Women's Game

Material

Long Pimple Stroke Play

Rowden Fullen (2005)

Technical Areas

Attacking with pimples v chop and block – hit one v backspin ball using spin (already topspin on the ball), block one v block. Block early or at top of the bounce, block return often almost float ball.

Sidespin hit at the top of the bounce, use wrist and forearm with slight elbow lift (or hit early with less pace). If the opponent chops he gets topspin back, if he blocks then he receives a float ball, if he topspins he will get a backspin return.

Hit at the top of the bounce (through) with a short stroke and quite hard. Short movement of the wrist and forearm v chop or block. If v chop the opponent gets topspin if v block he gets float.

Drawback block v topspin, with a little twisting of the racket. Try to use earlier timing, (but you can also take late) with a short, slower movement back. More spin reversal and shorter length return with this stroke. Very much backspin on the return.

Stop-block at early or peak timing. If v topspin, chop back – if v chop, topspin back.
Chop with a longer stroke v topspin, heavy chop back to the opponent.
Slow counter attack roll at an early timing v topspin. Return ball has backspin.
Punch (care with position of feet and technique) with upward and forward movement. If v topspin opponent gets backspin return, if v chop, topspin return.
Players using long pimples should practise twiddling and pushing /opening with the normal rubber.

N.B. The amount of effect achieved will vary from one long pimple rubber to another.

Generally speaking the most return spin will be achieved by long pimples without sponge and on a fast blade — because the ‘surface’ is hard, the ball rebounds very quickly and is not gripped by the rubber, therefore the spin already on it is returned without alteration or only little change. Where there is sponge, especially if this is a bit thicker 1.0mm. or above some of the return spin will be lost as there will be a slower rebound off the blade and the ball will be returned more often as ‘float’ (without spin). After the bounce on your side of the table of course, the ball will ‘acquire’ a little topspin.

Women Individual Development: Pimples on BH

Rowden Fullen (2003)

1) Flexible and adaptable, not rigid in play.

2) Ready to consider new ideas, methods, not rigid in thinking.

3)Understanding that development means change, no change means stagnation.

4) Women’s game requires expertise in the following areas –

Control of speed.
Opening.
Converting ( from spin to drive).
Short play.
Serve and receive.
Variation.
Use of table and equipment.
Backhand.
Positive attitude.
Winning weapon.
Not afraid to be different.

5) Understand your own style

Playing distance from the table.
F.H./B.H. split and table coverage.
Movement patterns.
How you win points, what is effective.
Train in the right way for your own style.

6) Be aware of the advanced techniques of the women’s game –

Short play.
Use of angles.
Change of speed.
Stance and movement patterns.
Killing through loop.
Early ball push.
Early ball smash.
Early ball topspin.
Slow loop (long/short).
Sidespin loop.
Dummy loop.
Chop/stop blocks.
Sidespin push/block.
Late timed push/block.
Loop to drive play.
Loop and block play.
Block play (especially on the forehand).
Short drop balls (especially v defence players).

Backhand pimple development

Drive at the top of the bounce and push/block early v push and block.
Push late (spin), push early (float or spin), push (sidespin?) Prioritize early timing. (Vital with pimples).
Drive top of bounce (short stroke little back-swing) v drive or block or chop.
Sidespin hit v chop or block. (Especially v little slower ball).
Drawback block v topspin loop.
Chop block – forward (float), down at an early timing point (chop) v drive.
Chop (or float) v drive, topspin. (At times train a little back from the table, so that you can control and get back in when forced back).
Slow roll early v spin or drive.
Varied block, soft, stop, forced.
Early ball shovel push (especially v serve).
Twiddling (heavy push and loop with normal rubber).
Train variation, hard and soft, short and long, angles and placement.

With pimples note particularly the value of the block (puts the spin back) and also of the push (variation in the spin on the return). If you only hit and usually play power with the pimples then you are much more predictable and you are not using the pimples to maximum effect or indeed for the purpose they were intended.

N.B. Very important v good players that you can hold the ball short on the table with the long pimples against long serves and topspin shots.

Forehand development (with pimples on the backhand)

Can’t play deep on the F.H. and close on the B.H.
Work at drive play closer to the table, especially in a moving situation.
Train much block play v topspin (varied block, topspin, sidespin, soft, forcing).
Important that you can hit through topspin.
Early ball shovel push (especially v serve) and good short play.
Early ball topspin v drive, block or topspin.
Slow topspin against chop but care with length.
Occasional sidespin especially v the slower ball. (Very effective against defenders or when played straight down the line to left-handed players).
Much spin into drive (slow spin, hit hard).
Care with crossover (F.H. generally but the pimples against some styles of play). Find the point of change.
Twiddling (serve receive and hit/smash with pimples).
Train a little at varied distances from the table, topspin and drive with reverse and chop with pimples.
Train variation, hard and soft, short and long, angles and placement.

N.B. Particularly important that you start to use the F.H. more from the middle of the table and that you work to make it stronger and more reliable.

Theory

Less effect and less possibilities back from the table (especially with the bigger ball because of the lesser spin).
Less spin with the bigger ball means less control (less on-the-table control).
Less spin with the bigger ball means it is easier to block and to open for the opponent.
It is harder to win points from back.
Use the unpredictability of the slower topspin ball (Magnus effect), especially when opening. Bear in mind that slow spin on one wing and flat hit on the other is very effective.
More possibilities close to the table, varied block, spin, drive, sidespin etc.
Timing is critical in drive play (narrow window).
Long serves more effective in the women’s game, (especially side and float or side and topspin). Many opponents try to return with too much power and because they achieve less topspin with the bigger ball, they have less on–the-table control.
Don’t return long serves with power. (Deny the server the chance to use the return speed).
Focus on the serve/receive, the first 4/5 balls and active play over the table. Try to impose your game on the opponent but always remember that blocks and even pushes can be positive when used in the right way.
There is a basic fallacy in the thinking that persists in trying to train more and more girls to play a man’s topspin game. Women just don’t get as much topspin as men. Because they don’t get as much topspin they have less on-the-table control (less topspin means the ball doesn’t dip down so much on the other side of the table). This problem is accentuated with the bigger ball. Very rarely do women have the same strength as men, therefore they are unable to play the same power input into the stroke with the same closed bat angle. The vast majority of women as a result have major problems in hitting the ball really hard from below table level.

Women Individual Development: Reverse Rubber on BH

Rowden Fullen (2003)

1) Flexible and adaptable, not rigid in play.

2) Ready to consider new ideas, methods, not rigid in thinking.

3) Understand that development means change, no change means stagnation.

4) Women’s game requires expertise in the following areas –

Control of speed.
Opening.
Converting ( from spin to drive).
Short play.
Serve and receive.
Variation.
Use of table and equipment.
Backhand.
Positive attitude.
Winning weapon.
Not afraid to be different.

5) Understand your own style –

Playing distance from the table.
F.H./B.H. split and table coverage.
Movement patterns.
How you win points, what is effective.
Train in the right way for your own style.

6) Be aware of the advanced techniques of the women’s game –

Short play.
Use of angles.
Change of speed.
Stance and movement patterns.
Killing through loop.
Early ball push.
Early ball smash.
Early ball topspin.
Slow loop (long/short).
Sidespin loop.
Dummy loop.
Chop/stop blocks.
Sidespin push/block.
Late timed push/block.
Loop to drive play.
Loop and block play.
Block play (especially on the forehand).
Short drop balls (especially v defence players).

Backhand reverse development

Drive at the top of the bounce or just before but spin at differing timing points from early to later (depends on incoming ball).
Drive (short stroke little backswing) v drive or block or chop.
Train to accelerate from block/drive into spin.
Train soft block and topspin block v loop.
Chop block – forward (float), down at an early timing point (chop) v drive.
Slow roll early v spin or drive.
Varied block, soft, stop, forced, sidespin, topspin.
Early ball shovel push (especially v serve) and good short play.
Train a little back from the table so that you can control and get back in when forced back.
Train variation in pace, hard and soft, short and long.
Train angles and placement.

(Even with reverse rubber note particularly the value of the block (put the spin back) and also of the push, (variation in the spin on the return). If you only hit hard and usually play power then you are much more predictable. At a higher level you must think of variation in all its aspects, (spin, speed, placement, angles etc.)

Forehand development (with reverse on the backhand) –

Can’t play deep on the F.H. and close on the B.H.
Work at drive play closer to the table, especially in a moving situation.
Train much block play v topspin (varied block, topspin, sidespin, soft, forcing).
Important that you can hit through topspin.
Early ball shovel push (especially v serve) and good short play.
Slow topspin against chop but care with length.
Occasional sidespin especially v the slower ball. (Very effective v defenders or when played straight down the line v left-handed players).
Much spin into drive (slow spin, hit hard).
Care with crossover (F.H. generally but the B.H. against some styles of play). Find the point of change.
Train to change pace, loop or drive long, block short.
Train angles and placement.

Theory

Less effect and less possibilities back from the table (especially with the bigger ball because of the lesser spin).
Less spin with the bigger ball means less control (less on-the-table control).
Less spin with the bigger ball means it is easier to block and to open for the opponent.
It is harder to win points from back.
Use the unpredictability of the slower topspin ball (Magnus effect), especially when opening. Bear in mind that slow spin on one wing and flat hit on the other can be very effective.
More possibilities close to the table, varied block, spin, drive, sidespin etc.
Timing is critical in drive play (narrow window).
Long serves more effective in the women’s game, (especially side and float or side and topspin). Many opponents try to return with too much power and because they achieve less topspin with the bigger ball, they have less on–the-table control.
Don’t return long serves with power. (Deny the server the chance to use the return speed).
Focus on the serve/receive, the first 4/5 balls and active play over the table. Try to impose your game on the opponent but always remember that blocks and even pushes can be positive when used in the right way.
There is a basic fallacy in the thinking that persists in trying to train more and more girls to play a man’s topspin game. Women just don’t get as much topspin as men. Because they don’t get as much topspin they have less on-the-table control (less topspin means the ball doesn’t dip down so much on the other side of the table). This problem is accentuated with the bigger ball. Very rarely do women have the same strength as men, therefore they are unable to play the same power input into the stroke with the same closed bat angle. The vast majority of women as a result have major problems in hitting the ball really hard from below table level.

Rather than training women to loop 4 or 5 balls in succession it makes rather more sense to loop 1 or 2 then to come in and drive to win the point. Training to ‘convert’ from spin to drive or hit assumes rather more importance. Generally women don't spin to win, rather they spin to make openings.

Material and the Womens Game

Rowden Fullen (2004)

In Sweden I encounter immediate resistance from most clubs when I mention material and girls’ play. I know that there are clubs which develop pimple players, clubs such as Lyckeby, Tyresö and Lindome for example, but far too often when I am at tournaments I hear coaches and parents only complaining about material and condemning the clubs and coaches who promote such rubbers and playing styles. This is unfortunately an attitude which their players pick up and which will only hinder their future development.

Let’s look at a few facts. Just what is the prime skill of table tennis? It is to be able to adapt quickly in an ever changing situation. Table tennis is all about being able to adjust to and cope with different situations, situations such as players using different tactics, defence and material. And in fact in the women’s game there are many more different paths to the top level than there are in the men’s. Do we really think that any player can reach the heights if they can’t play against pimples, defenders or penholders for example?

I have even had National Coaches in Sweden tell me that some of our best women players do very well in Europe against normal rubbers but ‘have a major problem against material’. This is of course a problem that goes back to early training, to parental attitudes and to the trainers and clubs which introduce the young girl to our sport. There is nothing illegal or underhand about playing with material. We have just had a young girl reach the final of the SOC and knock out several top Chinese on the way, playing with pimples. Her racket was examined every step of the way by referees and umpires – perfectly legal.

Almost every country in Europe has material players in their girls’ and women’s teams right from cadet level, there are many material players amongst the top hundred ranked women in the world and we have even had women world champions playing with pimples. Some of the best young girls in the world, Fukuhara from Japan for instance, play with pimples. If we in Sweden deny our young girls the opportunity to train with and against material at an early age, we are in fact limiting and restricting their future development and placing them at a big disadvantage when competing at European and world level.

I leave you with some rather interesting statistics. In the National rankings for 12 and 13 year olds there are very few pimple players among the girls. This is of course an age where the players are under the control of parents and clubs and don’t have the chance to think for themselves. In the ranking for women’s 20 where the players have escaped from their restrictions and control their own development we have around 50% who play with pimples! The players themselves come to understand eventually what works for them in the women’s game. It’s just a pity they don’t have the opportunity to do this at an earlier age when the learning process would be much more effective.

Why use Pimples

Rowden Fullen (2004)

Many coaches and players seem to think that it’s some form of legalized cheating to use pimples or at best that that it’s only to win matches cheaply or to cover a weakness. Of course at top-level pimples are rarely used in the men’s game but are quite normal in the women’s game even at the very highest levels. Many coaches unfortunately have little understanding of the real differences between men’s and women’s play and why pimples are a necessary tool in the women’s game. The players themselves however begin to understand when they get a little older.

For example in girls’ 13 classes in Sweden you have hardly any girls playing with material, not because they don’t want to or wouldn’t benefit by using pimples, but solely because their clubs or trainers totally reject this alternative. If however you look at the National Swedish Rankings for girls’ 20 a large number of our girls are by this age using material – from nothing the percentage has leapt to around 50%. Why? Either because the players have come into contact with more enlightened coaching or because as they have become older and more experienced they have also become aware that without material they are not going to reach the higher levels in women’s table tennis. Women begin to understand that there are many more paths to the top level in the women’s game than there are in the men’s. By not allowing our younger girls to explore the various alternatives in the women’s game at an early age we often deny them the opportunity of reaching their full potential.

Take a look at the SOC in Malmö — at the very best women in the world rankings — players from Asian countries with material, from Europe and the Americas with pimples. Most countries competing had pimpled players in their teams. A girl from Hongkong only ranked 5 in her country and 46 in the world, reaching the final – pimples. Shouldn’t we perhaps be learning something from this? Many top women play with material for a good reason – quite simply because such rubbers complement the women’s game and tactics. And over the years we have had a considerable number of female world champions playing with pimples. All this makes the total rejection of material by many coaches in Swedish clubs rather ludicrous.

What do we mean by ‘complement the women’s game and tactics’? Just what is the difference between the sexes in the way they play? If we compare top men and women we immediately notice the contrast in power. Quite simply men hit the ball harder. Usually too they give themselves more time and room to use their strength and play from further back and with much more topspin. Women on the other hand play closer to the table and block and counter much more. Even those women who topspin can’t be compared to the men. A strong woman such as Boros just doesn’t hit the ball anywhere near as hard as a man.

Power and spin are important in the men’s game, placement and change of and control of speed in the women’s. You rarely if ever see the loop-to-loop rallies of the men’s game in women’s play — almost always the return is a block, counter or defence stroke. Not only does the ability to loop several balls in a row against topspin require strength that most women don’t have (and in the long term often leads to injury) but also tactically it’s not a prime requirement in women’s play. Because women loop with less spin and power than men their topspin is much easier to control and contain and there are far more good blockers and counter-hitters in the ranks of the women than in those of the men.

Pimples are ideal for changing spin and speed and for returning unpredictable balls to the opponent. They are particularly good for controlling topspin, especially the lesser level of spin and power you get in the women’s game. With pimples you also have the capability of taking the ball very early and denying the opponent time to play her next stroke so this material is in fact ideal for controlling the opponent’s speed and allowing you to be on level terms with much faster players. The higher level of unpredictability in ball behaviour especially after the bounce means that it is very difficult for topspin players (and particularly those with a long stroke) to adapt. They are often committed too early to a certain stroke path and are unable to change this. When you compare Asian loop players they usually have a much shorter stroke and don’t therefore suffer so much against material (also of course they train against all different playing styles and from an early age).

Of course there are so many different pimples on the market that the whole area is now something of a minefield – should you play with short pimples with no friction, a little or much friction or should you play with medium or long? Which would suit your style of play? Don’t despair if you don’t know. Up to a couple of years ago the rubber manufacturers didn’t know either. Generations of Asian women players have used a variety of sponges under the rubber for the last 30 years because they knew something the manufacturers didn’t. That the softness of the sponge is of vital importance in getting maximum effect particularly in the case of short and medium pimples – there’s little point in using 45 or 50, you really want at least a 35 or even a 30. It’s only recently in Sweden that we have started to get the full range of sponge sheets in different thicknesses and hardness and have had access to the same advantages as the Asians.

Neubauer of course has done his own exhaustive testing on long pimpled rubbers and the effect of rubber colour and blade weight and speed on return spin. As a result his long pimpled rubbers were originally only manufactured in red because the same rubber in black produces considerably less effect. He has also proved that pimples have most effect when used on a fast and even heavier blade. Of course it is now possible to have double-sided blades, fast on one side and slower on the other to suit the style of the individual player, so having just one fast side is no longer a problem.

From a young age it is vital that girl players learn to cope with all types of playing styles. There is little point in getting up to the level of the National team at 18 – 20 years only for the trainers to discover that you can’t play against defence players or pimples. Your further development is going to be severely restricted. However if you have played with and against material at a young age your long-term development is liable to be much more comprehensive.

And let us remember too that playing with pimples can be a stage in the development of a young player, it doesn’t have to be permanent. Using material can even be a way of refining technique as with many pimples, short and medium for example, you have to play the ball rather than just placing the racket in the way. Quite a number of players turn to pimples in their early teens only to go back to normal rubbers later, but almost always with a much better understanding of how to play against material.

As we said earlier in this article in the women’s game there are many more ways to the top than there are in the men’s. I would appeal to coaches and trainers at club level to understand this and to give their girl players a fair chance of success from the start. You have a big responsibility to do the very best for your players and to put them on the right road for them.

The Chinese have a saying – ‘When a fool sees himself as he is, he is a fool no longer. When the wise man becomes sure of his wisdom, then he is a fool.’ — If you as a coach have stopped listening, then you are no longer prepared to look at other possibilities. Perhaps it is true to say — only in absolute certainty is there danger. Certainty is the enemy of progress, we stop thinking and further development is not possible.

Girls: Long Pimple Development (attack)

Rowden Fullen (2005)

The first hurdle for the player to get over is the amount of ill-feeling she will encounter from opponents, their parents and other coaches. ‘You wouldn’t win if you played with a normal racket’ is the standard accusation. What many of these accusers fail to appreciate is that a large number of the world’s best women have played and play now with material of one kind or another. Women play with material for a reason – ‘funny rubbers’ are a means of controlling speed and spin but particularly speed. If you can’t control speed then you can’t play women’s table tennis. Over the years women have found a number of differing methods of doing this – the use of material is only one.

There is another important aspect to consider too. Table tennis is all about being able to adjust to and cope with different situations, situations such as players using differing tactics, defence and material. And in fact in the women’s game there are many more different paths to the top level than there are in the men’s. Do we really think that any player can reach the heights if they can’t play against pimples, defenders or penholders for example?

Some national coaches say to me – ‘But the top six/seven Chinese women in the world at the moment don’t play with pimples’. True but these things go in cycles and if you talk to the top Chinese coaches they are as keen as ever to produce another Deng Yaping, and have many pimple players training both at National and Regional Levels. Look at the younger Asian players in world rankings for 18 and 21 — the top Chinese pimpled racket player (defensive) Fan Ying is currently ranked 3 in the world U21 rankings (after 2 other Chinese) and 2 in the U18 ranking (after Guo Yue). Ai Fukuhara the famous Japanese girl (medium pimples on BH) is ranked 5 in 18’s and 8 in 21’s. If you are thinking –no future in pimples – then perhaps you should think again!

It is true however that with pimples, as with normal rubbers, there must be a path of development and players must continue to grow and progress. You cannot just stick a long pimpled rubber on a young girl’s backhand side, tell her to block and push with it and stop there. The player must learn to use the rubber, do different things with it, know when to ‘twiddle’ and use the normal side, how to get the biggest advantage out of serve, receive and the third ball etc.

Let us first look at what one should look for when considering switching to long pimples, which is the most deceptive of the pimpled rubbers. The first aspect which the player must experiment with is effect versus control – this is always a major point for discussion with long pimple users. In most cases it is a question of whether to try sponge or not and if so how thick. In the final analysis it is often a matter of feeling and ‘what works for me’. Long pimple players all play differently even with the same rubbers and selection of the best playing materials is a highly individual matter and usually one for some experimentation.

When we consider control we must look at how the player is using the rubber. Long pimple without sponge may have good control when you go back and play defensively, but the same rubber can have control problems when you try and block close to the table. Against a fast loop the ball just springs off the racket too quickly. A layer of sponge will help with blocking control as the ball is held longer on the bat, but you will of course lose effect.

Most spin reversal occurs when you have a red, long pimpled rubber, with thin, hard, widely spaced, plastic type pimples and on a fast blade. The ball kicks off very quickly and there is no time for it to be affected by the rubber. The plastic type pimples have absolutely no grip and when thinner and widely spaced have minimum contact with the ball. Because they are hard they don’t bend as much as normal pimples and therefore the ball is not held on the surface.

Many players don’t understand that what is happening is that they are in effect getting their own spin back. If they for example put heavy backspin on the ball and the opponent pushes the ball back with the pimples, the return will not have backspin (even though his or her stroke is down and forward) but an element of topspin. The most important consideration when playing against long pimples is not what the opponent is doing with his or her racket, but what you did with your last stroke. The majority of players don’t in fact think what they are doing when they meet pimpled rubber opponents. Instead of trying to understand what is happening and working to combat this, they take the easy option and just complain.

Let us now look at the techniques and tactics of using long pimples. Good players who understand the principles of playing against long pimples will more often than not hit one ball and push the next. They understand that if they loop hard they get a lot of spin back and that it’s difficult to loop two or three balls in a row with any power (in fact the more power you put in the more spin you get back). As a result the ‘bread and butter’ tactics of the long pimpled attacker/blocker must be to control the hit and to hold the ball as short as possible on the opponent’s side of the table. The push ball should then be taken very early and either dropped short or pushed very long and very fast. This gives the opponent only limited time to react against a fast push which can have considerable topspin.

But the long pimpled player should not stop here. The next step is to train on a variety of ‘stop’ and sidespin actions together with changes of timing to confuse the opponent. Don’t think either that these just have a ‘confusion’ value, they can have real effect too. For example a ‘stop-block’ where the racket is pulled back at the contact can return a very short ball to the opponent with very much backspin. Or a fast sidespin action played to the alternate corner against heavy backspin can return a fast topspin ball with a sidespin kick. Even a push taken at a late timing point can be effective – it gives the opponent too much time to think and she sees the ball moving in the air and becomes hesitant.

Pimpled players should of course also train to ‘twiddle’ so that they can push and open with both sides. It’s very easy for example to open hard against the backspin ball, even with the pimples, when the opponent is in the hit and push mode. It’s equally easy to train to take the short balls/serves with the pimples on the forehand side so that you are not pulled too far out of position by trying to use the backhand over the whole table. And if you are able to ‘twiddle’ and smash the high balls with the pimples, they will rarely if ever come back.

One must also consider the other side of the racket which usually has a normal reverse rubber. It’s a good idea if this is as ‘tacky’ as possible, for then there is a very big difference between the spins from either wing. Of course the girl using long pimples on the backhand must also work to develop the forehand side. Too many girls using pimples have weaknesses on the other wing which let them down. It is expedient that girls with long pimples on the backhand have good topspin on the forehand, can vary this, either slow or fast and can kill at the first opportunity. It is also important that they can block with good control and variation on this wing so that they can contain the women loop players and then pick the right ball to hit and win the point.

Serve and receive is another vital area for the long pimpled player and efficiency here is crucial. Good players may well just serve long and fast to the pimples and then kill the next ball. It is vital that the pimpled player has alternatives to the block receive – slow spin roll with the reverse rubber or step back and chop with the pimples for example. Many players however, even very good players, don’t think to change their game and serve their usual heavy spin serves which get them into all sorts of trouble.

Long pimple players can get a great deal of advantage from their service if they go about it in the right way. Sidespin is of particular use to the long pimple player as it allows them to give their opponent difficult fourth ball returns. For example a vicious sidespin serve (with the 'tacky' rubber), which is also very short, will encourage most female opponents to push the second ball. A fast early ball push with the long pimples will give the adversary a topspin ball with a sidespin kick (the ball still retains the sidespin from the service). As players and coaches will appreciate there are a number of different possibilities based on this same theme. The fast flat serve with the long pimples also causes problems to many players as does the long fast backspin (without any spin).

Of course the ideal eventually is if the long pimple player can play with both rubbers as and when she chooses. This can take a little time as she will have twice the number of alternatives as the normal player and to be effective will require both training and application. The one aspect that is of some importance is the timing when she twiddles the racket. A bad ‘twiddler’ will often get caught out and have to play with the side of the racket she doesn’t want to use at that particular time. The experienced ‘twiddler’ plays with intention and only turns the racket after her opponent has contacted the ball and is always playing with the ‘right’ rubber to suit the occasion.

Girls in the World’s Elite and their Playing Styles

Lars Borg (2008)

How do the top women in the world play today? We have examined a little more closely the women players who were at the Swedish Open Championships and also looked at the Protour results in the European tournaments in the autumn.

Approximately half of the players who reached the quarter-finals or further either had a different playing style or a different type of rubber and didn’t attack with topspin on BH or FH. The two most common styles other than topspin attack with reverse rubbers were attacking drive-play with short pimples on the BH or defensive play with long pimples on the same wing. Additionally we had attacking players with short pimples on the FH and defenders with short or half-long pimples on the BH. An interesting point is the distinct lack of pen-hold players among the top placed contenders. They are there but they are not reaching the final stages.

Let us look at a few varied examples –

Guo Yan (China) topspin attack with reverse rubber – 2nd in the SOC. A strong topspin player. The advantages with this playing style are strong speed and spin. Because the ball comes over the net with a pronounced arc it’s even possible to play hard against low balls. Other exponents of this style are Zhang Yining, Li Xiaoxia, Guo Yue (reigning world champion) all China, Aya Umemura and Sayaka Hirano (Japan) and Liu Jia (Austria).
Li Jia Wei (Singapore) attacking player with short pimple on the FH – Olympic Semi-finalist in Athens and 3rd in the SOC. An unusual playing style which as her coach Anthony Lee says gives her a number of plus points and is hard for opponents to adjust to. The advantages with short pimple are in quick attack and also that the FH is less susceptible against spin. It’s also easy to hit hard against heavy topspin or loop balls and the hits come through to the opponent with a fast, flat trajectory and often a good amount of backspin. Other exponents of this style are Wu Jiaduo (Germany) and Shen Yanfei (Spain).
Amelia Solja (Germany) attacking player with frictionless long pimples on the BH – second in European Youths, 2007. A style which has recently developed from attacking play with long pimples with friction. The difference is that it’s even easier to control spin and to block back very short over-the-table returns. The spin reversal is also very powerful and – this means that opponents get back almost all the spin they, themselves created. The disadvantages are the inability to create one’s own spin (unless one twiddles) and a measure of predictability in play with the pimples.
Li Jiao (Holland) Pen-hold topspin attack with reverse rubber – 14 in the world ranking. Strengths are play over the table and the possibilities of achieving good spin. The disadvantage is the lack of a strong BH. There has not been the same development among the women as with the men (such as Wang Hao) who use the reverse side of the pen-hold racket to loop against backspin.
Cao Zhen (China) Attacking play with short pimples on the BH – lost against world No. 2 Guo Yue in the quarters at the SOC but was runner-up in the German Protour. Quite many women players use short pimples on the BH for quick, early-ball attack either with block or counter-hit. This type of player relies more on speed and placement rather than on spin. Other examples are Ai Fujinuma (Japan), Zhang Xue Ling and Wang Yue Gu (Singapore) and Jiang Huajun (Hongkong).
Gao Jun (USA) pen-hold short pimple attack – 17 in the world and the highest ranked with this playing style. The greatest strengths are tempo, the ease of hitting, blocking and forcing against spin. The main weakness is the lack of a ‘dangerous’ attack from the BH side.
Daniela Dodean (Romania) Topspin attack with reverse rubbers and an imposing BH loop. Europe’s future hope with power on the BH side. Quarter-finalist in the French Protour. The advantage of a good BH loop is that you can win the point directly or create an opening as soon as the opponent blocks or gives you a weaker ball. Often for example you will have a high return which is easy to attack as the amount of spin on the BH loop stroke is more difficult to read. The main disadvantage is that against the really quick players who take the ball early on the rise you may not have sufficient time to play the stroke. This is often the case when European women meet Asian opponents. Another example of this playing style is Tamara Boros (Croatia).
Haruna Fukuoka (Japan) attacking play with long/half-long pimples on the BH – finalist in the doubles in the SOC. Here the player uses the pimples primarily to control the speed of the rallies and to create openings for the FH attack. Of course a classic example of this is the 4 times world and Olympic Champion, Deng Yaping from China. Other advantages are the ease of controlling spin serves and the ability to create spin variations which cause problems to the opponent. Ai Fukuharu the Japanese wonder-girl plays with half-long pimples on the BH.
Li Qian (Poland) defensive player with short/half-long pimples on the BH. She has half-long pimples on the BH and uses these primarily to chop but can also attack very effectively. She made her international breakthrough by winning the Polish Protour last year and came second in the SOC in the U21 event. One of the world’s best women defenders, Fan Ying (China) uses short pimples on the BH. With this style and these rubbers it can be more difficult to chop but the possibility is increased of varying one’s own spin (or lack of spin) and also of attacking effectively.
Kim Kyung Ah and Park Mi Young (South Korea) defensive players with long pimples on the BH – winners in doubles in the SOC. Classic defence players where the pimples primarily throw back the spin. Easier to defend with than short or half-long pimples but also less attacking power and possibilities. In the women’s game there are a great many players with this style. The FH side can vary from almost complete defensive chop to occasional smashing, to quite frequent topspin opening. Kim Kyung Ah is the prime exponent with bronze in the Olympics in Athens. Others are Viktoria Pavlovich (White Russia), Irina Kotikhina (Russia), Xian Yi Fang (France) and Tetyana Sorochinskaya (Ukraine).
Chen Qing (China) pen-hold, short pimple attack and long pimple block/defence – quarter-finalist in Russian Open. With this playing method it’s possible to practise two completely different styles of play, defence and control with the long pimples and hard attack with the short pimples. Often she is defensive on the receive and very positive on her own serves but also she is prepared to twiddle during the rallies (even though this is harder than with the ‘shake-hands’ grip). The former European Top 12 winner Ni Xialan (Luxembourg) had great success with this style of play.

