Deliberate Practice Tip: Create Visuals For Your Mental Model

Published on July 24, 2026 in Antimimeticisomorphism, Champion Mindset, Deliberate Practice Principles, Ping Pong, Sports Psychology, Table Tennis and Training and Drills. Closed

Table Tennis Return Of Serve Robot Practice – Backhand Serve With Right Sidespin + Backspin

Table Tennis Return Of Serve Robot Practice – (Left) Pendulum Serve With Backspin

One of the classic complaints of robot practice is that it’s not “natural” and lacks “context”.

One of the things I do to create my visual Mental Models for the return of serve is to place photos of a SERVER “doing each serve” so I can “neuroassociate” my technique to the appropriate serve. This is especially helpful when working on several serves within a given session, to make sure you don’t get mixed up when it comes time to play IRL.

Every 1% Improvement to your Deliberate Practices will compound to accelerate your high-level skill acquisition.