Coach Samson Dubina US National Team Coach 4x USATT Coach of the Year
 

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Competing Against Girls

by Samson Dubina on Sun, 2014-06-22 21:04
Learn to use the proper tactics!

Competing in tournaments against girls is much different than competing in tournaments against guys.  I have played against many top female players including Shen Yanfei, Wang Chen, Gao Jun, Chiharu Yamazaki, Mo Zhang, Watanabe Yuko, Jiaqi Zhang, and many other Olympic level female players.  There are some general strategies that I have learned from competing against them.
 
Use Different Strategy

Bible Passage of the Week

by Samson Dubina on Sun, 2014-06-22 21:00
Read Romans 5:6-10

Romans 5:6-10

The Amateur vs The Pro

by Samson Dubina on Sat, 2014-06-21 23:21
Boost Your Level By Making Small Adjustments

 
When an amateur player becomes inconsistent with his backhand loop, he just starts pushing…
 
When an amateur player becomes inconsistent with his forehand smash, he just starts blocking…
 
When an amateur player can’t keep his best serve short, he stops serving it…
 
When an amateur player has a problem, he can’t fix it. 
 
When a professional player encounters an inconsistency in his game, he realizes the problem, and immediately fixes it.
 

In the Loop

by Samson Dubina on Fri, 2014-06-20 21:00
Sign Up for our Monthly Newsletter!

 
 
To sign up for our free monthly newsletter, please e-mail tt@samsondubina.com
 
You will receive one e-mail per month with updates about coaching, equipment, tournaments, and other news at the Samson Dubina Table Tennis Academy.  Thanks!

Eat to Win

by Samson Dubina on Tue, 2014-06-17 22:29
Learn the Details About Meals

Most professional athletes have very strict diets.  They feast for breakfast eating heathly food with good carbohydrates, eat normal for lunch, and eat a bit lighter for dinner.
 
Why do they eat so much early in the day?  They eat large amounts of food to fuel their workouts.  Without the proper carbohydrate intake, they cannot give 100% to practice because they run out of energy after 1-2 hours.  The large intake of food in the morning is what fuels their workout. 
 

Boost Your Attack!

by Samson Dubina on Sat, 2014-06-14 23:12
Read About 2 Critical Aspects of Attacking

If you are an offensive players, there are 2 aspects of the game that you need to master.
 
 
The first aspect is…   Creating the opportunity to attack first.  I hear many club players telling themselves throughout the night, “Just use your attack!”  Well that sounds nice, but how are you going to create the opportunity.  There are several ways.
1. Try to loop long serves
2. Try to loop half-long serves
3. Try to serve short and push short so that your opponent can’t easily loop first

New USATT Article and Video!

by Samson Dubina on Wed, 2014-06-11 23:35
Read the Article and Watch the Video to Learn the Details of Serve Return!

One of the most commonly asked questions in table tennis is…  “How can I best return no-spin serves?”  No-spin serves appear to be very easy but can be very difficult to return.
 
If you want to loop your opponent’s backspin serve, you will probably be very focused, position your body very low, use lots of spin, and loop the ball onto the table successfully.  Do you have this same  approach when looping a no-spin serve?  Many players do not have the same level of concentration and many players do not use enough spin when returning a no-spin serve.
 

Ratings and Skills

by Samson Dubina on Mon, 2014-06-09 07:57
Learn How Ratings Can Mentally Fool You!

Often times, tt players will wrongly associate ratings with skills.  Just because an opponent has a certain ratings doesn’t necessarily mean that your opponent can do this or can’t do this.  For example…
 
I asked my 1800-rated student why he wasn’t attacking his (2100-rated) opponent’s half-long serve.  My student responded by saying that because his opponent was rated 2100, he assumed that all his serves were short.
 

This Will Hurt

by Samson Dubina on Mon, 2014-06-09 07:53
Learn About the #1 Most-Detrimental Shot in Your Game!

There is 1 shot in table tennis that will really hurt you.  But before I tell you what the shot is, I’ll first make a couple of observations about your body positioning.
 
If you attack with your forehand from your forehand side, it doesn’t really matter where you attack.  You should mix up your placement – wide forehand, wide backhand, and middle transition.  Because your body is centrally located in relation to the table, you will likely be able to recover quickly for the next ball.
 

You Can't Stop Him!

by Samson Dubina on Sat, 2014-06-07 09:32
Learn how to deal with an aggressive opponent

 
Your opponent is attacking your short serve and you are frustrated that you can’t stop him from attacking your serve.
 
What should you do?
 
Well, you must realize that with modern equipment and modern strokes, he will likely be able to attack all of your serves, regardless of how spinny, how low, and how short you serve. 
 

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