Women’s Playing Styles: the Theory

Rowden Fullen (2008)

Two aspects will strike us immediately –

Let me first acquaint you with what I observed at the Top 10 in Sheffield where we were able to examine both the top juniors and cadets and gain some insight into just what techniques and tactics other countries in Europe (especially those from the Eastern bloc) are developing in their young girl players.

The ready position is generally very square (in a number of cases over-square). By this we mean square or over-square to the table – this of course is significant in that a shot played on the FH diagonal would be played in some cases from a completely square position and the power input would depend solely on the arm speed and the rotational value. Strokes played down the line would therefore be and are executed with the right foot forward (for a right-hander). This is more noticeable with the Eastern Europeans. (Szocs, Kusinska, Kolodyaznaya, Noskova, Matelova, Xiao.)
Many girls stand close to the table to receive, some even over the table. (P. Solja, Szocs, Kolodyaznaya, Xiao.)
Not only is the ready position square but the stance often quite central to cover both wings. (P. Solja, Szocs, Madarasz, Noskova, Xiao.) More of the Western Europeans play more like the boys off the BH corner. (M. Pettersson.)
The square (or near-square or even over-square) stance is used on close to table FH strokes and a squarer stance is retained even when the girls back away to play from a deeper position. (Szocs, Madarasz, Noskova, Hirici,
The BH receive of serve from the middle is a common tactic. (P. Solja, Noskova, Kolodyaznaya, Stahr.)
The BH serve is a common tactic. (Pettersson, Stahr, Kolodyaznaya.)
Almost all the girls on show, even the blockers and defenders played very positively all the time and most moved well – there were few if any weak shots.

Many of the countries competing and ending up among the top places with the girls (Romania, Hungary, Russia, Germany) have a great tradition in producing top women players. One area however that have in common, is that they train girls to play a women’s game. Unless girls are extremely fast, strong and athletic it is usually counter-productive to try and make them play like the boys, receive all the time with the FH and to have a ready position somewhere outside the BH corner. Certainly when I talk to Chinese coaches who have been involved with their National Junior Girls’ Teams and ask what they think of the European women who play a topspin game and back away from the table, their reply is as follows – ‘We love it and long may it continue. The last time you won a World title in women’s singles was in 1955, while you train like this you’ll never win another!’ So let us look at the reasoning behind these factors.

Men are stronger than women and play with much more spin and power. The men’s game is about control of spin – the topspin ball dips on to the table at the end of its flight and shoots forward very fast after the bounce. Almost all men tend therefore to take the ball later and the common tactic is counter-topspin against topspin. This never happens in the women’s game. The women stand closer and take the ball earlier, which is easier to do as there is less incoming spin and power. There are also many more top-level blockers and counter-hitters among the women which factor makes the traditional hard topspin male-oriented game rather less effective, particularly in an environment where there is less power input.

Women hit the ball flatter and with less spin (due to the lesser power input). Even in the case of high-level topspin players, such as Zhang Yining and Liu Jia, there is absolutely no comparison in terms of spin and power with a male player such as Kreanga. This means that the women’s game is much more a question of control of speed. The counter to the topspin is varied depending on the style of the player and can be a block, counter-hit or chop. In the case of top women playing against top men it is noticeable that they have major problems controlling the spin element.

Because the women’s game is about controlling speed, women have over the years devised differing means of doing this. If there weren’t different styles in women’s play, then the faster players would always win. Pimples are a means of controlling spin and speed and returning different balls to the opponent. This then gives the pimpled player more time to play her strokes. Generally the men play with so much more spin and power that pimples are less effective. They are used more often in the veteran’s game when the older men start to lose their speed and power.

Women play closer to the table and have less time to play their shots. As a result aspects such as square-ness of stance, shorter strokes and the relevant movement patterns are of critical importance. By relevant patterns we mean those which apply to the individual style of the player – a block player will not move in the same way as a loop player. Because men play further back, have more time and are faster in movement, these aspects are not so crucial. What is also of critical importance is what happens after the service and during the receive. As women often have less time on the 3rd and 4th ball it’s vital that they use women’s serve and receive tactics and not those of the men. Almost all top women for example use 2nd ball backhand on a fairly regular basis, even those with extremely strong forehands. The men on the other hand more often receive with the forehand as they want to play forehand on the next ball and are quick enough to do this.

Looking at the better girls (who are in some cases at a very young age) in the European Top 10, it is obvious that a number of countries are already grooming their players to develop a woman’s style of play. Such countries are not looking to male techniques and tactics to provide long-term answers to girls’ development. Perhaps in Western Europe we need to assess and evaluate a little more closely the aspects which make Asian women so much more effective and dominant if we are at any foreseeable time in the future to compete with them. European coaches certainly need to look more critically at how the top women in the world are playing and why, to evaluate the current tactics and to understand why a significant number of the world’s top female players use similar tactics.

If coaches are going to insist on developing girls in the same way as boys then they must equally focus on the right technical and tactical areas. Occupying the mid-ground (and a mid-ground which is suitable to the individual player) assumes vital importance as players back away from the table. Also in the case of women topspin players they will usually require the ‘assist’ of elastic energy in their attacking stroke play to achieve real power which denotes directly that they must complete the whole stroke sequence as rapidly as possible. These aspects should of course be worked on during the formative years before the style becomes ‘set’.

A young girl might ask her coach the 64 million dollar question – ‘How am I individually going to play and what is my development path?’ As we have hinted earlier there are many more ways to the top in the women’s game and women world champions over the years have had widely differing styles. Any young female player starting her career has a wide variety of choices – attacking with or without spin, block and hit, defence and any of these combined with material of one sort or another on backhand or forehand or both.

When looking at girls’ style development however two factors perhaps above all are relevant. How do I with my style, best control the speed factor which is inherent in the women’s game? What is my strongest weapon and how am I going to build on this?

Clubs and Material

Rowden Fullen (2005)

One or two clubs in Sweden have a number of players especially girls playing with material combinations. Clubs which have coaches ‘sympathetic’ to the pimple cause and which have had considerable success with material combinations are for example Lyckeby, Lindome and Tyresö. Unfortunately a great many other clubs are strongly resistant to any form of material especially for their younger players and appear too in many cases even strongly resistant to new ideas. This unfortunately often means that young players, especially girls do not have the advantage of having the opportunity to become proficient with and against such rubbers from an early age when they would pick up the relative techniques and tactics rather easily. Even National trainers complain that established junior and senior players often struggle in Europe against material combinations while performing more than adequately against normal rubbers.

This restrictive attitude at club level also means that quite often girl players only start using pimples when in their late teens, in other words when they are old enough to think for themselves and have cast off the shackles of the club environment. It is somewhat strange when you look at the National rankings in women’s 20 even in Sweden to find that over 50% play with pimples of one kind or another – they know what works for them and what works in the women’s game. The percentages however in girls’ 13 or 15 playing with material are almost negligible and this appears to be in almost every case due to lack of opportunity or informed guidance.

When you talk to coaches you understand immediately that there is little in-depth understanding of how players are effective with varying types of material and of how to play effectively against them. There appears too to be the attitude that to play with pimples is somehow a weakness, that the player is not good enough to use normal rubbers, or even that playing with such rubbers is a form of cheating (however within the rules). Such coaches seem to ignore the fact that some of the best women World Champions of all time have played with material (Deng Yaping).

Such thinking also begs the question as to why so many women players use pimples of one kind or another – many more for example than we have in the men’s game. A survey less than ten years ago showed that at that time around 60% of the world’s top women used a different rubber on one side of their racket. Even though at the moment the current crop of top Chinese women use reverse rubber there are still many high profile players in Asia who use pimples – Fukuhara from Japan and Fan Ying from China for example, plus many of the older Chinese women playing in Asia, Europe or elsewhere. The top Chinese coaches openly admit that they have many pimple players in the top provincial centres and that the next phase in the development of the women’s game may well be another material explosion.

Women use pimples quite simple for one main reason — because they complement the women’s game and tactics. What do we mean by ‘complement the women’s game and tactics’? Just what is the difference between the sexes in the way they play? If we compare top men and women we immediately notice the contrast in power. Quite simply men hit the ball harder. Usually too they give themselves more time and room to use their strength and play from further back and with much more topspin. Women on the other hand play closer to the table and block and counter much more and even those women who topspin can’t be compared with the men. A strong woman such as Boros just doesn’t hit the ball anywhere near as hard as a man.

Pimples are ideal for changing spin and speed and for returning unpredictable balls to the opponent. They are particularly good for controlling topspin, especially the lesser level of spin and power you get in the women’s game. With pimples you also have the capability of taking the ball very early and denying the opponent time to play their next stroke so this material is in fact ideal for controlling the opponent’s speed and allowing you to be on level terms with much faster players. The higher level of unpredictability in ball behaviour especially after the bounce means that it is very difficult for topspin players (and particularly those with a long stroke) to adapt. They are often committed too early to a certain stroke pattern.

Return of the Defender

Ian Marshall (2010)

It is now almost 30 years since the last defensively minded player won a singles title at a World Championships; in 1981 in Novi Sad, China’s Tong Ling was crowned Women’s Singles Champion. In the intervening years the attacking player has dominated the scene but, more athletic than ever, it would now seem that the age of the defensive player is alive and well! Certainly that would seem to be the message with regards to the current state of female table tennis at the highest level. It is a fact which will delight many with spectacular table tennis increasingly on the menu.

China’s Wu Yang was secure, safe and impassable at the Volkswagen World Junior Championships in the Columbian city of Cartagena de Indias in December 2009 as she progressed to win the Girls’ Singles Final. Meanwhile at the recently completed Youth Olympic Games in Singapore, no less than four of the eight quarter finalists in the Girls’ Singles event were backspin players. Japan’s Ayuka Tanioka, North Korean Kim Song I, Moldovan Olga Bliznet and the host nation’s Isabelle Li were the young ladies in question with Isabelle Li exceeding all expectations to reach the final where Gu Yuting ended golden aspirations.

Similarly on the senior scene, the female defender is alive and well. The Korean duo of Kim Kyung Ah and Park Mi Young both appear in the top 10 of the ITTF Women’s World Rankings and both will be on duty at the forthcoming Volkswagen Women’s World Cup in Kuala Lumpur and at the UAE World Team Cup Classic in Dubai. Both are defenders but as opposed to the new teenage generation, they are much more in the traditional mode.

Notably the young Asian defensive players possess a forehand topspin. None are as dynamic as China’s Fan Ying at the art of service and the first forehand attack but all tend to be able to play forehand topspin in a controlled manner. It is an art that Kim Kyung Ah and Park Mi Young have tried to develop late in their careers; however they tend to employ more a forehand drive rather than a topspin, the amount of rotation imparted on the ball being somewhat less and they are not over dynamic with the first attack.

Nevertheless they are both prodigious adversaries, both own ITTF Protour Women’s Singles titles and in Kuala Lumpur and Dubai they will delight the crowds. Three decades after Tong Ling thrilled the world, the defender returns!

Women's Play and the Plastic Ball

Rowden December 2015

There have been and are many ways of winning points in our sport; speed, power, placement, spin, control, feeling and technical/tactical areas, such as serve and 3rd ball or receive and 4th ball. In the women’s game speed and control of speed have always been a priority, along with the ability to use the table and place the ball in different areas. Power and spin more the mainstays of the men’s game have always assumed less importance. But with the introduction of the plastic ball the priorities and methods in women’s play are changing.

When evaluating the women’s game we must always bear in mind that, at the highest levels we are looking at Asian or more specifically Chinese players. The last European woman to reach a world singles final was in 1973 and the last European winner was even further back in 1955. Over the decades European women have consistently tried to work with spin and a little more off the table than their Asian counterparts, but with consistently little or no success. They have lost out because there are many more good blockers, counter-hitters and material exponents in the women’s game than in the men’s. If European women try to continue with their ‘traditional’ type of game with the plastic ball their chances to dominate at world level will fade from extremely remote to totally impossible.
The plastic ball has less speed and considerably less spin so any form of play off the table will be less effective. The over-the-table play so long neglected by European women will assume more importance as will receive and the subsequent strokes, due to the lesser impact and advantage gained from the service. But above all with the plastic ball control will be a deciding factor. The ability to ‘hold’, to contain and keep the ball on the table, while probing for weaknesses and to select the right moment and the right stroke to change the form of the rally, will be key. Change of course can be effected in a variety of ways, by the use of power, speed or lack of speed, placement, timing or spin: but the use of any of these from too far away from the table will be counter-productive.
Points can still be won quickly as in serve and third ball, receive and 4th ball, but generally rallies will be longer and players will need to work their way from containment to measures aimed at creating openings. For example if every time you flick the shorter or half-long serve, the opponent responds with a hard counter, then it will be necessary to drop short or even push long, so that you get the opportunity yourself to get in the hard counter first. Equally if on every occasion the opponent serves long and you block or attack only to be outhit immediately, then it will be necessary for you to be able to return a long serve with a slow or shorter ball.
Players who like to back away from the table will not only face the usual problems of wider movement and bigger angles but also the differing plastic problems. Slower balls are effective with plastic as the ball tends to slow down or stop over the table or drop very sharply off the end causing difficulty for opponents.
The problem with making the transition from the celluloid to plastic is that we have been conditioned to using power or spin in certain situations and also pushed into the habit of winning points early. It therefore becomes difficult to force ourselves to wait longer for opportunities while controlling the play. This however is a mindset that we will almost certainly have to get used to and a tactical approach we will need to adopt. What must also be understood is the difference between the men’s and women’s games. The men will continue to use power with the plastic ball but for women this will be more difficult for two reasons; most women lack the upper body strength of men and the extreme power; there are many more good blockers, defenders and counter-hitters among the ranks of the women and much wider use of material of one kind or another.
Speed will still be important but speed with control while waiting for the moment or opportunity to change something. Equally shot selection will be of prime importance, which shot, when, how and where. And if the change is not successful then back to control and start again. It also goes without saying that it’s harder than ever to win points back from the table as not only do we have less spin and speed but a lesser number of alternatives to use from this position against the determined control player. The odds are stacked in favour of the control players, the only problem for them being shot selection or over enthusiasm, should they try to play with too much power before maneuvering the situation to their advantage.
In the case of two close-to-table players the one who can force the ball earlier, or spin off the bounce first, or has better placement will usually come out on top.

Asia/Europe

European and Asian Women’s Game

Rowden Fullen (1990’s)

With one or two rare exceptions European women are rather far below the level of the Asian female players. The last European country to win a women’s team event in the Worlds was Russia in 1969 with Z. Rudnova and S. Grinberg, who also won the women’s doubles. The last European woman in a singles final was Alicia Grofova from Czechoslovakia in 1973. Since this date there have been no Europeans in any singles finals or any team finals.

Over the last 20 years women’s table tennis has developed with many various styles and techniques, much more than the men’s game. We have in fact styles that exist in the women’s game which are not seen in men’s play or only rarely, we have styles that can be successful at top level with the women which would in no way have the same success in the men’s elite, (Ni Xialan). There are many more defence and pimple players even at the highest levels.

The Asian players generally have an active game and will open at the earliest opportunity. The hard attack ball is important in their table tennis philosophy. Over the years speed has been the dominant factor in their play and even now when direct attack with a strong spin ball is their usual method of opening, if they have to choose between speed and spin it will almost always be the former. They open as early as possible, directly after the serve for example and if they are compelled to play an intermediate stroke, they try to control the play so as to play positively on the next ball. Serve and the third ball hit are fundamental in their armoury and they spend much training time on this. They tend to take the ball at an earlier timing point than the European players.

The European game tends to consist of a variety of styles from defenders to fast attackers, players who prefer to open with spin and primarily on the forehand and fast tempo two wing attack players. The majority tend to fall nowadays into the latter category and it’s quite important in Europe to have enough strength on the backhand wing to keep pressure on the opponent. In the 60’s and 70’s the Asian fast attack overwhelmed the European spin game but in the 1980’s the men reversed this, culminating in team wins for Sweden 1989 — 93 and all-European men’s singles finals in the same years. If the men were successful with the two wing topspin type of game, why weren’t the European women?

To find the answer to this question perhaps we must look at the variety of different styles used in the women’s game and the various uses of techniques to create different specialties. The Asian coaches but especially the Chinese are always on the lookout for unusual even extraordinary techniques and styles of play. Trainers, coaches and administrators are always open in the mind to new ideas and possibilities. Players are also encouraged from an early age to be flexible in the mind and totally aggressive in play — ‘do it to the opponent before she does it to you’ is the usual maxim, in other words get in and attack first. The Asians are always aware that European players have great difficulty in getting to grips with their stop/start fast tempo game, especially as they take the ball at such an early timing point. If it’s absolutely impossible to open directly, they will control the play with an intermediate stroke to create the opening and then attack hard. The Asians also consider footwork training of high importance so they have a better opportunity to reach the ball with time to play a strong shot. They train much more intensively too on serve and the third ball and on receive and fourth ball — this and match play form a major part of every training session.

However rarely if ever are the Chinese afraid of the European serves and follow up ball. They consider that the Europeans have too few serves, are predictable in the way they use them and therefore usually limited with what they can do with the first attack ball. Often at the highest level against the Asians, European players aren’t allowed the opportunity to get their strengths in and are not able to use their strong spin early enough in the rally. With their serve and third ball and receive and fourth, the Asians deny them the time. Not enough European women are able to impose their game on the Asians.

Even if you watch top level matches between the best European women it’s often a matter of flowing, ‘nice-to-look-at’ rallies, the game looks like it’s being played at a high level. Examine the strokes in a little more detail however and you see it’s all so one pace and predictable, pre-planned and leisurely. By the way they play it looks as if many Europeans train far too much control play, loop to loop or loop to block, they don’t train to win the point! The result is that against the top Asians they just don’t have the time or the opportunity to utilize the stronger technical aspects of their game. Instead of playing further back from the table, perhaps the European women’s development should be directed more towards the importance of serve, receive and the first four balls and also towards methods of more effective and active play over the table. In this way they will have rather more opportunities to create attacking positions and earlier in the rally.

The European men in the 80’s were as good as the Chinese over the table and better at a distance, they were also able to play hard spin balls from both wings. As a result it was the Chinese men who weren’t able to play to their strengths in the first four balls and were then forced back from the table. The obvious question arises: why don’t European women play in the same way. If however you have ever watched top women competing against top men they have problems coping with the power but more especially with the spin, they lack the strength, speed and balance to play the same measure of hard spin.

Also most women don’t go back and loop to loop like the men, they return in a variety of different ways, blocking, drive, topspin or defence and often using differing materials. They also play closer to the table and are therefore able to play the angles or vary length and speed more easily, especially as they almost always face less power. If the European women want to play a strong spin game from further back with the bigger 40mm. ball which of course takes less spin, then it would logically appear that their chances of defeating the Asians become even more remote. They give their oriental counterparts more time to play and they give up the chance to control the over-the-table and short play.

European women must come to terms too with all the possibilities in the women’s game, with the many differing playing styles, work out which is best for them and develop their own character within the style. There are available to women players many more possibilities for success, many more different paths to the top levels, than there are for men. They only have to be open-minded about this, ready to accept that they need not be limited in their choice. They must also of course train in the right direction for their way of playing. Too often players, coaches and selectors are ‘blinkered’ when they look at women’s styles in Europe. They only really want to see one or two styles of play, it’s almost as if they think that only these styles have a chance to succeed at world level. Perhaps in Europe we should take a closer look at just how the top women in the world have played over the last 10 years, think about the variety of styles and why these players have been successful. Perhaps also we should stop trying to force women to conform to men’s styles of play, even those which have been successful!

European women must also appreciate that it’s not enough only to be able to play well one way, often you must alter your style to beat others. You must have the capacity to have other ways of play and to be able to cope with all styles. Above all the player and trainer should get together and think of a specialty which can make the player unique.

In China players have the opportunity all the time to compete against all differing styles of play; from the national and provincial squads down, all training groups have all techniques, defenders, short-pimple pen-hold attackers, long-pimple blockers, left-handers etc. Where the women don’t have a style to spar against they will ‘borrow’ a man player or even create a player with this style. In comparison in Europe often players meet only one or two styles in training and don’t know how to cope with many others. It is very noticeable in the World Championships that often a good European player may win over one or two Asians but then comes up against a style she doesn’t understand, such as long pimple defence or pen-hold attack and then loses easily. If the Europeans are to compete on a level playing-field then it’s probably going to be necessary for the women from various countries to have joint training camps together and to be provided with different sparring styles. There are just not enough good women of a high enough level in most countries in Europe.

There is also a rather different mental attitude in Asia and Europe. Many Europeans seem to lack the real competitive edge when playing against oriental players, often give up and appear to be resigned to losing. In China there are always reserves waiting. It’s very hard to get into the team and very easy to lose your place, never to return. It’s absolutely vital to a Chinese player that she takes the one and only chance she may ever have and makes the best possible use of it. Too often in Europe there are only one or two good women in the team and they are going to stay there win or lose. As a result there is no real incentive to keep raising their levels, they are already the best in their country and they are going to stay in the team because there is nobody pushing for their place, no competition! In such circumstances it’s very easy for players to let their game stagnate and to cease working at continued growth and development.

Finally Asian women train much longer and more professionally than their European counterparts. Six hours or so is a normal daily minimum with coaches in constant attendance to monitor performance and keep training in the right direction for the player’s individual style. (Many top players fit in extra sessions over and above this!) In the case of the Olympics or the Worlds, for the Chinese players we are talking about training camps in the country away from family and friends, a Spartan environment free from all distractions, to which the players willingly submit in order to achieve success. In fact the European women with a lesser number of good players, a lesser variety of sparring styles to train against, generally less extensive advice and information on the direction of their individual style and how to achieve their goals and much less daily training time, face a long, uphill battle if they are ever to dominate and take over from the Asians.

European Girls

Rowden Fullen 2009

Many European girls need to be much more multi-dimensional. They tend to try to play positively but predictably and often too hard and without understanding the values of the incoming ball. The ball which bounces long on your side can be hit with power and spin, the ball bouncing mid-table can only be hit hard if you drive/kill flat and early; if you leave this ball late you must use much more spin.

They need to train multi-ball against a variety of lengths and spins till the reading of the incoming ball and the response are fully automated. Unfortunately we have very few feeders who can do this effectively. Another exercise which is very good for building automated responses and speeding up ‘reading time’ (developing adaptive intelligence) is to train v players who can play fast hard drive-play and also stop-block off the bounce with both heavy backspin and float. Again even in our National Academies we have few if any coaches/sparring players who can do this.

Further areas where girl players must develop dramatically to match the top Europeans and the Asians are in serve and 3rd ball and in short play. With serve I would suggest working much more with the high throw and trying to develop differing spins, speed and direction. Another multi-ball exercise to help with short play is as follows; one or two long push balls to BH, one or two short chop balls to middle or FH. Then change to one or two long to FH and again short etc. In the short ball situation players must try to do different things, short drop balls, flicks and long pushes with and without spin.

In all of this you have to bear in mind that in Western Europe we only aim to produce women in the top 80 to 300 in the world rankings and we don’t have any higher ambitions. We will never produce players in the top 30 in the world until we focus on the types of style which can get there and the requisite training methods. We also need to ensure that the appropriate sparring is available.

It is not possible to produce world class players in a vacuum but unfortunately few of our coaches are prepared to spend 100’s of hours studying the top women in the world and working out how and why they are successful. Instead many are locked into outdated methods which will only ever have limited success. Only one or two countries over the whole of Europe (mainly the Eastern bloc) are having any real measure of success with girls/women — Romania, Czech Republic, Russia and former satellites and Hungary. Some of their technical areas of development are quite radical and of course Western coaches in their wisdom refuse to accept that these can ever produce success.

The ‘proof of the pudding is however in the eating’ and over the last four or five years the only top youngsters (European born) to have gone on to world success in rankings are Pota (Hungary) and Dodean and Samara (Romania). More recently the Czech girls Vacenovska and Strbikova have had great success playing a more Asian close-to-table style. Interesting what?

Girls in UK 2009

Rowden Fullen 2009

Many girls give up with table tennis in their early years. Clearly many more boys continue rather longer with the sport. Internationally, especially with the women, England has slipped dramatically in recent years since the halcyon days of the late ‘40s and ‘50s when we were world champions in team and doubles and in finals in the singles events. Even in the ‘70s and 80’s we were a force to be reckoned with and one of the best 3 to 4 teams in Europe. Now we are nowhere.

So just how do we set about changing the position and getting back to the situation where we can at least be a force in Europe? Times are different now – we must first start by creating the situation where our girls have opportunities to progress. If we don’t have the economy to collect national training groups together, we must be creative and find other methods to evolve.

One method used by Donald Parker in 1988/89 and detailed under his Junior Training Policy document was as follows: ‘We have had some excellent training sessions at Grove, these will now continue but will be organised by the Grove Club and will operate on a self-financing basis. Clearly this sort of training is excellent preparation for players hoping to make the England Training Camps and the England Team’. Are we saying that now in 2009 we don’t have big clubs which could help in this type of venture?

The Association should also be prepared to look at training opportunities abroad and be prepared to support more of our girls in private training initiatives in Europe. We have a number of coaches and top players both in and out of the system in UK, who have good connections with National Associations and big clubs in Europe and in Asia. It is time that we should start to use such connections to help in organising training and exchanges abroad. But in most cases where possible players need to take advantage of such opportunities alone or in small groups – in this way they are faced with new ideas and learn to evaluate and understand for themselves when and where the training and development is suitable to them as individuals. If they are to grow as players they must learn to work things out for themselves.

Many things are changing in our sport and we must change too. That things happen is in most cases a matter of ideas and the ability and energy to translate ideas into reality. This applies to associations even at district and national levels. We cannot afford to be too traditional or parochial in our outlook. At the moment unfortunately it’s quite obvious that the top English girls are not getting the same advantages/input as the top junior boys. If the Association doesn’t have the finance or the know-how to develop our girls then it should be ready to let others have a go. Ignoring the situation and doing nothing is hardly an option.

