Like many other sports table tennis is constantly changing. We can think back to the longest rally in 1936, the first time limits imposed and finger-spin banned in 1937, introduction of the flat-hand service throw in 1947, the first all-sponge world champion in 1952 and the first all-sponge final in 1954. Then of course the thick sponge was eliminated in 1959 and the racket colour standardized in 1961; we experimented with yellow balls in 1972 and the definition of ‘sandwich rubber’ was agreed in 1977. In 1983 the two colour rule was introduced for racket coverings and restricted to black and red in ’86. Glue came into common use in the early 1980’s and table tennis became an Olympic sport. In 2000 we had the ‘big’ ball and in 2001 we started to play to eleven up. Often new things especially in the areas of technique, tactics, or equipment, have substantially affected the outcome of competitions even at the highest levels. Innovation is in fact the motive power upon which the development and direction of our sport relies.
Because table tennis is a very technical sport the basic law is adaptation and counter-adaptation. Each player tries to adapt to the technique, tactics and playing style of the opponent and to avoid being ‘controlled’ by the way the opponent plays. Table tennis is largely a sport of conditioned reflex patterns where players train to react automatically. This is why new techniques, tactics and unusual styles of play are difficult to cope with. The ‘automatic pilot’ doesn’t work so well any more and the player’s reactions are unstable, inaccurate, lacking smoothness and coordination. In fact the player who can keep one step ahead of the competitors in the innovation of technique, tactics or playing style, will have a big advantage (especially now we are playing to eleven up) because the opponent is unable to adapt in time. Remember the prime skill of table tennis is to read the game and to adapt in an ever-changing situation.
The innovation of technique can be looked at from two points of view — to create something totally new (like the loop of the 1960’s) or to develop an existing technique to the point of qualitative change. There is great potential for example for the further development of service techniques through training. The acrobat can attain pinpoint accuracy through hard training, why not the table tennis player? The answer lies in the fact that table tennis is an antagonistic competition, acrobatic performance isn’t. Every stroke you make is based on correct and split-second judgement of the incoming ball, which varies in a thousand and one ways. Service however is the one exception. Much remains to be exploited with service in terms of spin, speed and placement and different ways of striking the ball.
Compared to innovation in technique and style much less has been done with tactics and this is an area which deserves much greater attention and research. Technique is the basis of tactics and the development of technique generally precedes that of tactics. Only when the player has mastered all-round technique can he use various tactics to the fullest extent. But also the appropriate use of tactics can allow the player to use his technique to the fullest extent. New techniques will inevitably give rise to new tactics. A thorough understanding of the interaction between technique and tactics will enable us to better understand the vital importance of innovation in tactics.
Attack to the opponent’s forehand is for example a tactic seldom used in practice. Too many exercises and too much play in table tennis are from the backhand side of the table. With most players the forehand is the stronger wing and perhaps opponents fear to initiate attacks to this side of the table. However the forehand stroke is in fact often slower with a longer arm swing. If you play a fast left-handed blocker you may well find he can play 10 backhands in the time you can play only 6 forehands. Also many forehand strokes are not always played with power, especially those played for safety, transitional shots or when reaching. Players expect more play to the backhand and movement is much easier from this wing to the forehand rather than vice versa. For these reasons first attack to the forehand side followed by switch out to the backhand can be a particularly effective tactic and one well worth working at. If you train to attack the forehand corner only, from both sides of the table, then after a while you will find your ability to cope with the opponent’s forehand attacks is greatly enhanced.
We have always had very differing styles in table tennis often influenced by changes in materials and equipment and players and coaches in our sport are often innovative and inventive. Changes in technique, tactics or equipment will often in fact initiate new styles and methods of play — the thick sponge of the 1950’s, the loop of the 60’s, the pimple explosion and the high throw serve of the 70’s and the glue in the 80’s. However if you compare young players of today in Europe with those who have been at the top for many years and are now between 25 — 38, there seems to be much less individualism among the young and rather less flair and feeling in their game. Swedish players such as Waldner, Persson, Appelgren and Lindh all have very different styles of play as do Primorac, Gatien, Saive, Korbel and Kreanga. Most of the younger players are more robotic in their play and there appears to be developing in Europe a sameness of play, a universality of style, strong, efficient and workmanlike but without the personal, unique touches that differentiate the really special performers from the run of the mill players.
If our European style of play is changing, the first question to ask is why. What has changed over the last twenty years since the older players were in their formative period? Is it the coaches, the players or the system or some combination of all three? Or is it that with more interaction between European countries, more joint training ventures, more mass media, magazines and internet, there is now a standardization of coaching, less invention and fewer ideas? Is it perhaps that in many countries we now have more top players being involved in coaching, especially in the National centres, who as a result of their own background look at the development of style in a rather different light, or even consider certain styles of play more preferable to others? It would appear that whatever the reasons there are fewer ‘extreme’ styles coming through in Europe at the moment, and fewer trainers working with the more unusual type of game as played by Carl Prean or Ni Xialan for example. Perhaps now is the time to once again look at new and different styles and even adapting and rediscovering some old ones ( like stronger backhands and more use of backhand spin), especially in view of the shorter games and changes in the service rules. We now have less time to learn to cope with and to adapt to new things, therefore these will be more effective.
Training is now much more professional as our sport has advanced and the quality and direction of training have become the important things. The basic principle of training is repetition. However optimal nervous excitement (the right approach and motivation) is also an essential. Without the right mental approach progress is impossible. Achieving the optimal mental condition is something that players often don’t understand or work at enough. Training is repetition in the right environment. The following two questions are often asked — how do we train for a particular player’s style and what sort of training, the content? The content should obviously be geared to competitive needs and what the player will face in the future in both the short and long term. How the player should train is quite another matter. Many players don’t in fact train in the best way for their own individual style of play. Many don’t understand in the first place how they are most effective and they don’t have clearly defined aims, nor do they have any idea of how to get to where they may be going even if they have some end-goal. If a player does not achieve progress after much training the reason can be the content (not well chosen or appropriate), or the methods or direction of training, or indeed the player’s own approach and attitude.
Over the years changes in equipment have had significant consequences. The sponge revolution of the fifties, better and better ‘sandwich’ rubbers, anti-loop and pimples, glue and innovations in blade manufacture. We now have bigger blades, ones with different speeds either side, some using glass, carbon fibre or metal mesh such as titanium. There are some limitations with rackets in terms of weight, for example very few players want blades in excess of 100 grams — once the rubbers are added the whole thing becomes a little unwieldy. There are however indications that the most effect achievable with long pimples is with the use of heavier blades, so perhaps some compromise will be arrived at. It is of course by no means impossible that we are arriving near the limits of what we can do with the racket (some manufacturers are even experimenting with new revolutionary shapes) but this was also thought to be the case many times in the past! Also needed are more sophisticated training aids, better robots and serving machines, better net assemblies for multi-ball and upgraded ball-picking apparatus.
Innovation in theory is often overlooked and research in this area should really be upgraded. The prevailing system of table tennis theory was established in the 1950’s and 1960’s and there have only really been minor amendments and supplements since then. There is an urgent need to make a thorough examination of the whole theoretical system in the light of the way modern table tennis is played today.
If a country is to be successful in our 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 bodies but actual achievement!
In 1995 I retired and left England to coach in Sweden. I was ready to search out new fields to conquer and I was also looking to develop my own coaching skills — I felt then and still do that the lack of exposure to the highest levels of table tennis is an inhibiting factor in the development of coaches in England. Where better than the only country in the world which has succeeded in breaking the stranglehold the Chinese have had on the world men’s team championships since 1961? Sweden of course won in 1973, 1989 — 93 and again in 2000.
From 1995 to 2000 I was based in Bergkvara, a club with strong international connections and a long tradition in producing good girls. We succeeded in gaining promotion to the women’s elite division with one of the youngest teams ever, four girls seventeen or under and in 2000 – 2001 they were silver-medalists (two of the girls have also played in the National team). I coached too in Kalmar (where the legendary Waldner plays in the elite men’s team) and was able to contribute in taking their women’s team from division three to one in two successive seasons. In the summer of 2000 I moved to Långemåla, a club again with strong international connections especially in Eastern Europe. Because of its high level facilities the club is regularly host to national or international camps or European League matches. The club has the capability of training in two halls with twenty tables and of sleeping over forty players and coaches (and this in a small, quiet country village of some 300 persons.) This highlights one of the big differences between clubs in England and Sweden — the facilities. Kalmar for example have some 16 – 18 tables up all the time for practice and the club membership runs into several hundreds.
In fact I would say that Sweden has one of the best club systems anywhere in the world and a club environment that offers real opportunities for players to reach full potential. Where else can you study world class players in the practice hall and under match conditions in the elite series, European and Champions’ Leagues? Where else can a young player if he is good enough, join in his club’s ‘A’ team training alongside current or past world top-twenty players?
