Coaching during QUARANTINE

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Hey guys!

Since im new to coaching could some of you tell me if you are a TT coach, what are you during quarantine since you cant physically be with your player.

Are you watching different practice videos and making notes what to take from these vids.
Are you watching your players previous games (if you have any) and analysing that.
etc...


Give me some advice please!

Thank you!
 
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It's tough. I have stopped all 1-1 and group coaching. I basically decided to take two months off and hope things start to go back to normal in June. I did have a player suggest watching him play with a robot via a live stream and suggesting feedback. But this is difficult to do well without being in the room. I know some coaches are doing video analysis. This could work if the players you coach have a table + robot or partner at home and are willing to pay for it. Just for my own sanity, I am going to be doing daily workout sessions - aerobic, shadow play and some discussion of technique. More info here... https://www.tabletenniscoach.me.uk/work-out/. Very much missing being at the table and hitting some balls!
 
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It's tough. I have stopped all 1-1 and group coaching. I basically decided to take two months off and hope things start to go back to normal in June. I did have a player suggest watching him play with a robot via a live stream and suggesting feedback. But this is difficult to do well without being in the room. I know some coaches are doing video analysis. This could work if the players you coach have a table + robot or partner at home and are willing to pay for it. Just for my own sanity, I am going to be doing daily workout sessions - aerobic, shadow play and some discussion of technique. More info here... https://www.tabletenniscoach.me.uk/work-out/. Very much missing being at the table and hitting some balls!

Hey Tom, firstly I would like to tell you that I follow all your videos right from the time you started posting them on YouTube. The quality of your presentation and content has increased and it has become better and better with each and every post. It really shows your hard work and dedication and I must congratulate you for the fantastic and selfless work which you are doing to help players around the world.
In these testing time, me and family eagerly await for your home video series. I am a father of a young kid and we both enjoy watching and listening to your ideas. You home videos series is a real treat to watch.
I faced a recent problem, I basically learned a lot of strokes on my own, and some of them are kind of efficient and others are not.
For example, I have serves which are having good spin but I don't integrate my body rotation in my serves. So now if I try to do it, then everything seems to fall apart. I think that every other player, who is trying to improve some part of their game would have experienced it as well. May be if you think it is okay, then please touch base on this topic -
1. How to effectively use online learning videos?
2. What to watch at each level and what NOT to idealize?
3. How to bring about a change, how to break the problem into smaller parts and work on each of them and then put it all together?

Sorry, if I am bothering you. I saw your post and couldn't help myself from typing my response. I believe that in these testing times, life is too short not to express my gratitude and I am really thankful for all your help and motivation.

Stay safe and stay healthy.
 
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Thanks! Since i am thinking about the new season already, i will probably just try to think of new multiball excercises and some tactics for when we can play normally again.
It's tough. I have stopped all 1-1 and group coaching. I basically decided to take two months off and hope things start to go back to normal in June. I did have a player suggest watching him play with a robot via a live stream and suggesting feedback. But this is difficult to do well without being in the room. I know some coaches are doing video analysis. This could work if the players you coach have a table + robot or partner at home and are willing to pay for it. Just for my own sanity, I am going to be doing daily workout sessions - aerobic, shadow play and some discussion of technique. More info here... https://www.tabletenniscoach.me.uk/work-out/. Very much missing being at the table and hitting some balls!
 
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For example, I have serves which are having good spin but I don't integrate my body rotation in my serves. So now if I try to do it, then everything seems to fall apart. I think that every other player, who is trying to improve some part of their game would have experienced it as well. May be if you think it is okay, then please touch base on this topic -
1. How to effectively use online learning videos?
2. What to watch at each level and what NOT to idealize?
3. How to bring about a change, how to break the problem into smaller parts and work on each of them and then put it all together?

Sorry, if I am bothering you. I saw your post and couldn't help myself from typing my response. I believe that in these testing times, life is too short not to express my gratitude and I am really thankful for all your help and motivation.

Stay safe and stay healthy.

Thanks for your positive feedback. Always makes me happy! There seems to be more and more players and coaches posting online table tennis lessons. This is great, as we all approach table tennis from a different perspective - so you get lots of different ideas and techniques to try out. You should experiment and see what works best for you.

We are all individuals, so not every approach and technique will work for everyone. Take your serves for example. You say you have serves which good spin, but you mess up when adding too much body rotation. Is it necessary to use so much body rotation when serving? Some will say yes. Some will say no. There is no right or wrong answer. I have played against some really strong servers - with no body rotation - it all comes from the wrist and subtle change of bat angle and contact point. So if too much body rotation doesn't work for you, then don't worry too much about it.

Be wary of the coach or player who says YOU MUST play table tennis in a certain way and no other. There are loads of different playing styles and technique variations you can use and still play a very high standard of table tennis. So in short, watch online lessons, experiment with different techniques and use the ones which suit your playing style.

To answer your 3rd question... When you are trying to make a change to technique or learn something new, I find it far easier to start really slow in a very basic way. When I achieve good consistency at a slow pace, I then very gradually increase the speed and try to develop the technique in a more advanced way. This can take a very long time. Especially for me! So you have to persevere. Too many players are too eager to jump straight to very advanced technique, without developing the building blocks first. Then they give up or are always far too inconsistent. So start slow. Aim for high consistency. And gradually increase the speed and quality over time.
 
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I think now is great time for a bit of professional development.

Don't just seek more knowledge about table tennis. Read around coaching as a broader subject. Find out how they do things in different sports. Reflect on your coaching and how you can help your players better ready for when you can get back to face to face coaching.
 
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So guys, i got some great info from Tom. Do others have some great inside information on how do you guys prepare for new season or work as a trainer?
Well, 1 year calendar of training divided into macro and micro cycles on each phase of training. From preparation phase to competition phase.
 
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Yeah, that is a good idea actually!
I think now is great time for a bit of professional development.

Don't just seek more knowledge about table tennis. Read around coaching as a broader subject. Find out how they do things in different sports. Reflect on your coaching and how you can help your players better ready for when you can get back to face to face coaching.
 
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I coached a corona sourdough crust pizza.
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The most productive practice at home is for people to practice serves.

For many people, this is important on more than one level as great majority of table tennis players do NOT have the ability to consistently serve short when they want with any level of decent spin or the control to vary it.

India national coach and longtime forum vid maker (and creator of the TT Edge serve app) Crazy Coach Brett Clark made so many vids about a lot fo stuff, and many about serving.

In the vid below, he explains some simple visualization of how to get the biomechanics right with some good suggestions on a progressive approach to developing biomechanics, whip timing, and the other essentials.


More recently, MaTT Hetherington made a detailed explanation of the minute details of impact dynamics on underspin serves.


 
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I ahve a table at home so I practice playing with my brother. And, of course I am watching a lot of videos and trainings as well as I did this before quarantine.
 
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Video analysis for me. I also read back through my old table tennis journals and found a lot of great tips I wrote down for myself and completely forgot about.

Now is a great time to write out a yearly plan for your development as a player. I recently booked a call with Samson Dubina and he gave me plenty of homework to do :)
 
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