A new way to teach tabletennis

This post was published on LinkedIn

I joined this professional social a bit awhile but I never published a single post, I’d like to do it now because I feel a sense of confusion when we talk about teaching tabletennis. There are lots and lots of coaches around the world who are trying to explain how to play tt in all their different and individual ways to communicate. Here I want to put my point of view.
I believe tt is a skill game overseen by a specific gestures, possibly correct gestures. I believe tt is a skill game overseen by a sense of game, of strategy, of tactic with a high level of winning mentality. I believe tt is a skill game overseen by a strong mind & soul participation, at last I believe tt is a skill game overseen by a fluid and harmonious body motion in a relatively limited space. It comes naturally that when we want to teach tt we have to confider all the factors at the same time either for beginners or for more advanced level players.
As you can see, in my humble opinion, there is something in common: the skill or ability (if you prefer) in doing something. Let’s bring some examples: we want a kid/adult learning forehand counter, we want arrogantly teach him/her to keep the paddle in proper position, bend their leg, lean their torso and so on then we invite him/her to wait for the ball coming and eventually hit the ball. First mistake: we don’t consider the grip. To me the grip it’s the “original sin”, everything you are doing in tt is generated by the grip. Second mistake: we don’t consider what kind of squeezing force he/she applies on the grip. Third mistake: are we sure he/she is looking the ball in all its trajectory? I can list many other mistakes but I stop here. What I want to explain is: are we sure to teach tt properly? I believe in individual, to me tt is a very subjective sport, in term that you cannot apply any kind of technique valid for every player who comes across to your lesson. And on top of that, worst, you cannot teach tt according to your skill. It is very common to see coaches teaching tabletennis in the exact way as the coach acts. Well, the instinct is to see your player performing like you perform, in a sort of duplication, in the image and likeness. It is like a doctor that before listening to what kind of symptom the patient has, he prescribes a drug. You need to get a sort of anamnesis in order to give the cure that fits to that specific person. Tabletennis is not that different, we have to consider the player as a unique type of player and we have to be skilled to understand their limitations in order to reduce them. So teaching…”hey look, you have to execute forehand in this way” and you show how to do, nicely, perfectly, amazingly, without thinking that for he/she that’s Greek, and the situation is tremendously emphasized when you have to deal with little kids. First you have to talk the same language, not your language, you have to wear his/her shoes and feel what kind of difficulties he/she has. Have you ever tried to get on your knees and see what a little kid sees? Well this is the challenge: to understand their need in order to give them proper advices.