Tournament strategy & Individual strategy
Strategy
Rene van der Kleij Asked 11 years ago
Alois, as a former Olympic team coach you must have an enormous amount of high level experience, could you define strategy facing a table tennis tournament with well known opponents, and would you discuss individual strategy with your athletes?
Alois Rosario Answered 11 years ago
Hi Rene,
Prior to the tournament they may know their draw for the tournament so you can discuss basic tactics for the players they are likely to come up against.
Each player is different in the way they approach a tournament and each player. It is a matter of finding the right balance for each player.
One thing that is very important is when the tournament comes around to tackle each point, game and match as they come up and not get too far ahead of yourself.
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Tactical Planning
Spin, speed and placement are the 3 things you need to focus on when coming up with your tactics against each of your opponents. Start with the serve and your third ball attack. Figure out what type of serve your opponent finds most difficult. Find out where is the best place to direct your first attack. Is your opponent better at blocking with their backhand or forehand? Does your opponent prefer a faster topspin or a slow spinny topspin? Do the same for your returns.
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Rene van der Kleij Posted 11 years ago
What level of backup info did you have at that time, such as individual opponent studies, statistics, weakpoint pinpointing, performance history, videos, etc, or did that come up in a later stage, like the high tech computerized motion software. Do you think it makes today’s coaching easier?
Hi Rene,
Our budgets for coaching are pretty small. It is just by observation of the players from previous tournaments or by being able to watch footage on Youtube.
From this we do our own analysis of the players.
It would be nice to have more stats on hand but I think sometimes you get a better feel from watching the overall picture.
Simon Lewis Posted 11 years ago
I like this subject...
The bigger the budget, the easier it is to succeed. More money can be spent on coaches/travelling etc. I believe this is why we see more cricket/rugby/football players coming through from grassroots to elite level, because there is more opportunity for them to succeed. More coaches, a wider range of knowledge from a wider range of people, more clubs to play at and more players to play with/against.
One thing money cannot buy is grit and determination. You can have all the money in the world, but a lack of motivation to succeed will ensure you go nowhere. Studies have shown that those children who have supportive parents (money, transport etc) and a passion for the sport will be those who succeed. Those players who have the passion but no financial support will always be a step or two behind, unfortunately.