Newgy’s Blog

By Samson Dubina

You were the top seed in the under 2300 event at the table tennis tournament. Based on the draw, you knew that you didn’t have a strong opponent on your opening 9:00 am match; in fact, he was only rated 1600. You woke up at 8:25 am and drove to the venue at 8:55 am. You figured that after your opening table tennis match, that you would grab some breakfast and then begin your full warm-up for your 11:00 am match. After dropping the first game, you decided that it was just your opening match and you would snap out of it. You thought that it would still be an easy 3-1 win. At the close of the second game, your opponent did the unthinkable. He scored 4 consecutive points with 3 net balls and an edge ball. Now, you were down 2-0 in games and your nerves got the best of you. Your morning wake-up call? Well, it was more than a wakeup call, it was the worst table tennis loss of your life!

So how could you have prevented it?

#1 Serious

You needed to take that table tennis match seriously, even when your opponent was rated below you. By waking up early enough to eat a good breakfast, by jogging and stretching, by playing a few practice matches, by doing a bit of research on your opponent, and by mentally gearing up prior to the match, you should have given your best from the very first hit! For future tournaments, you need to learn to be serious and give your opponent the proper respect.

#2 Fear

After losing the first table tennis game, you should have had some fear. Instead of taking the match seriously, you just dismissed it as an early morning match that would turn out fine in the end. Instead, you should fear losing. This fear of losing would have driven you to give 100% focus and to evaluate your opponent and possibly change your tactics. Some types of fear are good.

#3 Learn

Walking off the court after losing the match 3-0, you should have learned how to deal with your loss. So what did you do next… Quit? Mope around the tournament complaining? Following your opponent around hoping that his rating gets adjusted? What did you do? I suggest that you should have learned from that match and move forward. Think back to the match in regards to a tactics change for the next match but DON’T think back to the match in a depressing way. Use that match as fuel to energize your performance in future table tennis matches.

By Samson Dubina

Pips (pimpled rubbers on table tennis rackets) Scenario:

1. Table Tennis Player A and Table Tennis Player B are both using grippy inverted on their rackets. Player A gives good topspin and Player B blocks. Player B’s rubber grabbed the ball and it returned with topspin. The spin changed and therefore stayed topspin.
2. Player A is using grippy inverted and Player B is using long pips or anti without any friction at all. Player A gives good topspin and Player B blocks. Player B’s rubber did not grab the ball and the same rotation continued back to Player A, which is now backspin.
3. Player A is using grippy inverted and Player B is using short, medium or long pips with a slight amount of grip. Player A gives good topspin and Player B blocks. Player B’s rubber slightly grabbed the ball, enough to kill the spin, but not enough to give his own spin back. The spin on the block is now “no spin.”

Questions from a Table Tennis Player:
-How do you know if the long pips your opponent uses is grippy or not? For example, you take a look at their ping pong paddle before you play. Can you tell that way?
-If the short, medium or long pips that an opponent uses all have the same amount of grip, what is the difference in performance for those rubbers regarding the kind of ball that you receive from it?

Answer:
Before playing table tennis against an opponent, you have the right to hold their racket and examine it. In order to examine it, hold it with your right hand. Hold the ball in your left hand and gently push on the pips using the ball. If the pips wiggle, then they are long pips. Slight wiggle = med. No wiggle = short. The amount of spin they produce also is factored by the sponge. Thicker sponge gives more spin and thinner sponge gives less spin. As the table tennis match progresses, you need to adjust and re-adjust based on how your ball reacts from your opponent’s racket. If they all produce the same amount of spin, then your must treat them similarly. However, realize that most short pips rubbers are much faster and will produce good smashes and speed blocks. Most long pips rubbers are very slow and are good for dead-blocks. After looping against short pips, sometimes you need to back-up slightly to give yourself more space. After looping against long pips, sometimes you need to move forward because the block is usually very slow and dead.

By Samson Dubina

Throughout many years of table tennis coaching, the #1 question that players ask me is, “What is the correct angle of my table tennis racket when looping?”

Having the correct racket angle for each particular stroke in table tennis is important. However, there are many factors that need to be calculated within a split second to adjust your racket angle to properly loop the ball, such as:

1 – The height of the incoming ball

2 – The depth of the incoming ball

3 – The speed of the incoming ball

4 – The type and amount of spin on the incoming ball

5 – The trajectory of the incoming ball

6 – Your body position

7 – Your racket height

8 – Your backswing

9 – The amount of tension in your arm

10 – Your amount of racket speed

11 – The desired height of your loop

12 – The desired depth of your loop

13 – The desired speed of your loop

14 – The desired amount and type of spin on your loop

15 – The desired trajectory of your loop

16 – The type of rubber that you are using on your table tennis racket (inverted, pips, etc.)

17 – The amount of grip on the rubber you are using (slick, somewhat grippy or tacky)

To make 17 calculations and adjust your racket angle within a matter of a ½ second takes a lot of practice. No wonder the top table tennis players practice 6-8 hour per day for years to reach a high level. Table tennis is way too fast to make 17 conscious calculations prior to each hit. The mind needs to be properly programmed to look for those signs and make fast adjustments. Getting a good table tennis coach and learning properly from the start will be the biggest benefit to developing the foundation for your game.

By Samson Dubina

(Definition of loop in table tennis: a stroke that has extremely heavy topspin, which causes the ping pong ball to dip rapidly towards the playing surface of the table.)

Modern table tennis is predominantly characterized by looping – looping backspin balls, looping topspin balls, looping serves, looping over-the-table, looping blocks, and re-looping loops. The Chinese national table tennis team did a study on various loops. The study showed that the spiniest loop against backspin tested had about 120 rotations per second. The spiniest loop against topspin tested had about 130 rotations per second.

