Advanced Players Guide To Table Tennis / Ping-Pong
By Greg Letts, About.com Guide to Table Tennis / Ping-Pong
Get help and advice on all advanced aspects of the sport of table tennis, including choosing and upgrading custom equipment that suits your playing style, high level training and competition tips, mental and physical training routines and drills, tracking your progress, scouting your opposition, and how to win in table tennis tournaments.
- Becoming an Advanced Player
- Advanced Equipment Advice
- Training - General
- Improve Your Basic Strokes
- Learn the Advanced Strokes
- Physical Conditioning / Footwork / Drills
- Mental Training
- Training By Yourself
- Tournament Preparation
- Competition Tactics
- Videos / Photo Gallery
- 2008 Olympic Games
Becoming an Advanced Player
Congratulations! You've made it out of the basement and into serious competition. But do you have what it takes to become a top table tennis player?
- What Level Are You?
- So You Want to Be a Ping-Pong Champion?
- Greg's Table Tennis Blog
- Do You Have Talent?
- Things I Know Now I Wish I Knew Then...
- Identify Your Strengths and Weaknesses
- Apply Your Strengths and Avoid Your Weaknesses
Advanced Equipment Advice
Better players use better equipment - that's undeniable. But they don't always use the fastest, spinniest, or most expensive gear. Which equipment is right for your style? How do you use it properly? And how to do you learn to handle your opponent's rubbers? The answers are right here.
- Choosing Your Table Tennis Rubbers
- Classic Table Tennis Rubbers
- Choosing a Blade
- Classic Table Tennis Blades
- Choosing Your Table Tennis Shoes
- Guide to Speed Glue
- How Often Should You Change Rubbers?
- Technique vs Equipment in Ping-Pong
- Should You Play With Short Pips?
- How to Play with Short Pips
- How to Use Short Pips Successfully
- How to Play with Long Pimples
- How to Play Against Long Pips
- How to Use Long Pips - Basic Techniques
- How to Play with Antispin
- How to Play Against Antispin
- Should Defenders Use Smooth Rubbers or Long Pips?
- Protecting Your Ping-Pong Paddle
- Guide to Choosing a Table Tennis Table
Training - General
To improve as fast as possible, you'll need a training plan that's customized to your own needs. Here's a number of general training tips that will help you get on the right track and avoid training dead-ends.
- Secrets of the Chinese - The Fastest Way to Learn a New Table Tennis Skill
- Aha Moments in Table Tennis
- How To Improve Your Consistency
- Can You Play Other Racket Sports Without Hurting Your Ping-Pong?
- Improving Without a Coach
- Breaking Slumps
- Training with Weaker Players
- Training with a Ping-Pong Professional
- Overcoming Problems
- How to Become a Success by Failing
- Is it Always Better to Hit Earlier than Later?
- Fixing Your Weaknesses
- Positioning During the Rally
- Recovery Depth During a Rally
Improve Your Basic Strokes
While the advanced strokes are fun to play, and the pros make them look easy, remember that every elite table tennis player has spent many hours building a solid foundation of the basics. Take the time to polish up your fundamentals before moving on to the sexy strokes - you won't be sorry!
Learn the Advanced Strokes
You've pounded away on your ping-pong fundamentals, and brushed up on your basics. Now you are finally ready to add the advanced strokes of table tennis to your arsenal of weapons. Get ready to learn how to loop, lob, chop, serve and return serve with the best of them!
- How to Play the Advanced Table Tennis Strokes
- Learn to Loop
- Forehand Loop Against a Push
- Forehand Loop Against a Block
- Counterlooping
- Backhand Loop Against a Push
- Backhand Loop Against a Block
- Forehand Lob
- Backhand Lob
- Drop Shot Against a Lob
- Drop Shot Against a Chop
- Forehand Smash
- Forehand Chop Against a Loop
- Backhand Chop Against a Loop
- Forehand Pendulum Serve
- Backhand Pendulum Serve
- Forehand Reverse Pendulum Serve
- Forehand Tomahawk Serve
- Forehand Flick
- Backhand Flick
Physical Conditioning / Footwork / Drills
It doesn't matter if you have the best table tennis techniqe in the world if you can't get to the ball to hit it in the first place! Fitness is important, but do you have to pound the pavements and circle the court until you get dizzy and burnt-out? Is there an easy way to get fit for ping-pong?
