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PostPosted: 13 Nov 2014, 20:23 
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For a few years we have had no coach at our club yet we have many beginners in our club of 50 players. I'm no expert player and indeed could do with a fair bit of coaching myself. I do however feel that I've been playing long enough and have learnt enough over this time to be able to get someone with a little ability to get out of the bottom grade.

After being quite interested in the Expert in a Year blog, I thought it would be interesting to try something similar on a small scale. I've no coaching background but at some stage would like to do a level 1 course.

After having a think about it, I found my subject (I'll call her MP). MP is a middle aged lady who started at our club along with 2 friends about 6 months ago. Although they are all in the bottom grade, she was the weakest of the 3 so I thought it would be a good measure of her improvement against her friends. In her first 10 week season she won 1 game and finished bottom in the club. Last season she was 9th out of 12 with a 33% win/loss so she's improving on her own. All 3 come to practice each week but so far have had no guidance whatsoever. I asked MP whether she would like to have a go at me helping her which we agreed when we are both at practice I'd just spend 20 mins or so with her, helping show her some technique, some serves, strategy etc which then she can practice with her friends and in matches. Although MP is not a natural player, she is intelligent and appears to be able to pick up things quickly. Although her overall ability was quite low, her technique wasn't one of those that is really odd or ground in after years of bad play. She is also prepared to change things which I think makes her easy to teach.

I've no idea where I should have started but this is what we've done so far: -

Week 1: Showed her the shakehand grip with the pointer on the backhand side. Previously it was just held like a baseball. MP adopted this quickly and hasn't gone back. We worked purely on the backhand like in the Jim Clegg video 1. That was it for 20 mins. We were working on the fact that if you keep the ball on the table one more time than your opponent then you win the point. We tried to get up to 100 hits, didn't get there but must have been well over 50 at the end which was more than when we started.


Week 2: Same again, mainly just more backhand over and over. She was being quite consistent so I asked her try hit the corners a bit more. Her hits were quite high over the net so we worked a little on keeping them lower but only for a short time. Also did a few serves but mainly just worked on the backhand again.

So its only been two weeks but already MP's results are improving. She beat a player that one of her undefeated friends lost to on the same night so I'm sure that was a big confidence boost. No idea whether its been anything to do with my help but it can't have done any harm.

Not really sure where to go from here but I was thinking of keep going with the backhand including keeping it lower at at times firmer and also starting to introduce the forehand.

I'm interested if anyone knows perhaps what order I should do things, how long to start doing pushes, forehand, serves etc. I'm not trying to go too fast, as I think even slow improvement will give good rewards.

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Last edited by Cobalt on 14 Nov 2014, 19:20, edited 1 time in total.

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PostPosted: 14 Nov 2014, 07:24 
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Sounds like you're doing very well Cobalt, good on you! :up: :up: :up:

Teaching her a good spin serve might be a good next step, as a good serve can be enough to climb a grade. Perhaps a heave backspin serve from the backhand, ones of the easiest to learn although getting heavy spin is not trivial. She can then place this anywhere on the table, and perhaps mix it up with a no-spin serve.

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PostPosted: 14 Nov 2014, 19:50 
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I would get on the level 1 course as soon as possible.

Lean to teach the correct technique. Eg, Ready position, stance, back swing, point of impact, bat angle, follow through back to ready position.

Otherwise, you could end up teaching a stroke that although works well incorrectly, and hinders her advancement longer term or you have to re-train it out of her.

A coaching course should teach many things too - people learn in different ways, motivation techniques, and how to progress or regress drills. The use of regular and irregular drills. Footwork.

If not qualified, the videos are a good idea - watch the together, and teach yourselves as you go (I found becoming a coach I had to coach myself first - and it did improve my game too!).

I think a key tip is, if you cant explain why you are asking a player to do something, then you should ask yourself should you be asking them to do it!!!

