Changing My Style Of Play from Defence to Attack

One of the toughest challenge's in my Table Tennis career was at the age of 17 debating on whether to change my style of play from defence to all round attack. I started Table Tennis in 1986 as a defence player as I had showed signs that my style was heading in that direction. I displayed characteristics of other defensive player's by retreating back from that table and the coach decided that he would mould me in that fashion and also thinking that the other players would benefit from playing against my awkward style.

​I suppose looking back I had no choice in becoming a defensive player. The coach made that decision and stuck by it. I have no regrets about this and only look at the positive's of what was to come.

​It was in 1991 that I asked my Father to help me change my style. The reason I wanted to change is because the attacking player's were using Tip Top speed glue (banned now). The power of the drive topspin was too much for me to handle and I feel now that back then I had no coach who was able to take me to that next level of defence. We had very few coaches back then with the expertise that some have now.

​So Dad had absolutely no Table Tennis experience. Never played and never coached. It was a recipe for disaster I thought. I couldn't have been further from the truth. Dad went into Eason's on O'Connell St and bought ''Lentec'' Table Tennis Equipment manual and he bought David Fairholm's Table Tennis Tactics. Two books I still have on the book shelf right behind me as I am writing this. He read them inside out and started to get a grasp for task that was ahead of us.

​Anyone who has been coached by a parent​ will know how up and down the experience can be. If you have a disagreement then you both take that home together. When you have a disagreement with a coach, the coach goes home to his or her home and has a cooling off period. With a parent and son or daughter then this can't happen. You live and breath the game and the pressure can become too much. We had our differences but our love for what we were trying to achieve conquered the doubt.

​The first thing Dad did, was invest in a table tennis robot by a company called Newgy. It was an amazing device and fired balls with four different spins using it's oscillator to move the balls in the different locations on the table. This played a huge part in my change of style. Then we invested in TSP Spin Pips which was a short pimple rubber. I would use this on the backhand with the idea that I would drive through opponents spin. Dad also kept telling me that in the manuals the authors would talk about a new technique for coaches and player's called ''Multi-Ball''. I didn't know what it was and so we started to mirror the pictures in the manual's.

​Soon we are on our way to me finally having a backhand drive and backhand loop. For two years I played with the pips and then finally moved onto live tacky rubber on both sides. It was an extremely difficult process. I remember I played in a competition with the new pips on the BH. It was one set all up to 21 points and 20-20 in the final game. It was last 8 of some event. I started to revert back to my old style of defence because I was not comfortable and ''Feared'' I had not got the courage to go for it. I actually doubted my change and ultimately lost the match.

​I had learned that style of defence from day one and it was in my head that this is the way to play. That was all I knew. 5 years after that, I played that same opponent in a final and beat him with the live rubbers on both sides. After that I never reverted back from the table unless I was forced back to lob by my opponents but the negative style thought's had faded and that feeling of conquering my fear was gone.

​I represented Ireland in 1988 and 1989 as a defensive player at the European Youth Championships and I would later represent Ireland in the senior European Championships as an attacking player in 2002. How many player's have done this? not many have  represented there country as both a defensive and attacking player. Anyone who has knows the sacrifice.

Nothing is impossible. Go for it! Thank you Dad and thank you Tadashi Hiraga for helping me like you did. I couldn't have achieved it without you both.

Yours in Sport

​JB