The Talent Trap
By Jim Thompson
 
Carol Dweck of Stanford University, Author of Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, has identified 2 distinctly different mindsets of most coaches – the fixed mindset and the growth mindset.
 
 
Fixed
The first is the “Fixed Mindset,” in which an athlete sees ability as set.  Either you have talent or you don’t.  Either you are smart or you aren’t.  This mindset is a dead-end because whether you succeed or not is determined by something totally outside you control
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
Root of the Problem
 
Unless you can find the root of the problem – your problem with persist and you will continue losing. I often ask players why they lost a specific match. They often respond with…
 
“It was a bad match.”
“I was just off.”
“I didn’t practice enough.”
“My opponent was on fire.”
 

 
 
 
 
Breathe Man, Breathe!
 
Breathing both BETWEEN points and DURING the point is a very important, and often neglected, aspect of the game!  Players who have learned to properly exhale at contact improve their timing, power, mental focus, and endurance.
 
So how do you test it?
 
Just warmup forehand to forehand.  Is it natural for you to exhale with each hit?  If it feels unnatural, you probably haven’t been doing it!  Now play some points, ask a spectator to stand close and listen for the exhale and watch your chest. 

 
 
 
 
 
Winning Table Tennis
NEW Coaching Article
By Coach Samson Dubina
 
 
A missing key in table tennis is a proper understanding of between-game analysis and between-point analysis.  In this article, I’m going to mention the three keys – understanding the problem, finding a solution, and encouraging yourself with the benefit of implementing the solution.
 
 
#1 The Problem

 
 
 
The score was 9-9 in the final game, your opponent served a half-long serve to your backhand, you thought that the serve was long enough to loop, but it wasn’t.  With a full backswing, you looped right into the table!  Ouch!  As blood began to gush from the back of your hand, you wondered to yourself how this could have been prevented.  In this article, I’m going to give you ten tips on how to make peace with the edge of the table.
 
1. Move both feet properly into position

 
 
 
 
 
 
     Just like any other table tennis skills, developing a tactical mindset takes discipline.  As I work through the various styles over the coming weeks and teach you how to play against various opponents, I want you to understand that you too can think of your own tactics.  I’m not very smart, I’m just an average guy.  However, I do spend quality time thinking.  You too can develop this same discipline.

 
 
 
Serve Return Simplified
 
 
There are 2 primary ways to read the spin – watch the racket and watch the bounce.  The pitfall that devastates most beginner/intermediate players is the timing.  When they don’t know the spin, they panic and trap the ball too quickly.  The correct move is to wait.  Wait.  If you couldn’t tell the spin from the contact point when your opponent touched the ball, then wait.  Let the ball rise, then even drop a bit before returning it. 
How does that make the return easier?  There are 5 ways…