These modern statistics are drastically different from what was seen several decades ago in table tennis. What you saw several decades ago were excellent loops against backspin. However, many table tennis players used blocking, counterdriving, and smashing when it came to the topspin ball. I feel that this is still the case in the US. Many club table tennis players understand the importance of having excellent spin when looping backspin but then resort to blocking, counterdriving, and smashing when it comes to topspin because they don’t understand the importance of spinning the topspin ball.

So what is the lesson that you need to learn? You need to follow the example of the modern players and loop the backspin then follow-up with a strong loops against the topspin ball. Here are several reasons why you should learn to produce as much spin as possible when looping topspin:

#1. More spin will give you more control… control not only to clear the net, but also the spin will bring the ball down making your loop more consistent.

#2. More spin will make it harder for your opponent. By maximizing your spin, your opponent will need to block more defensively and can’t be so aggressive with his placement.

#3. More spin will allow you to hit harder from a lower position. Smashing the ball is quite easy if it bounces about 12-18” high. However, modern table tennis players are able to return your loop quite low. In order to maximize your control on your power shot, add spin to bring the ball down.

#4. More spin will allow you to place the ball more accurately, making it much easier to use the sharp angles.

#5. More spin will give you more flexibility in distance from the table. With excellent spin, you can loop from near the table, off the table, or at the court barriers with great consistency.

#6. More spin will allow you to overcome your opponent’s ball. If you are often bothered with “weird” blocks, it is likely due to timing and lack of spin. If you add more spin to your ball, then your opponent’s spin will affect you less.

#7. More spin will allow you to vary your shots. If you have 130 rotations per second on your loop, then your light spin or no spin or sidespin loop will be very easy to execute giving more depth to your game.

Final thought: There are 2 aspects to playing well in table tennis – you being consistent and you making your opponent inconsistent. As you can see in the seven points that I have listed above, giving more spin on your loop against topspin will allow you to be extremely consistent against any ball from any distance while making it tough on your opponent to handle your speed, spin and placement variations. So how do you produce more spin? Check back soon for a future article on that topic.

By: Samson Dubina

At some point in your table tennis playing career, you have probably encountered a bad slump. As with any other kind of slump in life, it could last a week, month or maybe even as long as a year.

Here are some tips to help you get out of your table tennis slump:

#1 Rest Your Mind

After a tough table tennis tournament or a sloppy practice session, sometimes it is good to rest your mind. Take off one or two days of training and do another activity, preferably an outdoor activity. Gazing at the stars, going to the mountains and fishing by a water fall are a few of the many things that help me relax the most.

#2 Re-evaluate Your Life

After a couple days of rest, try to re-evaluate your life goals. Personally, my life goal is to praise God with everything – work, school, family, table tennis and life. You have probably heard the expression, “If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there.” So, re-evaluate your life goals and know where you want to go.

#3 Re-evaluate Table Tennis

Next, re-evaluate your table tennis goals. Set a realistic long term goal then make small challenges to yourself of what you need to accomplish to reach the end goal. Continue to remind yourself that the road might be bumpy, but with the right coaching, the right training, and persistence, you can reach your goal in table tennis.

#4 Timing is Everything

About 90% of the time, table tennis players go into slumps because of timing issues. In order to correct a timing problem, focus on keeping your racket in front of you longer. When a backspin ball approaches, move your feet quickly into position, but don’t take your racket back until the ball has crossed the net by at least 12”. Take your backswing just before the ball touches your side of the table. When a topspin ball approaches, move your feet quickly into position, but don’t take your racket back until the ball has nearly reached the net. As the ball approaches, take your backswing back based on the incoming ball. For fast topspin, take a shorter swing. For slow topspin, take a longer swing. Most slump players try to take the same exact backswing for a topspin ball regardless of the speed, high, spin, trajectory, or contact point. Learning how to adjust your swing will greatly increase your timing when playing table tennis.

#5 Consistency

Consistency is the main determining element to winning and losing table tennis matches. It doesn’t matter if you are a marathon runner or a powerlifter, if you cannot consistently return serves, loop the ball on the table, block loops and other skills, then you will not win. Consistency is the key.

If you are in a slump, consider how you can make your shots more consistent. You might need to:

• Read the spin better when returning serves
• Impart better spin on the ball when looping
• Target placement on your push rather than power
• Focus on relaxing your grip when blocking
• Adjust with your feet better when smashing
• And Take your time between points

If your consistency improves, winning will easily follow.

#6 Advice

Be willing to admit to a friend, family member, coach or teammate that you are in a slump. Ask him to watch one of your club matches and give some advice based on what he sees. Sometimes it helps just having someone there to watch and encourage you during your table tennis matches.

#7 Coaching

Table tennis coaching is an absolute necessity in order to improve your game. Before receiving professional training, I was at the bottom of the barrel at my table tennis club, with nearly all losses, week after week. After two years of coaching, my USATT rating improved 1000 points because the coach was able to take me where I couldn’t take myself. I wasn’t able to learn all the necessary elements to improving on my own.

#8 Your Arsenal

While you are resting, re-evaluating everything, learning to be more consistent and asking advice from others, you might want to also consider adding a new tool to your toolbox. The main part of winning is being consistent. The other part of winning is finding ways to make your opponent less consistent. By adding a new weapon to your arsenal, you could possibly win an extra 2-3 points each table tennis game. Consider learning a new serve, a blocking variation, a sidespin push or a deceptive loop.

If you are patient yet persistent, learning a new skill can be one of the best ways to get you out of that slump and back in the game.