The Expert Table Tennis Podcast

The Expert Table Tennis Podcast is back (finally). But we're currently in lockdown because of coronavirus, so I thought I'd do something different. In this episode, I'm joined by Alex Horscroft – a new guest writer for the Expert Table Tennis blog! Alex only started playing table tennis at the age of 12 and he admits that he didn't even take it very seriously at first. Despite that, he managed to become the top-ranked junior in his county of Suffolk. And interestingly, he attributes his success to the quality and deceptiveness of his serves. Sponsored by… TableTennisUniversity.com Today's episode is… The post Alex Horscroft: Serving Your Way to County Champion (Bonus Interview) appeared first on Expert Table Tennis.

This is Episode #8 of The Expert Table Tennis Podcast with Ben Larcombe and Harrie Austin-Jones. This month we're talking talent, practice, and why a few weeks ago Harrie almost quit table tennis altogether! If you've ever worried that you might be untalented and felt on the verge of quitting, this is the episode for you! I hope it'll also be interesting for anyone who's pondered the impact that natural talent has on your table tennis potential. Sponsored by… TableTennisUniversity.com Today's episode is sponsored by TableTennisUniversity.com – and in particular their Black Friday promotion. This year, for Black Friday (and… The post Talent, Practice, and Why Harrie Almost Quit Table Tennis (S02E08) appeared first on Expert Table Tennis.

Harrie's not been very well this month so this is a special bonus episode of The Expert Table Tennis Podcast with Ben Larcombe. In this episode, I'm joined by Tom Lodziak for a chat about how to crush it as an adult beginner. Like Harrie, Tom didn't start playing table tennis until his mid-twenties. Over the past 12 years, he's worked hard to improve his game, move up the levels, and he now competes (very well, I might add) in the top division of the Cambridge Table Tennis League. Sponsored by… Palio by ETT Today's episode is sponsored by Palio… The post Tom Lodziak: How to Crush It as an Adult Beginner (Bonus Interview) appeared first on Expert Table Tennis.

This is Episode #7 of The Expert Table Tennis Podcast with Ben Larcombe and Harrie Austin-Jones. This month we're discussing the quality and quantity of your training. This season, Harrie's made some changes to his weekly training schedule. Instead of playing as much table tennis as possible, he's going to focus on just three high-quality sessions per week. To find out why you'll have to listen to this episode. Sponsored by… Power Pong Today's episode is sponsored by PowerPong.org and in particular their new Power Pong 5000 table tennis robot. The Power Pong 5000 is basically exactly the same as… The post Quality vs Quantity: Table Tennis Training (S02E07) appeared first on Expert Table Tennis.

This is Episode #6 of the Expert Table Tennis Podcast with Ben Larcombe and Harrie Austin-Jones. This month we're chatting about the physical side of table tennis. Is physical training even important for table tennis? If so, what kinds of stuff should we be doing? Harrie has a background in physical power sports like rugby, sprinting and bodybuilding, so I wanted to pick his brain! Sponsored by… TableTennisUniversity.com Today's episode is sponsored by TableTennisUniversity.com – a revolutionary online training program created by former Chinese pro, Tao Li. For the next 8 days, they're giving you $100 off their ‘Premium' bundle! If… The post Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger Table Tennis (S02E06) appeared first on Expert Table Tennis.

This is Episode #5 of the Expert Table Tennis Podcast with Ben Larcombe and Harrie Austin-Jones. This month we're chatting about the mental and emotional side of our sport. If you struggle to beat your nerves, handle the pressure of a big match or manage your crazy emotions at the table – and let's be honest, that's all of us, at one time or another – then this is the episode for you! Sponsored by… Eastfield Co. Today's episode is sponsored by Eastfield (my table tennis equipment brand) and in particular, the Eastfield Offensive Table Tennis Bat. The Eastfield Offensive… The post Beating Nerves, Handling Pressure, and Managing Your Emotions (S02E05) appeared first on Expert Table Tennis.

