I am mainly watching the ball even while playing the app. This may be defeating the purpose of the exercise.

I occasionally panic and hit a button, or both buttons, even though i don't know where the ball is going yet. That's probably a realistic image of a live point. I'm curious how it would be if the pace of the shots varied randomly within a level, like three fast, one slow, fast again. Would it be hard to wait for the ball the way it's hard to slow yourself down in real life. Or would it just be easier.

I am mainly watching the ball even while playing the app. This may be defeating the purpose of the exercise.

I occasionally panic and hit a button, or both buttons, even though i don't know where the ball is going yet. That's probably a realistic image of a live point. I'm curious how it would be if the pace of the shots varied randomly within a level, like three fast, one slow, fast again. Would it be hard to wait for the ball the way it's hard to slow yourself down in real life. Or would it just be easier.

Wow, this is very cool. I am going to download this now. One thing I'm curious about, are these visual queues universal for all levels? What about the variablity in technique (or lack of technique) accross all players? William is obviously trained properly and has all of the technical aspect of the game correct, which makes the queues more standard (i'm thinking).

I'm wondering about the weird players that have technical flaws...

Watch this video to see how Trevor has worked with Associations in Europe to run some of these tests and to improve performance.

Understanding this gap issue and watching how it works in real-time can be interesting. "Look at Brett (myself), he's now getting angry because of a conditioned image and expectation." This type of real-time self observation can be part of the cure...the first key to breaking this cycle is sincerely expecting and accepting nervousness. "Oh, hi nervousness, I've been expecting you. Welcome to the match!"

I downloaded the app last night and had a go with it. Two things I immediately had some trouble with: the sensitivity of tapping the reaction buttons...they sometimes don't register a tap...perhaps its due to not hitting them directly in the centre of the button? I think they should register when you tap within a few millimetres of the button (or is there another reason they're not registering - its not lateness as I was deliberately tapping early and sometimes not getting a registration).

The second issue is getting out of the app....there's no exit button and even hitting the back button on my tablet wouldn't get out. I had to hit the home key, which then leaves the app in memory. There should be an exit button that clears the app from memory.

Altogether, its a promising app. I'll be updating it as it develops and watching with interest. Bravo for taking a tech lead in our TT world!

You should be watching the ball, but you also need to be watching the player. In fact, I obviously watch the player almost exclusively (or else, I would have no chance to compete with Brett). Now I can watch the ball and play decent, but you have to at least have the player strongly in your peripherals. I would suggest studying the player for a while at the lower levels. The further from the table you play the ball in a real match, the more time you have to study the player.

The real pain in the butt for me is the lefty. I am MUCH slower vs the lefty. Maybe it explains my struggle with one particular opponent. And it means I need to play lefties much more on a regular basis and ignore their playing level.

Can you please let me know what type of phone you are using?

This is superb. It's very similar to some of the psychological flexibility which is central to 'Acceptance and Commitment Therapy' (ACT). This encourages people to make use of their "observing self", to place distance between thoughts and feelings and reality. For example:

"I notice that I am having the feeling of anger because I hit a ball into the net three times in a row."

And likewise, our self talk: "I'm such a loser... I'll never learn to serve backspin" ... we can *defuse* this with various techniques. One I like very much is to make it into a song. For example (to the tune of "I saw three ships"):



Literally sing it, preferably in a comical voice. It takes away all the power of the words, and lets you notice that the feelings you are having are not necessarily the same as reality. I've used this technique a great deal as I have had to come to terms with my own psychological demons over the last few years.