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I am a local league player using Fastarc G! on both sides of a DHS 301 (an inner carbon blade). This is a long lasting, fairly hard, rubber that can produce great spin but you need to put effort into the stroke. Many people recommend it for the backhand and, yes, I have hit some superb fast...

I am a local league player and a low level coach. At a recent competition I lost a match I should have won. I later realised that I was enjoying myself blocking shots back to my opponent when I should have been aggressively counter hitting to the corners. Unlike professional players many...

I have been trying out various versions of tenergy by buying used rubbers online. I have realised I am getting the disadvantages (bouncy and difficult to control) but they are not as spinney as new tenergys. These are rubbers for top pro players and I am a mid level club player. I struggle when...

I am a local league player who is decent at practice but bad at matches. I would attack the wrong ball and miss badly. I would then beat myself up, lose focus (and a couple of points) before going into a negative safety first game and afraid to attack. i read up about self talk and started...

I have just seen an advert on eBay for an ancient Stiga Tranas robot. It has a green Outer shell with Stiga robot written on it which doubles as a carry case and ball feeder. It sits on a stand and has two rubber edged wheels which presumably fire the balls. THe seller says there are lots of...

I have just seen an advert on eBay for an ancient Stiga Tranas robot. It has a green Outer shell with Stiga robot written on it which doubles as a carry case and ball feeder. It sits on a stand and has two rubber edged wheels which presumably fire the balls. THe seller says there are lots of...

I have just seen an advert on eBay for an ancient Stiga Tranas robot. It has a green Outer shell with Stiga robot written on it which doubles as a carry case and ball feeder. It sits on a stand and has two rubber edged wheels which presumably fire the balls. THe seller says there are lots of...

I have discovered the videos of Ti Long which have English subtitles. He is a great coach and his videos are well worth watching. In one he explains about using fingers to increase spin - some coaches mention squeezing fingers but he talks about screwing or unscrewing a bottle top to make the...

I have watched lots of videos over the last 6 months but this interesting one has just come to my attention. Marles Martins is a high level coach who gives a long (1 hour 22) talk about how top players use psychology to win games. Particularly he advises on ways to use the breaks between...

I started playing seriously at 60 and my aim is simply to become a decent local league player. It seems that most of the quality older players I meet have been playing for many years and often were good juniors. Do you know of any top veteran players who were not top junior players? Is it...

Some coaching videos recommend developing a special skill to frighten opponents. This could be a range of hard to read services, a very powerful backhand or an effective strawberry flick. The idea is that you are known to have this weapon and opponents are concerned about playing you. Your...

I have recently spent a lot of time looking at youtube table tennis videos including many from coaches. I like yangyang TT videos which are well produced and of course Yangyang Jia is an attractive player. EmRatThich Table Tennis coach makes long and detailed videos so probably is the best for...

I have been watching lots of videos to help my table tennis development. I love to watch a good defender -particularly the way they move to take the ball below the table and usually on their backhand. They move a lot but don't put a massive amount of power into each shot. An attacker does not...

I was interested to see Jun Mizutani wearing glasses in a match against Timo Boll. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7JhEIUoAcQ As a glasses wearer myself I was keen to see what type he used to get the best vision. His glasses appear to be oversized to ensure that he can look up and down without...

I have just received an email stating that I have been registered for TTFit. To the best of my knowledge I have not applied to join and do not wish to pay for a fitness app. Have you had any experience of the organisation running TTFit? is it a scam or a genuine business being a bit over...

As a new but mature player I have learned a number of different serves and now use a range of pendulum, hook and backhand serves. However, my most successful surprise serve I developed myself when I first started. Now I play in local league matches and often win easy points using this serve but...

Will Bayley who won a Gold medal in Rio has been seen using a bat with sparkly rubbers. Admittedly he was not playing table tennis but dancing on Strictly come dancing on the BBC. Even though he has problems with his joints he did really well and got through the first round. His fitness and...

Which players do you like to watch live or on tv? I like matches with players like Timo Boll for his allround skill, Koki Niwa for weird unexpected shots and modern defenders like Ruwen Filus for their ability to change defence into attack. On the ladies side there is no doubt that Bernadette...

When a ball is broken or cracked in a match, professional players try out the new ball by having a knock up before continuing play. Is this really necessary as during some tournaments such as T2 several balls are used. A new ball is thrown to the server rather than fetching the ball after a...

I have been watching a lot of matches on you tube and enjoy seeing a good defender getting fast shots back on the table using vicious back spin. All defenders use a backhand chop and some have an equally good chop on their forehand. However some defenders try to use backhand for every return...