One of the first areas to look at is the possibility of competing more abroad in both leagues and tournaments. Many of the top players in England have done this for a number of years. The more our young girls can compete outside of England the better for them and for the development of our table tennis. They will have much more varied opposition and their game will quickly gain in strength and maturity. Even if the Association cannot afford too many trips abroad it can certainly encourage players to compete privately in Europe or even further afield and support them with accreditation where necessary.

We must place a great deal more emphasis on setting up individual training programmes. Every player must without exception have their own personal trainer – even if this means daily contact on MSN or by e-mail. We must work much more with outside specialists, chiropractors, physiotherapists and sports injuries experts. It’s very important too that we have continuity in the National Teams and that we have a policy of working together with all who are involved with top players. The willingness to cooperate must always come from the top. We should think along the lines of the officials in the Football Association, who admit quite openly that they have major difficulties and problems trying to work with certain top managers, but that this is something they have to deal with if they are to get their cooperation and the access they require to the best club players.

Ready position, serve and receive tactics. Are these changing?

Rowden Fullen 2002

If we look at the top men, women and juniors in the world do we notice any changes in the ready position and in the serve and receive tactics? Obviously there are individual style factors which affect the issue — some top stars such as Kreanga and Steff use the backhand side to open much more from the middle of the table and especially against the serve or on the third ball. What we are looking for however are more general trends either in the men’s, women’s or the junior game.

It would appear that the ready position in the men’s game is changing. Many of the top junior boys and the younger top men stand more square now so that they have more options in short play (the rear leg is not so far back as it used to be). Players such as Boll, Maze and Chuan Chih-Yuan fall into this category. If you look at the world’s best junior boys many have a relatively square stance – Zwickl, Süss and Asian players too such as Yang Xiaofu and Sakamoto. The main exception is with the Asian penhold players who want to play more forehands and receive with the right foot (for a right-hander) well back.

Even in the case of many players who do stand with the right foot back, often they come in with the right foot against the serve to use the forehand from the middle of the table. In this way they can keep control of the table with the forehand on the subsequent ball. The men used to take over 80% of the opponent’s serves with the forehand wing (however now there is an increasing tendency at top level to use the backhand receive). If top men can’t open against the serve, the main receive is the short push return with the forehand or nowadays more and more with the backhand even well over on to the forehand side.

In comparison with the top men over twice as many of the top women stand quite square – almost 60% as opposed to 25 – 30%. The women too use the backhand much more from the middle of the table on the service receives, both to push and to open. They in fact use the backhand receive almost 50% of the time. European players such as Steff and Struse and the junior Pota fall into this category and even Asian players use the tactic. Players such as Guo Yue, Zhang Yining, Niu Jianfeng (Ch), Lin Ling (H.K.), Jing Jun Hong , Li Jia Wei (Sin) and top world juniors such as Peng Luyang (Ch) and Fukuhara (J) all use the backhand from the middle.

In the service area we note a number of differences between the men’s and women’s game. The female players use the long serve more than the men, in a ratio of around 16 – 17% as opposed to 10%, but there is not such a great difference in the short and half-long serves at the very top level. Perhaps the most informative factor is in the difference between the junior and senior players of both sexes. Both the boys and girls use the half-long serve more than the senior players do and the girls use the long serve more than the women. At senior level the service game becomes noticeably tighter. The men almost exclusively use the forehand to serve, with one or two noticeable exceptions such as Primorac. Backhand service is however generally lower than 5% as opposed to nearly 20% in the case of the top women.

There is a noticeable difference in service tactics between the top Asian and the top European women. The Asian women serve more short serves, around 65% in comparison with 50% and significantly less long serves, 13% as opposed to almost 30%. The best girl in the world Guo Yue, number 15 in the women’s rankings at 14 years, serves around 97% short or half-long serves. The Asian women are generally better and much more confident in the ‘short’ game and at opening against a backspin ball even over the table. The European women usually serve longer as they wish to get their topspin game in at the earliest opportunity. However in many cases it is obvious that the Europeans have neither good enough serves nor a good enough first opening ball to obtain a real advantage.

If we look at statistics of rallies between top Asian and European women, the Europeans are struggling to hold their own in drive or counter-play but also they are not really dominant in spin play either. Unless their first opening topspin ball is of exceptionally high quality they almost always lose out when the game accelerates into fast counter-play. It is obvious too that counter-play is still the basic norm in the women’s game. We rarely if ever see the loop to loop rallies that we see in men’s play with both players well back from the table. Instead the first opening spin ball is blocked or hit and there is no time to spin again. Rather the top women come in so that they are in a better position to counter fast over or close to the table. After the first opening spin ball, the next is usually taken at an earlier timing point to pressure the opponent.

There seems to be little thought at top level to bring in any changes in the forehand service action or position to create a more positive advantage in respect of the new service law. Most top players just try to remove the free arm and serve as they did before. Few have thought to increase the rotation speed of the upper body so that the free arm automatically swings away, or to use a higher throw so as to have more time to rotate the body. Players don’t really seem to appreciate that without rotation the service action is often quite stiff and it can take up to three separate movements to get the body and feet in the right position to play the next ball. Few players too have thought to serve from a squarer stance so as to be more adaptable against the return ball. It is noticeable that the women particularly are sometimes a little slow now to get in the right place for the third ball, especially if this is played hard into the corners.

Win over Asian Women

Rowden Fullen 2003

A number of top coaches and top women players in Europe seem to be of the opinion that if you can topspin the ball powerfully from both wings and get in the first attack, then the road to victory against the Asian players is open. The idea is often to develop the player’s style towards a two-winged topspin game similar to the men. It is also important of course to have the capability of attacking first and of using the serve to set up a third ball attack. These are keys to winning at top level. However is the concept of a consistent, strong topspin attack sufficient in itself in the women’s game? Perhaps it is necessary to examine the whole approach to this type of style in more detail! It can also be necessary to point out that we should see clearly what is happening and not what we would like to happen!

There is for example a noticeable difference in service tactics between the top Asian and the top European women. The Asian women serve more short serves, around 65% in comparison with 50% and significantly less long serves, 13% as opposed to almost 30%. The best girl in the world Guo Yue, number 5 in the women’s rankings at 15 years, serves around 97% short or half-long serves. The Asian women excel and are much more confident in the ‘short’ game and at opening against a backspin ball even over the table. They are superior in short play and Europeans must analyse the possibilities in this area and upgrade their technique and tactics.

It’s vital to have the advantage on the serve/receive and the ‘next two balls’. If we let this advantage slip away then we are on level terms or even a little behind with handling the 2nd and 3rd ball and this lack of dominance can lead to us losing the point. It’s also important to reinforce control and counter-control measures over the 4th, 5th and 6th balls so we maintain an offensive initiative and do not let the play drift into a stalemate situation.

The importance of the serve cannot be underestimated against the Asians. The European women usually serve longer as they wish to get their topspin game in at the earliest opportunity. However in many cases it is obvious that the Europeans have neither good enough serves nor a good enough first opening ball to obtain a real advantage. If we look at statistics of the rallies between top Asian and European women, the Europeans are struggling to hold their own in drive or counter-play but also they are not really dominant in spin play either. Unless their first opening topspin ball is of exceptionally high quality they almost always lose out when the game accelerates into fast counter-play.

Indeed it is of some importance that the point be won after one or two topspin balls. In longer rallies top European women often lose the point. This in fact emphasizes the difference between the men’s and the women’s game. In the men’s game with the longer rally the Europeans have an equal or better than equal chance of winning the point, as the Asians are a little behind in counter-looping techniques and are often weaker back from the table, especially on the backhand side. Therefore when the rally degenerates into a control situation they are at a disadvantage.

The reverse is the case with women’s play – women don’t counter-loop, they drive, block, hit or even chop and as a result it is the player who loops, who is at a disadvantage as the rally progresses. In the women’s game the longer a looping rally goes on usually the less chance the Europeans have to win as the Asians initiate speed or variation. There is just too much pace or variation on the return ball and it is difficult to maintain consistent pressure with topspin tactics. In the women’s game therefore it is the first one or two loops which are of prime importance and it is vital that the loop player makes the opening to ‘kill’ and wins the point as early as possible in the rally.

European women should bear in mind too that there are other alternatives when opening up against a backspin ball. The Asians often demonstrate the hard first-ball hit against backspin, which we would do well to work at more often. As women usually play closer to the table this is a viable alternative to the loop. It is feasible to either use the incoming spin or to create your own, but the most important factor is to take the ball at an early timing point to pressure the opponent.

Another aspect that strong women topspin players could work profitably with is counter-looping techniques. Give the opponent the half-chance to spin the 2nd ball for example and then pressure her directly with an aggressive topspin counter. This tactic is common in the men’s game but is rarely if ever used in women’s table tennis.

Often if you assess the European woman’s game plan she uses something like 60% drive or flick play and only 35% topspin. Does she fully understand how she should play? True short play may be the key but she must use the right tactics to get her spin in from a short play situation! If she puts the emphasis on speed and power she usually gets a faster ball back and it’s then more difficult to create good spin! As a result flicking and drive play over the table often work against what she is hoping to achieve – good spin on the first one or two balls so that she creates the opportunity to win the point. In other words spin one or two then hit!

If we also often use a fairly high ratio of long serves (over 30%) the result is again that we get a hard return and have problems in creating enough spin on the third ball. When we assess the backhand too in Europe we often see that women have not really such good spin capability or don’t try to use much spin – more often than not they drive the ball. Again as a result they get drawn into the counter-hitting type of game.

Not only must we work at developing better serves, but must use them to best effect. The priority (and here length is of particular importance) is to get the opponent to push so that we can loop strongly and with good spin on the third ball. We then have the initiative in the rally. The same applies on receiving. Subtle use of the push or of techniques such as the stop-block against the Asians will pay more dividends than trying to flick or open all the time, especially when our first opening ball is weak or has insufficient spin.

Often the tendency in Europe with a woman is to harness the strength element and to encourage her to play more like a man. This strategy ignores both the theory of the creation of spin and the differences between the men’s and women’s game. Top European women are often made to look very ordinary when they meet players who can control their hard loops and who pick the right ball to counter.

The theory of the creation of spin tells us that the harder you hit the ball with a closed racket, the more spin you will create. Women are not as strong as men and will never achieve as much spin as men. It’s of little use taking the view that a strong woman can hit harder than a man – compare Boros with Wang Liqin or Kreanga and there is little or no similarity in the power development.

Equally the return ball is completely different in the women’s game. Rarely if ever do women run back and counter-loop, they block, hit or defend. More often than not the loop player just has no time to loop more than one ball, as her loop comes back with so much speed – and in many cases the harder she topspins, the faster the ball comes back. Such players as Steff for example (top 10 world ranking) have the capability to topspin the first ball then come in and counter the next ball from a very early timing point. It is often in fact a better tactic in the women’s game to topspin slower and with more spin rather than faster and with more power.

The other critical point about the women’s game is that both because of the lesser topspin and the greater use of differing rubbers, players face a much more unpredictable reaction from the ball after the bounce than they do in the men’s game. This tends even to influence the technical development of the female topspin stroke. There is little point in developing the habit of starting the loop stroke too far back if you’re uncertain just what the ball will do after the bounce.

Overall in fact there seems to be very little point in women training to loop several balls in succession. Rather they should be training to loop one (or two) then smash. Spin rather than speed is of the utmost importance so they create the opening to hit hard on the next ball. In fact the single most important loop is the first opening against a backspin ball.

If you look at the top European women such as Boros and Steff you in fact perceive quite quickly that they do not run away from the table and loop several balls in a row. Indeed much of the play, over 50%, consists of flick or drive strokes. But they are capable of flicking the 2nd ball for example and looping the 4th. They are also accomplished in looping the 3rd ball if they have the slightest opening and they both have good serves and good variety in the service area.

One final aspect that we must of course stress is the importance of competing in Asia. It is necessary to play against Asian players and often, in order to learn what we need to work on to defeat them.

A Stepping Stone

Ian Marshall (2003)

‘Four Chinese again’, is the comment I hear in the background. Once again a major international competition sees four female players from China contesting the latter stages, all three medals on offer will go to the same country.

It’s no good moaning, grumbling, complaining or feeling sorry for yourself; they deserve their success, they’ve worked hard and they’ve won; that’s why we compete, to try and win! So, if you can’t beat them then join them, or at least learn from them, they must be doing something right, they keep winning and the results from the World Junior Championships suggest that the dynasty is set to continue.

It was clear from their performances that nothing had been left to chance, attention had been paid to every detail of their game and they could expose weaknesses in their opponents that against other adversaries did not appear to exist. The European girls were impressive when the ball was long and they could topspin aggressively, the Asian girls, especially the Japanese were quicker close to the table; the Chinese were simply cruelly efficient in every aspect of their game. They were professional in the best meaning of the word, each player had her own style, her own strengths, but all were extremely consistent and when it came to the vital areas of serve, strong first attack and good receive of serve they were supreme.

Defeat for a Chinese female player against anyone from outside the country’s borders is a comparative rarity but it does happen. Kristin Silbereisen of Germany defeated Niu Jianfeng in the ITTF Pro Tour Danish Open whilst Midori Ito of Japan overcame Li Qian in the Girls’ Team Final at the World Junior Championships in Santiago. Splendid performances that no doubt gave the victors great confidence; however from defeat you should learn and it would seem that both Chinese girls learnt and learnt very quickly! A few weeks later Niu Jianfeng won the ITTF Pro Tour Grand Finals and four days after her reverse Li Qian was the Junior Girls’ Singles World Champion.

However, there is an adage that if you can do something once, you can do it again. The problem for many is believing that they can win, simply treating the opposition as a player and not someone from an extra-terrestrial planet, who has a range of skills not bestowed on earth’s mortals. Perhaps that’s why the Chinese girls win, they believe they can win and with some justification, they know that their technique will withstand the most intense pressure whilst their counterparts from foreign lands might well show signs of cracking as the intensity of the situation mounts.

Equally, they have their eyes focussed on the highest goals. I heard the comment in Santiago from some players and coaches: ‘That’s it, that’s her last match’. A strange comment perhaps but one that is heard all too often; the comment refers to the fact that it’s the player’s last match as a junior, the aim for too many girls seems to be to be selected for the national team as a junior and that is their ultimate goal. I can think of one country in particular where more girls have retired from table tennis after playing in their last European Youth Championships than have continued to play in the seniors, let alone progress to greater international heights.

However, the attitude expressed by Li Xiaoxia, Peng Luyang, Cao Zhen and Li Qian, the four members of the Chinese girls’ team in Santiago, was totally different. ‘It’s only the World Junior Championships’, explained Peng Luyang and Li Qian, the finalists in the Girls’ Singles. They showed a great deal of respect for the event and were modest when congratulated on their achievements but they saw their success merely as a stepping stone, they had climbed another rung on the ladder towards a golden goal at the very highest levels.

No doubt they will achieve success on the senior circuit, Cao Zhen has already an ITTF Pro Tour title to her name, the 2003 Malaysian Open; an achievement in itself but no doubt just a stepping stone towards a medal on the World and Olympic stage. The Chinese girls are a credit to the sport, well mannered, polite, gracious but determined and in every department of the game they are comfortable, competent and when necessary courageous.

They win and they deserve to win.

China: National Women’s Team and Pimples

Rowden Fullen 2005

At the SOC there were no Chinese women playing with pimples, even though the female players of almost every other Asian country and many European and Americans used material. This could give rise to the thinking that perhaps Chinese women have moved past the pimples stage and no longer need the help of material. This is in fact far from the truth.

There are many pimple players within the National and the Provincial teams and in China it’s still popular and effective to play with pimples. In fact the national coaches are eager to develop another long pimple champion along the lines of Deng Yaping.

However the reason that the pimple players are not representing China internationally is that only very few players are selected to play in the big tournaments and selection is very much dependent on performance. Many pimple players have lost their advantage as they train against normal players every day and the normal players are very familiar with material techniques and tactics. The current results of the top 7 Chinese women (all in the top 10 in the world ranking and all playing with reverse rubbers) are at the moment very satisfactory and therefore the national coaches won’t take the risk of making changes just now.

As far as the youth policy is concerned China is still keen to develop the full range of women’s styles and pimple players of all types are welcome in the National Team. If such players are good enough, strong enough mentally and get good results nationally and internationally there is no way they will be overlooked.

It is interesting to note that the top Chinese pimpled racket player (defensive) Fan Ying is currently ranked 3 in the world U21 rankings (after 2 other Chinese) and 2 in the U17 ranking (after Guo Yue).

These things of course tend to go in cycles. China have very good reverse rubber women players at the moment, this could well change dramatically over the next 2 years. One factor that China must certainly take into account is the success of Song Ah Sim from Hongkong (only ranked 5 in her country and 46 in the world before the event) against the Chinese women in the SOC. Their coaches must pay close attention to how these results were achieved and evaluate whether they were the results of the rubber, the tactics, or the individual strengths of the player. Whatever, Hongkong has a very strong women’s team at the moment and presents a distinct threat to China’s overall supremacy.

Asian Women: can Europe ever compete?

Rowden Fullen(2010)

The history
The reasons
Facts as they stand now
What can we do?
The women’s game
Understanding the women’s game
Style evaluation and which styles are more successful at world level
To produce top women players, the right system is needed into which to feed our young girls

The history

The last European woman to win a World Singles Final was the legendary Angelica Roseanu in 1955, 55 years ago! The last European country to win a women’s team event in the Worlds was Russia in 1969 with Z. Rudnova and S. Grinberg, who also won the women’s doubles. The last European woman in a singles final was Alicia Grofova from Czechoslovakia in 1973. It is now 2010 and since 1973 there have been no European women in any singles finals or in any team finals.

Since Pak Yun Sung (PR Korea and the first left-hander to win a singles final) won her second singles in 1977 only Chinese women have won the singles event, with the sole exception of 1993 (Hyun Jung Hwa, Korea). In fact two players from China, Deng Yaping and Wang Nan have both won the title 3 times.

Why can’t we in Europe produce players to match the Asians? Is it that we don’t have girls with talent, that we don’t work hard enough, that life in the West is too easy and comfortable? Many millions are poured into sport over the whole of Europe and the Swedes for example have shown in the men’s game from the mid 1980’s up to 2000 that it is possible to match the Chinese and to beat them. So why not the women? Why is it that not over just a few years but over decades Europe has allowed the Asian countries to forge ahead in the women’s game until they are just about out of sight?

The reasons

To my way of thinking there are a number of reasons:
• On the women’s side in the Western world, table tennis is largely a second-class sport and there is not enough funding overall, nor is there enough earning capability for those few women in Europe who reach the higher levels. Women’s table tennis has a low profile
• Many countries are quite backward in the coaching of girls and not much thought goes into their development. Over the whole of Europe coaches do not have enough technical knowledge and expertise in the women’s game. They don’t know how women play and far too often their coaching rationale is based on the men’s game. Even when they see that certain aspects may be important, such as the capability to produce spin, they don’t ask the right questions – such as what type of spin, how should this be produced technically and from where
• Women have many more different paths to top level than the men do and use much more material in their play. Coaches must be more fully informed as to the why, the how and the what. This also means that girls need to have much more individual development and their weapons have to be closely matched to their style and tactics. In the final analysis they must play in a way that is in complete harmony with their mind and body. Girls must have a training programme which allows them to ‘get closest to their full potential’
• We have to recognize that there are certain styles of play which can be more successful at world level than others in the women’s game and where possible (and if it suits the individual) these should be developed
• We do not from the start have a plan to develop our young players for the senior game. Instead we waste time trying to win cadet and junior events and developing techniques and tactics which will not help us at all to survive at senior level. Whatever we do then is too late and too little

Facts as they stand now:

Over the last 15 to 20 years just how close have the European women got to matching the Asians in depth? To be brutally honest – nowhere! Tamara Boros and Mihaela Steff came nearest, were both in the Top 10 in the World Rankings in the late 1990’s and Boros remained there till 2006. She actually attained No 2 at one stage, but Europe has never been anywhere near the Asians in large numbers.

Even now with our top ‘young’ players such as Samara and Dodean they are around 22 years of age and not in the top 30 in the world. The highest ranked European women on the October 2010 ITTF list are Toth at No 32 and Pavlovich at 34. Neither of these are exactly youngsters. China on the other hand has 15 year old girls, such as Zhu Yuling, who are beating women in the top 10 in the world!

The top young players in Europe are just not making any inroads against the Asian domination, in fact it’s the older women in Europe who are maintaining their world positions. On the other hand just look at what the Asians are able to achieve in the senior world rankings:
• Kasumi Ishikawa (Japan, 17 years of age) 420 on the world ranking in March 2006, No 18 in October 2010!
• Zhu Yuling (China, 15 years of age) 105 in July 2010, No 26 in October 2010.
• Gu Yuting (China, 15 in January 2010) 194 in June 2010, 93 in July, 68 in August and 38 in October 2010!

What can we do?

Is there actually anything at all we can do to produce players who have a chance to compete with the Asians? First we have to clean up our approach to coaching and producing our players. Let’s look at what the top coaches and high-performance directors in Europe have to say
Dusan Osmanagic: We all see that the situation in European table tennis is not very good. For me one of the most important reasons for such a situation is the problem with coaches - speaking of course generally as there are for sure exceptions to the rule - most of our coaches are not capable to meet the required standards.
Michel Gadal: We in Europe are much behind, we usually start later, we think in age categories and try to make from young players champions in their age category, not to follow from the beginning only the goal to make a top senior player - in that way we lose a lot of time.
Dirk Schimmelpfennig: All together in Yokohama it became obvious that the gap between Europe and Asia, especially of course China has become even greater. For this I see several reasons - one very important reason is that Asian players have a longer and better table tennis education.
Peter Sartz: Regarding women we do not have training programmes and methods only for women yet; that’s why European women mostly can’t play at top international level. Also in Europe many countries have done nothing to improve their women.
Mario Amizic: The Asian countries have adapted to modern table tennis, Europe has gone backwards. The last three years have seen a particularly rapid decline in Europe; at one time I believed that the younger generation would be able to step into the shoes of the older, but this is no longer a possibility. The present situation in Europe is a catastrophe but if we really think about it, it is in fact the reality we should have expected. The methods we had in place some years ago produced a superb generation of players but these are not working any more. We have lost our way, we are not adapting to new trends and our model is no longer up-to-date. We are trying to produce players of the future with the methods of the past.
The older coaches in Europe will tell you we are not educating our coaches and trainers properly or indeed in the right way. Young, talented, intelligent coaches see no future in table tennis, the money is poor and there is no acknowledgement of their work and achievements. As long as coaches see no real future in their job it will be almost impossible to drive table tennis forward. Instead we get a rapid turnover and little motivation.

The women’s game

We must also take steps in the first place to understand the women’s game, that it is completely different from the men’s and that training and development must be approached accordingly.

Too often the men’s and women’s games are not seen as ‘two completely different sports’ and this is the main reason why women’s play is currently at such a low level throughout Europe. In the women’s game it is almost always speed which wins over spin, which is exactly the opposite of what happens with the men. There are also many more material players among the ranks of the women and coaches must be more fully informed as to the why, the how and the what. Until we have top coaches (not ex-players who have been pushed into coaching roles), who understand how women really play, we are never going to produce top women players in Europe.

What we can’t afford to overlook is that top coaches possess enhanced awareness and intuition and that the basis for this is the accumulated knowledge and experience they have built up over countless hours of being involved with players. The really experienced coach sees cues in the preparation, movement build-up and stroke execution as well as in the physical and mental attributes which enable him/her to make informed decisions as to which road the player should take to reach full potential. The less experienced coach or the ex-player does not yet have this ability (and may never have it). Also this is not something you can teach in a classroom over a few weekends, it is an understanding which grows and flowers in the individual over countless hours (sometimes decades) of meaningful participation in a particular activity and it is selective to that activity and not a skill which can be transferred to other areas.

Understanding the women’s game

What do top European coaches such as Eva Jeler (involved in coaching at National level in Germany for many years) have to say about how women should play?

In my opinion it is a mistake to think that it is enough to adapt the men’s style of practice to the women’s game and assume that this will do. The result of such training methods can only be men’s table tennis at a lesser level. As I see it we need to find different solutions to the method of how to win points - normally with girls you cannot rely on power to win the point, so you have to accentuate placement, speed and safety in the rallies. In comparison, boys try to win points with powerful forehand topspins and everything in the rally is subordinated to the attempt of coming into the right position to use this main weapon.

Such a pattern does not work in women’s table tennis, points have to be won with adequate placement, speed, rotation and change of rotation. An ability to play a fast and secure backhand and to have an adequate answer when the opponent is changing from backhand into forehand is essential. This means that when working with girls we must spend most of the time playing different strokes and combinations near the table. Another problem in Europe is the lack of good foot-work techniques. The foot-work needs to complement all the other elements of play instead of being an obstacle to perfecting the different strokes.

I would like to see us develop a fast game on both wings but with a dominant forehand and the ability to use rotation. When we speak about rotation I don’t have the rotation produced by strokes which begin with a very low racket position in mind, but I’m talking about the rotation produced with fast strokes near the table. When you look back over the last decade you see that the only European women who were able to endanger the Asian dominance did not play "the Romanian style" of fast counterattack without spin, but played a powerful topspin attack fast and near the table.

Style evaluation and which styles are more successful at world level:

• Back from table topspin player: Most women don’t go back and loop to loop like the men, they return in a variety of different ways, blocking, drive, topspin or defence and often using differing materials. They also play closer to the table and are therefore able to play the angles or vary length and speed more easily, especially as they almost always face less power. If the European women want to play a strong topspin game from further back with the bigger 40mm. ball which of course takes less spin, then it would logically appear that their chances of defeating the Asians become even more remote. They give their oriental counterparts more time to play and they give up the chance to control the over-the-table and short play. When coaching girls even at a very young age we must be very aware of the real dangers of allowing them to habitually drift away from the table
• Defenders: Defenders, even the old style ones were always able to get into the top 15 in the world even into the top 10 (Kim Kjung Ah is currently at No 4). However what all defensive players have now come to understand with the big ball and games to eleven-up is the necessity for attack. Often the older-style players will attack with drive play but nearly all the younger defenders have the capability to topspin the ball and to change the form of the rally quite dramatically
• Blockers and counter-hitters: This has always been a style which has been effective at the highest levels in world play, especially as many women play with different varieties of pimples. The Asian players generally have an active game and will open at the earliest opportunity. The hard attack ball is important in their table tennis philosophy. Over the years speed has been the dominant factor in their play and even now if they have to choose between speed and spin it will almost always be the former. They open as early as possible, directly after the serve for example and if they are compelled to play an intermediate stroke, they try to control the play so as to play positively on the next ball. Serve and the third ball hit are fundamental in their armoury and they spend much training time on this. They tend to take the ball at an earlier timing point than the European players. (Ai Fukuhara from Japan is a prime example of this style of play).
• Close-to-table attackers with spin capability: What we are looking at here, where players have the requisite reactions and feeling, is the ability to take the ball early and both spin and drive close to or even over the table. Many of the top Chinese in the last couple of years, Zhang Yining and Guo Yue and some of the young Japanese such as Kasumi Ishikawa have this capability. This is again a style which can reach the highest levels in the women’s game.

What we must also have in our mind is that within the above methods of playing there will be many sub-styles and players who may be generally categorised within a particular style, will of course develop to their own individual strengths. All players are individuals and will impose their own character on a style of play.

To produce top women players, the right system is needed into which to feed our young girls

As Jeler has said too we need a system where girls know where they are going and do not have to face too many conflicting ideas. They should be able to work hard and profitably in an environment where there is no stress and where the developmental pathway is clear and without complication. Above all they must be able to feel that the way they are progressing is in harmony with their physical and mental capabilities. In view of the lack over the whole of Europe of coaches who can help them reach their full potential, girls must also be ready to take more responsibility for their own progress.

In women’s sport it is especially difficult to predict the development of a young player. Mentality and the psyche in general are even more important with regard to girls than to boys. Girls are more sensitive, much more self-critical and can in that way often be self-destroying. Equally working with girls is much more challenging and demanding for the coach and requires rather higher levels of background knowledge and expertise.

