Looking for a coach for an advanced chopper

This user has no status.
This user has no status.
Member
Sep 2025
6
3
22
Hi all,

I am looking for a coach for my 10-year old daughter, who is a chopper/attack, with short pips on BH and inverted on FH. She is around 1500 level.
We live in Queens, NY and travel to NJ over the weekends.

We would prefer a coach who plays the same rubbers him/herself.

Any recommendation is appreciated.

-- Richard/Zoe
 
Last edited:
This user has no status.
This user has no status.
🏆 Top 1% Commenter
Well-Known Member
Sep 2024
1,576
2,077
5,571
You could try the Ask a Coach community board of PingPod.
Most of the "coaches" that PingPod employs are total jokes. Low level players with no coaching experience or professional experience, charging absurd prices for what they offer.

The only ones worth paying for ("national coaches") are charging much more than what you would pay just going to a regular training center.
 
This user has no status.
This user has no status.
🏆 Top 1% Commenter
Active Member
Dec 2018
925
1,370
3,479
Read 1 reviews
Most of the "coaches" that PingPod employs are total jokes. Low level players with no coaching experience or professional experience, charging absurd prices for what they offer.

The only ones worth paying for ("national coaches") are charging much more than what you would pay just going to a regular training center.
The "Ask a Coach" community board seems like a pretty good place to ask if anyone knows of a coach who is chopper/attacker with short pips on BH and inverted on FH. Recommendations would not be restricted to PingPod affiliated coaches. The national coaches are uniformly excellent in my experience. They do have lower level coaches, but that's clearly indicated. Can't vouch for them, but I'd be surprised if any were less than competent for their advertised teaching level.
 
This user has no status.
This user has no status.
🏆 Top 1% Commenter
Well-Known Member
Moderator
Oct 2014
19,976
26,539
70,891
Read 17 reviews
Hi all,

I am looking for a coach for my 10-year old daughter, who is a chopper/attack, with short pips on BH and inverted on FH. She is around 1400 level.
We live in Queens, NY and travel to NJ over the weekends.

We would prefer a coach who plays the same rubbers him/herself.

Any recommendation is appreciated.

-- Richard/Zoe
Depends on the level of player you are looking for, but this forum might not be the best place to ask, there are lots of good table tennis community and clubs in NY/NJ - Lily Yip, Princeton Pong, Westchester TTC and so on. The highest level player you could find would probably be Jian Li but as someone pointed out he is an LP chopper, but there are lots of good players and coaches in the area who could help and lower rated players who could help if you are cost averse as well and with MLTT, you might also be able to get some sessions from top players when they are in town (not sure whether Wei Wang is still playing). I know one 2000 level SP chopper but not sure whether he coaches or whether he is what you would want. But the TT community in your are is so strong you can start at the best clubs or go to a good tournament/club like Westchester or Lily Yip and you will be pointed in a good direction eventually.
 
This user has no status.
This user has no status.
🏆 Top 1% Commenter
Well-Known Member
Sep 2024
1,576
2,077
5,571
The "Ask a Coach" community board seems like a pretty good place to ask if anyone knows of a coach who is chopper/attacker with short pips on BH and inverted on FH. Recommendations would not be restricted to PingPod affiliated coaches. The national coaches are uniformly excellent in my experience. They do have lower level coaches, but that's clearly indicated. Can't vouch for them, but I'd be surprised if any were less than competent for their advertised teaching level.
Is it clearly indicated? There are "beginner", "intermediate", "advanced", and "national" coaches, but what is intermediate? The person asking here may think intermediate is appropriate for his 1400 daughter and then you realize many of these "intermediate" coaches are 1500-1700 players with zero professional coaching experience either giving or receiving, and some of the "advanced" coaches are 1800 rated also with no experience in professional settings. Charging a lot of money too.
 