This is Episode #4 of the Expert Table Tennis Podcast with Ben Larcombe and Harrie Austin-Jones. This month we're chatting about our favourite table tennis drills! If you're looking to add some more table tennis drills into your training, this is the episode for you. We'll be sharing some regular, irregular, multiball, and service/return drills. Sponsored by… Eastfield Co. Today's episode is sponsored by Eastfield (my table tennis equipment brand) and in particular, the Eastfield Offensive Table Tennis Bat. The Eastfield Offensive is the bat that I've been using for the past year or so. Harrie also uses the Eastfield… The post Harrie's Top 5 Table Tennis Drills (S02E04) appeared first on Expert Table Tennis.

This is Episode #3 of the new style Expert Table Tennis Podcast! This month we're doing an end-of-season review of Harrie's table tennis season and setting goals for 2019/20. We break the year up into three phases; pre-season (May-August), first-half (September-December), and second-half (January-April). We also speak in terms of process, performance, and outcome goals – I explain what that means in the episode. Sponsored by… TableTennisUniversity.com Today's episode is sponsored by TableTennisUniversity.com (one of the other websites I run). Table Tennis University is a revolutionary online training program created by former Chinese pro, Tao Li. It was designed to… The post Harrie's 2018/19 End-of-Season Review (S02E03) appeared first on Expert Table Tennis.

This is Episode #2 of the new style Expert Table Tennis Podcast! I'm joined once again by my good friend Harrie Austin-Jones and this week we're chatting about the ultimate beginner's guide to table tennis. Harrie's been playing table tennis for about two and a half years now so, in effect, I'm asking him… “If you could go back in time to when you first started; What would you tell yourself? What would you do differently? What do you think you did right? Sponsored by… TableTennisUniversity.com Today's episode is sponsored by TableTennisUniversity.com (one of the other websites I run). Table… The post The Ultimate Beginner's Guide to Table Tennis (S02E02) appeared first on Expert Table Tennis.

After a two-year break, The Expert Table Tennis Podcast is back! From now on, I'll be joined for each episode by my good friend Harrie Austin-Jones. This first episode (of what I'm calling “Season 2”) is your chance to get to know Harrie and his epic table tennis journey, so far. Sponsored by… TableTennisUniversity.com Today's episode is sponsored by TableTennisUniversity.com (one of the other websites I run). Table Tennis University is a revolutionary online training program created by former Chinese pro, Tao Li. It was designed to transform you into an elite, well-respected table tennis player in the shortest time… The post Who is Harrie Austin-Jones? (S02E01) appeared first on Expert Table Tennis.

Sam Dance is a member of The Expert Table Tennis Academy (my online community) and has a fascinating table tennis story to share that includes some karaoke, Patrick Franziska (a professional German table tennis player), and lots of local league table tennis. From time to time I like to share the real life story of an ETT Academy member. I always find these really inspiring and I know you guys enjoy them too. Sam is the fifth ETT Academy member to be brave enough to join me on the podcast for an interview! Sam Dance Interview I don't want to give too… The post #41 – Sam Dance: Karaoke, Patrick Franziska, and Local League appeared first on Expert Table Tennis.

Dan Seemiller is an American table tennis legend. He is five times US Men's Singles Champion, twelve times US Men's Doubles Champion, and seven times US Mixed Doubles Champion. That's pretty impressive, to say the least! But he didn't stop there… Dan transitioned to table tennis coaching and coached the US National Team for 10 years. He has also been USATT President and organized dozens of major tournaments. He currently working on the 2018 World Veteran Games, which will be held in Las Vegas. Dan Seemiller Interview What makes Dan's story even more interesting is that he hardly received any… The post #40 – Dan Seemiller: Revelations of a Table Tennis Champion appeared first on Expert Table Tennis.

Samson Dubina was last a guest on the show roughly 18 months ago. In that episode, we discussed his training and preparation for the Team USA Rio 2016 selections. Today, we'll focus on TT-Flex! Unfortunately, Samson didn't quite make it into the Olympic team but he's had a fantastic 2016 – both as a player and a coach. In May he managed to achieve a career high USATT rating of 2619, a level that very few US-born table tennis players ever achieve. On top of that, he has been coaching many of Ohio's top juniors and introducing his young kids… The post #39 – Samson Dubina: Enhance Your Game with TT-Flex appeared first on Expert Table Tennis.

