Restarting competitive play after a very long layoff

Sundar Rajan Asked 12 years ago

Hi Coach,

I have restarted playing serious TT after a break of more than 15 years. I used to play decent competitive level TT earlier and now I find that I need to adjust my game and technique a lot to a number of things. More specifically, while I am comfortable in practice, I am struggling to get my reflexes, timing and consistency right in match play esp. with varying opponents (pips, anti etc). Where do you suggest that I start focusing (top 3 maybe) to get my game back to my original level of play?

Thanks.

- Sundar

Jeff Plumb Answered 12 years ago

Hi Sundar,

Welcome back to the game. I know what it is like to return after a long break. At first I think it's important to work on your consistency. You can practice by trying to beat your record of the number of ball you hit on in a row in various drills.

One sad aspect is that as we get older, we won't be able to move as fast as we used to and so we need to be smarter. This involves getting better at our short game to stop our opponents from making strong attacks. I'd start by working on your serve. This is an area of the game you can always improve at any age. The key to a good service is subtle variations in spin. I'd suggest trying to develop a good backspin/no-spin combination.

For the third tip, I'd work on your return of serve. Again if you can stop your opponent from attacking you with a really strong ball, you'll be able to get into the rally and be a chance to win the point.

Playing matches is always harder than training. You don't know what your opponent is going to do and they are trying to make it hard for you. By following my first tip and trying to improve your consistency, this will help you a lot during a game. With good technique you'll be able to adjust against the various opponents who use different types of rubbers. If you are particularly struggling against a certain style (such as anti-spin) see if you can find a training partner who uses that so you can get more practice and develop some consistency against that style.

One tip that I think is even more important than the first 3 is to have fun. Table Tennis is a great game and the more you enjoy it, the more you'll want to play it, and the better you'll become.