This user has no status.
This user has no status.
Member
Sep 2025
6
3
22
Li Jian seems like the obvious answer, you might have a hard time finding an SP chopper coach in your area
She got Li Jian. He is excellent and my daughter learned a lot from him. However, it gets to a point where a girl can no longer copy a 1m85 tall guy's style. And my daughter uses short pips, so a coach who is specialized in short pips would be ideal.
 
This user has no status.
This user has no status.
Member
Sep 2025
6
3
22
Depends on the level of player you are looking for, but this forum might not be the best place to ask, there are lots of good table tennis community and clubs in NY/NJ - Lily Yip, Princeton Pong, Westchester TTC and so on. The highest level player you could find would probably be Jian Li but as someone pointed out he is an LP chopper, but there are lots of good players and coaches in the area who could help and lower rated players who could help if you are cost averse as well and with MLTT, you might also be able to get some sessions from top players when they are in town (not sure whether Wei Wang is still playing). I know one 2000 level SP chopper but not sure whether he coaches or whether he is what you would want. But the TT community in your are is so strong you can start at the best clubs or go to a good tournament/club like Westchester or Lily Yip and you will be pointed in a good direction eventually.
Thank you very much for the guidance. Would you please connect us to your 2000 level SP chopper friend?

Thanks,
Richard/Zoe
 
This user has no status.
This user has no status.
🏆 Top 1% Commenter
Well-Known Member
Sep 2024
1,576
2,077
5,571
She got Li Jian. He is excellent and my daughter learned a lot from him. However, it gets to a point where a girl can no longer copy a 1m85 tall guy's style. And my daughter uses short pips, so a coach who is specialized in short pips would be ideal.
Based on the info you provided she is far from reaching that point.

A good coach should be able to account for the fact that she isn't a 1.85m tall man.
 
This user has no status.
This user has no status.
🏆 Top 1% Commenter
Well-Known Member
Apr 2023
1,977
1,940
8,461
Depends on the level of player you are looking for, but this forum might not be the best place to ask, there are lots of good table tennis community and clubs in NY/NJ - Lily Yip, Princeton Pong, Westchester TTC and so on. The highest level player you could find would probably be Jian Li but as someone pointed out he is an LP chopper, but there are lots of good players and coaches in the area who could help and lower rated players who could help if you are cost averse as well and with MLTT, you might also be able to get some sessions from top players when they are in town (not sure whether Wei Wang is still playing). I know one 2000 level SP chopper but not sure whether he coaches or whether he is what you would want. But the TT community in your are is so strong you can start at the best clubs or go to a good tournament/club like Westchester or Lily Yip and you will be pointed in a good direction eventually.
I was going to second Lily Yip when I noticed the OP spends the weekends in New Jersey.

I believe Lily Yip has always been playing with short pips. Her academy has produced the Alguetti brothers and Amy Wang, Plus her own kids made it to 2500-2650 in terms of their peak ratings. I don't think you can go wrong with her club.
 
This user has no status.
This user has no status.
Member
Sep 2025
6
3
22
I was going to second Lily Yip when I noticed the OP spends the weekends in New Jersey.

I believe Lily Yip has always been playing with short pips. Her academy has produced the Alguetti brothers and Amy Wang, Plus her own kids made it to 2500-2650 in terms of their peak ratings. I don't think you can go wrong with her club.
We did go to Lily Yip's club. My understanding is that they don't have a coach who is specialized in coaching chopper, esp. one who uses short-pips on his/her backhand. I agreed LYTTC is one of the best clubs in NJ and has so much to offer.
 
This user has no status.
This user has no status.
🏆 Top 1% Commenter
Well-Known Member
Moderator
Oct 2014
19,976
26,539
70,891
Read 17 reviews
Thank you very much for the guidance. Would you please connect us to your 2000 level SP chopper friend?

