Newgy’s Blog

I am playing a very important match in a table tennis tournament; I am losing 2-0 in games and now losing 5-0 in the third game. What should I do?

The first thing is… Never give up! I have won many table tennis matches because of a third-game comeback. My opponent starts crying to himself that he should have finished the match and the momentum swings to me.

The second thing is… Call time out. A friend or coach might be able to give me tips, insights, or encouragement which could really help.

The third thing to consider is… Am I missing, or is he dominating? If I’m having an off-day, which particular shots am I missing? If I’m making many backhand errors, why not move better and play more forehand. If I’m not flipping the short ball well, why not push. If my opponent is dominating, which particular shot is he winning most of his points with? See if I can devise a plan to take away his strengths.

The final thing to consider is… Maybe I should try a totally different strategy. I might try pushing and blocking instead of all-out attacking. It can’t hurt. I could even play further from the ping-pong® table or closer to the table. Even with a strategy change for a couple points, my opponent might make a few errors and allow me back into the game.

Samson Dubina

Everyone starts table tennis as a beginner. No one picks up a racket for the first time and is 2000+ level.

Probably along your way to greatness, there have been players who have helped you.

I first started table tennis at age twelve when I was invited to a local church for competitive table tennis. As a beginner, I received free tips from local club members who encouraged me in the right direction. My game greatly benefitted from these tips and I quickly excelled past them. There are two primary things that I want to suggest:

#1 Don’t forget who helped you. As a mature player, thank those players who have helped develop your game. Even if you are three levels better than them now, remember they were the ones who helped you achieve greatness. Encourage those same players to continue developing more players.

#2 Help the newbies. Remember back to when you were a beginner and walked in to a table tennis club for the first time. Welcome beginners to help them along. Years later, they may be thanking you for your advice that pushed them to be world champion! If you help others, you will feel better about yourself and know that you have improved another member in the table tennis community.

#3 Be a team. When you and other club members go to a tournament, help each other out. Even if you don’t have any technical coaching advice, be willing to encourage and cheer for other club members.

Samson Dubina

Improving your serve is the fastest way to progress your table tennis game. In this article, I will be outlining nine ways that I personally use to perfect my serve:

#1 Use the serves that best setup your game

#2 Train them in a tournament environment

#3 Miss some serves

#4 Use your best serves early

#5 Vary the quality of spin

#6 Remember to attack

#7 Be willing to sacrifice a couple points

#8 Train them to perfection

#9 Play practice matches

The most important aspect to serving is to use the serves that most effectively setup your game. Even if you can’t win the point with an “ace”, at least you can setup the point to play the style you want to play. Take the time now to outline a detailed game-plan so that you can have a clear understanding of your style and the strengths in your game. If you are a looper, then most of your serves should be short, low backspin. If you are a pips-out attacker, you should serve mostly fast long with good placement. If you are a chopper, then you should serve deep spinny serves. Once you have determined which serves best setup your game, now develop a motion in which you can serve either short or long with the same motion and at least two different spins with the same motion.

When practicing your serves, do them in a tournament environment. First, try to be tired when you serve. Do jumping jacks or footwork so that your hand will be sweaty and it will be challenging to concentrate. Second, practice in tournament conditions. Try to use a tournament table and 3-star ping-pong® balls so that the bounce will be similar to what you will be using in the tournament. If you are trying to serve short, the ball will probably go slightly longer in the tournament. For this reason, I suggest covering the last three inches on the opponent’s side of the ping-pong® table when you serve. This will force you to serve slightly shorter during practice. Third, when doing serve practice, think of specific opponents. What serves have worked well against this opponent previously? How would this particular opponent receive this serve? Fourth, use these same serves at the club. Don’t save your serves for a tournament – be willing to use them in practice matches.

In practice, you should try to put so much spin on the ball, that you will miss about 25% of your serves. If you are not missing any serves, that is a good indication that you are not trying hard enough. In tournaments, you should usually miss about one serve per match. If you miss too many serves, you will be hurting yourself.

By serving your best serves early, you can build an initial lead in the match and gain confidence. I recently beat an opponent who had a very tricky serve. In three games, I only returned one out of seven of these particular tricky serves. However, I won the match 3-0 in games. Once the serve started working, he should have continued using it. He wanted to save it for “a closer”, which never came because he lost 3-0 in games.

As I mentioned in the above paragraph, if a serve is working, keep using it! If you change your serve too often, you might confuse yourself. Instead of jumping from one serve to another, sometimes use the same serve with the same spin, but vary the quality of spin. For example, on the forehand pendulum serve, I might sometimes serve heavy back-sidespin sometimes medium and sometimes light. My opponent probably won’t outright miss my serve, but he may give me an easier return.

Remember to attack. Your serve will seem ten times more threatening if it is backed by a vicious attack. If your opponent is trying to keep you from attacking, he will make many mistakes trying to keep the ball short and low. Personally, my serves work the best when my attacking game is at its best.

During the game, be willing to sacrifice a couple points. Many players are afraid to serve long against a looper, so they always serve short. This allows the looper to stay closer to the table when returning serve and be prepared for the short serve. Sometimes you must serve fast down-the-line or to the backhand just to keep the opponent guessing. You might lose a point, but all your short serves will be much more effective later.

When practicing serves, train them to perfection. Focus for 30 minutes on one particular serve. Take your time and analyze it serve by serve – what you did right and what you did wrong. Study how the world’s top table tennis players serve that particular serve, by watching their backswing, body movement, contact point, racket angle, follow through, and ball positioning. Also, be willing to hire a professional table tennis coach to help perfect your main serve.

The final link to professional serves is to use them in actual games. Use them in practice matches and use them in tournaments. Improving your serve is the fastest way to progress your game. Use the nine techniques listed above and you will be seeing excellent results within a few weeks!

Samson Dubina

2011 has officially come to an end, and what a year it has been!  Lately I’ve been asking everyone at the gym that I go to what their resolutions are for the New Year.  I wasn’t surprised at all that the majority told me either that they want to lose some weight or just improve their overall health by exercising more. 

I then brought them down into the room where I practice with my Newgy Robo-Pong 2050 table tennis robot and challenged them to see if they could keep up with the robot for a full minute without losing their breath.  Needless to say, all of them began to sweat profusely and were amazed at just how physical playing table tennis can be.

Let’s face it, gym memberships are expensive and tons of dedication. Robo-Pong provides a great workout while having fun at the same time. Also, setting up your Robo-Pong is effortless, and practicing with it will help you lose weight, improve your endurance, and help you to become a ping-pong® master!  So, if one of your resolutions for the New Year is to get in shape, Robo-Pong is definitely for you!

Michael Landers

I work out six days per week. I attribute my excellent physical condition to my Newgy Robo-Pong 2050 table tennis robot. I would like to share one of my workouts that I suggest for anyone wanting to improve their footwork, lose a few pounds and have a great time enjoying the sport of table tennis.

Light jogging – 10 minutes

Stretching – 10 minutes

Forehand warm-up – 2 minutes

Backhand warm-up -–2 minutes

Drill #47 – 4 minutes – repeat three times

Drill #52– 4 minutes – repeat three times

Drill #28 – using all forehand 4 minutes – repeat three times

Drill #46 – using all forehand 2 minutes – repeat three times

Stretching – 10 minutes

If you are too exhausted to complete these drills, I suggest changing the wait adjust on your control box. Start the drill at +60% wait adjust to give you more time between balls. Each week, decrease the wait slightly in order to make your workout more fun and challenging.

Samson Dubina