Colin Wilson is probably the perfect guest for an episode of The Expert Table Tennis Podcast. As a player, he represented England for many years and is a double Commonwealth medallist. As a coach, he has worked with the English national team at all levels and trained some of the top players in the country. On top of all that Colin also works with top business people and coaches to help them to continually improve their performance in a variety of fields. And… he has just opened Corby Smash Table Tennis Club – a full-time table tennis club with big… The post #38 – Colin Wilson: How to Fulfil Your Potential appeared first on Expert Table Tennis.

Jeff Plumb and Alois Rosario are the guys behind PingSkills, easily the most popular table tennis coaching channel on YouTube. They have been teaching table tennis to players the world over ever since they made their first PingSkills video back in 2007. Alois Rosario is one of the best table tennis coaches in Australia, and has worked closely with the national team for many years. Jeff Plumb is a very high-level table tennis player who represented Australia at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. PingSkills Interview To date, Jeff and Alois have produce 269 episodes of their PingSkills “Ask The Coach”… The post #37 – Jeff Plumb & Alois Rosario: PingSkills Answer Your Questions appeared first on Expert Table Tennis.

Back in 2010, Dan McLaughlin decided he wanted to become a professional golfer. The only problem was, he'd never played 18 holes of golf in his life! He didn't let that stop him, though. He packed in his job as a commercial photographer and began “The Dan Plan” – 10,000 hours of golf deliberate practice. He's now six years into his challenge so I thought now would be a great time to check in with him, find out how he is getting on, and ask him what he's learned so far from his journey. Dan McLaughlin Interview Dan was actually… The post #36 – Dan McLaughlin: How to Master Any Skill appeared first on Expert Table Tennis.

Alan Cooke is the Performance Coach at Table Tennis England. That means he works very closely with our national teams and travels with them to tournaments. If you watched any of the World Team Championships out in Kuala Lumpur you will have seen Alan corner coaching Paul Drinkhall, Liam Pitchford, and Sam Walker to an incredible bronze medal result. As a player, Alan Cooke made his England senior debut in 1984. He won countless national titles and was consistently England #1 during his era. He reached a career high of 27th in the world rankings in 1990 and made a… The post #35 – Alan Cooke: England's Performance Coach appeared first on Expert Table Tennis.

In many ways, you could say that Gavin Evans was always destined for table tennis greatness. He was born into a family where both parents played to a high-level and he had two older brothers who were both part of the England Youth Squad. Add to that Gavin's immediate love of the sport and you have the perfect combination. He began playing at 5-years-old. By 11, Gavin had overtaken both of his older brothers and was beginning to establish himself as the best young player in Europe. For the next four years, he was near enough unbeatable in his age… The post #34 – Gavin Evans: Bulletproof Table Tennis appeared first on Expert Table Tennis.

Sean O'Neill is one of the most knowledgeable and respected table tennis coaches in the USA. As a player, he represented USATT during the 80s and 90s, reaching a career high world ranking inside the top 100. In 1995, Sean transitioned to coaching and has worked with a number of top USA players, as well thousands of beginners and improvers. Among some of his students are former guests on the show Brian Pace and Tahl Leibovitz! This is an opportunity to hear from a really brilliant coach. I decided to keep the interview quite relaxed and simply let the conversation… The post #33 – Sean O'Neill: Top Tips for Intermediate Players appeared first on Expert Table Tennis.

William Henzell is without a doubt the greatest table tennis player Australia has ever produced. He has won the men's national championships a record 13 times, consistently been ranked among the top 100 players in the world, and had some fantastic results representing Australia in the Olympic and Commonwealth Games. Then, a couple of weeks ago, Will released a statement on Facebook announcing his retirement from competitive table tennis. With Rio 2016 Olympic qualification just months away this came as a bit of shock to many table tennis fans. Despite cutting back his training in recent years, Will is still… The post #32 – William Henzell: Time to Retire appeared first on Expert Table Tennis.

