Dealing with Ups & Downs
Danttgeek asked 3 years ago
Over the last months, my game has really improved. I have been attacking on the forehand and backhand and added lots of additional shots to my game.
I was playing very consistent and despite being relatively new to fixtures, ended up at the top of my division after about 7 weeks, much to the surprise of everyone.
Then – crash.
Last week I won 1/3 and this week 0/3 singles.
My consistency is gone, suddenly it feels like I don’t know how to hit a forehand or backhand with any safety or gusto.
How can this be? Table Tennis is really maddening.
It’s not all about winning, I just want to have fun and play well and can usually take losses in my stride, but the issue is the bad play. How can I be going from so ‘hot’ to so ‘cold’? It’s like all my confidence is gone in my game – I kind of knew I would lose because of how I was playing early on (even though I kept my self-talk positive) It was so frustrating I really didn’t want to play my 3rd game – all the fun of it got sucked out.
Is it just a lack of certainty in my technique? Does this happen to others? How do I bounce back?
Tom Academy Coach answered 3 years ago
Hey Dan, I can totally understand this feeling and frustration you have and I can definitely assure you it’s happened to all players, no matter what level! I’ve had this feeling many time Dan has for sure, even Ma Long!
So you’re not alone, that’s the first thing. The reason I think this happens is that table tennis is a sport of such fine margins and also confidence. The room for mistake ls is so small and the confidence in shots and matches can go quickly.
I don’t think it’s a lack of confidence in technique or anything like that. But more a mental thing and of course getting frustrated and fed up makes it worse. But what I can say is just keep at it, try to go to training and enjoy it and have fun, do some simple easy drills and it will come back to you. It’s easy to say I know as well but really try to just see it as a bump in the road, it won’t last like this for too long if you keep going in the training hall and try to work past it. The more you work and improve your game the less these situations will happen as well.
Try not to be down and hard on yourself, these tough times will make you stronger and more determined to keep improving and reach an even better level than before!
Trust that the work and improvements you have done will pay off, sometimes you have to go through these really annoying stages to keep getting better. But trust me it will get better!
Tom 😀
DanttgeekThanks for the positive advice Tom.
“a sport of such fine margins and also confidence” – that makes a lot of sense.
Having fun is what it’s all about – hope to get back to that soon. 😉👍🏻
