Women with Plastic

Rowden July 2019

July 2019 Women Forward Development with Plastic

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

Attitude with Plastic July 2019

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

July 2019 Tactics with Plastic

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