In yesterday’s post, we covered how to extract cues and clues from freestyle swimming and apply them to squash. Today, it’s the same exercise, but applied to table tennis. This is to REINFORCE the process.
This admittedly is an Advanced Deliberate Practice Principle – not for the casual ‘weekend warrior’…
The core question is:
What is the underlying principle revealed by the swimming mistake, and where does that same principle appear in table tennis?
Swimming → Table Tennis
1. Pushing off the wall in a bent position → Position before propulsion
- Swimming: A compressed, hunched push-off sacrifices streamlining and creates drag before the swimmer has even begun the stroke.
- Table tennis: Starting the rally from an upright, narrow or poorly balanced ready position similarly compromises the first movement. The player has to reorganise the body before moving.
- DPP distinction: Organise first. Accelerate second. The quality of the starting position determines how efficiently the next movement can occur.
Transfer question: Am I beginning my movement from a position that makes the movement easy—or am I first having to fix my position?
2. Dropping the elbow → Applying force in the wrong direction
- Swimming: A dropped elbow pushes water down instead of effectively pushing it backwards. The swimmer works hard without getting proportional forward propulsion.
- Table tennis: The equivalent is producing racket speed without directing that speed effectively into the intended ball trajectory—for example, excessive arm movement that doesn’t translate into useful racket-head acceleration through contact.
- DPP distinction: Force must be organised around the desired outcome. More effort doesn’t compensate for poor force direction.
Transfer question: Where is my force actually going?
3. Losing momentum → Breaking the movement chain
- Swimming: Pulling too early, crossing the midline and excessive hip movement introduce lateral movement and destroy forward momentum.
- Table tennis: Players similarly lose movement efficiency by becoming static after a shot, taking unnecessary recovery steps, jumping vertically, or allowing the feet and torso to become disconnected from the next ball.
- DPP distinction: Elite movement is continuous rather than episodic. The end of one action should help create the beginning of the next.
Transfer question: Does my previous shot make my next shot easier—or am I starting from zero every time?
4. Pulling too soon without setting the catch → Executing before establishing leverage
This is a particularly powerful transfer.
- Swimming: The hand enters, extends and establishes the catch before the swimmer applies meaningful backward force.
- Table tennis: A player who starts the forward swing before properly establishing distance, timing, body position and racket preparation is effectively trying to hit before creating leverage.
- DPP distinction: Preparation isn’t wasted time. Preparation creates the conditions for acceleration.
Transfer question: Am I trying to accelerate the racket before I’ve created the conditions that allow acceleration to work?
5. Pulling with the shoulders too far out → Leaving the optimal operating zone
- Swimming: Reaching too far outside the body’s effective centreline reduces the ability to apply force efficiently.
- Table tennis: This maps beautifully onto contact distance. If the ball is allowed to get too far away from the body, or the player reaches excessively for it, control, balance and racket speed deteriorate.
- DPP distinction: Maximum reach is not maximum effectiveness. There is an optimal spatial relationship between the body, racket and ball.
Transfer question: Where is my optimal contact zone—and how consistently do I create it?
6. Dropping the arm when breathing → Allowing one task to destroy another
- Swimming: The swimmer compromises the extended arm while turning to breathe, sacrificing propulsion for respiration.
- Table tennis: A player can similarly sacrifice their ready position, visual attention, balance or recovery while executing a stroke. For example, the hitting arm finishes the shot but the body is left completely unprepared for the next ball.
- DPP distinction: Integrated skill means performing one task without unnecessarily degrading another.
This has an especially important implication for serve and receive:
Don’t just practise serving. Practise serving and immediately being ready for the opponent’s likely response.
Transfer question: What capability disappears when I concentrate on the primary task?
7. Being stiff and rigid → Confusing tension with control
- Swimming: Elite freestyle requires a fascinating combination: relaxed recovery, controlled body alignment and firmness at the appropriate moment.
- Table tennis: This distinction is enormous. A death grip, tense shoulder or rigid arm can actually reduce racket-head speed, sensitivity and adaptability. Yet completely floppy technique lacks stability at contact.
- DPP distinction: Relaxation is a performance skill. The objective isn’t to eliminate tension; it’s to put tension in the right place at the right time.
Think: Relax → organise → accelerate → stabilise → relax.
Transfer question: Where am I using tension because I don’t yet trust the technique?
8. Kicking from the knees → Generating movement from the wrong segment
- Swimming: The knee shouldn’t be the primary driver of the kick. The movement originates higher in the chain and propagates down through the leg.
- Table tennis: This is highly relevant to stroke production. Players often attempt to create speed primarily from the forearm or wrist, when effective strokes can involve a coordinated sequence through legs, hips, trunk, shoulder, arm and racket.
- DPP distinction: The visible movement isn’t necessarily the source of the movement.
This is a particularly useful coaching question:
“Which body segment is actually initiating this movement?”
Transfer question: Am I seeing the source of power—or merely the final link in the chain?
9. Stiff ankles → Breaking the kinetic chain
- Swimming: A rigid ankle prevents the movement generated at the hip from flowing efficiently through the leg into the water.
- Table tennis: The same principle appears whenever unnecessary rigidity creates a break in the kinetic chain. Excessive stiffness in the feet, knees, hips, trunk, shoulder, elbow or wrist can prevent energy and information from flowing through the movement.
- DPP distinction: Efficient movement requires both stability and compliance. Some parts of the system need to be stable while others need freedom to move.
There’s an important distinction here:
Stable does not mean rigid.
Transfer question: Where am I creating unnecessary rigidity that prevents the movement from flowing?
10. Incorrect hand position/finger spacing → Micro-distinction at the point of contact
This one becomes particularly interesting in table tennis.
- Swimming: Tiny differences in finger spacing change how effectively the hand interacts with the water.
- Table tennis: Tiny differences in grip pressure, finger position, racket angle, wrist position and contact point can radically alter spin, speed, trajectory and control.
- DPP distinction: The closer you get to expertise, the more important small distinctions become. What appears insignificant to a novice can become decisive to an expert.
Transfer question: What tiny variable at the racket–ball interface am I currently treating as irrelevant?
| Freestyle | Table Tennis |
|---|---|
| 1. Streamline before propulsion | Position before movement |
| 2. Direct force correctly | Direct racket acceleration towards the desired outcome |
| 3. Preserve momentum | Make recovery feed the next shot |
| 4. Establish the catch | Establish position, timing and leverage before acceleration |
| 5. Find the power sweet spot | Find the optimal contact zone |
| 6. Don’t sacrifice propulsion to breathe | Don’t sacrifice recovery, balance or vision to execute |
| 7. Relaxation + firmness | Relaxation + stability at contact |
| 8. Generate movement from the right source | Use the appropriate kinetic chain rather than just the forearm/wrist |
| 9. Allow energy to transfer | Maintain a connected but adaptable kinetic chain |
| 10. Refine the interface | Master the racket–ball contact variables |
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