Thanks,
Richard/Zoe
I dont live in the area any morr and don't have his info but his name is Sho. That said I do believe that the level of the coach given your daughter's age and level is far more important than their experience with short pips.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Dr Evil and JJ Ng
This user has no status.
This user has no status.
🏆 Top 1% Commenter
Well-Known Member
Apr 2023
1,977
1,940
8,461
We did go to Lily Yip's club. My understanding is that they don't have a coach who is specialized in coaching chopper, esp. one who uses short-pips on his/her backhand. I agreed LYTTC is one of the best clubs in NJ and has so much to offer.
I think Lily has passed on the business to her daughter and her son-in-law. Too bad they don't have any coach who specialize in coaching chopper or at least know how to teach choppers.
 
This user has no status.
This user has no status.
🏆 Top 1% Commenter
Well-Known Member
Apr 2023
1,977
1,940
8,461
I dont live in the area any morr and don't have his info but his name is Sho. That said I do believe that the level of the coach given your daughter's age and level is far more important than their experience with short pips.
Agree. Modern choppers need to attack too so some of the basic strokes close to the table aren't difficult to teach (FH inverted, BH short pips). As to how to use the short pips to generate lots of spin v.s. no spin away from the table, as a chopper, that might need someone who is a chopper to teach. However at the level of 1400-1500, using short pips to deceive the opponents in terms of spin v.s. no spin is not a big part of the repertoire. That technique can come later.

I think at her level and her age, the most important thing is to find a coach who she can connect with, rather than finding a specific 2000-level chopper to learn from. Good players don't necessarily make good coaches, especially for youth or beginner adults.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Nakira and rbtitco
This user has no status.
This user has no status.
Member
Mar 2025
343
505
862
i know the perfect coach - use SP
but he’s in the west coast - Wang Wei

east coast you can try Wang Qingliang at MDTTC (he’s using LP but he is a 2500 chopper and a national coach)

since you live in Queens, have you been to New York Indoors club in Flushing? they have coaches who are provincial players and they probably know what you need
 
  • Like
Reactions: lightspin
This user has no status.
This user has no status.
🏆 Top 1% Commenter
Well-Known Member
Sep 2013
13,139
15,420
36,968
Read 3 reviews
Some of the top choppers coach I know isn't even a chopper himself.
and I also know choppers who coach, and they didn't get any results.
Most of the choppers I know, doesn't even have choppers as coaches. And I'm referring to those that has represented Taiwan internationally (mostly youth) and have achieved decent world rankings.

I think there should be no reason to focus on someone who doesn't use SP. LP should be more than sufficient.
If you look at Liu Guoliang - probably one of the best coaches of our time, he is a short pip penholder, but he coaches inverted shakehanders.

If your mind is unchangeable and on SP only, then good luck. I have 3 options in Taiwan.
One of them does travel to USA now and then, but he isn't in the NY/NJ area (2500-2600 SP chopper - and his coach is the one I mentioned above).

I do believe a coach who has experience coaching choppers is more than sufficient
and it is all about repetition and footwork.

SP and LP main difference is that SP can generate underspin and no spin chops and I'm sure LP choppers can train that too.
 
This user has no status.
This user has no status.
New Member
Sep 2025
1
15
17
Hi OP - I am a short pips chopper who trains with Li Jian and wanted to offer my testimonial / a few notes, because I found this post to be somewhat alarming at what likely is an important stage in your daughter's athletic development. I'm in part posting all this because I am fairly sure I've seen you and your daughter at training and as such you are part of our community.

For context, I started table tennis 10 months ago (rated at 700 in my first tournament), and have progressed up to a 1900 level under Jian's guidance and have a decent chance at breaking 2000 in under a year of playing. I can assure you with regards to short pips defence that two things are true:

1. As a player, Jian would be above 2500 using short pips tomorrow with no training (I have played against him with them on, he openly admits to chopping better with them than long pips but cannot adjust to minor tempo differences versus his normal game).
2. As a coach, he almost certainly knows more than any short pips chopper you will meet about development of this type of player including most at the professional level - this is likely because he has direct interaction with + access to the best players in the world using this style and talks with them often (e.g. Hou Yingchao). He not only understands the techniques for / nuances of the most difficult shots with the rubber, but also the expected sequences stemming from those shots and the appropriate tempo/footwork. It bears highlighting that he was not only a Chinese provincial team player, but actually a provincial team coach and may actually be a stronger coach than player.

