Newgy’s Blog

As the head coach at the Newgy Table Tennis Center, I get this question quite often. There really is not a simple answer as the motor skills of all children develop differently. In China they may test motor skills for sports as young as five years old!

Under Age Eight

My general rule of thumb is to introduce some basic racket skills and have a lot of fun for the younger ages. Remember that the attention span is very short with younger players, so short and simple instructions are very important.

Using the Newgy Robo-Pong table tennis robot is actually quite good as the ball can be adjusted to bounce twice in front of the player with good depth and height. Control the racket for the student when you first start until they can maintain the position by themselves to simply block the ball back over the net. This is just basic racket/ball control and will help them gain confidence. If you have a group of kids, using the Pong-Master with your Newgy Robo-Pong will allow them to compete against the machine and each other!

Eight to Ten Years Old

Starting to learn table tennis in this age range, the players will start to be able to do more active programs with footwork and racket position changes very quickly. Some of the first pre-programmed drills on the Newgy Robo-Pong 2050/1050 were thought of with this age group in mind. Just add time to the WAIT ADJUSTMENT to give the kids a chance to learn the drills and speed them up to challenge them as them reach an 80% success rate.

Table tennis is a great cross training sport for all sports, so you can’t really start too young or too old!

Roger Dickson

You have practiced your attack for months…

Hired a physical trainer…

Perfected your favorite table tennis robot drills…

Purchased the newest equipment…

Watched every table tennis video on the market…

Held tight to your diet…

Prepared mentally for your first tournament…

BUT failed to win a single match! What went wrong? As an offensive player, your experienced opponents were probably able to attack first.

Seventy-five percent of the time, whoever attacks first wins the point. (This statistic applies to two offensive players in competition.) One of the questions players most frequently ask me is, “Samson, how can I attack first?” Here are four tips for the beginning player on how to attack first:

1. Get ready to attack. You must anticipate every ball coming long enough to loop. After serving, get back in your low ready-position waiting for the deep ball; when receiving serves, look to attack if the ball comes long.

2. Serve short, low, backspin. With a very low serve that bounces twice on your opponent’s side, it will be very difficult for him to get beneath the ball because the table is in the way.

3. Return short serves short. If you can’t attack your opponent’s serve, then keep him from attacking by dropping it back short. You might get the opportunity to attack the following ball.

4. Flip your opponent’s serve. The flip is an attack which is especially effective if placed to the backhand or middle. Your opponent will often block your flip, which can be followed up by your strong attack.

If you and your opponent are exactly the same level and both able to attack an equal amount of times, then consistency is the key. Within being the most consistent, the one who has the best spin variation, speed variation, and ball placement will control the table and ultimately win.

Using the Newgy Robo-Pong 2050 table tennis robot, drills 16, 21, 22 and 56 will be the most useful in practicing these strategies. With practice, you will improve; but with the RIGHT practice, you will improve ten times faster.

Samson Dubina

I am very good against choppers in table tennis because they align with my game very well. I am an attacker who loops very hard (and sometimes wild). Some of my good wins in tournaments and during club play come from choppers.

The two main tools I think you need to have to beat a chopper is patience and consistency. Choppers win from your mistakes most of the time. If you play out long points and wait for the right ball to put away you will normally win. I like to serve out to the backhand (the long pips or sometimes anti is normally on the backhand.) They will not usually attach with the pips so they will just push it back to the middle of the table. You need to attack this ball with location to a corner and make them move to get it back. If you loop this ball to the backhand they will normally chop it back. You can either push this ball back to get a less spiny ball, or loop another. I normally loop one, push one. The chopper will eventually put up a week chop that is too high or too dead. This is the ball you need to attack for the win. Once you attack this ball get ready for it to come back just in case. If he/she happens to return it just start the same pattern all over. Chances are if they return this ball it will be very weak and you can attack even better on this ball. Do not attack a ball you aren’t positive you will make. There is no reason to attack a ball and miss. The chopper is most likely not going to hit a ball by you. The last thing you need to do is remember not just to move the chopper left and right but also up and back. Choppers have trouble chopping from different lengths away from the table.

In conclusion, you need to be patient. Wait for the right ball to attack. Use the pattern loop one, push one. Finally, don’t forget to move the chopper in and out. Now you have the tools to beat a chopper.

Pierce Scott

Speed, Intensity and… Relaxation

“Serve return, Liliana, you need to improve your serve return, and then one more thing: recover immediately to be ready to attack,” said Coach Roger.

