OOAK Table Tennis Forum

(No, I am not being coached, nor coaching anyone. It came up at the social afternoon that I help run last Saturday)

A middle-aged woman, along for the 1st time. Her experience was largely at work which had a table, playing among workmates, so think garage player, although she had a few consistent good shots. She had also had a small amount of coaching, from an ex Australian U/21 champion, but she was not all that impressed as he was taking her back to the basics, whereas she was, I think, more after a bit of fine tuning.

In talking to her, I explained my view that there are 2 types of coaching: the ground up type more suitable to beginners at the younger end of the spectrum; and the OK I have this sort of game but don't know what to do when X happens - tactics or dealing with spin better or something.

I also tend to think that she did not explain to the coach exactly what her objectives were for the coaching.

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Moderator, Inverted Retriever Technique sub-forum - http://ooakforum.com/viewforum.php?f=74

I think regardless of age, a good coach or experienced player can tell where a 'new' player's ability needs improvement. I think the biggest problem (difference) is that older players are more obstinate or fixed in their belief of their own ability. To successfully coach older players requires great tact, superb communication skills and the ability to give up!

And patience. Plenty of patience.

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Weapon 1: Andro Kinetic Supreme Hinoki/Zylon OFF-; Andro Hexer HDs (FH 2.1/BH 1.9)
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I think you summed that up nicely Oskar Communication at the start I think it key... discuss what they want and be realistic about their can achieve with the time dedicated to training.
Teaching them something new can always be of great benefit, as they feel they're learning something, and it's not changing what they know already.

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To be fair, regardless of age, it's got most to do with a person's attitude. I've seen stubborn youngsters and very open mature-aged players. I think any coach or mentor dreams of having to only deal with the latter, but it takes all kinds of table tennis enthusiasts to help make a coach better at his/her job.

I don't think there's a formula for coaching adult developing players, but there will probably be a number of common issues a coach will have to deal with. As I mentioned earlier, it's not difficult to assess a player's overall ability, but being 'clever' or diplomatic enough to communicate areas of improvement can be difficult, especially if the improvement is not seen until the mid to long term. An example of this is dealing with bad habits borne of garage play or from other sports like tennis. It might be stance or footwork issues that the older player finds tiring or difficult, and will only see improvement over a long time frame.

I think a good, patient coach will admit that discipline and hard work is required depending on what the adult player wants to achieve. A critical factor is being honest or practical about what the player wants to achieve. There's no point putting an adult player through hell if they only want to improve enough to beat their boss at the annual Christmas party.

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Weapon 1: Andro Kinetic Supreme Hinoki/Zylon OFF-; Andro Hexer HDs (FH 2.1/BH 1.9)
Weapon 2: Ross Leidy 'Smokey'; Friendship 729-5s
Club1: Daylesford - since 2010
Club2: Ballarat - since 2011
Blog: A Naked Bear

Simple strategy: Put Anti-spin 2.0 on their BH for serve return etc. and develop the 4H for offense with a very controllable inverted rubber.

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Cpen SOS Wood / 4H 729 802-40 2.0 / BH GD Talon use righthanded shakehand grip
HARDBAT / Shakehand Hock 3 ply / Friendship Dr Evil OX .. Play Right-handed

yeah.. and the coach's attitude!

my first coach was awful. HE was obstinate and stubborn, stuck in his ways, rigid with the exact technique that everyone should use and completely hopeless out of his two-winged looper comfort zone. to him, I probably appeared to be quite stubborn myself

with my current coach though, he's more flexible and generally a much better coach - emotionally intelligent, for a start. as a result I'm infinitely more open and open-minded with him and his technique/gameplay suggestions

a lot of kids need to be able to respect their coach - and that usually means not being able to beat them. I think that's less important with adults

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