I am as such relatively stunned that you would be trying to find someone else when you have a coach who would be the envy of, for example, many top European and even native Asian juniors wanting to pursue this style.

More importantly - and I could be misinterpreting something you said, but this was what I took away from it - your daughter's rating/ranking at this age and trying to find various people who can give little tips to help her progress against 1500-2000 rated players is misguided and perhaps irrelevant. I think this is really important to understand and I'm speaking from experience here: since age 8, I was top 5-10 in the country in my age group up to u19 for a racket sport (not table tennis) and was fully recruited to a strong school for this sport, and watched many players succeed up to the professional level and also watched many fail to become professionals - including, ultimately, myself. There were two and only two large determining factors predictive of success at a very young age: a very strong base of technique and footwork, and continued passion + enthusiasm for the sport. Winning or finding ways to win does not matter at this age nearly as much as having a kid who learns the right way and most importantly enjoys table tennis and will continue to do so. I have seen so many "winners" at the age of 11 go by the wayside by age 16 because they neglected technical development in favor of finding little ways to win in ultimately insignificant junior tournaments. So please think to prioritize those two things above all when selecting a coach. That is a really high bar and a coach who is a peak 2200 or below player probably won't cut it.

I obviously respect if it's just the case that this particular coach is not the right fit for your daughter (e.g. communication differences, totally valid), but I wanted to outline the above principles so you don't waste your time going in an unproductive direction. As an aside, I am more than happy to hit with your daughter for a bit or talk to you in person (if you mention my rating and playstyle to Jian, he will know who you're talking about and reach out to me). All the best.
 
Last edited:
This user has no status.
This user has no status.
🏆 Top 1% Commenter
Well-Known Member
Sep 2024
1,576
2,077
5,571
For context, I started table tennis 10 months ago (rated at 700 in my first tournament), and have progressed up to a 1900 level under Jian's guidance and have a decent chance at breaking 2000 in under a year of playing, which is to my knowledge exceedingly rare. I can assure you with regards to short pips defence that two things are true:

1. As a player, Jian would be above 2500 using short pips tomorrow with no training (I have played against him with them on, he openly admits to chopping better with them than long pips but cannot adjust to minor tempo differences versus his normal game).
2. As a coach, he almost certainly knows more than any short pips chopper you will meet about development of this type of player including most at the professional level - this is likely because he has direct interaction with + access to the best players in the world using this style and talks with them often (e.g. Hou Yingchao). He not only understands the techniques for / nuances of the most difficult shots with the rubber, but also the expected sequences stemming from those shots and the appropriate tempo/footwork. It bears highlighting that he was not only a Chinese provincial team player, but actually a provincial team coach and may actually be a stronger coach than player.

I am as such relatively stunned that you would be trying to find someone else when you have a coach who would be the envy of, for example, many top European and even native Asian juniors wanting to pursue this style.

More importantly - and I could be misinterpreting something you said, but this was what I took away from it - your daughter's rating/ranking at this age and trying to find various people who can give little tips to help her progress against 1500-2000 rated players is misguided and perhaps irrelevant. I think this is really important to understand and I'm speaking from experience here: since age 8, I was top 5-10 in the country in my age group up to u19 for a racket sport (not table tennis) and was fully recruited to a strong school for this sport, and watched many players succeed up to the professional level and also watched many fail to become professionals - including, ultimately, myself. There were two and only two large determining factors predictive of success at a very young age: a very strong base of technique and footwork, and continued passion + enthusiasm for the sport. Winning or finding ways to win does not matter at this age nearly as much as having a kid who learns the right way and most importantly enjoys table tennis and will continue to do so. I have seen so many "winners" at the age of 11 go by the wayside by age 16 because they neglected technical development in favor of finding little ways to win in ultimately insignificant junior tournaments. So please think to prioritize those two things above all when selecting a coach. That is a really high bar and a coach who is a peak 2200 or below player probably won't cut it.

