OOAK Table Tennis Forum

We run children's coaching sessions in 12 week blocks. The last coaching session is usually our hardbat tournament. Parent's and children are told the week before so there is no confusion about people turning up expecting "normal coaching" and finding themselves amongst children keen to play hardbat.

Throughout the night, "top table is played" with random switches of which is top table to keep everyone interested whilst still being fair to the better players. The players on the top two tables after the final "change" are the semi-finalists. We had 9 tables in play on the night. Not all the kids were there, but enough for a fun session.

This is the final, 1 game played to 15.



Why have a hardbat session in among our coaching?

In our experience it's a great way to get the kids to think about their technique and what they need to do with their bat angle and arm to get the ball "over" the net. There's also a realisation that you can't simply "smack" a ball hard with fast top spin to top spin routines forming the normal way a point is played out. There's much more emphasis on control and patience and feel and you can see that realisation sink in as the night progresses. And best of all, those kids and parents that attend have a great time, frustrating, challenging but ultimately fun and rewarding.