without his supervision. As a player you should be humble enough to ask for areas for improvement and plan on specific but realistic goals as you move ahead.  

4. Direction

Every player is distinct and should be directed towards his or her own style of play. A player should strive to master the basic. But none of us can ever be too assertive about the technique. It is not just how the individual uses the stroke but how such a player utilizes it to his or her own advantage. You may look good having perfected your drills but does it have any effect during a match? Can you win points with it?
These unique qualities should fall in the same underlying principles of a stroke but should be given enough room for his or her own idiosyncrasies. Eight players doing a forehand loop will do it in eight different styles, with varying pace, spin and placement or probably a little touch of sidespin. There is nothing wrong about each stroke but what we are seeing here is his/her unique style within the same principle.
The critical factor here is that this “style” when properly stressed out and cultivated should be turned into a weapon of advantage. Some may call it “specialty” which causes problems to opponents – that helps win sure points.
Lastly, many players seem to ignore the importance of proper planning and guidance of a coach. He or she should be guided in the right direction with the right training in the best conducive learning environment as possible. This is the key to unlocking the total potential of a player and crucial for him or her to evolve. This is the main reason why many players spend years training but never seem to level up.

5. Advancement

Uninterrupted development of skills by setting individual goals, learning new tactics is vital if you want to continue evolving. We often heard that players will have to face a certain “plateau” stage where development suddenly stops and learning new skills has become unattainable.  Growth should be constant and training should be varied based on need so there should be no time that learning will come into a halt. Progression is crucial to prevent stagnation.
Maturity and mental growth are also as important. You should know how to analyze your performance and how well you apply the techniques you practiced to your games. This attitude often distinguishes the elite from the top level atheletes – the ability to almost automatically assess the situation and carry on mentally what is supposed to be done that will let him or her win points. Metal training should be integrated and become part of the whole training program done in a systematic and progressive learning procedure – on-going, continuous and progressive.