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PostPosted: 14 Nov 2014, 20:56 
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Yes I plan on a level 1 course, however they only come up once or twice a year and are 500km away so not that easy. I agree that I could show her something in the short term ten that helps but if not completely correct could hinder her in the long term, though the reality is that if she has no help at all she won't even get to the next level, let alone further.

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PostPosted: 14 Nov 2014, 21:50 
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I am sure she appreciates your help...its how a lot of coaches start their journey...

Ben's Expert Table Tennis videos with Sam are good, because they don't just show a good player playing good technique - he shows Sam playing and highlights faults.

I think videoing will help you - watching Ben's together, and discussing, and also videoing your pupil and comparing, discussing again. Engage the pupil....they know small details that you can't always see - how hard they grip the bat for example.

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PostPosted: 17 Nov 2014, 11:38 
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This can be a fun journey. Please keep us updated on this.

One of the benefits of coaching is that it enables you to build training partners once they become competent enough to challenge you.

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PostPosted: 01 Dec 2014, 21:58 
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Week 3: Had limited time. More backhand and spent some time serving trying to get a good side / backspin serve going. MP tried some of these serves in competition with some good results.

Week 4: This was tonight. I warmed her up a little with some backhand rallies at first before doing some multi-ball. The main issue at the moment is returning the ball a little slow and high. Though she is quite consistant at getting the ball back, she needs to develop a shot with a bit more pace for a winner. The multi-ball went well. We tried to concentrate on bringing the arm up slightly rather than just a jab at the ball. Seemed to go pretty well and she was hitting plenty of good shots.

After this we started on forehand. First time in this area. At first just had her rotating her body and shoulders, then hitting some balls concentrating on getting bat finishing round eye level rather than just a flat hit. This was a hard adjustment for her but without a ball picked it up really easy, its just a matter of translating it to real life but at least she gets what she is trying to do.

Was really interesting to see the difference in her backhand compared to forehand development after just a few weeks. Backhand much more confident and stronger.

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PostPosted: 04 Dec 2014, 19:44 
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MP thanked me last night as she thought she had done pretty well. She took a game off a player that is a bit better than herself which I don't think she could have come close a few months ago.

After running though a bit of forehand Monday night I sent her this video which demonstrates what I was trying to show her. I'm doing my best to show her but I think it hurts to see it from someone else. Sometimes our view of ourselves is a bit different to reality so if I'm not quite showing her the right angles etc another view won't hurt. She actually takes an interest and watches these videos which is a good sign.



Also will send her the beginner Ping skills video to have a look at.


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PostPosted: 15 Dec 2014, 21:31 
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Week 5: Hadn't had a session for a few weeks. Worked on forehand. Just trying to counter hit. MP had never done this before and was dragging a lot to her left off the table. Quite a common issue I would think. Also the ball was a bit high as blade not closed enough. After a while of doing this I spotted her do a practice swing quite fast as though she was smashing the ball. This action looked quite good so I encouraged her to rally for about 4 shots then pick the ball to hit harder. She had never forehand smashed in a match before so this in itself was headway. I wasn't planning on doing multi-ball, just counter hitting however when I saw that she was doing some good smashes I decided to give her some multiball doing some higher topspins (30cm high) and let her smash them but with the correct action. She actually did quite well hitting lots off but also lots on. Was quite encouraging and clear to me what we were trying to do. Teach her to be able to consistantly keep the ball in play then pick the ball to hit harder and put away. So despite my intention of taking things slowly and walk before she runs, I think having her hit a bit harder and having the balls fed a bit faster actually helped her with her technique. Was a good session.

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PostPosted: 16 Dec 2014, 07:17 
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You're the sort of coach I would like Cobalt... you observe what the player does already and what comes naturally to them, then build on that. :up:
Too many coaches want to completely change the player's game, which is fine for young and developing players, but often not suitable for players that have been playing a long time, and just want some improvement.

