My training partner gave me a tip the other day that seems to work. He said he got it from a high level Chinese coach on the net.

The tip goes something like this. After watching your opponents stroke and during your backswing visualize where you want to hit the ball in terms of a clock face. So for a block stroke you may want to brush loop. Visualize hitting the ball at 1 30 o'clock on the ball. Now just see your bat hitting the ball at this spot. Just do what you visualized.

I told this tip to another training partner and in 5 minutes his forehand really improved in spin and power. So much so it was the best forehand hitting I have ever seen him do to date.

This tip helps me not to rush my strokes. I am an adult learner that can do good quality power and spin shots in training but they tend to disappear in match situations. Frustrating. For example on a very wide short ball I tend to rush a stroke. If I do this tip I can do a correct spin stoke that actually goes in! I feel it would really help me in a backhand flick against differing spins.

I also think that with practice I can do this tip in a  match situation. This would be unusual as a focus on the technique during a match is not recommended.

I talked to another high level coach and he said this is what pro players just do naturally. So I sort of feel this could be a missing link for club players on the lower levels. After doing this tip sooner or later it will be automatic in a match situation.

The book the inner game of tennis seems to agree with this approach. Visualize something and then just let the body do it without thinking about technique.

What do others think? If you are a high level player do you do this on each stroke?

maurice101 wrote: The book the inner game of tennis seems to agree with this approach. Visualize something and then just let the body do it without thinking about technique.

Ah, maurice, you are diving into deep waters here.  "The inner game of tennis" is the very antithesis of 99% of what gets posted on tt forums.  Here we're all about critique - both ourselves and every one else.  "The inner game" is about letting go of the constant analysis and endless pursuit of technical perfection.  As I'm sure you know, visualising is just one means of disengaging our inner critic so our other self, the self we struggle to trust, can get on with doing what it already knows to do.

In the last few weeks, I've managed to embrace something of Gallwey's approach.  The result?  Much improved performance, yes.  But far more significantly, hugely more enjoyable table tennis.

The one thing I'd like now would be the book rewritten for table tennis, as has been done for a number of other sports/activities.

The inner game of tennis suggests utilising these types of things in  practice to overcome technical issues. There are infinity different ones. However the ultimate goal is to not think at all.

My first suggestion would be get hold of a copy of the book.  I'm a huge fan of libraries and the book is an absolute classic so finding it shouldn't be that hard.  In the end, there's always Amazon as a fall back.

The main thing for me is letting go of my instinct to criticise myself.  We often talk about playing the game for "fun" but spend way too much time beating ourselves up for missing shots.  Of all the "old habits" we have, I'd suggest this one is the most damaging.  Have you ever noticed how rarely CNT players display disappointment or anger against themselves?  And on the other hand, how often low level players curse themselves?

I've found that employing Gallwey's method of giving "Self 1" (the inner critic) the task of simply observing without comment and leaving Self 2 (our playing self) to get on with it a really helpful tool.  When things go wrong, I simply note what's happened and turn to the next point.  The most crucial time in the game is then between points.  Rather than rehashing the previous failure, I focus my energy on what I want to do next, trusting that Self 2 knows how to make that happen.

As an example, last week I played against the one player in the club who is clearly weaker than me but who somehow manages to cause upsets when I play him.  First game I lost 10-12.  On many occasions, the inner critic would have had a field day with that and there would be much inner fuming and ranting.  Not last week.  I observed the result, and then chose to focus on what would happen next.  I won games 2 and 3 comfortably.  Game 4 turned out to be a tussle and I lost 9-11.  In game 5, the score blew out to 8-0 and I was the zero!  Again I worked to silence the inner critic, and focused exclusively on the next point.  I won the match 12-10 in the fifth.