European women must from the start come to terms with all the possibilities in the women’s game, with the many differing playing styles, work out which is best for them and develop their own character within the style. There are available to women players many more possibilities for success, many more different paths to the top levels, than there are for men. They only have to be open-minded about this, ready to accept that they need not be limited in their choice. They must also of course train in the right direction for their way of playing. Too often players, coaches and selectors are ‘blinkered’ when they look at women’s styles in Europe. They only really want to see one or two styles of play; it’s almost as if they think that only these styles have a chance to succeed at world level.

Basically we simply start too late to work seriously with girls in Europe. In reality we should start to work with them even earlier than with boys, they mature faster than boys and should be ready to start their journey to the top sooner! It is very important for girls to develop their technical abilities fully before puberty - after that it is quite difficult to change many things. The problem is that the girls start too late to practise properly and are not educated in the right training ethics from the beginning. As a result they then have to backtrack and correct their techniques and concepts of the game first. They are by this stage 16 or 17 and instead of being at the top they are only at the beginning! We are here coming back once again to the "prime reason" - the girls start to have adequate training too late.

I am also of the opinion that most Associations in Europe need the rethink their systems and policies concerning the development of women in their countries. Make it a major priority to find more funding for the women’s game and get the right people involved in the development of girls at a young age. It is obvious that many of the real top coaches and high-performance directors throughout Europe are very much dissatisfied with the way coaching and player education as a whole is progressing and they feel that we are falling further and further behind Asia. However their thoughts and criticisms seem to carry little or no weight with European Associations and those responsible for running them. Nothing happens and most Associations seem to meander along as they have done for years if not for decades. Nothing new or innovative occurs.

We need movement and ideas from the top and we need these now; we are not going to produce players of the future with methods of the past. The one thing we have proved without any doubt over the last 20 to 25 years is that whatever we have been doing with women’s development is just not working or even producing satisfactory results. There is little or no point in continuing in the same vein, we must make changes.

As a matter of interest what has Martin Sorӧs, the Chief Executive of the new Werner Schlager Academy have to say about women’s development in Europe at the 3rd European Coaching Seminar in Vienna, November 2010: ‘In Europe nearly all we could do wrong in conjunction with women’s table tennis, we did wrong.’

Perhaps now is the time for the top-level private centre such as the Werner Schlager Academy in Vienna. With this type of venture we can collect a team of top coaches from all over the world and the Associations in Europe can leave the development of their top players to the real experts!

Let us finish with a quote from the man who put England’s rugby on the world map:
Clive Woodward (England Rugby Supremo):
Over the years we’ve encountered many different versions of inherited thinking, or tradition as some call it, in business, sport and government. The symptoms are always the same: blind faith in the ‘way’, nepotism to protect the institution and a culture that heavily discourages, even punishes, any questioning of authority and where change is an anathema. Often the establishment can’t take in the ideas of the visionaries because such an approach would shake up many of their own top coaches – the ideas are too far ahead of what these coaches practise, know and believe in and introducing substantially different ideas would expose their real lack of knowledge.

Usually it’s the establishment environment which is lacking. It doesn’t challenge the players. It doesn’t give the players the preparation they need, it doesn’t give them every chance. The selection system is inconsistent. The coaches insist on styles of play and training methods which are inadequate and behind the times. Players prepare for games at a level of intensity which indicates they are not doing everything possible, everything that needs to be done to win.

In the sports environment what we need is the basic fundamentals of sport managed with a strong business ethic. To win we have to create the right competitive environment and engage the best specialists in each fundamental area of our sport. The myth of sporting superiority is just that – a myth. The strength of the top sporting nations lies in their competitive culture and their high level of preparation, not in some magic gene. It’s no good having roughly the same tools as the other international team; you must be able to apply them differently and effectively.

Comments on the European Girls’ Game

Rowden Fullen (2010)

• The result of adapting the men’s style of play and their training methods to the women’s game can only be men’s table tennis at a lesser level, without the obvious advantages, such as the power, spin and speed of movement, which men bring to the game of table tennis.

• European women need to find different solutions to the methods of how to win points - normally girls cannot rely on power to win the point, so they have to accentuate other aspects such as placement, speed, spin and safety within the rallies.
• When working with girls they must spend most of the time playing different strokes and combinations near the table.
• Instead of playing further back from the table, the European women’s development should be directed more towards the importance of serve, receive and the first four balls and also towards methods of more effective and active play over the table. In this way they will have rather more opportunities to create attacking positions and earlier in the rally.
• Boys win points with powerful forehand topspins and everything in the rally is secondary to the prime aim of being correctly placed to use this main weapon (plus the fact they have the speed to get to the right position). Such a pattern does not work in women’s table tennis; points have to be won with appropriate placement, speed, rotation and changes in these aspects.
• The ability to play a fast and secure backhand is essential (it’s important to have enough strength on the BH wing to keep pressure on the opponent) and to have an adequate answer when the opponent is switching from your backhand into your forehand side and vice versa.
• Another and major problem in Europe is the lack of good foot-work techniques, appropriate to the individual style of play. The foot-work needs to be right for the player's personal style and complement all the other elements of play, instead of being an obstacle to perfecting the different strokes.
• Women should try and develop a fast game on both wings but with a dominant forehand and the ability to use rotation on both sides.
• When we consider rotation this should be rotation produced with fast strokes near the table. When we look back over the last decade we see that the only European women who were able to put the Asians under real pressure did not play fast counterattack without spin, but played a powerful topspin attack fast and close to the table.
• Not enough European women are able to impose their game on the Asians. Rarely if ever are the Asians afraid of the European women’s serves and follow-up ball. They consider that the Europeans have too few serves, are predictable in the way they use them and therefore usually limited with what they can do with the first attack ball (this usually contains too little spin or is not strong enough). Often at the highest level against the Asians, European players aren’t allowed the opportunity to get their strengths in and are not able to use their strong spin early enough in the rally. With their serve and third ball and receive and fourth, the Asians deny them the time.
• It looks as if many Europeans train far too much control play, loop to loop or loop to block, they don’t train to win the point! The result is that against the top Asians they just don’t have the time or the opportunity to utilize the stronger technical aspects of their game.
• European women must also appreciate that it’s not enough only to be able to play well one way, often they must alter their style to beat others. They must have the capacity to have other ways of playing and to be able to cope with all styles.
• Above all the player and trainer should get together and think of a specialty which can make the player unique.
• Too often in Europe there are only one or two good women in the National team and they are going to stay there whether they win or lose. As a result there is no real incentive to keep raising their levels, they are already the best in their country and they are going to stay in the team because there is nobody pushing for their place, no competition! Under such circumstances it’s very easy for players to let their game stagnate and to cease working at continued growth and development.

Rise of the Japanese Girls

Rowden April 2017

It is interesting looking at current female World rankings that Japan is very much in the ascendency.

In the Women’s list the top 10 are all of Asian origin, with China having the 1 and 2 in Ding Ning and Zhu Yuling, with Chen Meng at 5 and Wu Yang at 10. Japan has only 3 in the top 10, Kasumi Ishikawa at 4, Mima Ito at 8 and Satoh Hitomi at 9 but Miu Hirano is at 11. However the Chinese players are collectively older with an average age of almost 25 (Ding is 27) while the Japanese girls average just over 19 with Mima only 16 and Miu just 17.
In fact Miu Hirano has only just won the Asian Championships beating Ding Ning 3 – 2 in the quarters (on her 17th birthday), Zhu Yuling 3 – 0 in the semis and Chen Meng 3 – 0 in the final, to become the first Japanese girl to win in 20 years.
What is also conclusive are the Under 21 Rankings where Japan has 8 out of the top 10, numbers 1, 2 and 3, 5, 6 and 7 and 9 and 10. China has no women in this category, the other two places are filled by Hong Kong at 4 and Singapore at 8. Japan is the number 1 ranked team in the World in Juniors (under 18), with 6 girls, ranked 1 to 4, plus the 6 and 10; China has 2 players at 5 and 7, Romania 1 and Puerto Rico 1. Even in the Under 15 Rankings, Japan out of 5 Asian players has 3 at 1, 2 and 8 with 1 from Hongkong at 4 and another from Korea at 9; there are 2 players from the USA and 1 each from Russia, Romania and France. China has no players in this category.
So just what is it that the younger Japanese players are doing that is making the difference? The clues are in Miu Hirano’s victories over the World 1, 2 and 5 in the current Asian Championships. She lost the first two ends against Ding Ning, the first 3 and the second only on deuce, but was already showing that she was faster and was capable of using the plastic ball better. From 0 – 2 down Miu won the 3rd to 9 and the 4th 16 – 14. In the 4th Ding was 9 – 5 and 10 – 8 up. Miu was not only faster taking the ball at times very early, but she was extremely strong on the BH and excellent at placement and variation; not only was she capable of playing very wide off the side of the table but also targeted the body well and played the line to perfection especially straight to Ding’s FH. Once in the rally she never gave Ding time to settle, kept moving her and was always prepared to improvise from time to time. In the 5th Ding was 6 – 4 and 7 -- 6 up but never lead after that and lost 10 – 12.
In the semis and final, against the World 2 and 5, Miu never looked like losing and won both 3 – 0.
Just what can we take from these results. On the Chinese side there were a number of obvious points.
● All their players drifted away from the table at times and as soon as they did this they were open to the wider angled ball and being moved from one side to the other
● All their players were outplayed and outmaneuvered by Miu’s BH which was invariably taken very early and close to the table
● They underestimated her serves and 3rd ball and how well she could use them
● They couldn’t cope with her speed and total unpredictability in placement
● They couldn’t cope with the wide angles
● They tried to use their FH from the BH corner and often got out of position
There were also areas in which Miu could have performed better and been much more dominant. This is understandable as she is still young, finding her own feet and learning what she can and can’t do. She could have:
● Handled short serves and receives better at times and used a bigger range of alternatives and more precision in placement early in the rally
● Changed the pace more often especially when the opponent retreated
● Considered her strategies more when forced back herself. She is relatively weak from a deeper position
● Thought more to use the block on the FH side to create openings and pull players in and out
Overall I felt that the Chinese players are still trying to play celluloid ball strategies with the plastic. Around 2009 to 2010 they had some of the fastest players in the world and the priority was speed (Zhang Yining and Liu Shiwen) but over the last 5 years or so they’ve moved away to more spin and often a little deeper positions. As a result they are still lifting and not playing through the ball enough. The Chinese players often looked slow and ungainly against Miu’s extreme speed and wide placement, but of course over the years they have played much longer with celluloid.
On the other hand the Japanese being younger (Ito’s another example) have adapted quicker to plastic techniques. They understand that spin is of much less value, especially off the table and they are prioritizing speed from very early in the rally. I am just surprised that the Chinese have not caught up especially in the younger age groups and are not producing players of this type and working more at closer-to-table play. However when you’ve been so successful for decades perhaps it takes time to understand that when the science changes, the techniques and strategies may need to change also.
It is also quite ironic that the Chinese women after decades of speed and closer-to-table stop/start play have more recently been prepared to develop a little more like the men, only to have the game change with the introduction of the plastic ball.

The Science of Women's Table Tennis

Rowden April 2017

● The last European woman to win a World Singles Championship was Angelica Roseanu in 1955. This was over 60 years ago and should indicate to coaches in Europe that we are not working in the right way with women’s development in our sport.

● Over many decades speed has been the dominant factor in the Asian women’s game and if they have to choose between speed and spin the choice is almost always speed.
● Asian women conventionally take the ball at a much earlier timing point than their European counterparts and control the rally with speed or pace variation until they can win the point.
● Asian women open as early as possible and the serve and 3rd ball are fundamental to their tactics.
● European women have always played further from the table and have prioritised spin which has worked in the European men’s game. To compete on a level playing field the European women need to be better closer and use more alternatives over the table.
● Women have never been capable of achieving as much topspin as men off the table due to lesser power, slower dynamic movement and around one third to one half less upper body strength.
● With the new plastic ball the maximum spin revolutions per second have almost halved in comparison with the small celluloid ball, therefore scientifically there is less point in women working at spin off the table.
● Asian women also consider footwork training of high importance as this gives them a better opportunity to get to the ball with more time for alternatives: to select the best stroke and play with power when they can.
● Asian and especially Chinese coaches are well aware of the multiplicity of styles (and the use of materials) in the women’s game and that many of these can be highly successful at international level. They focus much more on individual development and the use of differing techniques to strengthen unusual specialties peculiar to specific players.
● Coaches in Asia firmly believe in development for the senior game and many of their young girls never compete in the cadet or junior game. In Europe far too often we chase medals in mini events and develop strategies which we then need to change so the player can compete against senior players.
● Asian coaches see the Europeans’ service game as inadequate. They are viewed as having too few serves, being predictable in the way they use them and therefore limited in alternatives for the next two or three balls.
● When analysing matches between top Asians and Europeans it appears that the Europeans train far too much control play, too many rallies with drive to drive or spin to block, but too little emphasis on winning the point and if there is, too late in the rally. Against top Asians the Europeans have neither the time nor the opportunity to utilise the stronger technical aspects of their own game.
● European women need to be much stronger over the table with more alternatives in short play. Particularly important is the receive of short serve and the ability to flick, drop short or push mid-table from a very early timing point (with or without spin).
● To be successful European women must understand the key strategy with the new plastic ball, which is CHANGE. And this is change in all its aspects; change of speed, placement, length and spin; use of angles, straight shots down the lines, balls to the body or crossover; touch play and slow roll balls; use of sidespin (most advantageous spin with the plastic). The new creed has to be total unpredictability in play and the use of one’s own strengths at every opportunity.
● European women must compete hard against Asians and not just assume they will lose if the opponent merely looks Chinese.
● Japanese girls are already showing the way with the plastic, currently 8 of the Top 10 under 21 women are Japanese and none from China. Japanese girls are also holding the number one position in the World Junior Girls’ Team ranking with 6 players in the top 10 (including 1 to 4) compared to China’s 2.

Women Asian Superiority

Ian Marshall (2004)

During December 2003, at the World Junior Championships, China and Japan were in the girls’ Team Finals and China in the last 4 places in the girls’ singles.

Hui Jun, captain of the Hong Kong’s women’s team, commented as follows – ‘In Asian countries we have a better training system and a more advanced training system. We place a greater emphasis on developing good technique early in a player’s career, it’s like building a pyramid.’

‘We concentrate much more on the high level players. Also we have specific periods in the calendar that we devote specifically to training and other times where we concentrate on competition.’ In Asia the training schedule is given a high priority when determining the calendar, in other parts of the world it has to often fit around what is at best a chaotic schedule of matches and tournaments.

European players are strong when topspinning but Asian players are stronger when playing over the table – also they have better touch and feel in returning service and are aggressive on the serve and third ball. Countries like China organize their National League to have time for training and preparation for major tournaments – this is a definite advantage. They prepare better and bring a larger number of support people with them to take videos etc. of the opponents. Their approach is thorough and completely professional at all times. Often top coaches in Europe are hampered in their work by the domestic calendar.

The problem in Europe is that in many instances the emphasis is on accruing ranking points and in competing in as many events as possible to achieve this goal. The end result is that in the later teenage years too many players retire from the sport, their technique not good enough to enable them to progress further and they fall victims of a congested calendar that affords minimal time for training and development. Competing with Asia will always be tough but early emphasis on good technique, professional training methods and radical changes to the calendar would certainly be steps in narrowing the gap.

Women’s Statistics: World Championships

Rowden Fullen(2001)

Women’s Singles 1926 - 1955 = 22

(One year, 1937, both finalists disqualified)

HUNGARY	CZECHOSLOVAKIA	U.S.A.	AUSTRIA	ROMANIA	TOTAL
10	3	1	1	6	21

Women’s Singles 1956 — 2001 =24

CHINA	JAPAN	KOREA	TOTAL
14	7	3	24

Women’s Team 1933 — 1956 =16

GERMANY	CZECHOSLOVAKIA	U.S.A.	ENGLAND	ROMANIA	JAPAN	TOTAL
2	3	2	2	5	2	16

Women’s Team 1957 — 2001 = 23

CHINA	JAPAN	KOREA	RUSSIA	TOTAL
14	6	2	1	23

How do we produce girls who can compete in Asia?

(2008)

Clive Woodward (England rugby coach – World Cup 2003)

Over the years I’ve encountered many different versions of inherited thinking, or tradition as some call it, in business, sport and government. The symptoms are always the same: blind faith in ‘the way’, nepotism to protect the institution and a culture that heavily discourages, even punishes, any questioning of authority and where change is an anathema. My unspoken thought is always – Why is our sport so far behind? Why are we so ridiculously amateur?

Mario Amižic (Croatia, one of most prominent European coaches)

Some people say the present situation in European table tennis is a catastrophe, for me it is the reality we could have expected. Last 3 years table tennis in Europe has rapidly gone down - I believed that the young generation will be able to step into the shoes of the previous generation, but now I cannot see that they made any progress.

Michel Gadal (French Director of Sports)

Concerning the women I am not very optimistic, we have really a very difficult situation in Europe.

Li Yan Yun (National coach Austria, women’s team)

In past some young European players came very fast to the top in Europe, like for example in their time Olga Nemes, but then they did not develop further. We never analysed why it happened to several European talented girls and if we do not start now to make it better the same will happen to the present young generation.

Peter Sartz (National coach, Denmark)

Our juniors are too long playing only in the juniors; we do not put them into senior teams where the competition is much stronger.

Neven Cegnar (National coach Croatia, women’s team)

In my opinion table tennis situation in Europe regarding women is bad. I think that Europe is wrong in letting numerous young and old Chinese women play in European national teams.

Comment

I think Clive Woodward hit the nail on the head. We live and think too much in the past. If we are to succeed in today’s world we need to be totally professional in everything we do – the Associations need to be professionally run, coaching and selection need to be professional and above all we need to have the right people in the top jobs. Many Associations in Europe are unfortunately quite backward in girls’ development. Because of poor salaries we do not get top coaches in the girls’ game. Girls are often treated as ‘second class’ and if there is any shortage of funding they are the first to suffer.

If for example we are not producing numbers of top girls and girls who can achieve real results outside of Europe, do we really think that this situation is going to change dramatically if we keep the same old coaching and development staff, doing the same old jobs, in the same old way? In Brazilian football you are National Coach only for the 4 years from one world cup to the next and then you step aside for the next management team. Brazil is always in search of new ideas and fresh impetus to keep things moving forward, no matter how good they are or what they have just won.

What we really need with the girls in Europe in the case of many Associations is a completely fresh start. No-one can tell me that we don’t have girls with talent because we do, neither do I subscribe to the view that our girls are not committed and are not prepared to work hard enough. With the right guidance and handling we can have a dozen top girls in most European countries within one year. It is not the basic ‘clay’ that is the problem; unfortunately it’s the way the clay is moulded and developed over the years which results in substandard pottery. We need the professional approach; we need to produce winners, as one or two countries in Europe such as Romania and Germany succeed in doing.

So what do we need to do? ‘First of all, the players must be in focus and not the coaches. We need to look at every player as an individual and understand that two players cannot be coached in the same way depending on their different needs’. These are the words of Emanuel Christiansson (Sweden) and no truer words can be spoken in the case of girls’ development. In the women’s game there are many more ways of playing and many more paths to the top than there are in the men’s game. Training top women demands a great deal more from the coach than working with men. This is not only in communication,attention/favouritism, the physical and mental aspects of training, but also the detailed knowledge of the varying materials and techniques/tactics used in the women’s game. Your role too as a women’s coach is often just as supportive as it is tactical.

Far too often in the development of young girl players we are just not professional enough. We ‘play’ at it and wonder why we then don’t get top level players! The first question we must ask of our coaches is not even to do with table tennis – it is this: ‘Have you had teenage children of your own, are you able to get on the same wavelength as young ‘adults’, can you get the best out of them without just wielding the ‘big stick?’ Because if you can’t, you will find it next to impossible to help your players to attain their full potential.

The next aspect too is of major importance – coaching is a two-way process, with coach and player working together to move forward. This is where one of the prime qualities of the coach comes into its own – that of being a good listener. The world’s best players, whether young or old, are often strong characters, who have instinctive ideas as to just how they should play. The last thing they need as a coach is a dictator or someone who insists on forcing them into a mould of his/her own choosing. This is not the way to develop potential but too often unfortunately it is hard for experts to withhold their expertise sufficiently to coach well!

On the same lines at national level just how many coaches work with ‘the inner game’? The awareness of bodily sensations is crucial to the development of skills. Unfortunately the majority of coaches persist in imposing their technique from the outside. The coach should instead try to identify a new way forward with players working from their own experience and perceptions rather than his own. How can the coach decide how positive the player will be at 8 – 10 down or 15 all? Does the coach know just when and where the player is comfortable playing backhands or forehands and exactly where the ‘cut-off’ point is at the crossover? A number of conclusions have to come from inside the player – the coach can prompt, stimulate and inspire but an attempt to dictate will lessen the player’s input and usually water down the long-term potential.

One of the single most vital factors in maximising potential with the young girl’s development and rather more important than with the male is ‘direction’. Girls need to know where they are going and how to get there. It is important to them to understand how they play now and will play in the future. Winning is often not the overriding priority but continual progress and a clearly defined career path are fundamental to their development. Far too often even in National Centres the girls do not get the required individual attention.

At least once a fortnight the coach and player should have an assessment meeting to talk about direction and to ensure the player is satisfied with progress. If a number of coaches are involved with the same player (as unfortunately occurs in many national setups) then each should update information daily on the computer so that other coaches and the player are all equally aware of progress and changes. It goes without saying that the player should have complete access to the information at all times and be allowed to add her own updates as often as she wants. The schedule should not only cover technique and tactics but also mental and physical programmes even if these are handled by outside experts.

It is particularly important that the physical and mental areas are focused on at an early age. Many girls are often less ready to work hard at physical aspects and need to learn good habits from the outset. Girls too usually need more support on the mental side as they often lack self-confidence and can lapse into negative attitudes more easily than their male counterparts.

We said earlier there are many more ways of playing in the women’s game — we only need to look at world champions over the last twenty years to see the variety of styles. The evaluation of, guidance towards and development of an individual playing style are particularly necessary in the case of young girls and should be introduced at an early stage in the player’s career. In many cases this will require from the coach specialist knowledge of rubbers, sponges and techniques/tactics and often some experimentation from the player. After all in the final analysis it is the player herself who must feel comfortable with her ‘weapons’ and with the tactics these weapons will facilitate.

As Li Yan Yun has said, in the past good European girls quickly reached a level, but then did not develop further, a problem which must be analysed and resolved. If we look back over the last several years out of all the top (European –born) juniors probably only G. Pota (Hungary) has continued to progress after attaining top junior status in Europe to reach the top 30 women in the world. Dodean and Samara are now getting there, both in U21 and Women’s rankings, but unfortunately as far as competing with the Asians and as far as numbers are concerned we have just too few top girl players.

What then should be the first step to redressing the situation and getting our training for girls on the right lines? Obviously as a start go to the ‘fountainhead’ of knowledge! Romania produces top girls who continue to develop to the next level in the women’s game. Send our coaches to study the approach and the methods, send our girl players too, to train and learn. If one country is able to produce the goods let’s swallow our national pride, ‘climb on to the bandwagon’ and find out how it is done!

One very important point here however, is which coaches are we going to send? Unfortunately in a number of countries in Europe the tendency is to isolate top young players from their own coaches, presumably on the premise that only the National Team Trainers have the required knowledge for further development. Yet strangely enough when you talk to top coaches in Europe and discuss the way forward in terms of developing top talent and trying to compete with the Asians, more often than not the coaches stress the vital importance of individual development and that players should come to select high-level training camps in Europe not with their National Trainers but in fact with their own personal coaches. They stress the importance of having the coaches on hand who are actually working on a day to day basis with the players.

This perhaps underscores the importance of teamwork in any administration. Unless the majority of your association, players, coaches, organisers etc. are working together and pulling in the same direction, you will indeed struggle to progress and to move forward. Unfortunately many associations are bad in communication and neglect to keep, even in the case of their top youngsters, parents and personal coaches ‘in the loop’. This only gives rise to a considerable amount of ill-feeling and discontent.

One other aspect which requires some deep thought is the logistics of a number of European countries working together to beat the Chinese. We cannot allow any power struggle, which country will be in charge, which coaches will oversee the programme etc., to get in the way of the development and the progress of the players. It is the players who must be in focus!

Another vital factor too is size. The single most vital factor in terms of restricting innovative thinking is size — train players in large groups and nothing happens. Everyone thinks the same thing at the same time, there is a pressure to conform whether it is intended or not, a group uniformity. Put three people on a committee and something happens, ten and it gets harder, fifty and nothing gets done. Any biologist will tell you that small groups in isolation evolve fastest. Put 150 birds on an ocean island and they evolve fast, put 10 million on a big continent and evolution slows and stops.

For the human species evolution occurs mainly through behaviour — we innovate new behaviour to adapt and change. The effect of large groups, of mass media, is to restrict behavioural change. Mass media swamps diversity, all differences vanish, even humanity’s most necessary resource, intellectual diversity, disappears. If we accept that the way forward is to work together in Europe, then the way we do this and how we retain the individual focus are areas which must be addressed first.

So just what will Europe do to get the ball rolling in the case of our girls? Unfortunately, probably nothing! In many countries bureaucracy and politics continue to rule and the interests and needs of the individual athletes, the only ones who can produce the results, come a rather poor second or third. Associations are more often than not reluctant or even afraid to use the resources they do have and tragically this applies even at levels higher than National Associations.

Countries like Great Britain for example simply chose to ignore their former Olympic gold medallists in contributing to prepare for Beijing. Instead the real ‘greats’ of the past, like Daley Thompson and Seb Coe are helping to train rivals from other countries! As Thompson said in a recent interview – ‘It’s down to the British athletics regime. The country’s most under-utilised resource must be our experience.’

Development

Cadet Girls’ Development Sweden

Rowden Fullen (2000)

If we in Sweden are to win medals in the cadet girls’ events in the Junior European Championships, then we should be examining carefully and assessing the quality of play now to be seen in girls’ 11 – 13 classes. In Växjö in Girls’ 13 we had an entry of some 40 players, many of the best in Sweden, what did we observe that gave us cause for hope or fear for the future?

Serve — Some good long serving with the backhand (good to see backhand serves in view of possible rule changes), with good placement and angles, wide to backhand and next ball to the body or fast to the body and the next ball wide to the backhand. Even some fast serves down the line to the opponent’s forehand.

Short service was generally bad in both placement and spin, usually long enough to attack hard — only three players were able to serve with enough backspin to cause real problems to the opponent. It was also quite obvious that most players did not understand the technique involved in achieving backspin. About 20% of the girls were looking to use 3rd ball attack and had some idea of how their serves were returned.

Receive — This was usually a little too predictable — if the serve was short the usual response was to try and hit hard with the forehand or push long with late timing and often to the backhand side. When faced with the long serve to the backhand the response again was a hard hit (often with only 40 – 50% success) with little or no spin, or even at times an attempt to push!

There did not seem to be much thought to variation, to drop the short serve back short for example, or push long and fast with early timing to the body or out to the corners. Against the long serve no attempt was made to play the ball back slow or with topspin or to return it differently with for example an early-timed stop-block.

Opening up — Almost all the girls would open against backspin on the forehand side, but not always quickly enough. In Europe you are rarely allowed the luxury of pushing 2/3 balls especially to the opponent’s forehand! Only about 20% of players opened with some spin on the forehand but only two showed evidence of good slow topspin on this wing. No player opened with spin on the backhand and the vast majority were quite content to be involved in extended pushing rallies, backhand to backhand without any attempt to open al all!

Play and tactics — There was much play on the diagonal, especially the first opening ball with the forehand. We must be thinking much more of different placement — straight, to the body and out to the angles. Also there was too much use of power and too little change of speed or spin. It was rare for any player to open with a slow ball. Once into the rally not one single player tried to vary the pace and play long or short, moving the opponent in and out.

Movement with the majority of the girls was weak particularly to the wide ball and especially from the forehand corner back to the backhand. There appeared to be little awareness of what the Chinese call the ‘inside techniques’, the more advanced level of stroke-play – touching serves short, killing through topspin, using early ball back and sidespin pushes, even when and how to convert from spin to drive.

