Playing Out of Your Mind
Coaching Article by Samson Dubina
When Olympic athletes perform their best, they play smoothly, moving into position hitting strong shots without overthinking about the technical details of their strokes. There are two main things that they do really well.
#1 They establish strong basic techniques and get thousands of hours of repetitions.
#2 They trust their skills and allow their bodies to work automatically.
Many international matches have been won or lost based on WHEN the timeout was called and WHAT was said during the timeout. In this short article, I’m going to give some brief tips about timeouts…
Ok With Losing?
New Coaching Article by Samson Dubina
Each week, I talk to many different coaches, players, and parents from across the US and around the world about different aspects of the sport. One of the parents recently mentioned something that is often a mis-understood principle.
A probability is what is likely to happen, an indicator is what is happening. Why is it important to understand these terms? Because your ability to anticipate properly totally depend on these 2 – probabilities and indictors. Let me explain…
Today, I would like to share a few tips with you regarding table tennis celebration. These principles can apply to you regardless if you are competing in your first recreational tournament, competing in an average USATT tournament, or playing for a gold medal in the Olympics.
Investigating, Implementing, Performing
Developing a Tournament Goal
One year at the US National Team Trials, I was leading 3-2 against ***Mark Hazinski and leading 9-3 in the 6th game. After a series of aggressive mistakes by me, he closed the gap 9-8. I simply pushed and blocked the next 2 points to win the match 11-8 in the 6th. Walking off the court, my coach said, “I would rather have you lose the match than to win it like that.” I replied, “The goal was to win.”
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