Tahl Leibovitz is a Paralympic gold medalist, is currently ranked #8 in the world in Class 9, and has over 25 years of table tennis experience as both a player and coach. Who better to join me on The Expert Table Tennis Podcast for the first episode of 2016? Rio 2016 is just six months away and 40-year-old Tahl is training hard so that he can be in a position to give his all at what will probably be his last major competition. I caught up with him last week for about 40 minutes to ask him about his book… The post #31 – Tahl Leibovitz: Ping Pong for Fighters appeared first on Expert Table Tennis.

Nick Ryder started playing table tennis in the early 80s at a young age. His dad was a coach and he was living in Yorkshire, which was one of the strongest counties for table tennis in the country. By the age of 14, Nick was already a very strong player and found himself #6 on the England cadet list. Upon entering the juniors, Nick found the going tough and wasn't sure whether all the hard work and sacrifice was really worth it. He slowly began to drift away from the sport and quit completely at the age of 20. He… The post #30 – Nick Ryder: Making a Comeback After 20 Years appeared first on Expert Table Tennis.

I first met Billy Shilton about this time last year when he convincingly beat Sam Priestley in Band 6 at the Nottingham Grand Prix during The Expert in a Year Challenge. He was a very solid young player even back then (and seriously under-ranked) but over the last 12 months he has come on leaps and bounds, winning a number of international Para medals. Billy is now 17 years old and living and training in Sheffield at the national centre. He is still hoping to qualify for the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games in his new class (and is flying to… The post #29 – Billy Shilton: Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Dreams appeared first on Expert Table Tennis.

Brian Pace is a professional table tennis player, national level coach, and creator of Dynamic Table Tennis. As a player he achieved a peak USATT rating of 2610 and was ranked within the top 300 in the world – so he's played at the highest level! I've been trying to get Brian on the show from the very beginning and we've finally made it happen. We have a great topic to discuss too; Brian has just released a brand new training video, Loop Fundamentals (from his Shadow Training series). It's definitely the most unique and innovative table tennis training video I've… The post #28 – Brian Pace: Shadow Training for Table Tennis appeared first on Expert Table Tennis.

You probably know Christian Ortner as half of Piing of Power, the guys who make table tennis videos for the ITTF, Butterfly and a host of other companies. He has been active in the online table tennis community for almost three years now and has justed started his own YouTube channel, Mr Piingo. What you probably didn't know about Christian is that he hasn't actually been playing table tennis for very long. He only picked up the sport about five years ago, aged 18, and didn't start taking it seriously until 2012. That means he has had to struggle through… The post #27 – Christian Ortner: Mr Piingo Mingles with the Pros appeared first on Expert Table Tennis.

Brett Clarke is half of the coaching team at ttEDGE, a website created by three-time Olympian William Henzell to provide online coaching and instruction to table tennis players the world over. Brett was also part of the Australian National Team for over fifteen years and spent two years as National Team Coach in 2009 and 2010. During that time he received worldwide recognition for being a particularly talented server. He now enjoys coaching players of all abilities (both online and in person) and is passing on some of his service tricks to the rest of us through his “How to… The post #26 – Brett Clarke: How to Serve Like a Boss! appeared first on Expert Table Tennis.

Danny is currently ranked 5th in England and 217th in the world. At the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, he won silver in the men's team event and bronze in the mixed doubles. He is training at the world-famous Werner Schlager Academy in Austria alongside a host of top international players. But he wants more! After taking a year away from international table tennis last season, to finish his Psychology degree, he is back to playing full-time and has set himself a rather challenging goal – to break into the top 100 table tennis players in the world. In many… The post #25 – Daniel Reed: Top 100 in a Year appeared first on Expert Table Tennis.

Tom Lodziak is a Cambridge-based table tennis coach who blogs over at www.tabletenniscoach.me.uk and offers one-to-one coaching to players of all ages and abilities. Back in May, Tom made the trip to Austria to visit the Werner Schlager Academy Table Tennis School for a week of intensive training. The WSA is one of the best training centres in Europe and many of the top European players are based there full-time. Their Table Tennis School opens up the facility to players of all standards allowing everyone to benefit from the high-quality training and coaching, and get a glimpse of the professionals… The post #23 – Tom Lodziak: Training at the Werner Schlager Academy appeared first on Expert Table Tennis.