Conclusions — We should want our girls to play the right game which has a chance of success at the highest level. How many of the top women in Europe (except defence players) or even in Sweden push back a long backspin ball? The key-point must be that if someone pushes long, you open!

But even more important is the question of development, if you are stuck in a negative rut then your game is not progressing, not moving forward, instead it stagnates. If it stagnates too long then you fall behind and it becomes more and more difficult to catch up with the top players, who are being positive, are doing new things and are advancing.

Each of those 40 girls in Växjö should really sit down and ask herself a few questions.

* Do I want to be the best I can be?
* Am I negative in parts of my game? Do I for example win points, or do I wait for my opponent to make mistakes?
* If I am negative how long have I been so? Six months, one year?
* When am I going to do something about it?
* What new serves do I have in the last six months, one year?
* How have I changed my receives in the last six months, one year?
* What new strokes or tactics do I have in the last six months, one year?
* Am I prepared to listen to new ideas and to try different ways of doing things?
* Do I understand that without change there is no development?

One of the ways to reinforce positive play is to applaud young girls who drive or topspin a long push even if they lose the point. Players should also be encouraged to play their weak shots and new strokes and tactics in practice even if they miss, eventually they will have the confidence to use them in matches. Above all coaches must ensure that girls can attack and open safely and consistently as well as being able to play the power balls. I feel that one of the problems with the Swedish girls’ game is that the control element in their attack is too low. The safety shot and the power winner are two different strokes. For example if it’s 9 - 9 and the opponent pushes a long ball anywhere on your side, you should have a safe opening shot which you are absolutely certain will go back on the table.

If you know in the back of your mind that you can open with absolute safety on both backhand and forehand, then you will be that much more confident going into the big matches.

The way forward — One thing that I as a foreigner noticed immediately is that these 40 girls were from many different clubs, some 25 or more and no two in the top 8 were from the same club. Probably many of these are smaller clubs or clubs which have only a few girls training, almost certainly these girls are spread over a large area and have little opportunity to train on a regular basis together with other good girls of their own level. Equally important is the training of techniques and tactics applicable to women’s table tennis. What is therefore a matter of concern is the quality and consistency of the long-term development with particular reference to the frequency of access to the level of coaching needed to take them to international standard or above.

Many people would say in a big country such as Sweden we must face the fact that only a very small number perhaps less than 10% will have access to the type and frequency of training needed to reach the top. I don’t accept this type of negative approach. There is always a way — if we can’t bring the players to the coaching then we must take the coaching and sparring to the players. Other countries with fewer resources than Sweden and much less going for them have done it and continue to do it. I also hear the tired old phrase which comes out every time something new is suggested — ‘Good idea but we just can’t afford it’. Often when you talk to parents and leaders however they are prepared to find the money to fund any venture which will help develop their players!

Some would say that it’s the job of the Swedish Association to find solutions, which in part it is, especially in the case of the players they wish to groom for stardom. However it’s all too easy to sit back and wait for others to act. Surely there’s much that clubs could do themselves by cooperating and working more together with training programmes – as an outsider it appears to me rather than a spirit of cooperation and a willingness to work together there is more often than not an atmosphere of some distrust or even jealousy between clubs.

Equally I feel there is much that the districts could do by promoting girls’ table tennis, organizing training groups, having regular squads which train together on a monthly or six-weekly basis. Why not even take this a stage further to embrace the idea of different districts training together? I already hear the complaints — ‘But the calendar is so full, there are so many tournaments, we just don’t have time’. I have only one answer to this, you cannot train by competition alone, particularly at a young age. To parents and leaders I would ask which is of more importance, to win tournaments at twelve years of age or to develop the right kind of game which can succeed at senior level.

I leave you with one final thought — the bigger the pool of players the Association has to pick from, the more chance we have to achieve success in Europe and beyond.

The Vital Role of the District in Girls’ Training

Rowden Fullen (2003)

The few girls in Sweden who have had the opportunity to train overseas in high quality centres, especially in Asia, have had their eyes very much opened as to what proper training should be like. Working with high level female sparring, training against a wide spectrum of styles (defenders, short pimple players, penholders etc.), being advised and guided by world class women players or coaches who know immediately in which direction the player’s individual style should progress and which methods and training exercises need to be used to help them reach their end goal — all these are aspects very much lacking in Sweden and to the extent that national training for women often operates at a lower level than club training in Asian countries.

Training in Sweden operates at a low technical level and at low intensity. Many girls get so little help that they don’t really know how to play (they have no personal style projection, so they have no idea what they are aiming to be) and if they do have some idea of where they are going, they have little or no idea how to get there. Because they only ever work at 40 – 50% effort most of them have no conception of just what is involved in hard training or what it should be like.

Many parents, leaders and trainers too have little real understanding of what good training for girls actually consists of! There seems to be inertia in many districts and little initiative in making any attempt to provide the sort of training which could develop young girls and take them to international levels. Even with those few districts which are interested in working a little with training often this is a low budget, low priority approach, with poor facilities and perhaps one trainer to 19 players! How can we ever hope to achieve any progress with methods like this? This is just window-dressing!

Also at national level some trainers either do not understand what is required or are not prepared to work to change anything. They are content to run large camps and to operate at 40 – 50% efficiency because they take the attitude — ‘Whatever we do on camps won’t change anything, the girls will go back to their own clubs and will return next year with the same faults and problems, so why bother?’

In other words not only does training become totally unprofessional but it is really only a publicity exercise. The associations whether national, regional or district can sit back and say — ‘Yes we’ve had two or three camps for girls this season so we are actually doing something’. The girls can say –‘Yes I’m being noticed now, I’ve been to a couple of regional/national camps so I’m moving up in the system.’ So in fact it all looks very good. But what does it actually mean when it comes down to looking after and taking care of our up and coming talent. Absolutely nothing! Players in fact who play for Sweden in the European Juniors one year are totally ignored the following year and are not even invited to one national training camp. Does this show organization and progress, good enough to represent your country one year and thrown on the scrap-heap the next?

If a country is to be successful at any sport then the Administration must also be progressive and forward-looking. Methods of assessment, selection, ranking and national centres and training must be constantly monitored and up-graded. It is important that more and more countries throughout Europe demand not just some ‘movement’ from national, regional and district organizations, but real progress. If the people at the top can’t do the job then it’s quite simple, they shouldn’t be there!

In sport we unfortunately often tolerate much lower levels of efficiency than we would ever do in the top jobs in industry for example. It is also no excuse to say that we have many part-timers in our sport who have full time jobs and are only able to give a few hours to help in training or organizing. The majority of those who work in a semi-professional capacity in table tennis are after money, very few people in Sweden will do anything for free. We should therefore expect value for money and not just accept low levels and low quality.

In any large group with many players at varying levels, the chances of new innovative styles of play or new lines of thought emerging are extremely remote. With large training groups and few coaches, development becomes stereotyped and rigid, systems take over and the individual emphasis and personal touch are lost. There is neither the time nor the opportunity to focus on what is individual in style to each particular player. The group as a whole drifts without guidance into a general style of play and development of new and different aspects is slowed down or lost. Equally training itself, the process of training becomes devalued – players work within the group and often work very hard indeed but in many cases without ever knowing why! They train because they want to be better – how can they achieve any destination when they don’t know where they are going or how to get there?

What is required at district level is regular training (around once a month) for smaller groups of girls of a similar level (not a similar age). There should be no more than 10 – 12 in each training group so that there is time and opportunity to give more individual attention to the players. Ideally we should be looking at a staffing level of at least three coaches and two sparring.

In terms of method we should be looking at a number of differing aspects.

Theory — We should look first to upgrade the girls’ theoretical knowledge with seminars and lectures. Most of them don’t know how to play women’s table tennis or what is effective in the women’s game!
Individual attention – Not only is more personal attention required in the areas of the players’ technique and movement patterns but also advice and discussion on direction. Most girls have little or no idea how they should play, where they are going or how to get there. Each player is different and should develop in a different way.
Training — Most girls don’t understand how to train or what good training is! They must be educated so they have some idea of intensity levels, be able to work with various training methods and above all be aware of how they should train to get the best out of their own individual playing style.
Material — Girl players must have a complete game. They must be trained to play against pimples, defenders etc. and to know both the theory and the practice.

In terms of aims we should be looking to make a difference and to show the way so that other districts can follow. In Sweden you can’t develop girls to a high level in the clubs because in most you don’t have the necessary expertise. Also a few good girls are often spread over a large number of clubs with little opportunity to train against other good girl players. The initiative therefore needs to come more from district or regional level — there are some camps at regional and national levels but in most cases these are just social or publicity exercises. Usually the camps are too large with not enough trainers and these often have limited knowledge on women’s training or on how to develop girl players. There is little or no sparring and often of the wrong kind and the parents pay a premium price, with the extra money going to the Association to subsidise other activities. Most parents seem to be totally unaware that they are getting second rate coaching and development for their daughters and paying elite rate costs for this!

Often thinking in Sweden seems a little too traditional, too many administrators and organizers set in their ways and very reluctant to even consider new ideas. Do they really think that in these changing times they are going to produce the players of the future with the methods of the past?

My suggestion is that we establish a model in one or more districts, with high level aims — to have the best district girls’ squad in Sweden, with the top girls training together at least once a month in two differing quality groups. Girls, parents and clubs must be made aware that such ‘elite streaming’ will mean that they should plan their tournaments accordingly. They cannot develop by competition alone and they should understand that high level training and development must have priority if the players are to progress to the top.

Girls’ Table Tennis in Sweden

Rowden Fullen (2002)

In 1995 when I first came to Sweden I asked the obvious question — ‘Why is there so little success with women in Sweden when you achieve so very much in the men’s game?’ After some years here I now see many of the reasons and problems.

I see that at almost all levels you develop girls with built-in weaknesses or defects in their play which have a limiting effect on their ultimate level of achievement. You also in many cases produce girls who have very little understanding of what is effective in women’s table tennis. Many of the causes are to be found in the training during the formative years. It is certainly not a question of talent, you have players with remarkable potential. But pure talent without some framework of technique and tactics, and even more important without some direction as to how it should be focused into a particular style is largely wasted – even great talent becomes ineffectual if channelled into an area where it will only ever be 40/50% effective.

At a young age, say up to 11 - 13 years, technique is usually quite bad and there is no indication of any trained pattern of movement. There is little sign of any guidance towards an individual style of play and almost all girls play an incomplete game. By this I mean that they have only one way to play and are predictable. They have limited capability to do anything different, little understanding of how to cope with anything new or unusual, the short game, pimples, defence, the slow ball and often they are reluctant to open on the backhand. As to serve the vast majority have absolutely no idea of the theory of service, how to achieve spin, the differing grips and contact points on the racket.

If we move on what has happened by the age of 15 to 16 years? The girls are stronger and faster and hit the ball harder but are there signs of real development? Unfortunately not. There are still problems in movement, especially wide to the wings and in technique - often strokes are only partially developed and in such a way that further growth is restricted. The fast counter-hitting game is crystallizing and the player’s progress is starting to stagnate. Is there really any way forward from here? Just what do you do next for instance, in order to grow and advance - increase the power even more, hit the ball yet harder, play still faster? The options are really quite limited. In fact many girls have manoeuvred themselves into a dead end, from where there is no easy way out!

Even if we cast an eye at the very top level, at the small band of girls who represent Sweden in Europe, we don’t see great cause for much celebration. Yes there is more power, spin and some development in service and third ball - however no attempt has been made to correct or change the original direction in technique or movement patterns, there are still problems here. If anything the style and the way of playing is becoming more rigid, rather than flexible and adaptable. Many of these girls still have major difficulties in coping with different types of women’s play.

Sadly too at this highest level there is little awareness of advanced techniques - short touch play, use of angles, killing through topspin, using early ball block and sidespin pushes, varied stop-blocks, or even a real understanding of timing, when to drive and when to spin. It is also obvious that many top girls in Sweden are training with men (and indeed the wrong men in terms of playing style), and are training to play a man’s game. They train to serve like men, play a man’s third ball, go back from the table like men and try to cope with men’s power and spin. Most of them don’t have the strength, speed of movement, spin or precision of placement to do this. Against the best girls in Europe and certainly in Asia they will be destroyed.

Many readers of this may accuse me of being negative. My answer is quite simple. If you don’t face facts, face reality, don’t recognize and admit that you have a problem, then you can’t set out to find ways to correct it. Even in the ‘Pingis’ magazine as far back as the 70’s and 80’s well known Swedish players and coaches have been writing articles showing concern over the lack of development in the women’s game in this country. It is now 2002, so just when are we going to actually do something? People who argue positively that our girls are really capable of competing at top level in the light of our placings in the European Junior Championships or our performance in the Swedish Open are not helping the cause of girls’ development in Sweden! Now is really the time to start laying new foundations and to prepare for the future - the further we drop down the harder it will be to get back to the top again.

We have seen some of the problems, what now of the solutions? Just what do we have to do in Sweden to build a base, what are the initial steps in our plan to produce world class girls? First we must understand the importance of early technical development. Table tennis is a fast, automatic response sport, we teach players to react without thought. We can think about tactics when we play but not technique or our whole performance grinds to a halt. Wrong or incorrect programming when young is almost always carried forward into an adult game and is not easily changed. The message must be - get the technique right from the start, let us try to avoid the necessity of having to backtrack or waste time and effort trying to change things at a later stage. This is not always as easy as it sounds - a young player’s technique is not stable and requires constant monitoring to keep it on the right path.

Tactics must be taught from an early age. The young girl should be able to play against different types of game and trained to recognize what tactics to use against varied rubber combinations right from the start. The earlier this is done the easier the information is absorbed and the quicker she will become the complete player, at ease in and able to cope with any situation.

The steering of a young girl towards the style most suitable for her and the equipment most effective for her game, is at the same time one of the most challenging and rewarding aspects of the coach’s work, and the single most important part of her development. Compared with the men’s, the women’s game has a much greater variety of styles and greater use of differing material combinations. Each player has areas where they are naturally more gifted and their end style should be guided towards these. It is pointless to model oneself on others who are different, have differing talents, are quicker, have better reactions or more feeling. Style is an individual thing and each player is unique.

It should go without saying that girls should train in the correct manner for their style and above all train to play against women and not men. Competing against men is often a matter of coping with spin and power, against women, coping with speed and usually a flatter ball with less spin. Ideally girls should train to be unpredictable, changing speed, spin, timing, angles and length and using the slow ball. Early in their career time should be spent on short play and encouraging touch, opening up from a push with both backhand and forehand and above all getting movement patterns right. Spin can be very effective in the girls’ game but usually only if your player shows an aptitude for this and even those who spin naturally often need guidance as to technique, when to use the wrist and which parts of the arm are most effective in the various loop strokes. Bear in mind that women tend to use spin as a means to an end not as an end in itself.

If our girls in Sweden are to make a real impact at European level and higher, then they need access to informed guidance in the areas we have highlighted. From my own experience and conversation with top coaches such help is rarely available at club level in Sweden. Also unfortunately the coach education system does not cover such areas in enough detail or in a scientific enough manner. It would therefore be necessary in any programme of development that groups or centres be set up at either regional or national level, where girl players could have access to guidance on technique, tactics, style and training for the women’s game on a regular basis, at least once a month. It would also of course be a good idea to involve theirown coaches in any such programme.

Finally attitude and the cultivation of the correct approach to her end goal are most important in training a female player. Girls usually have less self-confidence than boys, accept instruction more readily (and usually new ideas too) and are more quickly realistic as to their chances of attaining their goals. However they are also social animals and require support from those around them, family, partner, coach, club and friends - strong support, encouragement from and trust in those around them is often a recipe for success.

It is of the utmost importance that girls have an open mind at all times, keep looking forward and do not become satisfied with the way they play. Be ready to listen, be receptive to new ideas, be prepared to question coaches and trainers. Unless you as a player continue to change and evolve, you stay as you are. The progress may be slow but progress there should be. Look closely at yourself, your game, six months ago, one year ago. Do you still play the same? Are there new things in your game? Are you developing, working to a programme? Or are you just a bit faster and stronger, but otherwise the same? It’s your life, take control of it!

In ending let us return to the beginning - ‘Why is there so little success with women in Sweden ….?’ - and move a little further afield. Let us examine briefly why the Asian women are so dominant.

From a very young age there is much emphasis on good technique and especially on the small details, use of the wrist, even the fingers, position of the feet, free arm and shoulders. Movement is considered a high priority and a great deal of time is spent on establishing good patterns suitable to the style of the player and moving in a strong, athletic manner. Much attention is focused on a good variety of serves and being able to take positive advantage of the third ball. The mind is directed to always seek the first attack, to be aggressive, to open hard with a strong ball at the very first opportunity.

But above all players are encouraged to be different, to develop their own individual style, indeed in an environment surrounded by so many outstanding players, to be unusual is often the only way to succeed. There is strong pressure to be flexible, unpredictable, to change tactics to cope with other styles of play, to think to make better use of the table, not just to play one way all the time.

Finally the Asians train harder, longer and more professionally. We in Sweden may not be able to devote so much time to training but there is certainly no excuse for lack of professionalism or failing to use our resources effectively. Perhaps instead of looking for funding to send our young girls abroad for tournaments or training, we should look more to put our house in order at home. We have assets here in Sweden, we have good level Asian women players who could be invited for sparring, we have former National Trainers for girls and women from many countries including China, we have good venues for camps. Above all we here at home have the motivation and the interest to make things work. Let us just be prepared to make the effort and get things moving!

Sweden, Girls’ Play: the Big Ball

Rowden Fullen (2001)

The bigger ball means a number of changes must be made when considering girls’ style development and it must be appreciated that certain styles are going to be less effective.

Less spin and less speed will affect all players who play at a distance from the table — it is in fact harder to win points from back, whether you chop or topspin and many players are going to need more power. Reaction players who stay close will be less affected and may actually benefit, by having fractionally more time to play their game. Serve specialists should perhaps be affected but there appear to be two different schools of thought on this. Some players think they get rather more ‘purchase’ on the bigger ball (because of the larger surface area they get good contact on the racket, good grip when spinning) and some find the bounce a little more unpredictable. Certainly many of the world’s best servers can still win points on their own service and still have an advantage here. Others especially the women think there is rather less spin on the serve.

Here in Sweden where we are somewhat lacking in the niceties of style development and where many of the girls train with men and try to play a man’s topspin game, we are going to have to rethink our ideas on women’s development. It would appear more than ever necessary to look at the closer to table styles, to increase the focus on close safety and mastering speed and aggressive attack play over the table, now that the balance of power has shifted. There have always been more options available in taking the ball earlier, but now the control of speed and differing methods of achieving this assume greater importance — not only drive play but the full range of blocking strokes, sidespin, chop and soft block and of course early ball topspin.

Variation in all aspects becomes more vital when you can’t win so easily with power. We must not only think of strokes but variety in angles, length, speed, spin, balls straight and to the body, differing serves and receives and changes in tactics and unpredictability in play. To be able to play with and against the spin or return it to the server and to know what spin remains on the second, third and fourth ball is not just nice to know, it’s necessary information! Of course power will still have its place but perhaps now in a slightly different context — if players are closer to the table then how you open and counter is vital. The first counter assumes higher importance whether the opponent opens hard or with slow spin, you must be able to put pressure on her directly with your return. Equally the next shot after your first loop or drive must do the same. You should look at ways to move beyond the strategy of control to actually winning the point and preferably earlier in the rally.

What is happening with the big ball in the men’s game at the very highest level for example is that the first hard attack often wins the point. The opponent more often than not returns into the net. Either the bigger ball does not come quite so far as expected or drops lower than expected (it is certainly heavier), with the result that you need to lift the ball more than you think. Under pressure and with limited time to react this is hard to do. Many players also complain about unpredictable bounces with the bigger ball and different trajectories through the air.

The whole service and receive scenario and second, third and fourth ball is now upgraded to a higher level in the women’s game too. If the first hard attack has a very good chance to win the point outright then the first opening shot or the first strong counter is the one that matters and the sooner the better. It is vital to have a good variety of serves, to know how they are returned and to be able to take the initiative on the third ball. Equally initiative and variation on the second ball are critical. It is for example necessary to attack long backspin, side or topspin serves to the backhand wing and to get the serve back on the table — quite a large percentage of long serves in girls’ table tennis are not even returned! Variation in service spin is a priority from a tactical viewpoint — sidespin is often effective against players who want to return short, chop and float against those who like to open or push long and reverse against girls who want to play predominantly forehand returns.

Variation within the rallies is equally of value. If the first hard attack has a good chance to win the point then being predictable is a very sure way to commit suicide! It is interesting to note for example that even at the very highest level, when one player goes back from the table and lobs the other now plays a slower ball with less power input — it is often this change of speed that wins the point. In practical terms most girls have little or no thought to change speed and length within the rally and even less to change the spin input or timing dramatically. Not only should we be thinking more now of changes of speed and spin on the ball — variation from slow loop to fast, from hard drive to stop-block, but also changes in the length and speed of the stroke. Is the arm moving fast enough, should we play with a longer, slower movement in some situations?

With the bigger ball the control element should be heightened, it should be possible to play at a high tempo with more safety and less mistakes. It will be easier to open against backspin or from a pushing situation, easier to hit through topspin or to use the various blocking options. As a result one of the prime training areas within the rally must be the capability to accelerate from a control situation into full attack, using spin or speed, from block into spin or drive and especially on the backhand side. Girl players must look to actively win points, not to get locked into a control situation. They must also look to break out from the control type of game earlier in the rally, too many girls lack the aggressive instinct, the ultra positive attitude to get on the attack at the earliest possible moment. With the big ball it is of less advantage to be negative, less use to wait and hope.

As well as being positive and breaking out of the control situation, one must not underestimate the value of the slower or more spinny shot with the bigger ball. It behaves differently in the air and perhaps because of the aerodynamics or the increased weight, drops lower quite quickly and doesn’t always come through as far as you expect. Even at the very highest level players are making errors against the slower or shorter ball — some of the world’s best players are even using change of pace/spin as a weapon, hard hit drive, followed by slower spin at a later timing point and in quick succession.

Girls should be training for and looking at how to take advantage of the new conditions. Will increased control benefit you with your particular style or will there be problems? How can you upset the control game and get into a more positive position – with the slow roll, spinny ball, chop or sidespin block? Are you practising to break out from the control situation and attack? Are you looking at different methods to attack, spin, hard hit, forcing-block? Are you aware that the whole serve and receive scenario is now a much higher priority? When the opponent opens whether hard or spinny can you pressure them on the next ball? Many of your best hits are going to come back more often — are you prepared for this and can you do something different with the next ball?

Our sport of table tennis is changing. If you want to keep progressing yourself then you too must be prepared to change with it, or indeed you may be left behind!

Developing the Talent of our Girls

Rowden Fullen (2002)

You are a twelve to thirteen year old girl and you want to be a top table tennis star – just how do you go about it and where do you go? You could choose to go to one of our big clubs or even to the table tennis academy. But results over the past few years have shown this is the hard way to the top. Our top girls have tried Lycksele, Falkenberg, Helsingborg and now the new centre at Köpings, but to no avail – we still have no girls say in the top 50 in the world senior rankings. Compared to the top 15 year olds Fukuhara and Guo Yue we are nowhere. Trying to reach the top after and in combination with several years’ schooling becomes more and more hopeless every year.

With a few exceptions the production of young, promising, female talents has virtually stopped in Sweden. Every so often we see one or two girls between 9 – 11 of real talent but in almost all cases they just drift away into oblivion after a couple of years, they just don’t develop to anywhere near their full potential. As an idea table tennis schools are good but unfortunately the results are bad.

The number of top women’s trainers in Europe and even coaches who understand how women play and what they need to do to get to the top, is now at an all time low. Too often girls train in the wrong way and against the wrong type of sparring for their game. Often when our best young prospects go abroad to China or Japan in their mid-teens they come into contact with top women’s coaches and suddenly it is brought home to them that their development in Sweden has in fact been in the wrong direction for them for a number of years, in spite of the fact that they have been to the so-called top table tennis schools.

The reality too is that in a harsh world where money steers the sport, there is seldom much space for talent to flower to senior level. It’s far easier instead to fill teams with foreign players and as a result many of our girls drop out well before they are 20, tired, disillusioned or burned out by our sport’s heavy demands. In many clubs there is unfortunately lack of competence and direction — many youngsters too are so spoiled by our easy modern-day life that they are not ready to make sacrifices, to give their all or go all the way to reach top levels. Talent on its own is nowhere near enough to scale the real heights – there must be intelligence, the right attitude and a considerable core of hard steel. Do you really think you can create such qualities in a semi-academic environment where those of your own age and experience surround you? When development is over, the step up to the grown-up world is often just too tough. If you’re 16 – 17 and you are not in the national troop then it’s far too late.

It’s far better for many 12 — 14 year olds to play in senior teams and to compete in senior tournaments from as early an age as possible. Here you build up a different toughness and different qualities. Maturity comes much more quickly. The change from junior to senior or elite is that much easier when it is time to take the step. If you have the opportunity play and compete abroad, travel abroad to training camps with older players, such experiences are character building and are never wasted.

It’s a simple fact that in Sweden it’s next to impossible to develop to world-class level in one club even a relatively big club – you reach the limits of what that club can do for you. You have to grow and to move on. Unfortunately too often clubs and parents hold young talents back because they don’t want to let go. Instead they end up destroying the player’s future.

The more precocious the talent the earlier it should be exposed to higher levels of competition. Waldner played elite men’s series at a little over 12 years and trained in China at 14, we all know the results. Some 7/8 years ago there was a fantastic young 12 year old from Iceland, hailed by many of Europe’s top trainers as an even better prospect than Waldner. Could he have been even more successful than the maestro? We will never know because he was kept at home and was never exposed to the higher levels necessary to develop his game.

Women’s Development in Sweden

Rowden Fullen (2004)

Marie Olsson is certainly the most promising female talent that Sweden has had over the last 5 or 6 years, the only player who has been right at the top in her age group from the age of 9 years and one of the few to reach the highest levels of the European elite as a junior.

She was recently interviewed in the Swedish table tennis news magazine and made a number of statements, which should send shock waves through the Swedish table tennis hierarchy. She would for example ‘like to have access to a trainer who works with her every day and is regularly with her at tournaments’. Isn’t this totally ludicrous? A player of her level and capabilities without organized and supervised development! In almost any other country in Europe coaches would be queuing up to get the chance to help her.

Marie also indicated that those who were her junior contemporaries such as Vaida and Pota are now somewhat ahead of her due to stronger competition and better coaching and sparring in Europe. Certainly Marie’s results over the last year or so cannot be compared with those of Pota for example even though Marie is probably potentially a much better player. Surely this is a damning indictment of women’s table tennis in Sweden.

Finally Marie thought it would be nice for the women to have their own regular team captain who was there for them at all times! Sweden, one of the top table tennis nations in the world and no women’s team captain. Again totally ludicrous! Why should the top girls and young women in Sweden even want to play internationally for a country which shows so little interest in their welfare or development? Indeed one of our top young players has already said no to the national team and this is quite understandable.

It seems to be obvious that Sweden just does not have the commitment, the coaching expertise or sufficient depth of quality in the women to provide the right sparring and direction for talented girl players. It would make more sense for Marie to pull out of the National Team, to leave Sweden for the next 4 or 5 years and to work abroad at developing her game to its full potential. She will certainly not do this playing in Sweden.

One can to some extent understand the attitude of the Swedish Association. There are for instance so few of our top girl players who have the right motivation and are prepared to commit their lives totally to table tennis (one can almost count them on the fingers of one hand) that we can appreciate the reluctance of the Association to spend time or money on the women. But this is a two-edged sword – if the Association is not interested then it’s all too easy for the players to lose motivation and to give up on their ambitions to play at the highest level and to represent their country. It’s not as if there is any serious money in women’s table tennis so why bother? Better surely just to play abroad for money and develop your game as best as you can rather than to join the rat race at home.

There is also a further fundamental point to consider. Have we the trainers even at national level who are capable of developing our girl players to the highest levels? Results and an overview of the development of female players in Sweden would appear to indicate that we in fact do not! A number of our best teenagers have returned disillusioned from training in China or Japan where they have been asked almost from the first day why they don’t play a woman’s game. It is immediately obvious to top Asian coaches that the direction in which our girls are evolving is not going to bring results at top level in women’s table tennis. Some of these girls have had very high level coaching in Sweden!