Wow. Every line of this post is pure gold and coming from someone directly involved with the coach in question, I hope the thread starter really reads this and realizes what a mistake he would be making by switching course at 1500 as others had said already. It captures everything I wanted to say perfectly. This also applies really well to other similar discussions that have been had on this forum including one recent popular topic.

Also, congrats on your rapid progress.
 
Last edited:
This user has no status.
This user has no status.
🏆 Top 1% Commenter
Well-Known Member
Sep 2013
13,139
15,420
36,968
Read 3 reviews
Hi OP - I am a short pips chopper who trains with Li Jian and wanted to offer my testimonial / a few notes, because I found this post to be somewhat alarming at what likely is an important stage in your daughter's athletic development. I'm in part posting all this because I am fairly sure I've seen you and your daughter at training and as such you are part of our community.

For context, I started table tennis 10 months ago (rated at 700 in my first tournament), and have progressed up to a 1900 level under Jian's guidance and have a decent chance at breaking 2000 in under a year of playing. I can assure you with regards to short pips defence that two things are true:

1. As a player, Jian would be above 2500 using short pips tomorrow with no training (I have played against him with them on, he openly admits to chopping better with them than long pips but cannot adjust to minor tempo differences versus his normal game).
2. As a coach, he almost certainly knows more than any short pips chopper you will meet about development of this type of player including most at the professional level - this is likely because he has direct interaction with + access to the best players in the world using this style and talks with them often (e.g. Hou Yingchao). He not only understands the techniques for / nuances of the most difficult shots with the rubber, but also the expected sequences stemming from those shots and the appropriate tempo/footwork. It bears highlighting that he was not only a Chinese provincial team player, but actually a provincial team coach and may actually be a stronger coach than player.

I am as such relatively stunned that you would be trying to find someone else when you have a coach who would be the envy of, for example, many top European and even native Asian juniors wanting to pursue this style.

More importantly - and I could be misinterpreting something you said, but this was what I took away from it - your daughter's rating/ranking at this age and trying to find various people who can give little tips to help her progress against 1500-2000 rated players is misguided and perhaps irrelevant. I think this is really important to understand and I'm speaking from experience here: since age 8, I was top 5-10 in the country in my age group up to u19 for a racket sport (not table tennis) and was fully recruited to a strong school for this sport, and watched many players succeed up to the professional level and also watched many fail to become professionals - including, ultimately, myself. There were two and only two large determining factors predictive of success at a very young age: a very strong base of technique and footwork, and continued passion + enthusiasm for the sport. Winning or finding ways to win does not matter at this age nearly as much as having a kid who learns the right way and most importantly enjoys table tennis and will continue to do so. I have seen so many "winners" at the age of 11 go by the wayside by age 16 because they neglected technical development in favor of finding little ways to win in ultimately insignificant junior tournaments. So please think to prioritize those two things above all when selecting a coach. That is a really high bar and a coach who is a peak 2200 or below player probably won't cut it.

I obviously respect if it's just the case that this particular coach is not the right fit for your daughter (e.g. communication differences, totally valid), but I wanted to outline the above principles so you don't waste your time going in an unproductive direction. As an aside, I am more than happy to hit with your daughter for a bit or talk to you in person (if you mention my rating and playstyle to Jian, he will know who you're talking about and reach out to me). All the best.
my first feeling was OP wanted to move away from Jian other than SP related, because it makes no sense what so ever with the logic between LP and SP. At least pros don't follow this logic.

so I hope I and many others had convince OP that his stance of SP chopper coach to coach SP choppers is not really that much of a priority, he can continuing looking at LP choppers to coach his daughter.

if he feels Jian is great, and he should stay with him until Jian isn't able to develop his daughter further (which possibly won't be visible in the next 5 years)
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: ztruong2015 and mps
Top