There have been two table tennis schools in Sweden where sport and education operate hand in hand and these are shortly to be combined into one National Centre which will operate in the same place as the current International Centre (there should be the availability of good sparring). However in a number of other centres educational establishments work with the big clubs in a progressive manner, organizing study schedules so that young players can train during the day, or for example extending two-year courses to three. The elite clubs usually have at least two training sessions daily, at times three.
Although training is extremely rigorous, often incorporating physically demanding multi-ball, I found it to be less rigid than in England and with an atmosphere of greater freedom. Players in Sweden are encouraged to be innovative and to try new things and there is much more dialogue between player and trainer, with a less formal structure.
The National League system is immensely strong in depth, 8 men’s elite teams, 16 division one teams in two areas, 32 division two in four areas, 64 division three in eight areas and 128 division four in sixteen areas. To gain promotion is very hard and often involves playing qualification matches even after winning the league. The tournament scene is equally thriving in Sweden with quite large entries in even under 9 and 11 events. In the junior boys classes both 17 and 20 the overall strength is so great that seeded players can struggle or go out in the early rounds. Because Sweden is such a large country and vast distances are involved, there is usually a good choice of tournaments most weekends in different areas. The very top events such as the Safirs International or the Swedish Open are very well attended with many of the world’s top players entering.
Of course things have changed much in Sweden since the halcyon days of the 80’s culminating in the world men’s team final of 1989 when they crushed China 5 – 0. But three of the original five man squad were still there in 2000 to win again! Few people appreciate just how good a national squad Sweden had in the eighties. Take away the household names, Waldner, Persson, Appelgren and Lindh and others such as Von Scheele, Peter Karlsson, Ulf Carlsson and Ulf Bengtsson could have represented any country in Europe had they been born elsewhere. But you had other factors involved, Waldner and Lindh going to China in the early eighties and bringing back multi-ball, the advent of glue which changed the game dramatically. Also a number of training initiatives from coaches such as Bo Persson and Glen Östh — strengthening the backhand, working more on serve, receive and block, emphasizing forehand topspin but from an earlier timing point and above all stressing individual style. It was particularly the ability to take the high serves and better blocking which neutralized the Chinese.
The training scene in Sweden as in other parts of Europe is now strongly club oriented. The older players in the national team have a deep understanding of the sport and how to plan and prepare for the season. It is these players who continue to play with imagination. Unfortunately there is no sign of younger players with their touch and innovative styles. The emphasis now appears to be all on strength and power.
There is also a considerable exodus of players and coaches to other countries in Europe both for financial and developmental reasons. Lack of funding and the difficulty of attracting good sponsorship tend to result in the priority being to reward the players rather than the coaches. This combined with poor coaching development has resulted in a lack of high-level coaches and trainers country-wide. In many of the smaller clubs there is very limited expertise, in the big clubs trainers have too many players and too little time and often other priorities rather than developing the young. As a result there is usually not enough individual help and technique is poor in the formative years. A considerable number of players develop with built-in defects which limit their ultimate level of achievement — this is particularly noticeable with girl players.
Other areas where coaching is deficient are in the knowledge and use of different rubbers and how to cope especially with combination bats or defenders. The single biggest weakness is in the development of individual style. Modern coaching in Sweden appears to be moving towards the stereotyped robot-like game — there is little understanding that each player is unique with differing reactions, talents and strengths and that style should be directed towards what he or she does best. This is not quite so much of a problem in the boys’ game — there are fewer styles here and the great role models are still playing (but for how much longer). In the girls’ game which relies so much more on being different to achieve success, this lack of direction in the coaching structure is serious.
If we draw a comparison between table tennis in Sweden and England, we can see that although Sweden has started on the downward cycle, it is by no means so far down the curve as England and there are still ways back to the top. The great players are still there, still winning titles at the highest level, but for how much longer, two years or three? It can be very important how their expertise is used when they retire. The extended club structure in Sweden, some 900 clubs with from only several players to several hundreds, gives immense depth in standard, which you see in the leagues and tournaments. This club system provides strong support to the players in terms of a social structure, older players, advice and corner-men; there is a wealth of experience and guidance to call on.
But time and tide wait for no man, or country — the world moves on. It is not enough to drift or to live on past achievements. Even a country with Sweden’s reputation and history of success must look to the future and organize and plan. Achievements in the European Junior Championships, especially in the girls, have hardly been encouraging for the future. The lack of coaching structure, the failure of younger players to emerge to assume the mantle of greatness and the stark realities of sponsorship (if you can’t attract sponsors after winning the World and European men’s team events, just when can you?) do not augur well for the future. However, back in the early ‘80’s a group of proud young men got together and laid a base for achievements that rocked the table tennis world. It’s been done before, perhaps it can be done again!
My article ‘La grande illusion’ brought an early if unconvincing reply from E.T.T.A. spokesman Brian Halliday, a 2 page insert, confirming the impression that T.T. news is little more now than the propaganda organ of the E.T.T.A. management committee and its chairman. My piece was originally written for T.T. news and Brian, to his credit, had no problems with it, but his management colleagues banned it. So much for freedom of speech in our sport and the astonishing claim that there is no censorship! What is permitted, indeed welcomed seems a mixture of blandness and boasting produced in the hope that readers are unable to think for themselves. Readership numbers continue to fall with the rise in self praise. It is doubly sad that the E.T.T.A. management committee, in what will probably be its last full year in office, should wish to suppress what was a mild and constructive effort by a former chairman of the E.T.T.A. to improve matters. It shows how they have lost touch, such basic rights as ‘freedom of expression for others’ sacrificed.
I related how vast sums of lottery money, granted to us by Sport England, were spent on a single, little residential training unit within what was otherwise a Watersports Centre, itself much criticized. The basic idea of taking very young children from the parental home to turn them into table tennis professionals with uncertain prospects seemed to me unsound in theory and in practice. One wonders what glittering promises and illusions were at work to commit to such a future. Already I have seen young players return home a few years later, broken and disillusioned, some lost to the sport forever. They had been stars in their local scene, their youthful skills celebrated in the local press in league and county. The resulting individual heartbreak may be imagined, the loss of such talent to local associations adding a further poignant dimension.
Some tell me that the price is worth paying, if the elusive English world champion emerges. I cannot agree either in human or sporting terms. I have yet to see a player of genuine international quality produced by the ‘academy’ at either junior or senior level. Our only junior medal in the recent ‘academy’ years was the bronze won by Andrew Baggaley in the European Youth Championships, but he is not a resident of the Academy. I can recall 12 medals in the same event won by just one player over six years. He lived at home and the academy concept had not even been thought about. There were plenty of others who won medals in this definitive junior event. They were coached by free lance coaches and parents and attended occasional England training camps. All this was achieved on a relative shoestring. The results of our senior teams are frightening. Where once, on much less money, we regarded anything less than a top 4 place as failure, today we are in the second category of European nations outside the top 12.
The teams Chairman Ransome inherited were of the highest class. By 1994 both teams were still in semi-final places. In 1997 we got the Ransome Plan with the title ‘Being the Best’ which now seems deeply ironic. From then on it was downhill all the way. Leading players, able to win at the highest level, seemed to disappear almost overnight, as did good English coaches like Don Parker and Kevin Satchell. ‘Designer Label’ foreign coaches appeared. No one bothered to ask the vanishing players why they were retiring. The simple question ‘Why?’ remained unanswered. They all left of their own volition, Brian tells us. This was certainly not the case with my own son. Life was just made impossible for him until he saw no choice. He was still winning plenty of matches, which today we don’t often manage. Others must speak for themselves.
The relentless march towards rock bottom continued. It saw our teams relegated in the European Championships of 2000. In the World Championships of 2002 our men finished 20th and our women 34th. The official view now is that our teams will not meet the modest target of 24th place in either the Europeans this year or the World Championships of 2003. The Ransome plan will then be in its 6th year. The vast sums poured into the single academy project, which is so expensive, have deprived the sport of the seed-corn for growth and success. What is spent on the single academy could have financed ten centres of excellence where professionals and volunteers could have worked side by side, where a real British league could have been created, where the mass exodus of British players to foreign clubs could have ended. Young players would have practised and learnt while living at home. Local associations would have benefited. A real renaissance could have begun; building on the solid base that existed. Instead we got the Ransome plan. Instead of the renaissance we got the academy, instead of the hundred flowers that should have bloomed we got just one wilting one. And still Chairman Ransome and his colleagues don’t get it. They just don’t get it. They tell us that all is wonderful and well, that soon even the Swedes will copy us by starting an academy just like ours. I hope so, because then THEY will be 20 years behind the times and we may be able to beat them. In the meantime we have thrown away our great opportunity on an anthill of dogma.