It would appear too that even our top clubs in Sweden which are involved with girls are not in favour of allowing the National Association to take over women’s coaching. When it was suggested that all the best women/girls should train in the new National Centre one of the top women’s clubs threatened to cease all activity with female training and to withdraw their women’s teams from the league. The Association backed down.

Why too do we not make the best use of the resources we do have in Sweden? We have Chinese women playing in the leagues in Sweden, many of them of high level and with different playing styles, penholders or defenders for example. Why are they not used on training camps? This is a problem which has been with us for many years. Back in the ‘90s when Bergkvara were briefly in the elite their number one player Tong Fei Ming was a top twenty world ranked player. It took Lars Borg some 6 months and a lot of arm twisting before she was allowed to spar with Swedish players on training camps! We have trainers in Sweden who have trained girls and women at national level in other countries, even a former junior girls’ trainer in the Chinese National Team. Why are our own National Trainers so afraid to use outside expertise? Are they afraid that their own flaws and shortcomings will be exposed?

Possibly in all of this we should bear one fact in mind. Whatever the great successes of Swedish table tennis on the men’s side over the years, we have never, ever, had a Swedish woman in a world final, in either singles, doubles or mixed. And this is going right back to 1926. Now perhaps is the time that we should finally understand that men’s and women’s table tennis are two completely different animals. Success in one gives absolutely no basis for assumptions or performance in the case of the other.

Lecture on Girls’ Development

Rowden Fullen (2004)

Training programme

Women – key issues

Girls’ seminar

Girls groups – key aspects

Practical exercises for girls

Ready position, serve and receive tactics. Are these changing?

1) TRAINING PROGRAMME

Programme Development

Regular work on theory.
Individual attention — direction, each girl should know how she individually will develop and how she is most effective.
Each girl should know how to train and what constitutes good training.
Mental training — develop and work on this in every session.
Materials — develop understanding on how girls should cope with differing rubbers and playing styles.
Each individual player should start to take responsibility for her own development, not just to rely on coaches/trainers/ psychologists etc.

Areas to work in.

Eliminating or minimizing existing technical and tactical problems - in basics, with technique and movement patterns, against materials and certain playing styles.
Eliminating or minimizing existing mental problems — rigidity of play, rigidity of thought (prepared to consider new ideas, new methods).
Understanding of the women’s game.
Understanding that any development means change (if she is not prepared to change, then she cannot progress).
Understanding of own personal style and how each girl is effective and wins points.
Understanding of best playing distance from the table.
Understanding of F.H. and B.H split.
Ensuring that movement patterns are appropriate to girl’s own playing style.
Understanding the right way to train for her style and how to keep progressing in the right direction.
Understanding that training in mental techniques is particularly important if she is to reach the higher levels in her sport.
Understanding that to reach the higher levels she must be prepared to train in the more advanced techniques used by the world’s top women.

Typical session layout

Regular exercises (trying to minimize problem areas) — 15%.
Developing girls’ strength areas and aspects where they are already proficient — 20%.
Working in new areas and developing new skills — 15%.
Working in mental areas – 15/20%.
Working on theory – 5 /10%.
Working on serve/receive and 2nd/3rd/4th ball and/or match play — 25%.
After session – evaluating and assessing performance (How she performed and how she felt during training).

Ground rules.

No negative talking (or thinking) during group training — if a player is negative this has an effect on the others in the group and brings down the level of confidence in the whole group.
Have your notebook with you at the table so you can take notes in the session and evaluate your performance afterwards.
Be ready at start time, racket glued and water bottle with you, don’t let others in the group down.
If you can’t be at training for one reason or another, ring as early as possible.
Bring the ‘right’ attitude to the training hall, if you don’t want to train this affects the whole group and brings down the quality of training. It also slows down and hinders your own development.
Be ready to control your own development. ‘Educate’ your coaches and trainers, think about your training, always be ready to question. If coaches can’t explain why a particular exercise is good for you and how it benefits your game, then perhaps they are not that knowledgeable and you shouldn’t listen to them. It’s your life, your development, value these — others may not.

2) WOMEN: KEY ISSUES.

Quite simply women cannot hit the ball as hard as men so they will achieve less topspin

With less topspin women have less on-the-table control

It is crucial in the women’s game that the loop is either very short or very long. good length is critical

In the women’s game the behaviour of the ball after the bounce is more unpredictable

It is expedient in the women’s game that the players’ attention is directed towards the value of the shorter stroke

Timing is vital in the women’s game. The timing ‘window’ in drive-play is extremely narrow, between ‘peak’ and 1 – 2 centimetres before.

It is essential too that women can convert – change from topspin to drive and vice versa at will. The ability to loop several balls in a row is not a prime requirement in the women’s game.

In the women’s game the vital importance of spin on the first opening ball (and good length) cannot be over-estimated. This creates openings.

The ability to open hard against the first backspin ball and not just spin all the time is a vital asset in the women’s game.

Never stop girl/women players receiving with the BH from the middle (or even the FH) it’s done at the very highest level.

From an early age girls should learn to open and play positively on the BH side

In the early years girls should train till they are at ease in the short play situation, aware of the various possibilities and able to gain advantage in this area.

Strong serve and 3rd ball are essential elements if women are to reach the highest levels.

Receive tactics are of prime importance in the women’s game.

3) GIRLS’ SEMINAR

Men play well back from the table with power and strong topspin. Women play closer to the table and counter more with speed than topspin. This means that very different timing points are used in male and female table tennis. Women too generally have less time.
Men hit the ball harder and are capable of achieving more topspin than women do. The harder you hit the ball with a closed racket, the more topspin you create and the more on-the-table control you have.
As a result the men have more control and face a more predictable ball. Many women play with lesser power and differing materials, which also adds to the unpredictability after the bounce in the women’s game.
The unpredictability in the women’s game directly affects the stroke technique especially on the forehand side.
Because of the lesser spin and power in the women’s game length becomes much more significant.
Women generally have a much squarer stance than men do (60% to around 25 – 30%).
Women receive much less with the forehand than the men do (53% to around 80%).
Women receive much more with the backhand (47% to 19%). Many receive with the backhand from the middle.
Women in general serve more with the backhand (20% to around 5%).
Women use more long serves than men do (16/17% as opposed to about 10%, but European women serve long much more than Asian women, 30% to around 13%).
Asian women serve more short serves than European women do (65% to 50%).
Counter-play is still the main tactic in the women’s game and timing is vital. The ‘timing window’ in drive-play is extremely narrow, between ‘peak’ and 1 – 2 centimetres before. It is just not possible to ‘hit’ the ball hard from a late timing point WITHOUT TOPSPIN.
The ability to open hard against the first backspin ball and not just spin all the time is a vital asset in the woman’s game.
From an early age it’s vital that girls learn to open and to play positively on the backhand side.
It’s also important that girls are at ease in the ‘short play’ situation and able to gain advantage in this area.
Strong serve and third ball and good receive tactics are of prime importance if girls are to reach high level.

4) GIRLS’ GROUPS: KEY ASPECTS

Take and create 3rd ball opportunities — to push 2 or 3 then to open is not so effective, it gives the opponent time to think, to plan and to open first.
Work out how your own serves are returned and how to move into position to attack the 3rd ball and which type of attack to use.
Use the F.H. from the B.H. corner especially after the serve and on the diagonal. Often you will win the point direct.
If you can’t open on the B.H. side get round with the F.H.
The ball after the first topspin is of vital importance – be ready to get in and drive attack but judge the power input carefully.
You can often even win by thinking differently, blocking short for instance.
Training to block v topspin and to even hit through loop is vital in the women’s game.
Control with feeling is important against topspin and if you can force the opponent’s loop then you give them no time to loop again.
The slower ball and change of pace often win points in women’s play.
Are you able to return a fast serve with a slow ball?
Can you create real backspin when pushing on the B.H. and hit hard on the return ball?
The hard push ball is more often than not returned with a float or slight topspin and is therefore easy to hit hard.

5) PRACTICAL EXERCISES FOR GIRLS

I sometimes wonder if coaches really give a great deal of thought to the nature of the exercises they will use when they have girls’ training camps and just how they will use these exercises. I have seen a number of camps where the prime emphasis has been on continuous topspin even though less than 13 – 14% of the players had anything like a topspin weapon. I have seen girls instructed to loop on the backhand when more than 20% had pimples and some even long pimples! And to make it even more confusing players are often told to play hard on the backhand diagonal and switch with power into their partner’s forehand – the partner is of course expected to loop. This obviously gives the poor partner rather limited time to play anything like a loop stroke but she is criticized if she counters or smashes! Indeed she is criticized for playing a woman’s game!

It is obvious if coaches watch the top women in competition that counter-play is still the basic norm in the women’s game. We rarely if ever see the loop-to-loop rallies that we see in men’s play with both players well back from the table. Instead the first opening spin ball is blocked or hit and there is little or no time for the looper to spin again. Rather the top women come in after their first topspin so that they are in a better position to counter fast, over or close to the table. After the first opening spin ball, the next is usually taken at an earlier timing point to pressure the opponent. It is essential in fact that women can convert — change from topspin to drive and vice-versa at will — rather than loop three or four balls in succession. THE ABILITY TO LOOP SEVERAL BALLS IN A ROW IS NOT A PRIME REQUIREMENT IN THE WOMEN’S GAME.

It should be obvious too that it’s very easy to encounter and even cause major problems especially with girls at a younger age when trying to combine spin and speed exercises. What happens more often than not is that they will retreat on the wing where they are expected to topspin to give themselves time thus causing an imbalance in their own game – good close with speed on one wing good back with spin on the other! (To play at top level imbalances have to be strictly controlled or when they exist, utilized by the player, who must understand precisely how this is achieved). One of the prime aspects of the women’s game is the ability to control speed. Surely it makes more sense to research methods of doing this closer to the table on both wings or deeper on both wings depending on the individual characteristics of the player.

And here we have the crux of the matter – players are individuals and different. In the women’s game with many more different styles and differing paths to the top, coaches should not be looking to create a uniform playing style and then try to ‘squeeze’ the girls into this framework! Rather they should be looking at what characteristics are natural to the player and how to develop these.

Where we have large groups of girls it makes rather more sense to explain an exercise – e.g. ‘between 2 to 4 fast drives on the backhand diagonal then fast straight to the forehand, one player controlling, one working’ – then to add the proviso that the ‘working’ player make her own decision as to how she should play the fast ball to the forehand, depending on her style of play. She then has the choice of using her own strongest stroke, loop, drive, smash, chop, stop-block etc.

Of course from an early age girls should learn to open from a pushing situation and especially on the backhand side – it is indeed important that they can create spin or speed on this first opening ball as this will open up further attacking opportunities. Although at a lower standard and at a younger age girls/women are less positive than men are on the backhand side, at the very highest levels you rarely see women pushing more than one ball. They have the capability to flick over the table or to open from further back on this wing.

It is what happens after the first opening ball that is radically different in the women’s game to the men’s and something that coaches must understand and develop in their training exercises with girl players.

6) READY POSITION, SERVE AND RECEIVE TACTICS. ARE THESE CHANGING?

Even in the case of many players who do stand with the right foot back, often they come in with the right foot against the serve to use the forehand from the middle of the table. In this way they keep control of the table with the forehand on the subsequent ball. The men take over 80% of the opponent’s serves with the forehand wing. If top men can’t open against the serve, the main receive is the short push return with the forehand.

The European women usually serve longer as they wish to get their topspin game in at the earliest opportunity. However in many cases it is obvious that the Europeans have neither good enough serves nor a good enough first opening ball to obtain a real advantage. If we look at statistics of rallies between top Asian and European women, the Europeans are struggling to hold their own in drive or counter-play but also they are not really dominant in spin play either. Unless their first opening topspin ball is of exceptionally high quality they almost always lose out when the game accelerates into fast counter-play.

It is obvious too that counter-play is still the basic norm in the women’s game. We rarely if ever see the loop to loop rallies that we see in men’s play with both players well back from the table. Instead the first opening spin ball is blocked or hit and there is no time to spin again. Rather the top women come in so that they are in a better position to counter fast over or close to the table. After the first opening spin ball, the next is usually taken at an earlier timing point to pressure the opponent.

Europe: Are we aiming to produce only 2nd class women players?

Rowden Fullen (2009)

Generally what are our aims in Europe in terms of women’s style development? Is it really our intention to produce world-beaters, women who can match the Asian players or are we content to aim at a lower level, content to be 2nd class? It is obvious that there are fewer styles of play in the women’s game in Europe; even in National Centres women have less variety and our girls who train in Asia almost always return with enthusiastic tales of the vast variety of sparring partners, both penhold and shakehands grip. Is it however also perhaps obvious that many European countries have given up on the possibility of trying to match the Asians and that their input in the case of girl players is ‘token’ at the very best?

When one talks for instance to the top Asian coaches regarding our penchant in a number of European countries for producing women who play a man’s game and topspin back from the table, their reply is always the same – ‘Long may you continue to do this, with the bigger ball the superiority of the Asian players will be even more pronounced. If you continue in the West to work with this style of play you will only ever produce top 100 players at best, you will never succeed in getting women in the top 25 in the world.’ Does this mean that certain styles in the women’s game are perhaps more effective at ‘world’ level?

I think in general we can say that this does apply and that almost certainly the traditional European girls’ topspin game is never going to be a worldbeater in the current climate. Good women defenders on the other hand for example are often very high in the world rankings and have been for a number of years — it doesn’t matter whether they are Asian or European. Also material players figure highly in the top ranks of the women. There are many more ways of playing in the women’s game — we only need to look at world champions over the last twenty years to see the variety of styles. It is also noticeable much more than in the men’s game that the top women have their own ‘specialties’ in playing styles, materials and tactics.

So what is the most popular style among the world’s best women, those winning Olympics and World Class events or even those at the top in the younger age groups? Many of these players stay much closer to the table than the Europeans, cope with the speed inherent in the women’s game rather better and always aim to reduce the time available to the opponent. Zhang Yining, Wang Nan and Ai Fukuhara are prime examples as is Liu Jia now in Austria. Rather than backing away all these players move in to take the ball earlier on the FH side and use close-to-table footwork and BH techniques. They play square or even over-square and are able to execute early-ball strokes more easily because of their stance and movement patterns. They also of course retain a larger range of alternatives, which are lost to players who back away from the table. Two European-born seniors who understand these principles and have used them effectively are Mihaela Steff and Georgina Pota.

It is however noticeable in the case of the younger girls from Europe (and especially from the Eastern-bloc countries) that squareness is the in thing and that some coaches in Europe understand what is successful at present in the top level women’s game. Players such as Szocs, Kusinska, Kolodyazhnaya, Noskova, Matelova, Xiao all play very square and in some cases pronouncedly over-square. This is obviously not accidental as countries such as Romania and Russia have a long history of producing high-level female players and their top coaches would not countenance obsolete or ineffective techniques. It seems obvious they have been looking at the world’s best women players and have decided that traditional European ‘direction’ is perhaps outdated. Of course rather than playing ‘catch-up’ it is better to initiate new ideas, but certainly anything is better than clinging on desperately to the past.

Unfortunately however in Europe there seems to be little thought and fewer ideas as to where we are going with our women and indeed how to get there. Many coaches even seem to ignore the fact that there are many more playing styles in the women’s game than in the men’s and that it can be a very useful exercise to explore the varied alternatives. Any top-level training group of women players should normally consist of many more varied styles than you would find in an equivalent men’s group. If European women only spar against one or two styles of play how are they expected to progress into the higher echelons of women’s table tennis?

Techniques are and should be different too with players who are closer to the table, but again in Europe we don’t seem to set much credence in aspects such as this. A number of top coaches stress the point that table tennis is faster and faster every year but we don’t seem to take this to the logical conclusion – if our sport is faster then it follows logically that better close-to-table technique is crucial simply because we have less time!

It is however not only the increasing speed factor which we must evaluate but another element which, although of crucial importance, is often overlooked. This is the fact, that of all the racket sports, table tennis is the one where the ball slows most dramatically through the air and where spin most affects the trajectory of the ball.

We must therefore consider time and the implications of the time element in men’s and women’s table tennis. Men more often than not play from further back, with more spin and a more pronounced arc. Because of these factors although they hit the ball harder it takes fractionally longer to reach the opponent on the other side of the table. Women take the ball earlier and play flatter with less spin. There is a big time difference between attacking close to the table and executing similar strokes say three metres back.

Equally movement patterns are vital – it is critical that women have the correct patterns for their style of play and can execute them with good balance. Above all retained squareness is vital – because they are closer to the table, women need to be ready at all times to play either FH or BH without a moment’s hesitation. If you watch female Asian players who topspin (Guo Yan and Wang Nan for example), they loop from a much squarer position so as to retain the initiative on the next ball. The position of the feet for topspin can be very different depending on whether you are initiating power or using the speed on the incoming ball. Sound technique is rather more vital in the women’s game than in the men’s.

Tactical considerations also become crucial. Not only do almost all women stand closer to the table, they also stand squarer, use more BH serves, receive more with the BH from the middle and play more BH shots from the middle. Nor are these tactics accidental as almost all the top women both Asian and European utilize them and many women so doing, such as Boros and Guo Yan, have in fact extremely strong FH strokes. These tactics are used because they work and because they save time.

Coaching women in Europe: ineffectual

Rowden Fullen 2010

For coaching to really work at any level we need to have the right people, in the right positions, at the right time. And above all we need to have the players in focus and not the coach. What do we mean by this? If the coach considers himself to be in charge and of importance or a top player himself, then a certain amount of his energy is directed into maintaining his position and feeding his ego. Therefore not all of his energy is centred only on the player and in giving the player the best of all possible opportunities to reach his/her full potential.

In too many countries in Europe coaches in National Centres are only interested in doing ‘their own thing’. They know best how to develop players, they don’t need to listen to either the players or their personal coaches and they don’t need to have contact with the big clubs who produce the players. But are most of these coaches operating from a position of strength or of weakness? Usually from one of weakness!

Often unfortunately most top coaches now come from the ranks of former players. As a result although they may understand what top players need and feel, they often have little insight into what is required in the development of differing playing styles and the use of materials, or in the case of the women’s game, of the many and varied paths to the top levels. In the majority of cases most of the in-depth development of these coaches comes only from the training camps they have attended as cadets or juniors and of course what they have learned is very much dependent on the expertise and methods of those in charge of such camps and also in the continuity of the training. How many coaches in National Centres have ever actually ‘produced’ top players themselves? Few if any!

To justify funding, sports authorities in Europe ask for results and medals from a young age. In China the best coaches work with cadets and juniors, but the only results that mean anything are those achieved in senior events. For young players to evolve we need more time for practice, not more and more competitions all the time. Looking for and producing girls who can immediately win medals in mini-cadet, cadet and junior events does not in most cases build a suitable grounding for senior competition. Already in cadets the prime goal of practice and selection becomes success as soon as possible.

Because our focus is on the short-term, selection is often biased in the wrong direction towards the sort of player who can achieve short-term success. Of course it is always easier to get results at mini-cadet, cadet and junior levels – the proof as it were of the competence and efficiency of the coaching and development in any association is whether or not they can bridge the gap between junior and senior success and produce world-ranked seniors. And what do we mean by world-ranked seniors? At least in the top 50 in the world.

If the emphasis is on success at a young age then the tendency is for a rapid turnover of players, who represent their country a few times and then disappear. The focus of the coaches immediately switches of course to the next even younger group of ‘hopefuls’, who are coming through behind. In this way we have a rapid turnover without ever really getting anywhere and in the process we demotivate a number of older players who perhaps do have the commitment to get somewhere given time and a little help.

This approach also means that the National Coaches have no need to liaise with the few big clubs, which are working hard long-term to produce top seniors and have good coaching and development on a daily basis. Such clubs and any contribution they may make are unnecessary because what they may achieve is in fact largely outside the parameters of what the top coaches require at national level.

Even on the coaching front there is no requirement for the development of top coaches to raise the overall levels throughout the country. In fact this could from the point of view of the main association be counterproductive as it would result in a cadre of top coaches, who long-term would produce better players than those being groomed nationally. The fact also that players were being developed outside the national framework to play a senior (and often different style of game) would also be directly against what the National Coaches need and require to win at the younger levels. Of course in all of this the wishes, aims and feelings of the individual players would be totally irrelevant.

Such a developmental pathway and a continued input by ‘player’ coaches also tend to ignore the individual assets of the player and far too often a ‘traditional’ style is favoured by the coaches in charge. It appears that the preferred playing style with the girls in Europe at the moment is two-winged topspin off the table. Players who don’t do this are ‘encouraged’ to change. In any group of ten girls they can be half a dozen differing styles and a fixation with one particular style will only benefit two or three players in the group at most. The rest are therefore expendable ‘cannon-fodder’ and are probably not going to be selected for international duty, despite any results they may achieve: they may in fact just as well not bother to attend development camps.

A focus on one particular style as being nationally more acceptable than others is always dangerous. As Jack Carrington said in UK 60 years ago and it’s even more relevant today: ‘You will not make top players by working in areas in which they will never be more than mediocre’. Many coaches in Europe for example say of the unusual players such as Carl Prean and Ni Xialan: ‘In quite a few countries in Europe players such as this would never get a place in the National Team because their style would be traditionally unacceptable’.

We need in order to produce world-class women, to work to long-term goals and to work with the styles of play and the advanced techniques necessary to enable them to compete at senior level. We also need to keep our research up to date in respect of what the top women are doing and how the women’s game is changing today. Unfortunately this long-term approach would probably deny us results and funding over a number of years and therefore we shall continue to produce women in Europe who are basically second-class in world terms.

In the case of the women it was plainly evident in the Tokyo 2009 Worlds that the two-winged topspin game for the women is something of a ‘dinosaur’, especially when played off the table. It was demonstrated for all to see, that consistent European topspin players like Toth (still dominant in Europe) were totally outplayed as soon as they drew back from the table.

The only European girls to get results were the Czechs, Vacenovska and Strbkova who at least tried to take the Asians on at their own close-to-table fast game. So why are we so fixated on spin with the girls? Why force girls down a route which is almost certainly going to be less successful in the future due to the equipment being used and their physical makeup?

With this type of coaching approach we are unfortunately only ever going to produce women in the top 70 to 300 in the world rankings and our ultimate aims are always going to be restricted. Coaching of women in Europe must move on to the next level. We must not only be aware of what the top women in the world are doing and of the styles that are most successful, but we must stop following and start innovating. It’s of little use watching the Asian players and especially the Chinese and waiting for them to come up with new techniques and tactics, then following blindly where they lead.

We in Europe and particularly the coaches (not the ex-players involved with table tennis, who will rarely if ever be able to break the mould of inherited thinking), must be ready to pioneer, to create, to originate, to initiate. And any innovation must be based on the natural strengths of the individual player. Only in this way are we ever going to make inroads against Asian dominance in our sport of table tennis.

Systems unfortunately breed predictability and limit creativity. Coaches are only going to produce the top players and the players are only going to attain their full potential, if they are resourceful, inventive and imaginative enough to bypass the regime and to ‘think outside the box’.

Finally of course, which few coaches seem to understand, is that producing a champion in any sport is not just about developing the technical and tactical skills, it’s about moulding and expanding the whole person. Coaching is not about dictating or coercing, but about pointing out the way and the alternatives. The player has to think for herself, act and be self-sufficient, in the final analysis only the player is going to ‘produce the goods’: many players however even throughout the whole length of their playing career, never actually come to terms with what is required for them personally to reach the goals they dream about.

Direction not Sparring

Rowden April 2017

Far too many players and coaches too, seem to ignore the purpose of the journey of table tennis or to become so heavily embroiled in the minutiae of the technique, tactics, strategies, the stresses of competition and the constant need to win and show results, that they overlook the importance of the final destination. Or perhaps they become so much involved and interested in the journey that the ultimate goal is forgotten or is no longer under constant scrutiny.

Table tennis is a long-term undertaking, a bit like building a house brick by brick over a period of time and it’s a process of slow learning and development. There are no quick and easy fixes. Equally it’s a process of developing the individual, we are all very different. So it’s a process of identifying the personal qualities and characteristics we have, which will best help us to achieve full potential and to eventually be the very best we can at this sport of ours! It is never a question as a large number of coaches in the Western world seem to think, of shoehorning the player into some form of ideal model, to which all great players must conform if they are ever to achieve perfection. In the final analysis this state is only ever achieved if the coach allows the player to grow and flourish in his/her own highly individual way. In fact in Asian countries coaches often look for a ‘specialty’ within the player’s style which they can build on to create success.
This is also why in Asia and especially in China (and particularly in the women’s game, where we have many more differing avenues to the top) we have so many specialist coaches, catering for men’s or women’s table tennis, for defence, short or long pimples etc: in this way whatever the gender or style of the individual players there are always experts available to take them forward.
In the West we need to spend more time on individual development bearing in mind that the style of any player is not just concerned with the technical requirements, but also the physical and mental aspects; does the player have the power, speed, reflexes, flexibility or other qualities needed to cope with the style he/she wishes to use and is he/she comfortable mentally with this way of playing?
With many young players it is often possible for the experienced coach to evaluate even at an early age which style they will adopt as a senior and to guide them towards this. However ‘direction’ is paramount and both player and coach must keep the end goal in sight and keep reviewing this on a regular basis. This means as well that players should train in the ‘right’ way for them as individuals, they should not be taking detours or venturing into cul-de-sacs which lead them nowhere; all their practice should be purposeful because the one thing about purposeful practice is that it is transformative!
In every training session therefore the player must ask the question: ‘Will this series of exercises be of benefit to me as an individual and do they fit in with where I am going as a player?’ In fact many of the top European players (even of the level of Boll and Schlager) have admitted in retrospect that much of their early training was wasted and was not precise enough. In other words they could have probably achieved what they did rather earlier or even better with the correct input!
Also bear in mind that even when the player is satisfied with the basic mental, physical and technical aspects of his/her game, there are many sub-routines and procedures which it is necessary to evaluate and fine-tune. For example what is the player’s most effective distance from the table and can he/she perform and maintain play in this area around a minimum of 70% of the time? How efficient is he/she in the areas either side of the prime distance? Does the player play most of the time at the right pace for him/her and more importantly is the player encoding in his/her subconscious the correct characteristics for the specific type of table tennis he/she intends to play? Is he/she precise enough in serve and receive placement and generally in the use of all areas of the table? What alternative techniques, strategies does the player have to cope with unusual situations? How adaptable is the player and how quickly does this occur? Even very simply, does the player have the correct and most economical footwork patterns for his/her particular style of play? Reaching full potential requires detailed assessment and research and of course there needs to be steady and progressive development.
In the final analysis the player may even prefer and be happy with a style which will never be successful at international level! If this is the path he or she wishes ardently to pursue, why should any coach feel he has the right to force the player down another route with which the player is not comfortable?
At the moment of writing this, Japan has 8 out of the top 10 under 21 female players in the World Rankings, with the other 2 being from Hong Kong and Singapore (China has none) and in fact Japan also occupies the number one Junior Team position in the world for girls. If we in Europe are ever going to close the gap on Asian women what we need most of all is ‘direction’, how they are going to play and what is most suitable for them as individuals. It goes without saying that we will never have any chance of matching the Asian women until we start working to our players’ strengths. We start later and train less than the Asians, have not so good technique and many fewer coaches who are adept in women’s table tennis. Only by having a constant dialogue with our players and by steering them into areas where they feel comfortable with the way they play and are able to use their individual characteristics and capabilities to the full, do we have any chance at all.

Improving Women's Table Tennis in Europe

Rowden Fullen 2009

Csilla Batorfi (HUN) Italian national women’s team coach, former European Champion in singles

We have big problems as Asia and China are very strong. Our greatest problem is that there are a very few women in Europe who are playing table tennis seriously. There are simply not enough players that we can make a good selection from.

In table tennis there is a huge difference in earnings between men and women as professionals. Today some top women players can earn good money but it is not much compared with men or other popular sports. A problem is that young players just as they are becoming good go to some clubs which can pay good money but do not have good daily training which is of course bad for the further development of young players. To make it simple - young players very often when choosing between good money and good training chose good money which is not good for their table tennis future.