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PostPosted: 16 Dec 2014, 13:11 
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We all, especially in USA, complain about not enough clubs anywhere near where we are, but we collectively do not do a lot about it. We essentually have to spend more time coaching than doing anything of substance in most places and we simply are not willing to do it to grow the playing base to later grow players we can play agianst in matches equally.

Cobalt does not fall into this category. It takes men and women like him working and doing to improve the situation to go along with the developers/marketers.

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PostPosted: 16 Dec 2014, 13:13 
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Thanks haggisv (and Der Echte), the box of chocolates she gave me last night for xmas as a thankyou shows that she must appreciate and enjoy what we are doing. Despite MP being a late starter, in her late 40's, she is very much like a child in the respect that she hasn't been playing long so those ground in habits aren't there. She listens and is open to change and is smart so gets what your are saying, even if can't quite mirror the instruction, understands the logic. Was really rewarding for me to see rapid improvement last night after just half an hour. Although when I say smashes, they wouldn't be classes as smashes in our grade but in the lowest grade in a country town a harder well executed shot wins the point so its as good as for now.

Once again it became clear to me what we need to do: Serve with a bit of spin, keep the ball in play, pick the ball to hit harder to win the point.......C Grade champ !!

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PostPosted: 29 Dec 2014, 21:46 
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Week 6: After doing some reading, I tried something that I thought might have been way off the mark. Rather than me feed multi-ball, I asked MP to feed multi-ball to me. It actually worked quite well. If taking the ball on the half volley, its actually nearly impossible to clear the net and land on the table unless you are doing a somewhat correct stroke. Took a bit of time to get into the groove but once a few were landing, she was really starting to land them and with reasonable speed for a beginner. Most importantly, MP could feel when she was doing it correct and could tell the difference between right and wrong.

Thats all we did this week. She fed about 300-400 balls, sometimes with me at the other end, sometimes watching. I would never have thought it as a strategy this early on but I'd suggest its worth thinking about for a beginner.

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PostPosted: 13 Apr 2015, 16:49 
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Its been a while since I've reported in on this project. Was pretty quiet over the summer until early March when I undertook the ITTF Level 1 coaching course. Its a two day hands on clinic where we discuss theory including working with children and the disabled along with actually coaching some students. This was very interesting as in a playing capacity I far out of my depth with various state reps including a past Olympian doing the course. However when it came to actually coaching the beginners I was able to hold my own quite confidently in fact I found some of the better players at times struggled to help those with little ability or technique.

From there I have to do 20 hours unsupervised coaching so each week I've been working with various club members, around 5, most from lower grades in trying to help them get better. Sometimes they pick things up quick and sometimes I wonder how to get the message across. One night I hosted a clinic with a visiting Level 2 coach and the turnout was really good with 18 members coming out which is about 40% of the current players.

Its been a really interesting period as I've now got 15 hours up and have learnt a lot. Everyone learns different ways and at different speeds and its important not to overload with information and just try work on one thing at a time. Its also ok to not have all the answers and actually work with the person to solve some problems and to ask what they think, if the change feels better etc. Several times I've had to try different ways to get the same message across but then when someone 'gets it', the progress can be fast. Common issues are rotation, weight transfer, follow through and swing plane. Some things can be fixed by showing, others need a prop like a bucket of water or a broom handle.

It has been rewarding so far as I can see improvement in everyone I've helped but my measure is really through the original player MP. She's coming along nicely and a week ago I videod her and another. MP was a bit put back by the video and how bad she thought she looked however I think shes actually going ok and I'm looking forward to the start of her season in a few weeks. My initial goal for her was to get her to the standard of her 2 team mates which we will soon know how she stacks up.

Hopefully in the next month or so I can do all the requirements and become fully accredited.

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PostPosted: 14 Apr 2015, 07:17 
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I thought that for the Level 1 Coaching qualification you needed something like 20 hours of supervised coaching following the actual "course". I could be wrong though.

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