One of the most frequently asked questions is..
“Samson, why do you do drills? Wouldn’t it be better to exclusively play matches each day?

Good Question. In preparing for the Olympic trials, there are many aspects of my game that I need to continually sharpen – strokes, footwork, serve, serve return, short game, offense, defense, etc… For isolating one or two aspects of the game, I can select unique drills to work that aspect over and over again during a 10 minute drill. So for performing drills, you can work on the specifics.

Then, of course, I need a decent number of matches each week. During and after the matches, I’m constantly analyzing my performance. The following day, the drill that I choose to do are based on what happened the previous night during match play.

So to summarize…
Drills can help you work on the specifics.
Games can help you link all the elements together and test your skills.

In these next 2 videos, Angela Guan and I are demonstrating a specific type of practice where we are exclusively looking to improve the spin, speed, and placement of the opening ball.