ARDS SPRING LEAGUE 2026

 Coaching Level 1 - third observation - Forehand Push - 19/10/2026 There are two kinds of shot, defensive and offensive. The forehand push is a basic defensive shot, often played to a short backspin service.  The forehand push is a better option than, for instance, a forehand flick, because the ball is too low or too heavily loaded with backspin. The forehand push is the most difficult of the basic shots because the bat is to the side of the body and thus outside of the eyeline.  Also, since its not a very exciting shot, players probably don't practise it enough, resulting in a decline in quality. Its very easy to make a mistake when executing the shot which is why its important to practise it. 1. Assume ready position, except that the right foot ought to be slightly in front of the left. 2. The bat angle is open and the point is to cut under the ball and return it with backspin.  The right foot must go under the table, its important too that the body is over the bal...

 Coaching Level 1 - second observation - Backhand Service 1. Check grip - any penholders? 2. Establish service position.  Stand in middle of table, knees bent, feet wider than shoulder width.  Square or slightly oblique to table. 3. Explain basic service rules: * Serve toss must be at least 6 inches * Ball must be shown in palm of hand * Service toss must be straight up within a 30 degree arc * Ball must bounce once on both sides of the table * Ball must  be served behind the white line  4. Basic service concepts * Involving the wrist can create more spin * A higher ball toss can create more spin * A short, two bounce serve can stop attacks * A fast, long serve can surprise an opponent * A half long serve can leave your opponent unsure whether to push or loop and cause a mistake 5. Backhand service The backhand service can be served into any part of the table.  It tends to spin into the opponents forehand.  It is an essential serve, used by all profess...

Coaching Level 1 -first observation - Backhand Drive - 10/10/2026 I decided to try to complete a coaching level 1 qualification which will enable me to coach beginners.  I have to attend 2 one day sessions, one in September and the final one in November.  There's also an online quiz and 3 x 30 minute lessons which are observed and signed off by the observer. I've now completed the first one day session which was in Banbridge, the online quiz (passed with a score of 88%), and two of the observed sessions. I was given the backhand drive as a coaching focus, so my first session was based on this fundamental shot.  This was fortunate since I'm a backhand dominant player. My session went like this: 1. Warm up - * horizontal and vertical arm swings (x 10)                              * wrist circles (30 seconds)                     ...

 Tomorrow is my first tournament of the season at Ballymena TTC.  I'm playing in the Open and the Over 40s too. Our friend Jong Gil Kim who played for QUB TTC and has now returned to Seoul, South Korea  The tournament is over now and I found it useful and instructive.  Tournaments are important for developing players like me so that they can find their level and gain further practise against better players.  When I played in England there was always provision for improvers like an improvers group or a division 3.  It happens that I won division 3 at the Birmingham Table Tennis Academy and I also got into an improvers semi-final at Warwick leisure centre before being knocked out.  These were very encouraging results which demonstrated that I was on the cusp of leaving the improvers level behind and becoming an intermediate player.  In Ireland tournaments are mostly for performance level and intermediate players.  That's a bit disappointing, th...

 I've used a variety of blades now but the first proper blade I bought, the Donic Waldner Senso Carbon, turned out to be the spinniest.  I bought this pre-made bat and it had Bluefire M2 (MAX) on both sides which turned out to be a good all round rubber with excellent levels of control, spin and speed.  What is it that makes this set up so spinny?  The Waldner Senso Carbon has the feeling of a wood with the increased sweet spot and hence speed that the carbon offers.  In my opinion, it offers a perfect balance except that it loses power away from the table so is only really effective at close quarters.  The speed of this blade is ALL+ but that doesn't matter. When the ball is spinning, the speed is more than sufficient.  Later I bought another Donic blade, the Original Senso Carbon.  It turned out to be a bit stiffer than the Waldner Carbon, classed as OFF by Donic, it has more speed and significant power but the ball spins less.  It all depe...

 I've just returned from summer camp which was held at Nishkam school, Birmingham by the Birmingham Table Tennis Academy from the 3rd to the 5th of August 2026.  The three main coaches there are Ed Lynn, Lee McHugh and Mustafa Manager.  I also did a one to one with former England international Sam Wilson who was forced to retire from the professional game through injury.  I worked on a further refinement and upgrade to my pendulum serve which I'm finding out more about constantly and also how to serve a fast long reverse pendulum service.  Ed Lynn suggested that I work on tomahawk and hook serves since I don't use my wrist much during service.  I found a lot of the stuff we did on serve/receive very helpful and also the work we did on forehand open ups against backspin.  I can now return the ball with quality rather than just merely getting it back over the net.  I'm going to put some of the photos and short videos here for readers to gain an impr...