(By Larry Hodges, US Table Tennis Hall of Fame Member, www.tabletenniscoaching.com/blog)
Practice matches are just that; excercise. If you can’t practice your shots in a practice match, how can you develop them so you can use them in a tournament? (Or another “big” competition.)
Before you play a practice match, decide what you want to achieve in that match. Is your goal to win? Then you won’t get the most out of that practice match. Instead, think about how you can win while using the techniques you need to develop for tournament matches.
It’s so easy to use the same shots you’ve always used to win, instead of developing other, more advanced techniques. Maybe play against weaker players and try to win with the more advanced shots you need to develop – and if you can do that, you’ll be ready to use them against your colleagues. (Which you may soon leave behind.) Imagine if you could win a practice match by pushing and blocking. If that’s all you want, then do it. But if you want to improve to the next level, maybe focus on trying to win by playing more aggressively. Sure, you might miss too many of your offensive shots and lose that practice match, but it’s a excercise match, and if you keep doing it, you’ll develop those more advanced shots, and soon you’ll be beating players you couldn’t beat before, and dominating against players who used to fight you.
So think carefully about what kind of game you play want to develop, and play so in practice matches. And soon that will be your game, and you will be a much better player.
One related area: don’t play dumb. Some players are so focused on playing high-level shots that they don’t develop the tactics to go with it. For example, if you’re trying to win through loops, focus on placing those loops so that placing them becomes a habit that becomes part of your game. And don’t be afraid to occasionally throw a “trick” serve at an opponent in practice – this way you’ll learn which ones are effective and when to use them. Just don’t rely on it. Instead, focus primarily on the services that deliver the shots you’re trying to develop.
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