“Gosh, I can’t even enjoy my shot! How much time do I have to recover?” I asked, already out of breath.

“Oh, about half a second.”

“Half a second!”

Yes, he was not kidding! You hit the ball and if you don’t immediately jump into a position, you loose your chance to attack, and if you are an aggressive player, like I am, you don’t want to loose that chance. One second is too long!

For me, the speed and the intensity of table tennis is what makes me love this sport. I am a creative person, I write music, poetry, I take care of three sons, I run businesses, my work load is huge and quite intensive, on top of it I am a “thinker,” I pretty much think and solve problems all the time. “Just take time, sit down and relax,” they say but if I do my head spins even more! So how come this incredibly fast sport, is my favorite form of relaxation? Because there is no time to think! I have to focus all my energy on only one thing – an orange ball. I have to hit it, hit it in the right direction, with the right spin, I have half a second to recover, and another ball comes right back at me. No time to think, just me, the ball, and of course, usually a fun opponent that is on the other side of the table, as excited and enthusiastic as I am. Earlier today one of the musicians I work with saw me a little down. I had a big problem I was trying to solve and things didn’t go my way.

“What are you going to do? Are you going to be OK?” he asked with a sincere concern in his voice.

“Oh, yes,” I said. “What am I going to do? Hmm… I am just going to go to the Newgy Table Tennis Center (we practice ping-pong here with different players and with Newgy Robo-Pong Table Tennis Robots), and I am going to SMASH(!) the ball against a bunch of guys, and I’ll feel better,” I said with an ease and conviction. For a moment he was just staring at me, and then he was laughing hard.

And so here I am. I practiced with Robo-Pong Robots for half an hour, smashed the ball at a bunch of guys, (it is mainly male dominated sport, and when one plays aggressively, they usually not only don’t mind, but appreciate the challenge), I learned that I have to recover faster, get ready for my move faster. Now I feel good, I had my great exercise, and now…. and now…. (yawn), I am truly RELAXED!

Liliana Kohann

When Newgy Industries was approached this summer to assist with a fundraising table tennis tournament for the Cumberland Crisis Pregnancy Center (CCPC) at the First Baptist Church in Hendersonville, Tennessee on Sept. 18, we had no idea how well the event would do. With 75 prepaid entries there were a lot of new faces to the competition! With seven divisions, the players got a lot of play with equal level opponents.

In the Top Ten event, Newgy Table Tennis Training Center regulars- Slawomir (Swavik) Waclawik and Yevgeniy (Yev) Puzyrev played strongly through the groups and semi-finals to meet in the finals. It was a great show of attack and counter attack as the crowd got to see two of the most active players in middle Tennessee put on a great display of table tennis for the crowd! In the end Swavik out powered the speedy Yev 3-1!

With two players advancing from group play, the chances of meeting someone from your round robin would only occur in the finals. In Division A that is exactly what happened when Reth Sati, who plays at Nissan in Smyrna, was able to exact revenge on his only group loss to Newgy regular – Jim Campbell in a hard fought fifth game!

No such drama in the B Division as the two top finishers in group play met in the final. Jeremy Crask pulled the upset of Cody Crook to take the first place trophy home with him!

New faces dominated the C Division as Clint Lambreth battled his way to the final with Stephen Mathew. Clint was unable to overcome the steady pressure attack Stephen brought, but was super happy in receiving his first ever trophy!

The ladies of the First Baptist Church came out in force to field a great group for the Women’s Division! Returning player Liliana Kohann- who trains at the Newgy Table Tennis Training Center, powered her way through the field to meet tennis pro Nichole Despain and her hard rubber racket in the final! With long rallies being held for every point, being able to hit harder shot more consistently won the day for Liliana! Many thanks for all the ladies who came out to play for the first time – we hope to see all of you again next time!

The 8-12 and 13-17 year olds had one name coming in over and over – Geoffrey Mason. He asked to play both age groups and with fair warning of little to no breaks Geoffrey made the Finals of both events! Adrian Kohann went down swinging in the 13-17 final. In the 8-12 final, Joshua Lim came in a little nervous, the 10 year old having lost the last few times to the two years older Geoffrey! With a little coaching from Yev, Joshua pulled the upset to take home the first place trophy!

Many thanks to all the players but a big THANK YOU to John Edd Walker and Jim Campbell. These two went above and beyond to make this a great event for the players and for the CCPC!

Roger Dickson