I once had a student who was very ambitious about learning to attack.  Prior to taking lessons, he had only developed a pushing and blocking game.  For 9 months, I taught him to attack.  He said that he was using his attack against other players at the club.  Finally, the day arrived that I was ready to watch him play against another opponent, instead of just giving him a lesson.  Before the match, I told him not to worry about the score, but merely to focusing on using the weapons that he had been trained to use.
 

What do you think about after you lose a match?
 
 
Are you angry?
 
Do you make-up hundreds of excuses?
 
Do you feel like a loser?
 
Do you learn from your losses?
 
Do you grow stronger through the trials?
 
The former world champion (Jean-Philippe Gatien) gives us some helpful insight on losing…
 

Through my articles, I have often described how to overcome problems and how to develop game-winning strengths.  Strengths in your game are important because they allow you to possibly win 5-6 easy points.  Without strengths, you might need to battle for each point through long rallies.
 
HOWEVER
 

Last weekend, a couple of my students made big mistakes at the Newgy Cincinnati Open.  I asked Hesam about his strategy against Tapabrata Dey in the open quarterfinals.  He responded with, "Oh, I think that it will be easy.  I won easily last time and even Ali has beaten him twice."  Without thinking strategy, he went out and lost 3-0.  Tapabrata had been thinking strategy and played excellent the entire match.  Hesam was shocked and couldn't perform at his best.
 

I often ask my students to analyze their tournament matches.  Our conversations often sound like this...
 
Samson:    "William, why did you lose to Bob?"
William:     "Because Bob is a good player."
Samson:     "Could you be more specific?"
William:     "I lost because Bob has an amazing forehand."
Samson:     "Could you please be more specific?"
William:     "Everytime Bob hit a forehand, I couldn't return the ball.  Is that specific enough?"

Learning table tennis begins with…   starting the right way.
Before you develop many bad habits, consider hiring a professional coach to guide you on your journey.  The coach will give you the needed tools to reach a high level as well as advice on tournament, practice routines, and physical training.  It is much easier to start learning a new stroke than it is to change an old habit.
 
Developing solid strokes starts with…   moving the right way.

Because many of you will be playing in the Newgy Cincinnati Open this weekend, I thought that I would summarize some of the mental strategies that I’ve been writing about over the last 8 months.  Here are some things that you must remember…
 
1. Watch your opponent in a prior match and study his style, his serve, and his serve return.  Before beginning a match, also make sure to check his racket.
 

Most club players can’t train 40 hours per week due to family commitments, school, job, etc…  However, most players can dedicate around 10 hours per week to improve.  For my personal students, I ask them to work hard to produce the best possible 10 hours that they can do.  I ask them to do 4 hours of matches, 1 hour of serving practice, 1 hour of physical training, 1 hour of video analysis, and 3 hours of training with the Newgy Robo-Pong 2050 robot.
 

At a professional tournament, statistics were taken for the length of the rallies.  These statistics are fairly common across the board for all levels but differ based on game-style.
 
On average…
12% of serves are not returned
18% of points are won on the 2nd ball
26% of points are won on the 3rd ball
13% of points are won on the 4th ball
11% of points are won on the 5th ball
6% of points are won on the 6th ball
4% of points are won on the 7th ball
10% of points are won after the 7th ball
 

 
 
In order to maximize your performance, it is important that you learn how to win and that you learn how to lose?
 
You might be thinking to yourself, “Samson, if you saw me at the last tournament, then you would say that I already have enough experience losing!!!”
 
Actually, that’s not what this article is about…
 
This article is about the post analysis of a match.  Sitting down in the bleachers after an awesome win and knowing what to do next.  OR…   Sitting down in the bleachers after a terrible loss and knowing what to do next.