Two Romanian girls Dodean and Samara are very good and they have good chances to become really good. I hope that our Stefanova will make good progress too. The problem is that they are still young but over 20 years of age, and have not reached the top yet - I won the European Championships when I was 17! As I see it now, they must really work hard, time is running out fast, soon it will be too late. We in Europe have to look after talented cadet girls and start with them from the beginning.

Andreja Ojstersek (SVN), Slovenian women’s national team coach

The gap between European and Chinese women table tennis is so deep that it seems almost impossible to overcome it. The existing big difference between Asia and Europe is the result of training - they practise more, they have better sparring partners, they have top coaches at all levels.

As I see it, the big problem in Europe is training in clubs - generally speaking even in best women’s clubs they do not have enough practice, I even have a feeling that today they practise less in the clubs than we did. It seems that many players become discouraged and simply do not believe that there is a chance to change the situation. Of course nowadays it is not easy with the young generation - they are offered in Europe so many new, interesting ways to have fun, table tennis has to rival for new girls with a lot of other competition.

It is very bad for Europe that clubs which have money simply buy good Chinese players as it is much easier to engage a top player for the team than to try to raise their own players. I have seen for example in Austrian national women’s league that practically all teams have Chinese players, some are even composed only from Chinese players! In my opinion this is a catastrophe. The new ITTF rule which was voted in at the Annual General Meeting during the World Championships in Guangzhou will help us - now at last no new Chinese women will come to play for European national teams and we will have to concentrate on our own players.

An additional problem is that European women stop playing seriously at the age of 22-25, examples like Tamara Boroš are rare. Most of the younger players train hard and fight only for a few years, and then they give up! In my generation in Slovenia we worked more and harder than the present generation. We practised 5-6 hours per day and all of us graduated from some schools. Our present generation is practising less.

Girls stop working hard when they realize that they can not make it to the top in Europe, they lose all their ambitions. We have some talented young girls, cooperation within Europe might help them to become really good. The problem has of course its roots in poor practice in clubs - as a national women’s coach I have already for 5 years tried to improve the footwork of our girls, but my efforts are in vain as we are as a national team not often together, and in the clubs they simply do not care to work on the same problem! We try to improve some technical details, when the girls come again we have to start all over again, as at home they did not work on it! The most important thing is to have clubs with motivated coaches and good practice - then you have a chance to really make some progress!

Dr Miran Kondric (SVN) Lecturer for racket sports at Sport University Ljubljana, special advisor for ITTF Science Committee

Science in table tennis is just as much needed as in any other modern sport. Without science in table tennis coaches would not have any source which would help them in planning better training, developing new methods for teaching technique, etc. A coach can gather useful information from different scientific fields, so he can develop adequate programs based on scientifically proved facts.

Table tennis is the fastest ball game in the world, movements of the player are short and fast and differ a lot. There is still a lot of playroom in this field, so we must try to develop reliable physical and biomechanical tests for table tennis. This would be a great help to coaches as it would enable them to program better training, make better selections. When changing the rules concerning balls, rackets and such equipment we should anticipate what will happen, science shall give the answers and then we will know how to react. Some research on table tennis injuries shows that we have had recently significantly more injuries due to always shorter movements in modern game.

There is yet another problem in Europe regarding scientists involved in table tennis scientific research, they have not enough contact among themselves and not enough contact with coaches. Besides there is no publication where they could publish the results of their research! This is something what is really needed, a publication on table tennis scientific research is absolutely necessary.

Zoltan Melnik (SRB) Serbian national women’s team coach

The best illustration of the present situation concerning women’s table tennis in Europe for me were the results from last European Championships in St. Petersburg, Russia. In team, single and double events most of the medal winners were old players who have no real possibilities to improve their game significantly. My impression is that in the last few years European women’s table tennis has made no progress, we are witnessing stagnation or even regression! At the moment I can mention only Dodean and Samara as young European players, but even for them the time is running out, they must work very hard and be dedicated to reach the goal, it all depends on them, their will for hard practice.

In China both of them at the age of 22 and 21 would be either on top of world rankings or out of selection, but of course in Europe situation is another - they are among the 40 best in the world and have the possibility to improve further. In their generation I do not see any other girls capable of becoming world class players, but hopefully new, young generations are coming.

It is very difficult to find realistic ways of how to improve the level of European women’s table tennis. Our women are playing as professionals or mostly as amateurs with some allowances from their clubs. In the clubs they seldom have adequate training which would give them the chance of becoming top-class players. Due to many obligations for club, national team, school, there is almost no time or money for additional training camps.

The big difficulty is that we have almost no really strong, well organized clubs to organize adequate daily training. At the moment in the clubs we succeed to educate cadets or even juniors of solid European level, but the clubs have not the means to enable those players to make the deciding step from good juniors to good seniors - the federation must help, we hope in future we will be able to do it.

I know that several other former top European countries in women’s table tennis have similar problems, take a look for example at Hungary - the situation there is generally the same as ours! We must admit that in our country the popularity of table tennis is decreasing - 10 years ago it was no problem for my club to get 70-80 children beginners for our table tennis school, now we have difficulties to find 20-30! This is quite a serious problem, we must fight to come back!

Tamara Boroš (HRV) Croatian player and European ranked n° 5

The problem with young girls in Europe nowadays is that they are not ready to practise as hard as it is necessary to reach the top world level. It is true that we now have a lot of Chinese players in European national teams, they are a sort of obstacle for young girls who strive to become national team members. But for me and the girls of my generation it was in some way a challenge to work harder and to become good enough to beat them. I thought that I have to learn to play against them, I thought it was good that I got a lot of opportunities to play against the Chinese in Europe and even to practise with them. The girls nowadays are not ready to dedicate themselves 100% to our sport, to sacrifice something to become better, the results of such an attitude are obvious. Today older women players are still at the top in Europe, Samara and Dodean are really the only younger players seriously threatening them. I can imagine that most of the older players would leave the international scene and national teams if they were seriously threatened by the new generation.

So they proceed to play as they are still at the top, even if they are not anymore as good as they used to be. If a player like Kristina Toth 34 years old wins 3 medals on European Championships she of course proceeds playing as long as she feels she can be successful - if there were many good young players beating her, she would probably soon give up! In my opinion the main reason why Europe is losing their position, why the gap with Asia becomes bigger and bigger is the lack of will among young European top players to dedicate a part of their lives to our sport - it is not possible to become a top world class player without really hard work and concentration on the job you are doing. When I was young even after training sessions I analysed table tennis videos, thought about my game and practice - it is obvious that not everybody is ready to do it in the same way, but it must be your decision - do you really want to reach the top and are you ready to do everything for it or you are just dreaming about being on the top?

A problem in Europe is that when a young girl makes some good results she immediately is taken by top clubs and has to play a lot in club competitions, matches for the national team, tournaments etc. Even in the best clubs they often have not the best training opportunities and besides, they often have not enough time for practice and recuperation. I am disappointed with the way training in most clubs I have recently visited is going on - most of the time you have the impression that the players and coaches are doing a dull job and are only waiting to finish it! If you really do not like table tennis then it is stupid to make out of it your profession, even if it is only temporary.

Neven Cegnar is one of the outstanding European women’s coaches. With the Croatian national team he already managed to win several team medals at European Championships; his best "product" Tamara Boros was for many years the only serious European threat to the best Chinese and Asian women and is still after a long pause due to an injury among the best in Europe

The situation in Women’s European table tennis does not look very good. Among the best 5 players on the official European women’s ranking list four are coming from China, the only one from Europe is already 35 years old! Among the best 20 women on the European ranking list more than 50% - 11 are coming from China(!!) , from 9 women born in Europe 5 are over 30 years old and only two are under 25.

Professional coaches working with young girls in Europe are forced to "produce" medals already in cadet and girls’ competitions, they prepare the girls to win medals in their age category and the target is at that moment not a long-term goal to enable the girl to compete at top level when she will play in women’s senior competitions. Due to this we are mostly not selecting the girls who will be able to climb to the top of the women’s ranking lists but we are looking for girls who can immediately win medals in cadet competitions and later in junior competitions.

In Europe we have a problem which does not exist in China. Our sport authorities spend normally 20-25% of the budget on bureaucracy and to justify it they ask for results and medals in all age categories. The result is of course that all federations try to win medals in all categories - in China their best coaches work with cadets and juniors, only results achieved in senior competitions count. Chinese cadets and juniors practise much more than they play in tournaments.

Comments

It’s obvious that many of the top coaches are concerned with the development of girls in Europe. A number of aspects are highlighted:

The numbers of serious women players are declining.
Financial rewards for women are poor.
The priority with many girls is to chase what money is available rather than going or staying where they can develop their own game.
The girls we do develop are not good enough, early enough.
There is too much emphasis in Europe on winning at a young level and too little preparation for the senior game. Much of this is because the funding bodies require results early.
Many girls reach a level as cadets/juniors but don’t make the transitional step into the seniors.
In most cases training in clubs in Europe is not good enough. It is vital to have good coaches and sparring in the clubs to make real progress.
Older players think the younger ones aren’t committed enough and don’t train hard enough.
Young players don’t stay in the game long enough. When they realise it’s too tough to make it to the highest levels, they become disillusioned and give up.
Older women are still playing and winning major events in Europe because they are not seriously challenged by younger players.
The young player’s table tennis life is too cluttered with club matches, tournaments, training camps and matches for her country that there is too little time for personal and individual development and recuperation

Conclusions

These comments also bring us perhaps to further conclusions. Do we have for example the expertise in many countries in Europe to produce women in the top 30 in the world or are our ambitions limited because we don’t have the infrastructure, the funding, or the coaching knowledge to do this? Are even our National Associations competent in this area? Or do we have too much traditionalism and inherited thinking in the way they approach player development?

There are many more paths to the top and many more styles of play in the women’s game, but far too often in Europe we seem to look only at the men’s game to provide answers to producing and developing good girl players.

Research into Women’s Table Tennis

Rowden 2011

Q. Is there really a big difference in coaching male/female players?

Until we fully understand that the men’s and women’s games are ‘two completely different sports’ we will never raise the level of women’s play throughout Europe. Women have many more differing styles of play which are effective at world level. The men don’t. In the women’s game it is almost always speed which wins over spin, which is exactly the opposite of what happens with the men. There are also many more material players among the ranks of the women and coaches must be more fully informed as to the why, the how and the what. The mental and physical capabilities are also radically different. To work with and develop girls/women demands a great deal more from the coach.

Unfortunately too many of those involved in training girls in Europe see the answers to female table tennis as originating in the men’s game and the way men play. This of course ignores the differences in body strength and speed and also ignores the scientific aspects such as less spin and speed due to the banning of glue and the bigger ball. We have visionaries in Europe, such as Eva Jeler in Germany, who understand how women play, but most of the Associations and the coaches involved in training girls/women don’t listen. They have their own agenda and because of the lack of finance in the women’s game, often the professional development of girls is a low priority.

Q. Why is it that coaches in Europe don’t understand about coaching girls/women?

It’s quite simple, most coaches aren’t coaches any more, they are trainers. Too many are pushed into coaching from a playing career which often wasn’t very successful in the first place. They just don’t have the years of background knowledge and experience which is necessary. The single most important ingredient in any expert system is significant, pertinent and ongoing experience. Good decision making is about compressing the information load by decoding the meaning of patterns derived from in many cases decades of experience.

Such experience is never transferable in its entirety to other areas or subjects, though some parts may be.

Some aspects are transferable from playing to coaching, others are not. A player may be a good corner-man and tactician but quite out of his/her depth when it comes to understanding many differing styles of play and how each is developed and refined. This of course is one of the main requirements in coaching girls/women.

What we can’t afford to overlook is that top coaches possess enhanced awareness and intuition and that the basis for this is the accumulated knowledge and experience they have built up over countless hours of being involved with a variety of players. The really experienced coach sees cues in the preparation, movement build-up and stroke execution as well as in the physical and mental attributes which enable him/her to make informed decisions as to which road the player should take to reach full potential. The less experienced coach or the ex-player does not yet have this ability (and may never have it). Also this is not something you can teach in a classroom over a few weekends, it is an understanding which grows and flowers in the individual over countless hours (sometimes decades) of meaningful participation in a particular activity and it is selective to that activity and not a skill which can be transferred to other areas.

In fact many of the top coach educators in Europe are at the present time somewhat concerned as to the efficacy of fast-tracking top athletes into top coaching posts without adequate in-depth training. They question whether even the real top athletes have acquired the right attitudes and abilities during their performing career to make a direct transition into the coaching field.

Q. You hint that it’s perhaps more difficult to coach girls. Do girls perhaps need a certain type of environment and a different approach from the coach?

Many countries are quite backward in the coaching of girls and not much thought goes into their development. Girls must have a training programme which allows them to ‘get closest to their full potential’.

We need an environment where girls know where they are going and do not have to face too many conflicting ideas. Generally they are not as focused as boys on winning all the time but it is important to them that they know where they are going and how to get there. They should be able to work hard and profitably in surroundings where there is no stress and where the developmental pathway is clear and without complication. Above all they must be able to feel that the way they are progressing is in harmony with their physical and mental capabilities. In view of the lack over the whole of Europe of coaches who can help them reach their full potential, girls must also be ready to take more responsibility for their own progress.

The mental side and issues of self-confidence in general are rather more important with girls than boys. Girls are more vulnerable and sensitive and much more self-critical. Sometimes they are even quite self-destructive. The coach needs to be rather more understanding, less autocratic and prepared to discuss more with the player. Listen and liaise rather than dictate. Equally working with girls is much more challenging and demanding and requires rather higher levels of background knowledge and expertise from all involved in their development.

Q. Generally are there radically different tactics in the men’s and women’s game?

Of course. Men win points primarily with spin and power. Their main strength is the powerful forehand topspin stroke and usually everything is secondary to reaching the right position to use this. Such a pattern does not apply to women’s table tennis.

The ability to control speed is primary to women’s table tennis. And not only to control the speed but to do this with safety until an opening presents itself. This is why so many women use material; this is an aid to controlling the opponent’s speed and returning a different type of ball, which breaks up the opponent’s rhythm.

There are many more styles of play with women and basically points are won with placement, speed and change of speed, rotation and change of rotation. To control the play securely and safely on the backhand is an essential ability and also to have a suitable response when the opponent switches from your backhand into your forehand. When working with girls most of the focus needs to be on playing different strokes and combinations near the table and not backing away especially when moving from one wing to the other.

A big problem too in Europe with almost all girls is the lack of good foot-work patterns and techniques. The foot-work needs to complement all the other elements of play and should of course be the correct type for the individual player’s style. Too many coaches are unaware that differing styles require and will lead to different movement patterns. As a result far too often the wrong patterns for a particular individual in fact become an obstacle to perfecting strong and stable stroke-play.

Q. Why can’t women just play like the men? Swedish men for example were very successful right through the 1980’s and 1990’s against China.

Basically because women lack the power and dynamic speed of movement and the further they move away from the table, the more noticeable this becomes. The men back off the table and use their speed of foot and upper body strength to feed power and spin into the ball. However even the men complain now, that with the bigger ball and no glue the stresses on the body are much greater. A number of the top men in Europe were injured as soon as glue was banned and they had to adapt their game. For women to play in this way requires strength and speed they don’t have.

(At the time of the glue ban everyone was in agreement, both the coaches and the players, that the game without glue demanded much higher strength and fitness levels and that specific programmes had to be developed to prepare players to cope with these new demands. Players also emphasised the importance of better technique and better footwork, the days of reaching for the ball and letting the bat do the work were over.)

In addition there are many more good blockers and counter-hitters in the women’s game which means that an off-the-table topspin game is tactically much less effective. Close-to-table players just play short/long or out to the angles and the topspin player cannot create either enough pace or spin to win points.

Q. Does this mean that there are certain styles of play in the women’s game which are more effective at world level?

This is definitely the case. There are basically 3 styles which are most effective at top level. However there are many sub-styles within these 3 areas because of the variety of materials women use, from long to short pimples (with differing friction, speeds and sponge thicknesses) to use of material on the FH or BH sides.

1. Good defenders, even the old style ones have always been able to get into the top 15 in the world even into the top 10 (Kim Kjung Ah is currently at No 4). However what all defensive players have now come to understand with the big ball and games to eleven-up is the necessity for attack. Often the older-style players will attack with drive play but nearly all younger defenders have the capability to topspin the ball and to change the form of the rally quite dramatically
2. Blocking and counter-hitting has always been a style which has been effective at the highest levels in world play, especially as many women play with differing varieties of pimples. The Asian players, who occupy almost all the leading positions in the rankings, generally have a very active game and will open at the earliest opportunity. The hard attack ball is important to their table tennis philosophy. Over the years speed has been the dominant factor in their play and even now if they have to choose between speed and spin it will almost always be the former. They open as early as possible, directly after the serve for example and if they are compelled to play an intermediate stroke, they try to control the play so as to play positively on the next ball. Serve and the third ball hit are fundamental in their armoury and they spend much training time on this. They tend to take the ball at an earlier timing point than the European players. (Ai Fukuhara from Japan is a prime example of this style of play).
3. The close-to-table attacker with spin capability is also a highly effective style at world level. What we are looking at here, where players have the requisite reactions and feeling, is the ability to take the ball early and both spin and drive close to or even over the table. Many of the top Chinese in the last couple of years, Zhang Yining and Guo Yue and some of the young Japanese such as Kasumi Ishikawa have this capability. This is a style which can reach the highest levels in the women’s game.

The one style that has never been efficient at world level and has even less chance now with the bigger ball and no glue is the back-from-table topspin player. If the European women want to play a strong topspin game from further back with the bigger 40mm ball which of course takes less spin, then it would appear logically that their chances of defeating the Asians become even more remote. They give their oriental counterparts more time to play and they give up the chance to control the over-the-table and short play.

We must never overlook the scientific aspects of our sport. The smaller 38mm ball achieved maximum revolutions of 150 per second according to tests done by the Chinese National Team. The 40mm ball we now use has an absolute maximum of 132.8 per second, but in addition because of the larger surface area loses spin much more rapidly through the air. This obviously affects the development of the women’s topspin game. Now speed glue is no longer allowed women will need to increase their power and strength considerably to be effective with this sort of game. With most women this is not really a viable option.

Q. Does this mean really that we should focus on certain styles from a very early age with the girls?

No coach will ever make players really good in areas where they are at best only mediocre. Every player has her strengths and should be coached to reach her full potential according to her individual characteristics. It is certainly never the job of the coach to force a player into a way of playing with which she feels uncomfortable.

If however a player shows capabilities which fit her into one of the categories which are more successful at top level then this is obviously a bonus. Coaches must also be aware that our sport is not static, but is evolving all the time. New styles may well emerge which will make a breakthrough at world level or old ones may be refined to be much more effective. The coach is expected to be an innovator and should be ready to accept this role.

Q. Are there certain areas in the early stages of girls’ development which are vital to their long-term development?

Top coaches understand that certain factors, even in the very early stages of growth, have a direct bearing on style development:
• The grip influences from the start just what you can do with the ball, which strokes are more effective and from what distance
• The ready position is closely connected to the player’s style and influences balance, reach, the movement patterns which can be used and which type of strokes can be effectively played
• Rotation is particularly vital and should be developed prior to the stroke. Good body use not only gives better strokes but limits injury as the player develops. Rotation is often less pronounced in the women’s game, as they stand closer, stay more square, react to speed rather then initiating and the velocity of the arm is the prime source of power
• Movement and the correct movement patterns (for your particular style) are crucial as these allow you to ‘come right to the ball’ and play stronger shots. Even at the beginner stage, players should not play strokes from a static position but should learn to move and hit the ball

It is interesting to note that both the Swedish and Chinese coaching systems are in agreement with the importance of these factors in the early stages of development. But of course they must also be understood when the player moves on to various coaching groups at higher levels.

All coaches must be aware that a forehand ready position leads to certain playing styles as a square ready position leads to very different styles. Also the movement patterns from differing ready positions will often be radically different. A very simple change, such as moving a foot back a few inches can dramatically alter just how efficient the player will be as she is no longer operating from the most effective position for her game. This type of awareness is often less prevalent in Europe nowadays as many top trainers increasingly come from the ranks of the players and do not have an in-depth coaching background. Often too their understanding of a variety of playing styles and what is required to make each effective is limited.

What must be appreciated is that the early training more often than not colours everything that follows. This is why many top coaches say that only the best coaches should be involved with beginners as only they have the experience to understand the relevance and significance of what they see. Often girls are forced early on into male ways of playing. Take the example of the ready position on the BH corner, with the right foot well back (right-handed player). The objective of course is to use the FH more, but unfortunately this leads to other technical developments: using the FH more in serve and receive in the middle of the table, playing too many FH’s from the BH corner and retreating at the same time as moving to the FH corner or wide. This system can work well and be successful in the younger years from 10 to about 14, but then the girl meets better and better players and finds that her carefully constructed game can’t be adapted to senior play. She is just too one-sided and not fast enough to cover the table and starts to understand that the best Asians don’t play like this at all.

One of the big steps forward in table tennis over the last ten years has been in the development of symmetrical play. This is of course why the pen-hold style is less and less popular and why even pen-holders have developed the reverse BH to render their style of play less asymmetrical. Even the very top men like Wang Hao use the reverse pen-hold BH from well into the FH half at times to preserve the balance in their game and to economise on movement. With the top ranked women in the world symmetry in their game has always been of vital importance. To therefore deliberately create an unbalanced style in the case of a young girl would seem from a coaching point of view to be the height of incompetence.

There is a further problem in the early stages of coaching girls and this is in the development of spin. Around 6 or 7 out of every 10 young boys develop spin quite naturally with the right training – the ratio for girls is much less, only around 1 or 2 out of every 10 have a natural spin capability. Why is this? Spin for a start needs upper body strength and dynamic movement which young girls possess rather less than boys. Topspin is of course the one stroke more than any other, which requires you to be in the right place to execute a proper shot or in other words to ‘come right to the ball’. Also girls, although maturing at a younger age than the boys, usually have less good balance in a moving situation and less ‘fine tuning’ than boys in the practical areas and use of motor skills.

Many trainers too do not understand the inter-connectivity involved in many areas of table tennis. Nor do they fully comprehend, especially those who are less experienced, the value of the physical and scientific factors (such as upper body strength, ball speed and spin). European coaches must more fully understand the close relationship between the evolution of techniques and tactics and that the appropriate techniques must be cultivated and refined so that the player is more easily able to execute the tactics
suitable to her end-style. It is interesting to note that even a world champion such as Werner Schlager now admits that probably two thirds of his early training was wasted or irrelevant.

The primary priority, right from the first tentative steps in table tennis, is to identify the player’s end style. To do this we assess the factors we have already isolated which have a direct bearing on the development of style and from there hone the techniques. In this way the player will have the weapons she needs to execute the required tactics. We must of course never forget that each player is a separate individual. If certain individual characteristics or ‘specialties’ can be segregated and refined to bring something different and unusual into her game, then the player can be even more effective.

Q. Are there certain specialist areas which require attention if we are to develop world-class players in Europe?

We are unbelievably weak in the serve/receive area and in short play. There is little or no point in being good in rally play if you never get the chance to use this! Most of our top young players serve too long, are always the underdog in short play and are forced back too easily on the switch. We have to work a great deal more at this aspect of the game right from club level and on a daily basis! We have to be much better at serve/receive and much better at controlling short play, understanding what is happening and being effective in this situation.

Many of the top European and most of the Asian players attack anything even a little long; for example balls bouncing in the last 4 or 5 inches of the table. What is required nowadays is not a two bounce serve (where the second bounce is near to the end line) but a three bounce serve. Touch play must also be much better as play overall is much tighter at top level.

Serve and receive needs to be approached differently for the women. There are many more long serves and more BH serves in the women’s game and the reverse serve is used increasingly at top level. We also have to be much more ready to be inventive and innovative, both in serve and receive and the first few balls. We are never going to make inroads against the world’s top players unless we do things differently; they’ve seen all the old stuff before.

Serve is one of the few areas where we can train alone. Why aren’t more players not training high throw serves, backspin balls coming back into the net etc at home in their own clubs? The girls especially have little variation and less spin and yet the service area is one where there is great potential for improvement.

However rarely if ever are the Asians afraid of the European serves and follow up ball. They consider that the Europeans have too few serves, are predictable in the way they use them and therefore usually limited with what they can do with the first attack ball. Often at the highest level against the Asians, European players aren’t allowed the opportunity to get their strengths in and are not able to use their strong spin early enough in the rally. With their serve and third ball and receive and fourth, the Asians deny them the time. Not enough European women are able to impose their game on the Asians and much of this goes back to the serve/receive and the first 4 balls.

Q. Are we anywhere near the Asians and what is needed in Europe to make our girls/women more competitive?

It is a well known fact that our girls in Europe are far behind the Asians and have shown no signs at all over the last 15 to 20 years of narrowing the gap. If anything we are falling further behind.

We start too late with serious training, are less good physically and technically and have few coaches who understand the women’s game. In addition we have the wrong focus, aiming too much at winning cadet and junior events, instead of preparing and developing our young players from the very outset for the senior game. We also train too little, too unprofessionally and with little or no individual focus and at too low an intensity. Finally there is too little money and limited financial support in women’s table tennis. These are the first aspects to be addressed if we are to be competitive with Asia.

As Ogimura said: ‘What matters isn’t extraordinary ability but extraordinary effort.’ Far too often in Europe we play at our sport of table tennis and the training is neither professional nor intense enough. We just don’t work hard enough or long enough or in the right way when it matters, to achieve the results we dream about. So that’s what our hopes become, just dreams – we are not capable of turning the dreams into reality.

If we want to make any inroads into the Asian superiority the first thing we have to do is to listen to the players. There has to be a great deal more individual emphasis. It’s the player who must be in focus and who has to take responsibility for her own development. Too many coaches in Europe, even at National Level, are too controlling and not up-to-date with what is happening in the women’s game at this moment in time. The one single thing we have proved without any shadow of doubt over the last 20 to 25 years is that whatever we have been doing with women’s development, this is just not working or even producing satisfactory results at world level.

Q. Are we perhaps a little behind the times? Do we need to focus more on the modern game with women and what the top women are doing now?

The techniques we use have to be modern and up-to-date. This means good short play, techniques nearer to the table (except defenders and even these closer than before), quicker footwork and spin capability on both BH and FH. We must look at what is important in modern table tennis. Far too often in the Europe of today we are not doing this.

We train too many long rallies and play nice to look at table tennis in Europe. It’s good to look at in training and even in matches, but the question we should be asking is, is this effective, is it a winning tactic? Of course this doesn’t help at all if you can’t take the opponent’s serve. You never then reach the sort of rally you work so hard to perfect, so much of your training is in fact completely wasted. The very first step must be to train more on serve, receive and 2nd and 3rd ball and short play. In our training it must be the primary aim to improve these areas.

Variation in sparring is also vital. As Waldner said in his book: ‘In order to win big titles, you must master play against all styles. Therefore, you must regularly practise and compete against players of different styles. The most important styles to embrace are loopers (maximum topspin), attackers (maximum speed) and choppers (maximum backspin). Another important aspect is play against left-handed players. I would like to remind you that both right and left-handed players spend 85% of their time playing against right-handed players. To be successful against both right and left-handed players requires well-developed technique and very good balance.’

European girls must early on in their career come to terms with all the possibilities in the women’s game, with the many differing playing styles, work out which is best for them and develop their own character within the style. There are available to women players many more possibilities for success, many more different paths to the top levels, than there are for men. They must also of course train in the right direction for their way of playing. Too often players, coaches and selectors are ‘blinkered’ when they look at women’s styles in Europe. They only really want to see one or two styles of play; it’s almost as if they think that only these styles have a chance to succeed at world level.

Q. Do you feel that in many cases it is the National Associations in Europe who restrict the players’ development?

While being respectful of the situation and perspective of many Associations in Europe, we must also be mindful of the inadequacies in finance, structure and competence which lead in many cases to limited development in the women’s game.