Let me be entirely constructive now. How do we get out of this mess? It was easy enough to describe it, as it is so obvious. We must go back to Sport England with a plan, which will benefit the whole table tennis family, grass roots and elite players. We must abandon the failed Ransome plan of 1997 and begin again under a new chairman. By 2003 Ransome will have been in power for 12 years and we shall never get back those 12 wasted years. We must resolve that we have gone backwards as far as we can and that now the only way to go is forward, that it is the Chairman’s duty to serve the members, not try out pet theories on them. Recent ministerial announcements indicate a belated recognition of the volunteer ethic, of the importance of the grass roots, that top sport needs, more than anything, the firm base we now so clearly lack. Our members will have the unique opportunity in 2003 of drawing a line under the culture of failure and to make a new start.
Published in SportBreak magazine April 2002.
I have been reading with some interest the debate started by Thomas Andersson and Göran Skogsberg concerning the problems in Swedish table tennis and especially the difficulty in keeping players in our sport past their mid-teens. What do we find however if we go back 12 –15 years in some of the old ‘Table Tennis’ magazines?
‘ Now in 1990 I am reading an article on women’s table tennis which makes me believe that time has stood still since I first began my coaching career in 1969. There have been no advances in the Swedish women’s game since those days’.
1986 ‘An aspect from the latest European Youth Championships which must worry and concern us is the lack of success with our cadet teams. We must quite simply intensify our coaching and leadership programmes so that we produce enough experienced people to work with and develop our up-and-coming players. We don’t have very much time left.’
The problems with leaders, coaches, girls’ and youth development in Sweden seem not to be recent in origin but to have been with us for a long number of years. A much more crucial question should be — ‘Why have the Swedish Association and the districts (because these are not problems that can be solved by the main association alone) sat back and done nothing about these problems for so many years?’
Thomas knows as well as I do that if players have the right development when they are young, in the formative years, then there is a bigger chance they will keep on playing. He got Frida Johansson to a high level at a young age, result, she is still playing. I did the same with four players in Berkvara, two are 19 years now, all are still playing — one professionally in France, one in the ex-‘Table Tennis Academy’ in Falkenberg and yet another has played in the junior National Team. Get players to a good level at a young age so that they can achieve some success and they will have the motivation at 15/17 to continue.
The biggest problem I see is that players just don’t have access to the right level of coaching at club level at the age when they need it, mainly due to the lack of experienced coaches. Even in the big clubs the trainers often have priorities other than developing the young players. The critical age group is in the 9 –13 area where solid foundations are essential if players are to progress to the higher levels. When players feel at the age of 15/17 that they are just not progressing any more then they lose interest and drift away. If we don’t have the coaches at club level, then the role of the district assumes a much greater importance in developing both coaches and players.
Looking at the wider picture, the problem of declining standards in table tennis and the inability to take players to the higher levels is not common to Sweden. Where are the younger players in numbers to take over the mantle of Waldner, Persson, Primorac, Gatien and Saive? Why is a forty year old winning the European Women’s Singles? Why does Poland win so many boys events in the junior E.M but do so poorly in the seniors? Ten years ago Europe was strong, now it’s still the older players who carry her along.
In 1999 Linda Nordenberg lost in the semi-finals of the Junior E.M. to the Austrian girl Liu Jia in three sets — not that big a difference in playing levels. Now three years later Liu Jia has been as high as 14 in the world rankings in women, she has continued to progress and with the right training and development her level keeps going up and up! Could it just perhaps be that sound basic training in the player’s formative years is critical and continuing guidance at an older age to keep her progressing in the right direction for her style of play is also vital if she is to reach full potential? Do promising young players in Sweden have access to the right help?
Ulf Lönnqvist’s prophetic words of 1986 — ‘We don’t have very much time left’, were spoken from near the top of the mountain of success. Now Sweden is rapidly gathering speed downhill on the other side. To stop the slide action is required, inertia is no longer an option.
It is a priority one way or another that we take the coaching to the players, especially in those critical younger years. Also it is important that both parents and clubs realize that you don’t develop by just competing all the time — opportunity must be found for training. 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. Do we really think that we are going to produce the players of the future with methods of the past?
Swedish table tennis can be proud of its successes in past decades. This is proof that we are on solid ground with our activities. But nothing lasts for ever. New players are emerging with different expectations. Therefore we must look forward. This document which was adopted by the Swedish Association at the annual meeting in May 2000, shall act as a guide for all involved in Swedish table tennis. We must have objectives. At the same time we know that there are changes on the way. The most important point is that we have vision and that we do the right thing for Swedish table tennis. Read and be creative.
Table tennis is a sport open to all. Clubs give boys and girls equal opportunities and conditions to develop themselves and their table tennis. Our sport shall function in such a way that there will be a big interest in table tennis and so that knowledge and enthusiasm shall be found among large sections of the population. Table tennis shall demonstrate that it should be regarded as a high quality sport. To attract a big interest from the media not at least where television is concerned, it’s an important goal to write and report on table tennis as this gives further opportunities to spread interest and knowledge concerning our sport.
The year 2010 shall find 100,000 members in clubs under the umbrella of the Swedish Association. There will be at least 11,000 licensed players competing in our leagues. It has already been shown that clubs don’t have any big difficulty in attracting youngsters. It’s important that as many youngsters as possible who have begun playing are encouraged and given the opportunity to continue. To achieve this goal table tennis activities must be organized in such a way that players are stimulated and inspired to enjoy and remain in our sport for many years.
The number of active table tennis clubs must increase. By 2010 we shall have at least 900 clubs and in every district there will be organized activity in at least 10 clubs. The table tennis season shall be extended — our sport can and should function for an increasingly larger part of the year than up to now.
Elite level — At the close of 2010 the national men’s team shall be in the 4 best in the world and the women’s team among the 4 best in Europe. To reach this goal at least two of our men need to be ranked in the top 20 in the world and two of our women among the top 20 in Europe. The Association shall have such a standard in the elite divisions that at least 2 men’s teams will be among the best 10 club teams in Europe. On the women’s side at least one team shall be up among the best 10 in Europe. At the Junior Europeans our juniors shall be among the best three teams. The Association’s top divisions for men and women shall be of high quality, both in terms or playing standards and organization and shall have a good overall level country-wide.
The evolution of players through training so that they reach a high level is in the province of the clubs. From 13 – 14 years the development shall take place in close cooperation with the Association’s district and national trainers. Table tennis has been organized for the most part in tournaments as an individual sport. The starting point for training and development must be (without going into any details as to how we are going to achieve this) that table tennis is a team sport. One plays, trains and has fun together and has many matches.
For some 13 – 14 year olds there will be a stronger focus on high quality in their game. The goal for Swedish table tennis must therefore be that at the same time that they have quality development in their sport, they have the opportunity to have a thorough school education. The Association has the responsibility for the continuation of high level table tennis development even through the summer months.
Seen from this perspective the clubs which have promising and ambitious young players must cultivate a close and dependable working relationship with the high school in their area. These youngsters must have good opportunities to have a high standard of education in their home town operating parallel with top level development in their sport at their club.
For young ambitious players with initiative who don’t have the training opportunities in their own club, their sporting development and school education can be combined at the so-called table tennis academy. There our youngsters both boys and girls will have access to the most advantageous training, development and education facilities. This means not only the highest levels in the case of training and coaches but solid educational progress. Obviously the Association manager and national trainers will be connected to this activity and naturally the manager will have the primary responsibility. Also too the manager will have responsibility for closer links with the research and developmental activities which are operated within the framework of the academy.
It is obvious that all the instructional and educational input that is needed for leader and coach development within Swedish table tennis, will come from the resources which are available in our clubs as well as the academy and the high schools. The collective resources and experience which we have within Swedish table tennis which can benefit our sport will be coordinated by the Association’s manager.
For Sweden to reach her elite goals, described under 1) Primary goal, it is necessary to strengthen the national team. A strong national team creates the conditions for exploiting television coverage, which is significant to promote and spread our sport. A strong national team needs clubs with high-level elite activity and well educated leaders and trainers at club level. The clubs which have teams in the top divisions in the national league ought to have permanent trainers. It must be a goal for the Association together with the clubs in the top divisions, the elite clubs, to create the proper environment so that there are well-experienced trainers who can be employed full-time in our sport.
Within the Association we must find a manager responsible for the development of Swedish table tennis at all levels. To work with this person in national team activities, we should find national trainers for men, women and junior teams. At the disposal of the national teams we shall set up sports doctors and masseurs. The Association’s manager and the national trainers shall have a close working relationship with the clubs where we have national team or promising players. The national trainers shall arrange training camps at these clubs and national trainers can also be used as trainers in the elite clubs.
