Learning without a coach

Brendan G Asked 6 years ago

Dear Sir

I'm more or less a complete beginner at table tennis, who has only been learning the sport properly for about 5 months. Out of those 4, I had a coaching, and was in general happy with my rate of improvement.

However, I've recently moved to a small town for university, and have found that not only are there quite literally no opportunities for coaching of any kind within the area, and a fairly small university table tennis club consisting of about 15 people.

I feel lost trying to improve without a coach, and commonly get very frustrated with myself over what I feel is not only a slow rate of improvement, but perhaps even a regression. I end up putting myself in quite an emotional state over this, berating myself for not reaching a standard I consider to be acceptable.

I've received a little help here and there from online resources and communities through instructional videos and video feedback, and aside from the somewhat contradictory and muddled nature of the advice, almost all of my feedback consistently points to a lack of fundamental skills and knowledge one should have within the sport.

I've really struggled to try and rectify those issues, having little guidance as to when something is right or wrong. I often try and go the 'next step' too soon, feeling I've finally got a grip on things, only to have to go back to the starting line when it becomes obvious I am doing things incorrectly.

In essence, how do I approach trying to improve by myself with regards to building these fundamental skills when I seem to lack the proper way to verify that I am indeed doing them correctly?

Alois Rosario Answered 6 years ago

Hi Brendan,