Using cue words helps you to deepen your concentration, narrow your focus and to overcome the difficult circumstances you will face in the heat of battle.

Last weekend I was in Sacramento at a tournament. I was down against Maggie in the quarterfinals 0:2. She had been playing at a very high level and was killing all of my shots. I felt like I couldn’t get into the match and I was becoming increasingly frustrated. I knew that I had to change something to have any hope of staying in the tournament. Read the rest of this entry »

I’m sure there are some table tennis players that you really don’t like playing with because of their style (they use pips or have good serves or left-handed etc) or because somehow you just always having difficulty to play against a particular player although your level is higher.

But how can you be prepared if you end up playing them in a tournament or an important match?
Read the rest of this entry »

Concentration helps you to bring out your best in table tennis!

Let’s play a game first: How many red letters can you see in the word of concentration?

The answer is easy, isn’t it? Three. But if I ask you how many black letters did you see without looking at the word again it is not that easy…

Let’s interpret this example and translate it into table tennis. If you concentrate only on the red letters it is hard to pay attention to the black letters. The same thing happens when you play. If the red letters are distractions you can’t concentrate on the relevant stimuli and you lose focus.

Read the rest of this entry »

Have you ever experienced being so nervous that you could hardly serve at the beginning of the match or being so relaxed that you were totally out of focus? Inappropriate levels of energy (too low or too high) cause underperformance in table tennis. Everybody has an individual optimal energy level where one can perform their best. The good thing is that you can learn to control your energy level.
Read the rest of this entry »

I was playing with junior table tennis players last week and heard too many times after they missed a ball: “I suck.” Does it sound familiar to you?

Did you know that your mind and body are connected and whatever you say to yourself affects your body and your performance?

Self-talk (thoughts in your head) includes all the purposeful and random thoughts that run through your mind. It includes all the things said both silently and out loud. Your self-talk can be both positive (“I can do it”) and negative (“I suck” or “I stink so just give it up”).

Read the rest of this entry »

Here is a video about the opening ceremony of Spin New York. Sooyeon Lee, my doubles partner from the 2008 US open, is playing!

Hello world!

This is my first post on my new blog. This blog is about how to bring out your best and develop a positive mindset in table tennis. Come to visit my blog frequently and learn more about your mental side in table tennis.

Here is a funny video about table tennis which is good to start with. Enjoy!

Dora