The Association’s manager and the national coaches shall regularly confer with trainers and leaders on current questions concerning the development of table tennis. The sort of aspects which will be dealt with are training development, the training and competition programme for the season, new training methods, initiatives from abroad, monitoring of players and more.
The goal of the international activity is to –
Tournament play shall be a positive experience and attractive for players, leaders, officials, parents, the public and the organizers. Different tournaments have different goals. Sometimes the emphasis is on the players, for example in pool-play, on other occasions the most important thing is to sell the event to the public, as with the Swedish Open.
The goal is going to be to –
Swedish table tennis is well known to be of high quality in all that we do. Quality should not be an empty word. Year by year, in a world where all sports fight tooth and nail to increase their membership, their sponsors and have more media time, all this puts higher demands on quality. We must learn from others, be modest so as to produce a positive picture of our activity. Apart from a well-developed tournament programme, table tennis should project such social and equality advantages that all will want to choose our sport. The goal before 2010 is that we attain quality in all aspects with a well thought-out programme of education. This goes for players, club leaders, coaches, training, education, series organizers, tournament organizers or national association office staff.
Players shall respect opponents and umpires and set an example in both national and international events.
Umpires have an important function and have the right to expect education. Without knowledgeable and professional umpires our sport will generally lose credence.
National League (but particularly the highest divisions) grows in status if we keep to the arranged programme. We also have a bigger chance to get media coverage.
Tournaments shall be concerned to demonstrate quality, regardless of the level. In the case of the biggest events the arena shall be appropriately and tastefully arranged and the times suitable to the general public. In this case the speaker has an important role in giving out information and maintaining the interest. The Association shall market and look after the biggest event the Swedish Open so that it will be the focal point in the calendar with live television broadcasts.
According to statistics, a total of 13 inventions and 24 innovations have been made in the world of table tennis since 1902. Of these, China has accounted for 7 inventions and 11 innovations, or 53% and 47% respectively. Impressive as these figures may be, they all date back to the period from 1959 to 1980. During the ‘80’s to date only the Swedes and the South Koreans it is commonly believed, have come up with anything new, while China has fallen away into oblivion (except for the reverse penhold BH ‘discovered’ by Shi in Harbin)
Such a belief may however in fact be erroneous. Since no world champion in the history of table tennis has ever played an all out attacking game with the kind of combination racket used by Deng Yaping, we may well consider her ingenious style as a Chinese innovation.
The sport of table tennis, which has continuously improved throughout long decades of evolution, now leaves less and less room for innovation. However Deng Yaping’s successes convince us that the possibilities are by no means completely exhausted. We only have to look at the results in Europe of players like Herbert Neubauer, beating ex-world champions, to see that there are still new avenues to be explored in the areas of both equipment and style development.
In a sense, Deng Yaping as a world champion was forced into being by the new international situation, by the pressure brought to bear on the Chinese players by foreign competition. Without the growing threat of foreign table tennis powers, Zhang Xielin and Li Chaofeng would not have felt such a strong need to devise a new type of game, nor would Yao Guozhi have so eagerly sought help from the Tianjin Rubber Research Institute.
We can see this more clearly if we briefly review the history of world table tennis. It was the powerful strength of Europe and Japan that forced China to emerge as a newly rising force in the 1950’s. The Chinese contingent dominated the world for a quarter of a century, thus forcing the Europeans to change their way of playing and research new methods, primarily based on spin, to beat them. In this sense we can say that the powerful European teams of the last 15 years were forced into being by the dominance of the Chinese, although the major research as it were was carried out by two countries, Hungary and Sweden. Both of these countries worked single-mindedly over a number of years to secure victories over China and are directly responsible for much of the development in European table tennis over the last 15 – 20 years.
Over the last few years table tennis has been in decline but perhaps we are now reaching a stage where it has stabilized and is ready for an upsurge.
Unfortunately in many clubs there are not enough coaches of a good enough level to help the players develop and parents and leaders working with the children do not have enough basic education in table tennis. As a result players do not get the right basic grounding and do not develop in the right way from the start. Future progress and quality is then strictly limited and we are developing a generation of players who will never reach their full potential. Talent on its own is rarely enough.
It is really up to the Association and the districts to have more coaching and leader education and to disseminate coaching information more in depth throughout the club system.
The basics are important in table tennis, it is not an easy sport to learn and it takes quite a long time to be proficient. But above all if players develop with technical flaws, then their ultimate level of play is limited and they quite simply just never reach their full potential. Hopefully more and better basic coaching education will help to get the right type of training to players who are starting out and will set them on the right road from the outset. It’s also important that from quite an early age players learn to question and to think for themselves, but to do this they must have some framework of knowledge on which they can build and progress.
It is equally important once players reach a little higher level, that they have access to advanced coaching and particularly that they have guidance as to ‘direction’. By this we mean how their own individual game should be developed and how they should play so as to be most effective. Each individual player should be encouraged to draw as near as possible to his or her maximum potential and to know not only where he or she is going but also how to get there.
Throughout the district we have many differing levels and situations in the clubs. Often even bigger clubs have too large groups and not enough individual attention, while smaller clubs have no or only poor technical input. Motivation can also be a problem at club level where the same players train together all the time and gradually lose interest.
There is too often a spirit of competition between the clubs rather than a willingness to work together to improve table tennis as a whole. This is why any development project is best initiated and supported by the district. If the best players from different clubs in the district train together once a month, then not only will the dissemination of knowledge be improved but also the motivational and unifying aspects will be enhanced. When you have only few coaches it is much more effective to bring the players to one central point, though it doesn’t have to be the same central point every month.
To help to motivate trainers, leaders, parents and young players it would also be useful to hold seminars and lectures on table tennis subjects or to have these available in booklet form or even on the internet. It is always valuable to have exhibitions and demonstration visits from top players or coaches but in the long run nothing is able to replace the labour of steady and regular technical development. It is only regular training, guidance and monitoring which will bring top class results.
• Happiness does not depend on outward things, but on the way we see them
• Success doesn't come to you, you go to it
• One today is worth two tomorrows
• The fragrance always stays in the hand that gives the rose
• Takers ultimately lose, but givers win forever - this is a rule the universe never breaks
• Great things are only possible with outrageous requests
• Handle them carefully because words have more power than bombs
• What you think of you is much more important than what others think of you
• We cannot change anything unless we accept it
• Age is a matter of feeling not of years
• All glory comes from daring to begin
• Adversity reveals genius, prosperity conceals it
• You have to expect things of yourself before you can do them
• It is not death man should fear, but never beginning to live
• Today’s preparation determines tomorrow’s achievement
• Everyone is made out of the same dough, but not baked in the same oven
• It’s never too late to be what you might have
• Lazy people lose half their life, the energetic double theirs
Most people are frozen in the mind and fixed in their way of thinking. To be innovative you must be prepared to let the mind flow like a mountain stream, this way and that. Above all you cannot be traditional, you must be ready to ‘think round corners’.
In the big clubs 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?
It is in the areas of the mind, the mental approach and the development of style where the coach cannot force the player into a mould. In the final analysis it is only the player who can choose to play safe or to take risks, to assess the percentages, to judge the value of being positive or negative. Equally it is the player’s own mind which will prompt him in the direction of his own personal style. The player’s own instincts will tell him if he is most comfortable playing fast or slow, close to the table or away, attack or defence, loop or drive, (if only the player will heed his/her own instincts).
Each of you at whatever level you play, will only progress and develop if you change and if you are prepared to accept in your own mind that such change is necessary. And by change we do not just mean getting bigger and stronger and faster! If all you are doing is moving faster and hitting the ball harder than you did 2/3 years ago, then there is a good chance your game is starting to stagnate and progress has stopped!
The problem of more individual attention is by no means without solution, there are a number of alternatives, especially if you are prepared to ‘think around corners’. However the main problem would be whether solutions would be politically acceptable to the clubs. In the majority of cases an acceptable level of technical and tactical guidance along with individual style development cannot be provided at club level, especially if you are talking about European top twenty standards. Times are changing and we will almost certainly not produce the players of the future, with the methods of the past.
Traditions are important, however there is one inescapable fact of life, everything changes. Progress, development mean change. Resist change and try and stay as you are and stagnation sets in.
Of course if you think in traditional ways and you remain isolated in your own club, then there is perhaps less flexibility of thought and less willingness to consider new ideas. That things happen is in fact largely a matter of ideas and the ability and energy to translate ideas into reality.
