The Mystery Man
By Coach Samson Dubina
 
 
In the table tennis world, it is commonly believed that there are 3 types of players – positive, negative, and in-between.
 
Mr. Positive continues to strongly affirm himself throughout the match, even if he is down 8-0 or 10-2 or whatever the score, he has a high level of confidence.
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
Forgetting & Remembering
 
During a table tennis match, is it beneficial to remember previous points or to just block out the past and play in the moment?
 
The answer is…   BOTH!
To reach your peak potential, you need to forget and remember!  I’m going to illustrate my point by sharing a true story that happened to me.
 
I was playing one of the most important matches of my life. 
I was down 1-2 in games in a best 3/5 match.

 
 
 
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

 
 
 
 
 
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

 
 
 
 
 
 
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.”
 

Details of Flipping Serves
 
Flipping is one of the primary ways to return short serves.  In this article, I’m going to outline the various aspects of developing a professional flip and give some details about each aspect.
 
Reading the Spin
There are 4 primary ways to read the spin…
#1 Watch the racket movement at contact
#2 Listen to the sound at contact
#3 Read the bounce
#4 Watch for the label

 
 
 
 
 
Regardless if you are traveling across the world or even across the United States to the US Nationals, changing timezone can cause jet lag for anyone.  
Could it affect your performance?  
Absolutely!
There are 5 quick tips that I would like to share...
 

 
Nervous?
 
 
-New Coaching Article by Samson Dubina
 
 
 
The way you manage pressure has a huge impact on your performance.  About 90% of coaches don’t rightly understand this important concept.  This article isn’t designed to offend average coaches, but rather to educate both coaches and players as to what it means to be mentally strong.
 
 
 
Average Coach

 
 
 
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