This is part two of my conversation with English table tennis coach Marc Burman. If you haven't yet listened to part one you can check that out here. Marc Burman was my first ever table tennis coach and coached me as a nine and ten-year-old back in 1998/99, at the local leisure centre. I count myself very lucky to have stumbled into his club as a beginner as he not only taught me the basics but also made it fun and got me to fall in love with the sport. He has also coached a number of England's top juniors, including… The post #22 – Marc Burman: Greatness is an Attitude (Part 2) appeared first on Expert Table Tennis.

I first started playing table tennis about 16 years ago, aged 9, at the local leisure centre (Westcroft). The coach there at the time was Marc Burman and it was him who introduced me to the sport, taught me the basics, encouraged me to enter my first tournament, and eventually advised me to join Crusaders TTC (who I would go on to represent at junior and senior level for the next 13 years). Marc was a fantastic coach and helped me tremendously, but he moved away to Sussex in 2003 and it was only a few months ago that I… The post #21 – Marc Burman: Greatness is an Attitude (Part 1) appeared first on Expert Table Tennis.

How to introduce Larry Hodges? It's a tough one. He's probably the busiest man in table tennis! Larry is a full-time table tennis coach at Maryland Table Tennis Center in the US. He also runs the website TableTennisCoaching.com and writes a daily blog and “tip of the week” every Monday. He is a key figure in USATT, has won national titles as a player, organizes tournaments and is a general promoter and figurehead of the sport of table tennis. On top of all that, Larry has also written several brilliant table tennis books, including the popular Table Tennis Tactics for Thinkers,… The post #20 – Larry Hodges: Table Tennis Tactics for Thinkers appeared first on Expert Table Tennis.

If you haven't heard of racketlon before you need to check it out. It's an incredible sport that combines table tennis, badminton, squash and tennis to determine who is the best all round racket sports player. The sport is relatively new but is growing in popularity in Europe and already has world rankings and a world championships. So, who is the best all round racket sports player in the world? Well, he's Jesper Ratzer from Copenhagen in Denmark and he joins me on this episode of The Expert Table Tennis Podcast. Jesper was an accomplished badminton and tennis player as… The post #19 – Jesper Ratzer: 6x World Racketlon Champion appeared first on Expert Table Tennis.

Chris Main is the head coach of North Ayrshire Table Tennis Club, a thriving club located on the West Coast of Scotland in Saltcoats. Saltcoats is a small town about 45 minutes away from Glasgow but Chris is on a mission to transform it into a hub of table tennis activity. The club has won the Scottish National League four years in a row, is home to a number of top junior and senior Scottish players, and recently hosted the first round of the prestigious ETTU Cup (which is basically the UEFA Europa League of table tennis). On top of that… The post #18 – Chris Main: Bringing International TT to Saltcoats appeared first on Expert Table Tennis.

Adam Gittings is 18 years old, lives in Doncaster, and has Asperger syndrome, dyspraxia, and type 1 diabetes. Three years ago he was invited to a South Yorkshire disabled sports trial day at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield, where he was given to opportunity to try out a load of different sports and see if he had the potential to join any of the regional squads. Little did he know at the time, but that day would change his life forever. One of the coaches, Shaun Alvey, spotted something in Adam and invited him along to his club.… The post #17 – Adam Gittings: Hard Work Pays Off appeared first on Expert Table Tennis.

Tin-Tin Ho first picked up a table tennis bat at the age of two. Three years later, on her 5th birthday, her father announced that she was now ready to begin training for table tennis. She began playing at home with her father and her brother Ping and improved very quickly. Twelve years later Tin-Tin is still playing a lot of table tennis. She is now 17 (it was her birthday last Thursday) and is one of the best junior players in Europe. Nationally, she has practically won everything there is to win in the junior game and has been… The post #16 – Tin-Tin Ho: 12 Years a Table Tennis Player appeared first on Expert Table Tennis.