It is all too easy to drift, to procrastinate, to accept lesser levels of achievement. It’s very human to take the easy road. Many players don’t seem to question where they are going — they just drift. After a while the mind becomes frozen and they don’t even think any more. It’s also all too easy to be limited by those around you, both coaches and players. How often do I hear the phrase — ‘But you must face up to reality!’ But what is reality? Ten players in your club will tell you it’s impossible to become a world champion. But if you talk to one or two world champions, they won’t laugh at you for thinking and aiming big, because they have already done it!
It’s all a matter of perception — if you set limits in your own mind on what you expect to achieve, then you will indeed never exceed these limits. Just what is your reality!
There appears to be developing in Europe a sameness of play, a universality of style, strong, efficient and workmanlike but without the personal, unique touches that differentiate the really special performers from the run of the mill players. If our European style of play is changing, the first question to ask is why. What has changed over the last twenty years since the older players were in their formative period? Is it the coaches, the players or the system or some combination of all three? Or is it with more interaction between European countries, more joint training ventures, more mass media, magazines, internet, that there is now a standardization of coaching, less invention and fewer ideas? Is it perhaps that in many countries we now have more top players being involved in coaching, especially in the national centres, who as a result of their own background look at the development of style in a rather different light, or even consider certain styles of play more preferable to others?
It becomes perhaps even more essential to devote much more training time to receive, to controlling the opponent’s serve so that he or she is not able to open hard and pressure you on the third ball. If you are able to neutralize the serve you then have the opportunity yourself to try and take advantage of the fourth ball. You should look of course to variation in all its forms, spin, speed, length, timing, angles and tactics and to advanced techniques – very early timed push long and short, with and without spin, flicking at both peak and very late timing, stop and sidespin blocks, dummy loops, playing with and against the spin.
Consciousness – what is the degree of awareness of oneself, one’s own feelings and what is happening around?
Total concentration — table tennis is a switch-on/switch-off game, 100% focus when the ball is in play, relax and switch off when out of play. There is no room for feelings, especially anger. A relaxed calmness will pave the way to being in control, clear-headed and able to think at all times. This does not mean that there is no place for controlled aggression – there is always a time to fight and many of the great players have total unshakeable determination.
Feel one’s strokes, feel the ball at impact — flat and brush strokes are the essence of table tennis.
A player’s consciousness is more important than his technical proficiency. Skills can be learned but the quality of consciousness is difficult to improve. The cultivation of table tennis consciousness should be an obligatory theoretical course for all players.
Cultivate consciousness in seeking the optimal point of impact when striking the ball or in combining ‘drive’ and ‘brush’ strokes during play (such a combination constitutes the very essence of table tennis skills), even in getting the feel of the movement of one’s racket during each stroke (being mindful of each stroke you play so that you are aware of the why and wherefore of its success or failure).
To produce good spin it is vital that the racket accelerates just before the moment of impact with the ball. To control the speed of the swing the player must fully relax the muscles before hitting the ball. Only at the moment of impact should he suddenly contract his arm muscles to produce an explosive force.
A drive or even a topspin drive becomes a loop 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. Intention is also a useful criterion for another reason. 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. If these accidental effects can be made intentional, then the loop practice has indeed been worthwhile.
As well as intention one must remember purpose. Many players continue spinning long after they have achieved the goal of getting the ball up high enough to kill. Surely the idea when playing table tennis is to win the point – the loop should not necessarily be regarded as a point-winner, but rather as another weapon in your arsenal, another tool to create openings.
Other effective winners are produced by unpredictability, by irregular changes of direction. On the whole the more pronounced the directional change, the more careful the player must be with the power input.
The gyroscopic effect of the spin in loop gives strong directional control and as a result more on-the-table accuracy. This is nothing to do with specific placement accuracy! The two are very different.
Due to the nature of the execution of the loop stroke in comparison with the drive (more lift) it is easy to use many more timing points and thus much more variation.
How many players really know how to get the best out of their own game, what is effective with their own personal style of play? If you ask players how they win points, what is their winning weapon, they may well know this. But if you go into their style in more detail you get fewer and fewer answers and often little understanding of several important areas. Many players do not seem to be aware of their most effective playing distance from the table or how much of the table they would cover with the forehand or the backhand for example. If you start to explore in depth, which serve and receive is most effective with their style of play against designated opponents, how they change against defence or pimples, ask if they can take advantage knowledgeably of return spin on the third or fourth ball and use elastic energy or the Magnus effect against defence players, often you only get blank looks in reply. Even if you become involved with players who have been in their national squads for some years and have played in European and World Championships, often they are still not aware how to get the best out of their own game (especially women players). It would appear that a thorough understanding of the relationship of tactics to technique and the intricacies of personal style development are not considered necessary at national level.
How many players even know how to train properly and to train in the right way for their type of game? How many have the right attitude and the optimal level of nervous excitement in the training hall to get the best out of the session? So often training operates at a lower and less intense level than it should because the players bring the wrong attitude to the hall. At a personal level how many players actually know that they are training in the right way for them, with the right content and the right methods? How many even know where they are going and more important, how to get there!
The marriage of block and fast backhand loop drive is innovative. It becomes even more effective when you target the opponent’s backhand immediately after a hard attack to his forehand side. But just what strokes do you include in this backhand arsenal (stop-block, drive, topspin, loop) and how is the change from one to the other to be executed and which switches are most effective? What is your finishing stroke, a fast drive or a topspin?
Deng Dasong (Deng Yaping’s father) — ‘There are 3 things required of an accomplished table tennis player in China, strong fortés, all-round skills and no obvious chinks in his or her armour. But how are these to be applied to a child? I reckon that of all the three requirements, the first one is primary while the other two are only secondary. If a child is able to develop very strong fortés at an early age, he or she can easily cultivate all-round skills and overcome his or her weak points at a later stage. But if you start out trying to be good all around so that you become something like a jack of all trades, you can hardly expect to develop any strong fortés later on’.
Explore the writing out of a programme to introduce mental development within your usual training syllabus, so that mental and physical and on-the-table exercises all take place and progress at the same time.
• If you are to be the best there must be variation, speed of movement, the will to fight to the end, flexibility of thought, an enduring sense of adventure and above all a calmness of self.
• Stress is difficult but stress is also good – it gives you determination to fight!
• Miracles occur when players believe.
• People who have been abused need specialist help not just safeguarding policies: it’s exactly the same with the development of young athletes; they don’t need systems but guidance pointing them in the right direction for them as individuals.
• The mastery and understanding of timing must be relevant to the individual’s style of play.
• Each player must be aware of his/her comfort position, relative to the table and also the most auspicious timing and best stroke length to maximize effect.
• Winning is simply a habit and an attitude of mind.
• Motivation and passion matter the most in the long run
• Create an optimal motivational climate that empowers the athlete and matches the player’s personality. Everybody is different and differing personalities react differently to the same situations. This is driven by personal history, temperament and cultural differences.
• ‘Good disagreement’ is vital to progress. Understand why you disagree, the reasons for the other’s point of view and if any of his/her ideas are of value.
• For progress the individual segments/players must be robust, imaginative, flexible and capable of dealing with rapidly changing concepts.
• The way forward is for everyone to be involved in their local community/area but looking outwards. If each area, however small, did this, the benefit to the whole would be immense.
• There is a need for National Bodies not to control and lead, but to gather together the threads of the individual segments, to isolate why some areas are on the path to success and then to assume the role of guiding/advising/aiding. This doesn’t need a vast infrastructure, just one or two individuals who are ‘switched on’.
• A move towards more collective responsibility, even leading from the ‘shop floor’, involves more individuals, leads to new ideas and creativity/innovation. Control and regulation from the top often stifles imagination.
• The road to leadership is beset by many pitfalls, not least of which is the perception of the nature and importance of the position itself!
• Every great leader will ultimately fall from within unless they have the good of their subjects at the centre of their plans.
We are welcoming another day
Virgin and completely new
So here I come to beg you, Coach
If you will improve me too.
Forgive the host of errors
That I made yesterday
Let me make a bigger effort, Coach
To play closer to your way.
But Coach, I am well aware
I can't do it on my own
So take my hand and help me out
Because I can't do it all alone!
No two players play the same — there is a product however for every variation of style and this makes the choice of the right combination just for you an extremely difficult decision. Of all racket sports table tennis is the one which has by far the biggest variety of racket coverings. This of course creates a bigger variety of playing styles and tactics, especially amongst the women, who in most cases lack the power of the men. In tennis for example one may have over-sized racket heads or higher and lower tension in the strings, but basically one racket does not vary radically from the next — the same applies to badminton and to squash.
