Set specific training goals before the table tennis season

New Year's Eve and the start of a new table tennis season have more in common than you might think.

The start of a new table tennis season is very often comparable to the beginning of a new year on New Year's Eve. For us table tennis players, the second New Year's Eve of the year is usually in August, because that's when most people start preparing for the start of the season. It is not uncommon for good intentions to ring through the halls in August.

"Last season was really bad, but now everything is getting better"
"From now on I'll be going back to training regularly"
“We introduce regular team training 3 times a week”
"I now use the forehand side from time to time"

And most importantly, “I will NOT start playing sets again after 10 minutes and bench with a cyclist after 30 minutes! I set myself specific training goals and, if necessary, attend a seminar or continue my education with videos!”

Some of you may already feel caught after the first units. That's not bad either. As the saying goes: "Anticipation is the greatest joy." However, we want to encourage you to fight against your comfort zone in the pre-season and to actually implement the resolutions in your head. One thing is particularly important for this: Set specific training goals! This will help you develop a mindset that drives you forward.

We assume that you, as the pimples community, are among the people who are motivated and who want to constantly change and develop. Doing something new, such as testing new equipment, learning a new shot, or a new tactical element, should bring you joy.

It helps you out of the same routine. If you've already been able to train a few times and if you're no longer shocked by your lost feeling for the ball, then this is the moment when you should deal intensively with your training goals.

How it works? Let's explain to you now:

For example, you should answer the following questions:
Where do I want to go in table tennis in general? – What are my ambitions?
Is it important to me to get very short-term results, or is it okay to have a more long-term goal?
Do I want to change my game system or should I focus more on technical aspects?
A specific goal is not always easy to set.

IMPORTANT: Set yourself specific times when you look at and analyze your development. Are you on the right track or do you need to change something fundamental again? In our opinion, medium to long-term and profound learning successes are usually more valuable than short-term, small improvements. Therefore, you should not be fooled by short-term results with shifts in the TTR value.

How is the training now?

You can plan to work on a specific weakness or try to incorporate a new stroke/tactical element into your game. Regardless of the fact that there are currently certain process requirements in most places, you should make an appointment with a permanent game partner and think about what you want to train with this game partner in advance (at least for a certain part of the training).

This appointment and the schedule for the first training phase create a certain level of commitment. If you don't make an appointment, there is a great danger that you will just get used to it, then at some point you will not know what to do and ultimately "only" make sentences.

If your playing partner does not come to training after all, he will certainly have the decency and cancel (: . That way you would still have the opportunity to meet another playing partner.

In our experience, with many forms of exercise it is not so important whether your partner's TTR value is in a similar range. With the targeted practice of suitable situations/ball paths, both players can train in a targeted and high-quality manner, even if there are major differences in performance.

At the end of the training you can briefly reflect with your training partner on whether the set training goals have been met or what you could possibly do better.

In the end it is important:
The mindset, as well as the targeted concentration on something specific and the framework of the training must be right; then you will also achieve long-term success beyond the pre-season.

Do you have the right focus and have you already set training goals? Please let us know what you think in the comments! In the next newsletter we will also go into specific exercises that you can play with your partner.

Greetings from the Sauer & Tröger team