It is the dream of table tennis players the world over to own their own full-time club – a facility they can call home, do whatever they like with, and build into a superclub. I know I'd love to have my own club one day. Well, one man who has done just that is 19-year-old Kevin Korb from California, who is the new owner of The TopSpin a full-time, 16-table facility in the Bay Area. That's right… He's only 19! Kevin has actually taken a year out of studying at USC in order to concentrate fully on building up the… The post #15 – Kevin Korb: I Bought a Club appeared first on Expert Table Tennis.

The Rio 2016 Olympic Games are less than a year away (they come around quick don't they!) and one man who is determined to do everything he can to get there is Samson Dubina from Ohio in the United States. Samson is 32 years old and has been playing table tennis for twenty years. He made it to the World Championships in Japan in 2009, but other than that hasn't had the chance to represent his country much internationally. Unfortunately, Ohio isn't much of a mecca of table tennis and Samson has been ranked #1 in the state for the… The post #14 – Samson Dubina: Rio 2016 Olympic Training appeared first on Expert Table Tennis.

Sam Priestley has been a good friend of mine for over ten years. We first met at a church youth group when we were both 15 years old. Sam has never been particularly sporty. He did a lot of rowing back when I first met him but then quit while he was still in school. He was never particularly good at racket sports or football. Towards the end of 2013 I came up with the idea of the Expert in a Year challenge and my wife Katie suggested Sam as a possible guinea pig for the experiment. Then, for the… The post #13 – Sam Priestley: The Expert in a Year Book appeared first on Expert Table Tennis.

Sam Walker first played table tennis at the age of two. Since then, he's put in a huge amount of work. He first represented England at the age of 11 and finished the cadets (U15) ranked #2 in the country. At 16 he took the decision to move to Germany and play table tennis full-time. It paid off! In the past four years, he has transformed himself into the third best player in England (behind Paul and Liam) and achieved a world ranking of around 200th. He is currently living in Ochsenhausen and training at the Liebherr Master's College. Sam's… The post #12 – Sam Walker: Entering the Bundesliga appeared first on Expert Table Tennis.

Istvan Moldovan was my coach on the B75 Summer Table Tennis Training camp that I attended in Denmark last summer with Sam. He is a very experienced coach, a qualified performance psychologist and has played table tennis at the highest level – he was part of the Norwegian national team for many years and achieved a world ranking around the #100 mark. I wanted to get Istvan on the show to share his thoughts on the importance of fostering motivation in players and how to take responsibility for your own development and learning. I also wanted to pick his brain about… The post #11 – Istvan Moldovan: Motivation and Performance appeared first on Expert Table Tennis.

Rory Scott is a table tennis player and coach from Horsham in the UK. He is 38 years old and has been playing table tennis for about 23 years. For the past 10 years, Rory's level and ranking have been fairly steady and he usually finds himself somewhere between 200th-250th in England. Now Rory finds himself approaching the age of veteran's table tennis (40+ years) and after seeing Sam's progress during The Expert in a Year Challenge in 2014 he has decided to start his own ‘Mark II' version. He will dedicate himself to a year of training (he usually… The post #10 – Rory Scott: Expert in a Year Mark II appeared first on Expert Table Tennis.

For as long as I can remember Paul Drinkhall has been the table tennis player us English have put our hopes on for international success. Today, he joins me on The Expert Table Tennis Podcast to talk about life as a professional table tennis player. Paul entered the senior game in 2009 and I think it's fair to say he plateaued for a few years, hovering around the #100 world ranking level. In 2013, he had a serious hip injured but recovered quickly and by April 2014 won his first major event, the Spanish Open. Since then he has been on… The post #9 – Paul Drinkhall: England's No.1 (Part 2) appeared first on Expert Table Tennis.