However it is not only the racket which is very different in table tennis with its many permutations of spin, speed, control and effect, but also the ball which makes the game rather more difficult to master. This is because the ball is so light, takes much more spin than the balls used in other racket sports and slows so much more rapidly in the air. Not only must the developing player be aware of what his own weapon can do, but also of the characteristics of the opponent’s weapon and what his opponent is likely to be able to achieve with it. But equally, to be effective the player must be aware of what the ball will do after contact with the racket, both in the air and after the bounce. In other words to be proficient at our sport the player requires to be rather more aware of the mechanics and science of table tennis and especially as we have the least time of all ball sports to react, recover and play our next shot.
What we also have to bear in mind is that to reach full potential we have to select the weapon which most suits our style of play and which will enable us to develop in the right way. It would be of little use for a strong topspin player to use 1.0mm sponge as the ball would not be held long enough on the racket. But such a thickness might well benefit a defender who wishes to initiate heavy backspin. The beauty of table tennis is that you can tailor the equipment you use to be of maximum benefit to your long term development – the main stumbling block however is that there are such an immense number of sponges and rubbers on the market, that it can be difficult if not impossible to find the right combination to suit you. However if you are a player who is always looking to develop and to move on, then more often than not such evolution will involve experimentation with differing materials. We must also bear in mind that there will be changes in players’ styles and tactics over the years which will require research into different playing materials.
Above all what we must be able to do before we select ‘the weapon’ is to analyse our own game in detail and decide just what characteristics the racket of our choice should possess and what we should be able to do with it. Do we need speed, spin, control, feeling or effect and in what quantities and combinations? If we ourselves are not capable of doing this then we will need to call in outside help in the form of trainers or coaches who know how we play and how we win points.
Once we have our style analysis the first step is to research the blade. The choosing of a blade is a rather more personal matter than the rest of the equipment and it should feel right both in terms of speed and especially of weight. Blades usually vary from about 65 grams up to about 100 grams – very few players would want to use a blade heavier than this. Tests in a number of countries appear to indicate that there is an ideal racket weight for the player at differing stages in his or her development and variation by even a few grams can cause a drastic loss of form. We must also bear in mind that the thicker sponge and rubber sheets (2.2 and maximum) and particularly those with harder sponges can add considerably to the overall racket weight (Both Western and Chinese reverse can weigh around 40 – 45 grams, pimples out between 28 – 38 grams and long pimples without sponge as low as 14 – 20 grams). Handles are also important and players often have a preference for one shape or another. In the case of ‘twiddlers’ the type of handle and the width of the blade shoulder too may assume more importance.
The second stage is to decide on the sponge, both thickness and softness/hardness. Thicker sponges are more effective for topspin play and have better control and feeling for blocking. Medium sponges (1.7 – 2.0) are good for close-to-the-table play and drive/counter-hitting, while the thin sponges are best for defence, especially where heavy backspin is needed. The softness of the sponge is of particular importance in the areas of control and effect – soft sponges are better for blocking, attacking from an early timing point and for achieving different effects when using pimples. Harder sponges give more speed and a faster and lower ball after the bounce when combined with topspin.
Finally we come to the selection of the rubber topsheet. Here we are concerned with softness, thickness and the ‘tackiness’, the friction of the rubber. Softness and thickness are important because these characteristics allow the full influence of the blade and the sponge to come into play. For example the combined thickness of ‘sandwich’ rubber (the rubber and sponge layers) must legally be no more than 4.0 millimetres and the rubber itself is not allowed to be more than 2.0mm. There is however no legal requirement as to the thickness of the sponge. What has happened over the last 5 – 8 years is that with modern manufacturing techniques, the rubber layer can be produced in much thinner sheets (as low as 1.1 – 1.2mm) and as a result sponge layers have been able to grow in thickness up to around 2.8mm. This obviously is very good for the loop players.
‘Tackiness’ is also important to many players, both in the service game and in the rallies. Under certain conditions however and with certain techniques some super high friction rubbers can give less spin/speed than ones with much lower friction characteristics. Sometimes super-grippy rubbers have less spin at high speed — there is a critical level above which little or nothing is gained. Some very tacky rubbers have the characteristic of slowing the ball dramatically at low impact speeds, a function which is very useful in certain strokes. A low friction rubber will have difficulty generating speed at closed racket angles. Remember too that the friction of many rubbers is impact dependent, they are more effective when the ball is coming at speed.
Games to 11 up. Will table tennis ever be the same again?
From the point of view of the men’s team event, the ‘blue riband’ event of the world championships, there has been a strong domination by different areas of the world at different times. (Worlds suspended for war years 1940 - 1947).
| Hungary | Czechoslovakia | England | U.S.A. | Austria | TOTAL |
| 11 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 20 |
Up to the early 50’s table tennis was totally dominated by Europe and especially in the early years by Hungary. (Hungary is in fact second only to China in the all-time gold medal table with a total of 73).
| China | Japan | Sweden | Hungary | TOTAL |
| 10 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 19 |
During this period apart from the odd exceptions (Sweden in ‘73 and Hungary ‘79), the men’s team was almost completely dominated by Asia with China starting to have a strong effect from 1961 onwards.
| China | Sweden | TOTAL |
| 3 | 4 | 7 |
In most recent times the title has been monopolized by these two countries, China and Sweden, with the ‘old men’ of Sweden once again using their experience to win against the odds in 2000. However it would seem that for the future there will be little competition for China from Europe, looking at the age of most of the top players in Europe and the lack of new talent coming through at top level.
The dominant racket covering in the early years from 1902 till the 1950’s was the hard-bat pimpled rubber. It was the celluloid ball and the rubber faced racket that changed the game of table tennis and allowed a new range of shots and variety of spins. The hard-bat rubber meant a rather different stance and method of play than we have today. The path of the strokes was largely up or down and not forward and balance was not the priority it is now. The ball kicked off the racket quite quickly and was not held a long time by the rubber (the surface was not so elastic as it is now), but it did not necessarily reach the other end of the table quicker because there was less topspin through the air. It was not impossible but it was difficult and not effective to try and reverse the spin on the ball. Because of the hard surface the ball wasn’t held long enough and if you hit too hard it would just float off the other end of the table when you played against the spin. Usually if one player attacked the other chopped and waited for the drop shot to come in and attack. You could hit hard when playing with the spin and many players did, taking the ball at quite an early timing point. There was also often good blocking play as with this type of racket it is very easy to play good angles and some players used strokes sometimes thought to be only recently ‘discovered’ like the chop-block! (M. Mednyanszky) (R. Bergmann : half-volley play).
From the early 1950’s till it was banned in 1959 the thick sponge (especially wielded by the Japanese players) was a major factor in changing the game and in introducing new tactics. Players would topspin with a high trajectory particularly when playing from back and there were many requests for higher light fittings! Conventional defence went out of the window and if pushed back players would lob with such strong topspin that it was not easy to put the ball away and win the point (especially with a hard bat). In the counter hitting rallies the ball was gripped by the sponge surface, creating topspin, and travelled much faster. With a strong element of topspin the speed build-up off the opponent’s side of the table was much faster and the ball bounced much lower after the bounce than the hard bat players were used to (the Magnus effect). But above all for the first time in table tennis history players found they had the possibility to easily reverse existing spin on the ball. They could topspin a topspin ball back, they didn’t need to chop!
In 1960 Stan Jacobson discovered a ‘new’ stroke, the loop, which was to revolutionize table tennis. By this time we were using the ‘sandwich’ rubber rackets which had good speed and spin and were tailor-made for the loop. The original concept of the loop was as a high trajectory, very spinny ball (often taken quite late), to be used mainly for prying open the defences of the good choppers. Because the ball dropped very low, very quickly after the bounce, it was difficult for the defender to keep it down and the attacker was always ready to smash at the first opportunity. During the 1960’s and 70’s the loop developed in many different directions as players experimented with using it in differing situations and against differing balls. It was found that it was possible at top level to feed in a very high amount of power and still keep the ball on the table because of the topspin element. However because the path of the stroke now was very much more forward particularly in fast play, balance became much more important. Probably the culmination of looping with spin was the win by a margin of 5 - 1 by Hungary over China in Pyongyang in 1979, (using spin on both forehand and backhand).
In the early 1960’s also a new style of service play had emerged. Gone was the slow tactical build-up and the eventual kill, because the lightning fast drive play of the Asians, especially the Chinese, gave no time for this. The structure of the rally was altered completely and whereas previously the serve more or less put the ball into play, now it was employed so that a definite advantage was gained. The pattern was therefore a short, backspin serve inviting a push return, which was immediately looped, then killed. Rallies were a thing of the past, sudden death had taken over.
