The Value of Keeping a Table Tennis Diary
Updated: Apr 8, 2023
Table Tennising
Have you ever recorded your table tennis sessions? Do you know what your movement / footwork looks like?
"It was the first time I saw myself being recorded playing table tennis. It was terrible..."A student sighed. Seeing your performance, you might be as disheartened as him. But don't worry. We all looked weird when we first started learning table tennis.
As long as you practice correctly and keep making corrections, you will definitely improve. You'll learn to hit higher-quality shots, have better technique, and be more coordinated like the pros.
So, what do we mean by "correct"? In fact, there's no standard answer. Finding a coach that suits you, having clear goals and intensive practice are all important for table tennis learning. Here I would like to offer another piece of advice—keep your own training diary.
"Training diary", as the name suggests, is a diary for players to keep track of the progress of table tennis training. The format of the training diary may vary from person to person.
Here's a brief description of what to include:
1. Record videos of your training session
At the beginner stage, learners are in "Unconscious Incompetence". At this stage, learners make many mistakes and have uncoordinated movements, yet they aren't aware that a skill gap exists. That is, what they know at this time is inadequate and is unlikely to bring them the results they want. Many beginners may get bored at this stage, or even lose interest and give up.
Video recordings are a way to help learners build "consciousness" (recognize what you don’t know) more quickly.
Video gives you instant feedback to see exactly what happened during the play. You may spot things that you have never thought of. And then you can adjust your movements and skills according to what you found. This is how you can continue to improve your skills even when your coach is away.
2. Write down thoughts and feelings after training
Keeping a training diary is easy and it doesn’t take a lot of time. You may also record a variety of types of information in your training diary that could be useful. These include:
Objective information
Time (duration or the date and time)
Training sessions (specific technique or tactical training)
Other details (like training partner, if necessary)
Performance
Subjective information
How you felt during the session (“My backhand has really improved", "That last set of sprints killed me”)
Some general notes (“Lower back is sore after that multi-ball session”)
Thoughts that intrigue or surprise you (“Wow, my forehand loops against backspin were awesome: remember to use my foot”, “Why has my backhand improved? Maybe it was Coach Sun's suggestion”)
When recording your training video, be sure to write down how you feel. Since the development of techniques requires repeated practice, learners might easily feel that the training is tedious. Many beginners end up giving up before they have mastered enough skills or even before they started to enjoy table tennis.
Try to write down how you feel after each training session—whether or not the training was satisfactory. As you practice more and review more, you will gradually generate your own connections between what you already know and what you're learning. Then you'll start to be able to adjust the movements to a certain extent on your own. Plus, you'll find that the deeper you delve, the stronger your inner motivation to keep going.
3. Structure and organize the training plan
When writing a training diary, we usually clearly describe our training plan. Table Tennis is a sport which is highly technical and requires high precision. If you want to improve from the learning stage of "Conscious Incompetence" to "Conscious Competence", it is all about practice.
In Table Tennis, there are so many techniques and tactics which make it a complex sport. For example, forehand technique can be further divided into forehand drive, forehand loop, forehand block, forehand push, etc. There are also different serves, such as short or long backspin serve, sidespin serve, topspin serve, etc. The key to proficiency is to focus on the details of small aspects (e.g. one technique at a time) first, and then combine each technique together for further tactical training.
* Who needs a training diary? *
So, who needs a training diary? Anyone and everyone. A training diary used properly can benefit both learners and advanced players.
As a table tennis learner, one of your most important responsibilities is to know yourself and use this self-knowledge to learn the skill. Your training diary provides a wealth of information through which to develop this self-knowledge.
For beginners and amateur players, you will gain knowledge and techniques about table tennis, and, more importantly, go through the process of learning a new skill.
For professional players, you can break down various parts of your training and games, and help yourself record the details in your training diary. It will help you refine your training recipe as well as understand your current state of mind.
Additionally, players inevitably experience doubts about their ability to achieve their goals. The players who achieve their goals most often are the ones who muster the confidence to shout down these natural voices of doubt. Your training diary can be a great source of confidence. It is a rich record of how much hard work you’ve accomplished and how much progress you’ve made.
When you feel down, look back at your training diary! All the hard work you have put in will not be in vain.
"Training diary makes your progress visible."
