Customer Reviews

Winning Table Tennis: Skills, Drills, and Strategies

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I am a Singaporean. You do not find many books on Table Tennis on sale here. So when I went to London, I bought 3 different books. Of the 3,I found the book by Dan Seemiller the most comprhensive and informative.

Before, I had a lot of problems initiating an attack against opponents who utilise heavy underspin pushes and chops. Dan's book helped me master the skill of looping against underspin and thereby allowing me to initiate the attack. I found that a lot of players are not able to counter the spinny arch loop. As a result, I am more confident of my strokes and have moved a couple of rungs above my opponents.

I would like to recommend this book to all who wish to improve and perfect their game of Table Tennis.

This book is for players who already know how to play TT. It doesn't include the TT rules. Ideal for intermediate-level players who want to progress up to "professional" level. This book describes all the major strokes and footwork. It's the only book that describes the various services both forehand and backhand. (Table Tennis from A to Z by Messinis contains only a cursory and theoritical examination of the services.). But the best part about this book is the one about how to shape up yourself for the tournament. The warm-up/warm-down exercises are great. The chapter on nutrition is excellent. The chapter on strategy is brilliant. Furthermore, the "tone" of this book is quite reader-friendly: it's like hearing the author speaking by your ears. In short, buy this book and I guarantee you'll never regret it.

This is a good book which goes through the basic and advenced strokes of the game including how to be a world champion. The only bad thing is having to read and understand all those confusing directions about where to move your paddle and your hand.

This is the best table tennis instructional book I ever read. But this isn't saying much considering this is just the second book I've read and the first was completely useless.

I can't remember the title of the first book but it used drawings to demonstrate strokes. The good thing about Winning Table Tennis is that it uses sequences of photographs which is much clearer in demonstrating how to hit a shot.

My biggest disappointment was that only about the first third of the book is about teaching table tennis techniques (strokes, footwork etc...). The rest of the book includes segments on warmups, losing weight, carbohydrates, proteins and workouts, which was not entirely relevant for most readers I would have thought...and certainly not the reason I bought the book.

Also, in illustrating strokes, any book has to realise that verbal descriptions are not that helpful. Instead, the heart and soul needs to be clear, comprehensive and sequential photographs. You can have a few words but these should not try to be comprehensive but rather just cover a few key points. This book only had photographs for some of the strokes, and the rest were completely written accounts - which wasn't good enough for me.

Last gripe. I know that the author Danny Seemiller is a very accomplished table tennis player, and I like his spunk in championing his own grip etc... but I thought the following sentence
"some elite playes, like J.O.Waldner and the author (Danny Seemiller), use sidespin bocks" was too self-serving and arrogant. I mean, sure he was no.17 in the world, but he was no Waldner.

I still gave it 3/5 because there really aren't enough table tennis books out there...and this was the best I've seen.

There is nothing wrong with this book, it was just not what I was looking for. I was looking for a book that might aid in the development of my table tennis game. I was looking for specific drills to improve my play and consistency. I would not recommend this book if this is what you are looking for.

If you're looking for a "Teach yourself Table Tennis 101" type of book, this is not the one. In fact, this book is targetting to most intermediate and advanced table tennis players, although it covers some basic materials and standard strokes in a couple of chapters.

Most players focus on improving their looping and attacking skills. However, the author kept emphasizing the effectiviness of enhancing the match results by practicing serves and improving footwork. He did a good job on the chapter about the serves. He explained all the key important placements of the serves for various siturations and effects. For the footwork techniques, the lateral two-step, the up-and-back two-step, the backhand-corner two-step, and the lateral crossover are all covered in pictorial step-by-step details. Readers can easily follow and practice. The author also gave out some tips on tournament tactics, like ball placement, the short game, and varying the spin. Overall the book is good except the chapters on conditioning drills are a bit basic and weak.

(Reviewed by Otto Yuen, 14-Jan-2006)

As a new player this is the book to get. It does a great job describing the various skills of table tennis. It also tells you how to improve. Great book I am sure you will like if your serious about the game.

It is a very well organized book divided into easy reading catagories. The illustrations could use a bit of work however it was a overall average book.