In the early 1970’s we had the ‘funny rubbers’ explosion, the combination rackets, led by China (both long-pimple and anti-loop). These were to enjoy a considerable measure of success even against the world’s best players right through the 70’s and into the 80’s ( J.Hilton Europeans 1980) until the ‘black and red’ rule of 1986. Because rubbers were the same colour during this period it was most difficult to read the spin and no-spin ball and one could not always rely on sound in a noisy hall. It was for example only in 1983 that ‘foot stamping’ during service was banned. Also in the 70’s we had the high throw serve again introduced by the Chinese, with the downward speed being converted to spin or speed and often with a different bounce characteristic. This caused problems for many players.
Around about 1982 the use of glue became commonplace and loop speed and spin were further accentuated. The young Swedish players were in the forefront of the glue revolution but also there had been going on quietly behind the scenes in Sweden a number of developmental and coaching changes, which were to rock the table tennis world. As long ago as 1980 M. Appelgren had been in Sweden’s European gold medal winning team but even before that he had been influencing the establishment away from the hard-hitting K. (the hammer) Johansson’s type of game and towards topspin – topspin, the on -the-table ball. Other important factors had occurred — Waldner and Lindh being invited to China in the summer of 1980 and bringing back the multi-ball method of training — coaches such as G. Östh and Bo Persson working to produce a Swedish model to counter the Chinese. But above all talent, Sweden had perhaps the most incredibly talented group of players ever gathered together in one country, at one time. Throughout the 80’s the Swedish model slowly took shape and emerged, moving away from the traditional kill and counter — topspin was to succeed hit as a means to achieve victory. But a topspin somewhere between the long-arm spin strokes of the Hungarians and the short-arm speed strokes of the Chinese players. A topspin which would utilize a shorter stroke and from an earlier timing point, nearer to the peak with more emphasis on speed and spin rather than pure spin. A topspin which because of the glue would have even more speed and penetration and would give the Chinese less time to use their speed. A topspin which would take away their speed advantage and reduce them to a more passive containing game.
Much time was also spent in building up the backhand strength so that a two winged attack could be maintained at all times. There were other aspects also to the Swedish model, much emphasis on serve and receive in practice, much block training under pressure and many irregular exercises. There was too an emphasis on individual development, the players were encouraged to do what they did best and to build on their own strengths. Indeed if you examine the styles of Appelgren, Waldner, Persson, Lindh and Karlsson they are all very different.
Throughout the 80’s the work continued with the players developing and becoming more experienced and confident (and training much in China too). From 1983 - 1987 they took silver in the world team event, from 1989 - 1993 the gold and again in 1995 silver. Seven years in a row they were in the final and in 2000 still strong enough to win again with two of their players in the mid-thirties! What had beaten the Chinese was glue, the strong topspin, better backhands, better blocking and the ability to take the high-throw serve. When the Chinese had lost to the Hungarians in 1979 they had immediately come back with even greater speed, mixed with short, well-placed blocks – the Hungarians needed both room and time for their long strokes, the Chinese denied them these aspects. With the Swedes at their best the Chinese never really found the antidote! What must also be remembered is that some of the great Chinese players were coming to the end of their careers by the mid-80’s, Guo Yuehua for example who was in 4 single finals from 1977 - 83.
During the 1990’s we see that table tennis at world level is much more integrated and athletic with differing styles and techniques flowing one into the other. The serve assumes great importance and the ability to serve well and cope with the opponent’s serve is critical. We have the big ball now too which means a little less spin especially back from the table and the flight path and bounce characteristics are different too — the ball drops more quickly after coming off the table, especially if there is less power input. We have moved into the 2000’s with the shorter game up to 11, which means higher concentration levels and little room for error and soon we will have new service limitations. What does the future hold for our sport? One thing we can guarantee is that however the administrators try to limit how we play, they will never stop new innovative equipment, techniques and tactics coming into our sport. Coaches and players are as we have found over the years inventive and always ready to adapt to new situations.
Right up to the 1950’s table tennis was dominated by the ‘hard’ bat with the main tactics being drive against chop and drop short. There would often be good blocking play too (R Bergmann half-volley) as the ‘defender’ got in to change the game. The main ‘path’ of the strokes was vertical as the bat didn’t grip the ball so well and not so much spin was imparted. As a result balance was not so important as it is today, nor was it so essential to ‘face’ the angle of play. In fact many players executed strokes often with their back to the table. The backhand was often quite strong (the Barna flick) and many players used the backhand wing from the centre of the table.
In the 1950’s and early 60’s we had topspin with the sponge bats and the early ‘sandwich’ rackets. For the first time it was easy to reverse existing spin on the ball and to counter or topspin against topspin. Balance and good athletic movement became rather more important. The game also became much more forehand oriented especially with the Japanese in the 50’s, their main tactic being to roll and smash with forehand (Ogimura 51% theory).
From the 1960’s loop play developed in the Western world and gradually reached higher and higher levels (and many different types of loop), culminating in the long-arm spin of the Hungarians in the 70’s (both backhand and forehand.) At the same time blocking play and counter-hitting developed to cope with the loop. However China was able to keep the rest of the world at bay basically with speed play in the 1960’s, fast, close to table short strokes and some backhand development. They often pressured the Western players with tactical switches, hard hit to backhand, hard hit to forehand and then back to the backhand. They were very good to run round on the backhand and open with a strong forehand, so that often Western players were reduced to blocking almost from the word go! Chinese players also worked very much on serve and the third ball and often were able to get the early advantage. In the 1970’s China was the first to dominate with the long pimple and anti-loop rubbers (plus the high-throw serve) and many of the West’s best players suffered defeat (Surbek 1975 team final Lu Yuan-sheng), due to the new equipment, techniques and tactics.
From around the mid 1980’s we can say that the modern game was born. Earlier timed hard loop-drive (rather than loop where the main emphasis is on spin), using glue and also equally strong backhand play. Good blocking developed with a variety of permutations — forced, stop or chop blocks and especially, high level serve and receive play. Much training time is spent for example on serve and 3rd ball and on receive and 2nd and 4th ball. Development has also continued in different alternatives to handle topspin, such as loop to loop play and much more attention to placement, angles and balls to the body or straight. At top level unpredictability is now the norm.
Over the last three or four years table tennis has become noticeably faster and many of the top men stay closer to the table and hit the ball much harder. It would appear too that the ready position in the men’s game is changing to cope with this increase in speed. 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, Chen Qi 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.
These younger players are just as liable to use the backhand from the middle of the table to create an advantage as the forehand and their squarer stance gives them more options playing at speed closer to the table.
Chinese junior players are more consistent, more powerful, more professional, more motivated and much stronger mentally in practice and competition than players in the West. Much of this is to do with the system and methods of training and development in China and the fact that there is such a tremendous level of competition to get into the national teams, even to get noticed by the top coaches. Results are everything. In Europe the top players often know they are ‘safe’ in their position and are not going to be replaced regardless of their performance — in this sort of situation it’s hard to maintain strong motivation to keep on developing and players too often become complacent. In China there is always a pack of players snapping at your heels and if you don’t take your opportunity when it comes, then there are quite simply just no second chances.
Each province has its own professional centre, which selects the best players from different cities throughout the province. Those selected live and train together and are paid by the government as professionals. These players receive a good monthly wage and the amount they receive is performance-based and depends on their results. It’s a simple system — if you win you get paid more, if you lose you get paid less. The coaches’ pay is based on the same principle, if their players do better they get more. Often when the players compete against each other in practice they compete for money. Each individual puts money into the kitty and all players compete for the total. As the players are not very wealthy there is immense incentive to put everything into trying to win. The economic situation is used as a motivating tool for success quite often. Each player knows that if they make it to the top they can expect to earn a very good wage and be highly respected as an international sports star.
In these professional clubs there is an internal tournament almost every weekend and players come from miles around to participate. Matches are played in large groups, as many as 15 – 16 and on a basis of all play all. There may be as many as a dozen groups from elite to medium level. The two best players in each group go up to the higher group next time and the two bottom players go down. As a result the competition is very fierce and the players have the advantage of having many hard matches.
Training is based on simplicity and logic. Everything that is done in the training hall is done for a specific reason no matter how simple or obvious it may appear. Under 12’s for example are often allowed only one practice ball, which teaches the player to respect each point as if it were in a match. As they are required to fetch the ball each time it misses the table they soon understand that it’s better not to make mistakes! Coaches seldom give positive feedback to their players on performance. The feedback is always on how they can improve, never in the form of congratulation on what they have achieved. This is done to keep the players striving for perfection. Exercises are rarely demonstrated, the players are simply told what they are to do throughout the entire training session. The players are given a great deal of freedom to choose their own exercises — this is done so that they feel they are more in control and have responsibility for their learning.
Players are also encouraged to write down how they play and feel and to monitor their performance at all times. They also write down their goals and aspirations and often on the monthly training camps each player’s list will be put up on the wall in the training hall so other players and coaches can study these and comment.
