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.
 

I have received hundreds of table tennis e-mails with questions regarding table tennis.  One of the most common questions is…
“Which skills should I be working on?”
 
That’s a good question.  My answer will vary because of…
1. The age of the player
2. The game-style of the player
3. The mental game of the player
4. The physical condition of the player
With that said, I’ll attempt to list some general items that should be learned at each level.
 
Novice
A. Rules of the game
B. Basic footwork (side-to-side)