You can’t teach old dogs new tricks.  Is it true?
 
Well, I have found that teaching adults new skills isn’t too difficult.  The difficulty comes in changing an old habit.  Changing an awkward grip, changing a stroke, or changing a footwork movement takes time and persistence from both the coach and player.  On the flip side, a new serve or a new serve return technique or a new looping variation can be learned fairly quickly for these same players.
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
Last week at the local table tennis club, there were about 10 players rated 1800 and 1 player rated 2100 who was a controlled looper.  I asked the 2100-rated player what he could possibly do to improve to the next level…  After a bit of discussion, we agreed that he needed to learn to play more aggressively and develop his power shots. 
 

In table tennis, there are ten common training methods – drilling with a training partner, serving practice, robot training, multiball training, practice matches against a variety of opponents, video analysis of your own game, video analysis of top players, physical training, mental training, and tournaments on a regular basis.  I will talk briefly about the first four and then show you a short video demonstrating each of those elements of training.