All players learn how to feed multi-ball to each other. This aids overall productivity as all can train against multi-ball at the same time. Often the Chinese use this as a tool for long periods of time and often instead of the more normal training. In fact it’s not unusual to have up to two hours at a time. Other benefits are that this aids the group cohesion, as everyone has to help one another. Multi-ball is used as a tool to improve stamina and to enhance concentration.
However even in China players have problems with certain aspects of the modern game. The decisive power of the forehand loop-drive is a major factor in today’s game. However over the past three decades, fast attack has been the theme in Chinese table tennis and has governed all the training systems and the principles of training. These have required stroke movements to be short, compact and quick (with unfortunately little attention being paid to use of the waist and the legs and the coordination between the two). As a result Chinese players are usually more suited to close-to-table combat and better against the first one or two loop-drives. Once the rally has progressed to a medium or long-range control situation, then their players lack the required power!
Basically the Chinese need to bring the training for counter-loop into the spotlight at all levels throughout their playing system. The most important is the counter-loop against the opponent’s first loop-drive initiated from a backspin ball. This specific technique holds the key to all counter-looping techniques. The mastery and awareness of counter-loop techniques have to be brought to the attention of and fostered among young players from an early age.
Because of the heightened levels of receive amongst the top Europeans the need for stronger backhand play also assumes a higher priority. Backhand block and push will only offer the opponent direct attacking opportunities to obtain the upper hand immediately. Most Europeans now adopt the step around forehand receive, which makes it easier for them to control the table with the forehand side of the racket and makes variation of placement simpler. Often the server is restricted and it’s hard to follow up with a forehand attack or with a strong enough forehand attack on the third ball.
In terms of ‘shakehands’ versus penhold grip, penhold players are on the decrease and the ratio is now around 75 – 80% to 25 – 20%. Most penholders in the national team have adopted the reverse side of racket play. However this reverse side topspin cannot be played with much force by many players and because of the grip restriction it’s difficult to loop-drive to the centre line. Though European players are inconvenienced the threat is not as dangerous as it might appear, for blocking or strokes without power are after all passive tactics and during a tight rally, it’s hard to switch on to a real offensive unless the player actually steps around.
Chinese players, even those who use ‘shakehands’ grip, have difficulty in coping on the backhand side with rallies at medium to long range. Due to their lack of strength and power players find it very hard to switch on to the offensive when they have been forced back into a defensive position on this wing. This has to do in fact with their own training methods in China, where the coaches and players often spend a great deal of time strengthening the forehand rally play back from the table and have tended to neglect the backhand area at a similar depth. This is probably a ‘relic’ of the days when pen-hold players predominated in China and the main emphasis of training was on forehand strength. Chinese players and trainers must now re-think their training priorities.
In boys’ training sessions in China the better boys tend to train with each other but in the girls’ sessions there is no discrimination in terms of practice partners, everyone plays with each other. This mirrors to some extent the difference in the attitude to training between the sexes. Training generally starts with 45 minutes consistency exercises and most of these are irregular. All players train very hard but the atmosphere is always relaxed and even with humour at times. The coaches tend to sit and observe and make notes and give little direct feedback to players on technique during training. The attitude is that if a player is aware of a problem with technique, then he or she needs to find the answer to that problem. Learning becomes more effective than simply being told to change.
However there are exceptions in two areas.
All players keep a diary in which they review their training each day. The coaches review the diaries weekly and establish what the players should focus on in the next week’s training.
In many countries in the West we put a great deal of emphasis on ‘performance’ rather than on winning and losing. We delve much into the psychological aspects and feel that players should not be obsessed with winning but should focus more on ‘how to win’. In China the reverse is true and the complete emphasis is on winning – the coaches pressure players to win even from a very young age. As one coach stated – ‘We find out where each player’s breaking point is and we take them to that breaking point as often as possible. It is only in this way that the player learns to live with pressure.’ If you look at training from this perspective then players do not try and avoid pressure, but instead regard it as a perfectly natural part of the game.
To develop concentration the Chinese use many practical techniques in training, such as introducing distractions while playing. When having practice matches no lets are allowed — if a ball bounces into the court, or between your legs or another player crawls under your table to fetch a ball, you are expected to carry on playing regardless. The philosophy is that if you can keep focused in the face of such distractions in practice then at a normal tournament you will have no problem in concentrating.
Physical training involves a number of fun games, indoor and outdoor football for example. Fun and competition are the key components of much of the physical training, both to increase motivation and keep the players enthusiastic. Weight training is also a major factor in boys’ training, and many exercises involve bounding (plyometrics) whilst carrying weights.
NATIONAL TEAM
PROVINCIAL CENTRES PROVINCIAL CENTRES
CITY CITY CITY CITY CITY CITY CITY CITY CITY CITY CITY
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There is a strong pyramidal system in the country from the schools and clubs through the cities to the Provincial Centres and finally into the National Team and current policy in China is both to examine the development of players from other countries and to allow their own players every chance to play outside China. Exchange of players is quite commonplace and the Chinese are obviously keen to keep their fingers on the pulse of table tennis development outside their borders so that they themselves continue to progress and keep up to date with new methods and advances in our sport. The government invests more money than ever before in table tennis in China and players have an enhanced status.
In respect of style several penhold players continue to hold their own at the top levels in the world rankings and when one considers the results of players such as Liu Guoliang and Ma Lin they have had good success against top Western grip players. Statistics also show that their reverse backhand stroke is in fact not comparatively weaker and they do not lose out on this wing in the backhand rallies.
Many of the Chinese players of course give up rather sooner than their European counterparts. This however is not so surprising when you consider that they start their professional careers much earlier. Usually coaches meet with the parents of talented prospects at no later than 9 — 10 years old to discuss whether the child shall give up school in order to concentrate full-time on table tennis. If this is agreed then it is straight up to eight hours training daily. This means of course that there is immense competition for places in the National team and new players are coming through the ranks all the time. It is extremely hard even for world stars to keep their place for a long period of time. Many players look to go into coaching instead once they reach the age of the early twenties or even before and the job of trainer is now quite a high-profile position in China. Others join the ‘overseas corps’ and make a new playing career for themselves in another country. There are Chinese players representing national teams on every continent in the world and many continue to maintain their levels even up to the age of 40 years!
The contact angles of the racket (as distinct from the path of the stroke) are a complex minefield. The good coach of course observes angles at other stages of the stroke even at the end of the follow-through as there are often clues here as to faults and inefficiency. I am solely concerned in this article with the ‘facing’ angle upon the instant of contact with the ball – this controls the lateral (left/right) direction of flight and has much more influence on where the ball ends up rather than the swing itself.
In the case of advanced players some strong FH hitters adopt a slightly trailing approach with the racket held back a little behind the main movement of the hand. This allows the option of trailing on contact or closing on contact with the resultant alteration to the ‘facing’ angle. If this is a controlled adjustment to angle rather than uncontrolled ‘wrist-work’ it is a perfectly legitimate addition to the player’s armoury. The beauty of this is that the ‘catching up’ movement of the racket can be executed with a slow or more rapid movement, even if the arm swing itself is fast, resulting in an increased element of deception.
This ‘catching up’ motion is achieved by flexion of the wrist, by the operation primarily of the flexor carpi radialis and the flexor carpi ulnaris, a further muscle the palmaris longus being an assistant mover in the total movement. This latter muscle is missing in some 2.8 to 24% of individuals, depending on the race and/or ethnic backgrounds; Caucasians have a relatively high prevalence of absence while those of Chinese origin extremely low ; could this be a contributory factor to the success of the Chinese at table tennis?
It would be interesting to know what percentage of the ‘assist’ this particular muscle provides 5, 10 or even 15% and also if there are any recent large scale tests to show in what category of individuals the muscle is absent, for instance male/female statistics. The muscle can be unilaterally or bilaterally absent. Numerous studies seem to indicate that the absence of the PL is more common in women and more often on the left side – also women will tend to be more prone to bilateral agenesis.
It does occur to me that the absence of the palmaris longus may adversely affect if only marginally the development of a good drive player (perhaps in stability and/or touch) and is something which could be picked up relatively early in a player’s career. If we have any surgeons or physiotherapists among our ranks I would be interested in their comments and opinions.
It would also appear that the palmaris longus is a very diverse muscle and can be stronger in some people and even duplicated in others. There is some indication in test results that with a number of racket sports’ players, the tendon development in the wrist area is very pronounced (especially in table tennis where many strokes are produced with use of the wrist rather than the full arm). Does this mean that this muscle can be developed and play a larger part in stroke-play?
It would also be interesting to know if a well developed PL can lead to problems such as ‘Carpal Tunnel’ and ‘Tennis Elbow’. I am interested in any ideas on developing this article or in a follow-up if I receive new information.