For as long as I can remember Paul Drinkhall has been the table tennis player us English have put our hopes on for international success. Today, he joins me on The Expert Table Tennis Podcast to talk about life as a professional table tennis player. Paul's talent was first spotted at the age of nine (back in the 1999/2000 season) and he has been part of the England squad ever since. By 2008, he was one of the best junior players in the world winning a gold medal at the European Juniors and a silver at the world Juniors. In… The post #8 – Paul Drinkhall: England's No.1 (Part 1) appeared first on Expert Table Tennis.

iCoachTableTennis is a new table tennis blog aimed at coaches. It was started by Lloyd Gregory and Daniel Ives (from episode five and six) in March 2015 and on today's ETT podcast I'm joined by Lloyd. The idea behind the blog is to bridge the gap between the coaching theory and research Lloyd began learning about during his MSc in Performance Coaching and the typical table tennis coaching environment. Both Lloyd and Dan have been producing articles that apply current coaching theory to the actual practice of coaching table tennis in the real world. In this episode we learn a… The post #7 – Lloyd Gregory: Coaching Theory and Practice appeared first on Expert Table Tennis.

Daniel Ives is the founder of TableTennisDaily, one of the most popular table tennis websites in the world. I actually used to play against him as a junior in tournaments and county matches (he would always win), so I've known Dan for some time. In January 2015 he travelled to Beijing, China with STIGA to film a four-part documentary series called ‘STIGA Presents The Journey Through Chinese Table Tennis', which you can watch here. I decided to get Dan on the show to talk about his experiences and share some of what he discovered about Chinese table tennis. This is Part… The post #6 – Daniel Ives: TableTennisDaily in China (Part 2) appeared first on Expert Table Tennis.

Daniel Ives is the founder of TableTennisDaily, one of the most popular table tennis websites in the world. I actually used to play against him as a junior in tournaments and county matches (he would always win), so I've known Dan for some time. In January 2015 he travelled to Beijing, China with STIGA to film a four-part documentary series called ‘STIGA Presents The Journey Through Chinese Table Tennis', which you can watch here. I decided to get Dan on the show to talk about his experiences and share some of what he discovered about Chinese table tennis. This is Part… The post #5 – Daniel Ives: TableTennisDaily in China (Part 1) appeared first on Expert Table Tennis.

Mark Simpson is a good friend of mine. I shared a house with him back in 2007 at Grantham Academy. Since then he has studied Psychology at the University of Nottingham, played table tennis semi-professionally in several European countries and completed a Masters degree in Sport Psychology. In today's episode I talk to Mark about his ‘Train Smart, Play Smart' seminars that he is delivering to table tennis clubs up and down the UK. Mark's philosophy is all about giving players the skills they need to be able to fix their own performance problems. Instead of troubleshooting individual issues he… The post #4 – Mark Simpson: Train Smart, Play Smart appeared first on Expert Table Tennis.

Back in 2008 a 28 year old from Pennsylvania decided he wanted to get really good at table tennis. He joined a club, started working with a coach and set his eyes on a USATT rating of 2000. Two and half years later he achieved it. That man was Alex Polyakov, author of the books Breaking 2000 and The Next Step, and he was my guest for episode three of The Expert Table Tennis Podcast. Alex find himself in a fairly unique position as one of only a handful of adult beginners to achieve such a high level in such… The post #3 – Alex Polyakov: Breaking 2000 appeared first on Expert Table Tennis.

In episode two I'm joined by Welsh table tennis player Dan O'Connell. Dan is currently ranked number one in Wales and finds himself just outside the top 600 players in world. He returned just over a week ago from the World Championships in Suzhou, China where he reached the last 32 of the mixed doubles with teammate Charlotte Carey. During the show we talk about Dan's experience of spending two years training full-time in Germany. We have seen a number of our most promising players move to Germany recently and Dan gives us an insight into what life is like over… The post #2 – Dan O'Connell: Full-Time Table Tennis in Germany appeared first on Expert Table Tennis.

It brings me great pleasure to be able to present to you episode number one of The Expert Table Tennis Podcast. I have wanted to start a podcast for so long now and I've finally got it all together. My first guest is table tennis player, coach and blogger Matt Hetherington. Matt runs the popular blog mhtabletennis.com and is well known in the online world of table tennis. In our interview we talk about the trade-off between consistency and power. I believe this is a particularly important topic in the modern game, which at the highest levels is becoming increasingly more aggressive and… The post #1 – Matt Hetherington: Consistency vs Power appeared first on Expert Table Tennis.