Too often the Associations are not professional enough and have the wrong people in the coaching and development positions. The women’s teams are often treated as second-class. I know of many cases where players have to choose between playing for the National Team or reaching their full potential and being a top player. In many countries the two are not compatible. I am also aware of cases where players have left National Academies and the National Team because they were not allowed to develop in what they felt was the right way for them, nor were the so-called top coaches prepared to listen.

Too many coaches even at the top have a traditional idea of how women should play and what is effective at world level and because of this then try to force the players into a mould of their (the coaches’) own choosing. As a result the individual talents of the player are often ignored or suppressed and she never reaches full potential.

Another area in Europe where we psychologically inhibit our women is by dwelling on the awesome strengths of the Asian and especially the Chinese players. If most of our coaches feel we have no chance of ever competing in the world arena and that it’s pretty much a waste of time trying, what message do our top girls and women players take from this?

I quote from Clive Woodward, the English Rugby Supremo, who puts it better than I ever could: ‘Usually it’s the establishment environment which is lacking. It doesn’t challenge the players. It doesn’t give the players the preparation they need, it doesn’t give them every chance. The selection system is inconsistent. The coaches insist on styles of play and training methods which are inadequate and behind the times. Players prepare for games at a level of intensity which indicates they are not doing everything possible, everything that needs to be done to win.’

Q. Do you think the ITTF and ETTU are doing enough to help with women’s development?

It is obvious that many of the top coaches and high-performance directors throughout Europe are very much dissatisfied with the way coaching and player education as a whole is progressing and they feel that we are falling further and further behind Asia. You only have to read the comments of Amizić, Cegnar, Gadal, Sartz and Schimmelpfennig on the websites. However the thoughts and criticisms of the top gurus in Europe seem to carry little or no weight with European Associations and those responsible for running them. Nothing happens and most Associations seem to meander along as they have done for years if not for decades. Nothing new or innovative occurs.
So let’s just consider what the ITTF and the ETTU could do to help correct the situation.

First and foremost education is needed. If the National Coaches in many countries are reluctant to bring their knowledge up to date then it will be necessary to bypass them and go down one or two levels below. This will not be easy. To refer again to Clive Woodward: ‘Often the establishment can’t take in the ideas of the visionaries because such an approach would shake up many of their own top coaches – the ideas are too far ahead of what these coaches practise, know and believe in and introducing substantially different ideas would expose their real lack of knowledge.’

We need to aim at the players’ own personal coaches (many are older, senior or even ex-National coaches, most of whom have worked in the Associations at one time or another). It should be the priority to provide educational programmes so that the young players they are developing have their style well and truly set before they reach the stage of representing their country. Then of course their game is rather more difficult to change.

What is needed more than anything is a detailed presentation of how women play (this of course needs to be very specific, not in general terms) and which playing styles have a better chance of being most effective at world level. Seminars and lectures need to be held in a number of countries over the whole of Europe and a team needs to be set up to first research exactly what will be presented and then to execute the ideas. Any European conferences dealing with this subject need also to be thrown open to all personal coaches throughout Europe and not restricted only to a limited number of National Coaches who may sometimes not be really interested.

A number of the smaller Associations in Europe may well need help and guidance, as often they will not have the resources to implement the required measures. Nor may their coaches and leaders fully understand what we are trying to do or indeed the relevance of some aspects.

There is a vast wealth of experience and knowledge outside the National Centres and National Coaches in Europe which we should make an effort to tap into. If we are to make any inroads into improving the levels of our women then no avenue should remain unexplored. Over the whole of Europe the girls' game is declining and will continue to do so. An increasing number of top young girls will continue to leave the game simply because they are not happy with the way they are being developed. Girls need to be content and to be able to work in a stress-free environment to progress. If they know they are going in the wrong direction for them, then sooner or later the dissatisfaction outweighs the advantages of representing their country etc.

It is also an excellent idea to have more common European training initiatives at various levels. In many countries the numbers of top girls are too small and the variety of sparring styles too few. One very important point here however, is which coaches are we going to send? Unfortunately in a number of countries in Europe the tendency is to isolate top young players from their own coaches, presumably on the premise that only the National Team Trainers have the required knowledge for further development.

Yet strangely enough when you talk to top coaches in Europe and discuss the way forward in terms of developing top talent and trying to compete with the Asians, more often than not the coaches stress the vital importance of individual development and that players should come to select high-level training camps in Europe not with their National Trainers but in fact with their own personal coaches. They stress the importance of having the coaches on hand who are actually working on a day to day basis with the players. A considerable number of coaches from differing countries in Europe are in favour of much higher involvement by the players’ own coaches in any common European development programme.

This perhaps underscores the importance of teamwork in any administration. Unless the majority of any association, officials, players, coaches, organisers etc. are all working together and pulling in the same direction, we will indeed struggle to progress and to move forward. Unfortunately many associations are bad in communication and neglect to keep, even in the case of their top youngsters, parents and personal coaches ‘in the loop’. This only gives rise to a considerable amount of ill-feeling and discontent.

Q. If you had a free hand and an unlimited budget how would you tackle women’s development in Europe?

The first thing is to realise the realities of the situation. At the moment much in Europe is about image and presentation, in many countries it’s not the players who are in focus, other agendas are in operation behind the scenes. Often this is not completely the fault of the Associations, they have to jump through hoops to get the funding they require. This is one of the reasons why we waste so much time working at winning mini-cadet and cadet events when we should be focusing only towards the aim of making young players effective at senior level. But this takes too much time and the funding bodies are only interested in results.

Look too at the situation with many top coaches in Europe. How can they give much time and energy to coaching and research when many of their duties are administrative and organisational? How many of the real top players even want to take up a coaching career at the end of their playing days? Usually instead we end up with ex-players of a rather lesser playing standard who end their career in a coaching role. This contrasts very much with China where many of the world’s best players go into coaching, but not without extensive re-education in the theory and the various aspects of their new trade.

There are Associations in Europe which continue to progress despite all the current problems: Germany, France and Romania come readily to mind. Unfortunately however there are many more which are on a downward spiral and where there would seem to be little hope of innovative thinking in the immediate future.

The first step for me in upgrading women’s development in Europe would be a twin-pronged attack: directed both at the coaches and the players. Without coaches who know what they are doing, we achieve nothing. But I also believe that this should be a private initiative outside the control and influence of the European Associations. I think too that we already have the perfect location in place with the Werner Schlager Academy in Vienna.

I would suggest that we use the Academy to develop women’s play within Europe and as a training ground for the players’ personal coaches. The centre already has the infrastructure and a number of top coaches in position and if necessary we could bring in other coaching experts in the field of women’s development to support this venture.

I would envisage beginning with 3 groups and each group would consist of a minimum of 12 players: the first group would be mini-cadets or cadets around 13 years or younger, the second girls between 13 and 17 to 18 years and the third senior players. The aim for all would be the same: preparation, development or refining of play for success in the senior game. I would hope the groups could train at least 6 to 7 times a year, sometimes individually and sometimes together. Of course there could well be some over-lapping between the groups as it’s never age which is important but ability and the level of development. Life should never be easy; the way forward is always for the player to test and to keep testing her limits.

At the same time however we would expect the players to come with their own personal coaches, not with the National Coaches from their respective countries. In my view it is essential to have the coaches there who are working on a day to day basis with the players.

What girls in Europe need most of all is ‘direction’, how they are going to play and what is most suitable for them as individuals. Of course it goes without saying that we will never have any chance of matching the Asian women until we start working to our players’ strengths. We start later and train less than the Asians, have not so good technique and many fewer coaches who are adept in women’s table tennis. Only by having a constant dialogue with our players and by steering them into areas where they feel comfortable with the way they play and are able to use their individual characteristics and capabilities to the full, do we have any chance at all.

This is the area in which the Schlager Academy could be an invaluable base for European women’s table tennis: in an advisory capacity to both players and coaches at the same time. What could be better than players coming with their own coaches, in whom they trust and working in a highly professional environment with the best coaches in Europe? And even the best in Europe may find themselves developing and learning some new things too! Of course it would also be important to have other supporting factors such as good and varied sparring of differing styles and courses/seminars on the women’s game run by the ETTU and ITTF. These naturally should be open and not restricted to only a few National Coaches.

I also feel that in a number of cases (due to politics or reasons of favouritism) we would not always get the most suitable players put forward by National Associations. Equally the coaches in some Associations feel that their country has a traditional, national style of play to which their players should conform. As a result those who do not fit in with their ideas are ‘overlooked’ in the selection process. A number of top coaches in Europe say for example that Carl Prean and Ni Xialan would not have played internationally for several European countries as their unusual styles would have been traditionally unacceptable.

We must therefore have some way of bypassing the system so we have access to as many players as possible who could be developed to make a real impact against the Asian players. In the beginning too there could well be resistance from some Associations, but I am sure that after some months, when they saw the level of progress, those who were against such joint ventures would rapidly become converts.

The plastic ball, will the world's top women spin?

Rowden January 2015

Thousands of Asian women players have been using the fast drive stroke for decades. The hard attack ball is important to their table tennis philosophy. Over the years speed has been the dominant factor in their play and even now if they have to choose between speed and spin it will almost always be the former. It is the European women who try to topspin more and the last one to win a World Singles was Angelica Roseanu 60 years ago in 1955 (and she wasn’t a topspin player).

Let’s look at the science. A drive becomes a topspin when the spin content is intended to have more effect than the forward speed content. This concept of intention is useful when analysing many strokes in the game. Five players starting off with the same intention will probably end up with five different types of performance. The effort to impart extra spin may well result in an important element of sidespin or an increased degree of forward speed or even equalizing the proportions so that we end up with merely a very strong and sure drive. You may not agree but we should also however bear in mind that for many female attacking players, spin skills can only be acquired at such high cost in effort, time for practice and loss of other skills, that there are better ways of creating openings and winning points.
Let’s look at the top female Chinese players who are invariably the best in the world. I have spent years analysing their techniques and actions in detail and still do; I watch their preparation to open against a backspin ball in slow motion, I see where the bat starts, the bat angle, length of stroke and most importantly the result and the intention. Are they intending primarily to achieve spin or speed? I would affirm that the answer is obvious. Liu Shiwen, Li Xiaoxia (and the master of them all Zhang Yining) all prioritise speed: the bat rarely starts below the table, the angle is closed, the racket starts above table level and travels through the ball. There is the odd exception: Ding Ning’s bat often starts well below the table and she often plays slower with spin as a priority as did Guo Yue. But if a player’s racket starts below table level in no way can she attain the same forward speed and penetration as when the bat starts above the level of the playing surface. The problem of lack of spin and penetration will only become more acute with the new plastic ball.
Throughout table tennis history few women have had the power and dynamic movement to play a strong topspin game off the table and to be successful with this style of play. There will be even fewer with the plastic ball. If women come late to the ball many coaches think they would have to spin and spin hard, a slow roll ball would be killed by the opponent. In this scenario there has to be an alternative to topspin. There is always a way round problems, we cannot be too fixed in our thinking. Coaches are if nothing else inventive and creative. Also we cannot compare the men’s and women’s game, few women end up in the position of taking the ball late, therefore this situation will only rarely occur.
When we watch the top men perform with the plastic ball, although we see a deal of power play off the table and even though power will be of vital importance in the future, the slower shorter ball still wins points or opens up attacking opportunities. This is because the new ball does not 'come through' to the opponent, it stops short and drops quickly below table level often causing problems to the incoming player. The tactic of hitting hard on several balls then dropping short could well pay dividends with the plastic ball.

Women with Plastic

Rowden July 2019

July 2019 Women Forward Development with Plastic

• Work at change of tempo with chop and soft block and drive on BH. On FH block and drive to change game and be consistent till you get right ball to hit hard
• Also change tempo, timing and spin when pushing to confuse opponent and create openings
• Receive of serve -- more variation and alternatives, chop block, step back and chop, slow roll, power and speed is not the only answer especially in the women's game
More use of sidespin in rallies, most effective spin with plastic
• Better short play, don't only always attack, drop short and push long and fast with and without spin
• Serve -- fast speed with variation, backspin, topspin and float and always good use of sidespin, fast serves should always have good LENGTH (last 10 cms). Short serves should have good angles and spin especially sidespin going away from the opponent
• More use of SLOW balls, slow roll and slow spin, much bigger advantage in women's game especially when opponents push often
• Think more of variation in placement, lines, angles and crossover
• Think more about how you should play, you cannot be predictable against good players and must always be thinking of constant change

Attitude with Plastic July 2019

• Power can't be coached, you have it or you don't. If you have it, what you need to do is to use it wisely
• Aspects that can be coached are placement, tempo change, angles, serve and receive, feeling, short play, alternatives, thinking flexibly, being prepared to change etc
• Unpredictability wins games. The classic description of an idiot is a person who does the same thing 10 times in a row, loses every time, but keeps expecting to get a different response. Change and the change mindset is vital to sporting success
• Believe, too many young people don't believe in their own potential. Trust in yourself and your own training
• Bear the science of table tennis in mind. The latest coaching in Asia is prioritising contacting the ball at above table level and not letting it drop low.
• Play most of your shots in the best table area for you. If you have good reaction speed there’s little point in playing too many strokes way back from the table and giving the opponent more time
• Maintain good physical fitness levels especially in the quick twitch muscle areas. Speed is much more important for your game in all its aspects, speed of shot, speed of movement and speed of thought

July 2019 Tactics with Plastic

• Tactics in table tennis are a central and decisive component
• Ability of a player is mainly decided by her technical expertise and variation and by her mental strength
• Tactics are basically adapting your own playing system to best cope with the opponent. You must therefore be able to change your game to suit the situation, you cannot just play the same against all opposition. You need alternative ways of playing
• Tactical understanding is often visible early in a player's career
• Learning tactics is easy, bringing them into your game under pressure is often very difficult
• As the player develops the coach should be less dominant and controlling, the player must learn to develop and use differing tactics herself, she cannot always rely just on the coach. The coach should be the supplier of information and the better the information, the better the player's tactical decisions will be
• The reason the player must develop her own tactical ability is twofold. First she is the only one who in the final analysis knows how she wants to play and which weapons she has at her disposal and can rely on. Secondly she is the one out there on the court and the only one who can feel the strength and skill of the opponent
• The understanding of tactics is developed constantly through competition against many players of different styles. It is also vital that the player recognises immediately when tactics are not working and just as quickly institutes change
• Great players make the right tactical decisions at the right time

Teaching

Girls’ Training in National Centres: Programme Layout

Rowden Fullen (2005)

Examples of weekly reading matter. (One theory article each week).

Just how should women play. (plus Success Triangle).
European and Asian women’s game.
Achieving perfection in performance.
Winning.
The mechanics of the long serve and why women use it more.
Girls’ training needs – a method.
Loop attack and the women’s game.
Swedish girls and the big ball.
Offensive play and spin.
The first four balls.
Girls’ play and National Centres.
Thoughts on training.
‘Funny rubbers’.
The axis.

Individual training programme. (To be handed out at the first session). Women’s development series handouts depending on whether player uses normal reverse or pimples on the B.H. wing. Other programmes in the case of unusual players or players with existing ‘specialties’.

Practical mental development, players to read and digest so that they understand and are ready to cope with mental training during sessions.

Programme development.

Regular work on theory.
Individual attention — direction, each girl should know how she individually will develop and how she is most effective.
Each girl should know how to train and what constitutes good training.
Mental training — develop and work on this every session.
Materials — develop understanding of how girls should cope with differing rubbers and playing styles.
Each individual player should start to take responsibility for her own devlopment, not just to rely on coaches/trainers/psychologists etc.

Areas to work in.

Eliminating or minimizing existing technical and tactical problems - in basics, with technique and movement patterns, against materials and certain playing styles.
Eliminating or minimizing existing mental problems — rigidity of play, rigidity of thought (prepared to consider new ideas, new methods).
Understanding of the women’s game.
Understanding that any development means change (if she is not prepared to change, then she cannot progress).
Understanding of own personal style and how each girl is effective and wins points.
Understanding of best playing distance from the table.
Understanding of F.H. and B.H split.
Ensuring which movement patterns are appropriate to girl’s own playing style.
Understanding the right way to train for her style and how to keep progressing in the right direction.
Understanding that training in mental techniques is particularly important if she is to reach the higher levels in her sport.
Understanding that to reach the higher levels she must be prepared to train in the more advanced techniques used by the world’s top women.

Typical session layout.

Regular exercises (trying to minimize problem areas) — 15%.
Developing girls’ strength areas and aspects where they are already proficient — 20%.
Working in new areas and developing new skills — 15%.
Working in mental areas – 15 /20%.
Working on theory – 5 /10%.
Working on serve/receive and 2nd/3rd/4th ball and/or match play — 25%.
After session – evaluating and assessing performance (How she performed and how she felt during training).

Ground rules.

No negative talking (or thinking) during group training — if a player is negative this has an effect on the others in the group and brings down the level of confidence in the whole group.
Have your notebook with you at the table so you can take notes in the session and evaluate your performance afterwards.
Be ready at start time, racket glued and water bottle with you, don’t let others in the group down.
If you can’t be at training for one reason or another, ring as early as possible.
Bring the ‘right’ attitude to the training hall, if you don’t want to train this affects the whole group and brings down the quality of training. It also slows down and hinders your own development.
Be ready to control your own development. ‘Educate’ your coaches and trainers, think about your training, always be ready to question. If coaches can’t explain why a particular exercise is good for you and how it benefits your game, then perhaps they are not that knowledgeable and you shouldn’t listen to them. It’s your life, your development, value these — others may not.

Girls and National Centres

Rowden Fullen (2007)

As a coach you have a large measure of responsibility for the direction of your player’s development and you should always be ready to answer questions. Not only parents and players but other trainers at varying levels will have queries as to where the player is going, why they are going along this path, which aspects you decide on and where you have discussion with the player, which equipment is best for him or her, what the short and long term goals are, what the end style will be. You should always be clear in your own mind as to where the player is going and how he or she is going to get there. Equally on regional and national camps and especially at national centres parents and trainers should want to know exactly what is going to happen to the young player and national coaches should be ready with their answers and prepared to justify their position. They are after all paid servants of the association. Far too often however (if we have any communication at all) we encounter too many fairy stories and too little professionalism.

* What plans are there for the player’s mental development?
* Will players be taught to be flexible in the mind?
* Is training in the centre the same for male and female players? Are there different training methods for girl players?
* How many table tennis theory sessions are there each week?
* Do the players have their own representative so that they can bring problems and complaints to the attention of the head coach?
* How often do players and coaches meet to evaluate technical problems or is this only done in the training sessions?
* How many times a month do coaches discuss with players how they personally are going to develop, where they are going and how they are going to get there?
* In which areas of style development does the coach have the final say and in which are the player’s views of more importance?
* How much time is spent on the cultivation of table tennis consciousness?
* How much time is spent training against differing materials or playing styles?
* How many and how often are outside sparring players available for training with centre players?
* Do seniors, juniors and cadets train together or are they segregated?
* How many hours multi-ball are there each day?
* Will there be coach supervised serve training?
* Are training sessions geared towards the individual needs of the player?
* Is physical training geared towards the player’s personal style requirements?
* Are there any political or traditional limitations to the player’s development? In other words at national level are certain styles more favoured than others because the coaches understand them better or feel these are more suited to our culture?
* Is it part of the coaches’ job at regional or national level to deliberately change the style of the player if they think this style will not be effective internationally? Do they liaise with the parents and the player’s own trainer if they are thinking along these lines? Do the coaches involved have the knowledge and the insight to do this?
* How many times a year do parents and the player’s own trainer get reports from national/regional centres?
* Will players be introduced to the advanced playing techniques suitable to their type of game?
* How much time is spent on serve/receive exercises during each training session?

Questions such as these should not pose the slightest threat to senior coaches who have worked with player development for many years. When you consider national training then the level at which such centres are run should be above reproach and open to examination at all times. Above all there should be an organized and in-depth programme and players and parents should know the direction and content of the course. Parents committing their children to such places for a number of years have every right from the outset to definitive answers on both education and training and there should be not the slightest difficulty in obtaining these.

Also at national centres there should of course be separate programmes for male and female players. Not only are the playing styles very different but the variety of paths to the top in the women’s game call for a rather different approach and differing training methods. European girls must come to terms with all the possibilities in the women’s game, with the many differing playing styles, work out which is best for them and develop their own character within the style. There are available to women players many more possibilities for success, many more different paths to the top levels, than there are for men. They only have to be open-minded about this, ready to accept that they need not be limited in their choice. They must also of course train in the right direction for their way of playing.

Too often players, coaches and selectors are ‘blinkered’ when they look at women’s styles in Europe. They only really want to see one or two styles of play, it’s almost as if they think that only these styles have a chance to succeed at world level. Perhaps in Europe we should take a closer look at just how the top women in the world have played over the last 10 years, think about the variety of styles and why these players have been successful. Perhaps also we should stop trying to influence women to conform to men’s playing styles, even where these have been successful!

European girls must also appreciate that it’s not enough only to be able to play well one way, often you must be prepared to alter your style to beat others. You must have the capacity to have other ways of play and to be able to cope with all styles. Above all the player and trainer should get together and think of a specialty which can make the player unique. In Asia players have the opportunity all the time to compete against all differing styles of play; from the national and provincial squads down, almost all training groups have all techniques, defenders, short-pimple pen-hold attackers, long-pimple blockers, left-handers etc. Where the women don’t have a style to spar against they will ‘borrow’ a man player or even create a player with this style. In comparison in Europe players often meet only one or two styles in training and don’t know how to cope with many others. The ultimate level of play is as a result strictly limited. Training methods must be devised to overcome this particular problem and where necessary appropriate sparring organized. The development of adaptive intelligence in the women’s game is of paramount importance.

A word about the opposition provided in training, your sparring partners and the level. Many players seem to think that you can only improve by training with much higher level sparring than yourself. If you always play only against much better performers than yourself, how do you ever learn to impose your game on others and to develop your own tactical ploys? The better player is always in control! You need in fact to practise at three levels.

* 1) With players better than yourself to learn new things and upgrade your skills.
* 2) With players of similar standard to work out new tactics and try to control the play.
* 3) With players of lesser ability where you can control the game and have more opportunities to use your more powerful strokes.

Often at national centres training is allowed to become too rigid and inflexible and there is a lack of innovation and ideas. With large training groups and few coaches, development becomes stereotyped with the same exercises and methods, systems take over and the individual emphasis and personal touch are lost. Coaches do not make or take the time and opportunity to focus on what is individual in style to each particular player. The group as a whole drifts without guidance into a general style of play and development of new and different aspects and personal style specialties is slowed down or lost. Equally training itself, the process of training becomes devalued - players work within the group and often work very hard indeed but in many cases without ever knowing exactly why! They train because they want to be better - how can they achieve any destination when they don’t know where they are going or how to get there? In this sort of situation it’s only the one or two very best players who benefit. It’s very easy for the rest of the group to drift and become merely a support element, expendable cannon-fodder!

On the other hand if the national group is too small you lose the stimulus of variety and it’s too easy for training to become boring and stereotyped, with the same players and sparring day in and day out. As in all things there must be a balance, a balance between individual attention and group training.

Above all parents and coaches should ask the right questions, especially in the case of younger girls starting in national centres and should keep on asking until they get the right answers. After this the next stage is to monitor development so that you are sure it is proceeding as planned. If you can’t get answers then be suspicious, if things don’t happen as planned be even more suspicious! Over the whole of Europe there are many of the best individual players who don’t go to their national centres and have refused to do so even in the face of threats of expulsion from their national team. These players and their coaches must have very good reasons for such a stand. In those countries where many top players do go to national centres results at world level have hardly been encouraging, especially in the case of the women.

What almost all parents and many trainers are totally unaware of is how national coaches for girls’ and women’s teams are selected throughout Europe. In most countries the women’s game is ‘second-class’, it is not a priority. Often the trainer for the men’s team will have ‘responsibility’ for the women too, or perhaps the job will fall on the shoulders of the trainer in charge of the juniors. Usually it’s a question of finance and the largest slice of the cake goes to the men – even in the big European tournaments a number of countries will send the men but not the women and the grounds will almost always be because they have a lower budget.

There is also an increasing tendency in Europe for girls’ coaches to come from the players’ ranks but not of the women, of the men! So you get a man who has been a player for twenty years who is suddenly responsible for the development of girls’ table tennis. Or you have a younger male player who has been injured and can’t continue his career so again he becomes a women’s trainer. Very few women players of course in the West would ever want to be a top coach — a woman may sacrifice having a life to be a top player but not to be a top trainer. In many countries in Europe there is also still strong discrimination against women trainers.

Nobody ever seems to raise the question whether a man who has been a player and who has been totally focused on playing and developing his skills in this area in the men’s game, is the one best qualified firstly to be a coach, secondly qualified at all to be a women’s coach! In too many countries it’s the ‘old boy system’ that operates, where top players and administrators stick together – it often appears that it’s not a priority to get the best people in the job or even to get the best possible results. The people at the top like the ‘status quo’, they don’t want newcomers with ideas, they don’t want things to change, above all they don’t want someone rocking the boat and upsetting their carefully preserved positions.

Let me give you an example that will perhaps demonstrate to many of you the difference between the men’s and women’s games. Not so long ago at a tournament I was sitting next to the coach of a man player who has held a top ten world ranking. The coach said to the player - ‘Be careful against your next opponent, he’s a long pimple blocker, plays like the women do and many good players have problems when they meet him’. The player wasn’t interested and his answer was - ‘However good he is, basically he’s only a local league player. He has no chance against the professionals’. He almost lost the first game! His comment when coming over to the coach - ‘ I was wrong, I’ve never met anyone who puts so much spin on the ball, but now I know how I have to play in the next game.’ The coach replied - ‘You know what you have to do only because you’re at a level where you’re able to adapt your game to almost any situation. However you really understand very little, the other guy is not putting any spin at all on the ball.’

The same can be true of men players trying to make a sudden transition to being women’s trainers, they often really understand very little. The career path of a top player is very different from that of a top coach, they may both start out by playing but go their separate ways very quickly. How many top players understand the theory of table tennis, how many understand the method of stroke correction techniques? Many can’t even organize their own game so that they play to near full potential all the time! How can they then do it for others, especially in an environment where different physical and mental approaches are required and where even the tactics can be totally different because of the much larger variety of playing styles?

It is interesting to note for example that out of all the good table tennis nations in Europe only Romania and Czechoslovakia have ever won World Championship gold in both women’s team and individual events and only Romania in relatively recent times. Countries such as Germany and Russia have never won the women’s singles, France, Italy, Holland, Poland even Sweden have never competed in a women’s team final! Perhaps it is just possible that in the not too distant future someone may make the connection that the achieving of success depends in no small measure on the right direction, the right training methods and informed guidance. If you don’t know where you’re going then it’s not easy to get there, in fact you may never arrive!

Coaching Summary: Women’s Development

Rowden Fullen (2002)

The prime skill of table tennis is to be able to adapt in an ever changing situation. Cultivate adaptive intelligence
Training is repetition in the right environment and with the right attitude.
To be a top player your development must be in the right direction for you.

THE IMPORTANCE OF T I M I N G!

Most women drive much more than the men and closer to the table. Timing is more critical than in men's play.

Care with the aspects that can restrict women's development

PHYSICAL CHAINS – the right basics, techniques, tactics and movement. Materials. Play against other styles from an early age. Women’s play — speed control, opening and converting, serve and receive, use of table and equipment, stronger BH, a winning weapon.
MENTAL CHAINS — rigidity in play and thinking. Innovation and feeling, positive attitude, be different. Development means always moving forward.
OWN STYLE – understand this, best distance from the table, know BH and FH split, right movement patterns for your style, how to win points, right training for you.
ADVANCED TECHNIQUES – short play, pace variation, slow loop both short and long, early ball push, chop/stop blocks, late-timed pushes, blocks and flicks, block play on the FH, use of angles, killing through loop, sidespin loop, dummy loop, early ball smash and hit v topspin, sidespin push and block, short drop balls, alternating topspin and drive, alternating topspin/block.

A theme for girls’ groups

Rowden Fullen (2002)

Girls' Groups

Women: Key Issues

Rowden Fullen (2004)

Quite simply women cannot hit the ball as hard as men so they will achieve less topspin

With less topspin women have less on-the-table control

It is crucial in the women’s game that the loop is either very short or very long. Good length is critical