- One Hour Training Session Outline
- Two Hour Training Session Outline
- Cross Training for Table Tennis
- Multiball Training
- How To Improve Your Footwork Speed in Ping-Pong
- Should You Train When You are Tired?
- Safety Tips / Avoiding Injuries
- How to Use Random Drills Correctly
- Walking Your Way to Success
- Forehand Drills
- Simple (But Effective!) Drills
- Defender Drills
- Backhand Drills
- Serve and Serve Return Drills
- The Falkenberg Drill
- Can You Play Other Racket Sports Without Hurting Your Table Tennis?
Mental Training
The mental side of table tennis is considered to be vital by almost all top players, but the thinking aspects of ping-pong are often ignored in favor of more physical training and technique work. Want to get an advantage over your opposition? Time to harness the power of your mind!
- The Importance of Setting Goals
- How to Avoid Choking
- Greg's Personal Table Tennis Blog
- Mental Training By Yourself
- Can You Improve By Watching Better Players?
- Secrets of the Chinese - the Fastest Way to Learn a New Skill
- Aha! Moments in Ping-Pong
- Can Using Your Opposite Hand Improve Your Table Tennis?
Training By Yourself
While a good training partner or two is invaluable, there is still a lot you can do on own your own to help improve your table tennis game. Don't underestimate the power of one!
Tournament Preparation
Failing to plan is planning to fail - so the saying goes. If you want to play your best table tennis in competition, it makes sense to prepare thoroughly for battle. It's what you do before you step on the court that will determine whether you are ready to perform at your ping-pong peak.
- How to Use a Camcorder to Videotape Table Tennis Matches
- Playing in the Chinese Leagues
- Why Play Overseas?
Competition Tactics
On the court is where the rubber meets the road - er, ball! Facing an opponent who is a mere 9 feet away across the table is the nearest thing you'll get to combat in a non-contact sport. Here's some tactics and tips from a battle-scarred veteran of competition that might just help you survive and conquer.
- Attacker vs Defender with Long Pips - Tactics
- Help! My Oppponent's Attacks Are Too Powerful! What Can I Do?
- How to Beat Jan-Ove Waldner at Table Tennis
- How to Win Against Ping-Pong Players You Hate to Play
- Help! I Can't Return My Opponent's Serve! What Should I Do?
- Should You Always Serve First When You Win the Toss?
- Should You Always Avoid Your Opponent's Strengths?
- Should You Save Your Best Serves For Big Points?
- Pushing Long vs Pushing Short
- Why Do I Lose to Players Who are Worse than I Am?
- When to Call Time-Out
- Serve Strategies for Left Handed Loopers
- Doubles Tips
- Beating Blockers
- How to Win Close Matches
- Exploiting the Wide Forehand - Tactics
- Backhand Serving Across the Playing Elbow - Tactics
- Forehand Pivot Ball Placement - Tactics
Videos / Photo Gallery
You can learn a lot from watching and copying the best players in the business. Look and learn from this collection of table tennis videos and action photographs of top ping-pong players.
- How to Play the Strokes of Table Tennis
- William Henzell's Personal Match Videos
- Reflex Sports Table Tennis DVDs - Review
- 2008 Olympic Games - Photographs of Men's Direct Qualifiers
- 2008 Olympic Games - Photographs of Women's Direct Qualifiers
- USA Table Tennis Player Photographs
- Canadian Ping-Pong Player Photographs
- Photos of Leading Players at the 2007 Australian Open
- Pictures of Leading Players at the 2006 Australian Open
2008 Olympic Games
Everything related to table tennis at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
