The Expert Table Tennis Podcast is back (finally). But we’re currently in lockdown because of coronavirus, so I thought I’d do something different. In this episode, I’m joined by Alex Horscroft – a new guest writer for the Expert Table Tennis blog! Alex only started playing table tennis at the age of 12 and he admits that he didn’t even take it very seriously at first. Despite that, he managed to become the top-ranked junior in his county of Suffolk. And interestingly, he attributes his success to the quality and deceptiveness of his serves. Sponsored by… TableTennisUniversity.com ..read more

This is Episode #8 of The Expert Table Tennis Podcast with Ben Larcombe and Harrie Austin-Jones. This month we’re talking talent, practice, and why a few weeks ago Harrie almost quit table tennis altogether! If you’ve ever worried that you might be untalented and felt on the verge of quitting, this is the episode for you! I hope it’ll also be interesting for anyone who’s pondered the impact that natural talent has on your table tennis potential. Sponsored by… TableTennisUniversity.com Today’s episode is sponsored by TableTennisUniversity.com – and in particular their Black Fri ..read more

Harrie’s not been very well this month so this is a special bonus episode of The Expert Table Tennis Podcast with Ben Larcombe. In this episode, I’m joined by Tom Lodziak for a chat about how to crush it as an adult beginner. Like Harrie, Tom didn’t start playing table tennis until his mid-twenties. Over the past 12 years, he’s worked hard to improve his game, move up the levels, and he now competes (very well, I might add) in the top division of the Cambridge Table Tennis League. Sponsored by… Palio by ETT Today’s episode is sponsored by Palio and in particular their new “3.0 ..read more

This is Episode #7 of The Expert Table Tennis Podcast with Ben Larcombe and Harrie Austin-Jones. This month we’re discussing the quality and quantity of your training. This season, Harrie’s made some changes to his weekly training schedule. Instead of playing as much table tennis as possible, he’s going to focus on just three high-quality sessions per week. To find out why you’ll have to listen to this episode. Sponsored by… Power Pong Today’s episode is sponsored by PowerPong.org and in particular their new Power Pong 5000 table tennis robot. The Power Pong 5000 is basically e ..read more

This is Episode #6 of the Expert Table Tennis Podcast with Ben Larcombe and Harrie Austin-Jones. This month we’re chatting about the physical side of table tennis. Is physical training even important for table tennis? If so, what kinds of stuff should we be doing? Harrie has a background in physical power sports like rugby, sprinting and bodybuilding, so I wanted to pick his brain! Sponsored by… TableTennisUniversity.com Today’s episode is sponsored by TableTennisUniversity.com – a revolutionary online training program created by former Chinese pro, Tao Li. For the next 8 ..read more

Nick Ryder started playing table tennis in the early 80s at a young age. His dad was a coach and he was living in Yorkshire, which was one of the strongest counties for table tennis in the country. By the age of 14, Nick was already a very strong player and found himself #6 on the England cadet list. Upon entering the juniors, Nick found the going tough and wasn’t sure whether all the hard work and sacrifice was really worth it. He slowly began to drift away from the sport and quit completely at the age of 20. He didn’t pick up a bat for twenty years, until coming back to the sport in 2012 aft ..read more

Brian Pace is a professional table tennis player, national level coach, and creator of Dynamic Table Tennis. As a player he achieved a peak USATT rating of 2610 and was ranked within the top 300 in the world – so he’s played at the highest level! I’ve been trying to get Brian on the show from the very beginning and we’ve finally made it happen. We have a great topic to discuss too; Brian has just released a brand new training video, Loop Fundamentals (from his Shadow Training series). It’s definitely the most unique and innovative table tennis training video I’ve come across, combining table t ..read more

You probably know Christian Ortner as half of Piing of Power, the guys who make table tennis videos for the ITTF, Butterfly and a host of other companies. He has been active in the online table tennis community for almost three years now and has justed started his own YouTube channel, Mr Piingo. What you probably didn’t know about Christian is that he hasn’t actually been playing table tennis for very long. He only picked up the sport about five years ago, aged 18, and didn’t start taking it seriously until 2012. That means he has had to struggle through all of the typical barriers to entry fo ..read more

Danny is currently ranked 5th in England and 217th in the world. At the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, he won silver in the men’s team event and bronze in the mixed doubles. He is training at the world-famous Werner Schlager Academy in Austria alongside a host of top international players. But he wants more! After taking a year away from international table tennis last season, to finish his Psychology degree, he is back to playing full-time and has set himself a rather challenging goal – to break into the top 100 table tennis players in the world. In many ways, it’s almost like Danny has ..read more

This is Episode #5 of the Expert Table Tennis Podcast with Ben Larcombe and Harrie Austin-Jones. This month we’re chatting about the mental and emotional side of our sport. If you struggle to beat your nerves, handle the pressure of a big match or manage your crazy emotions at the table – and let’s be honest, that’s all of us, at one time or another – then this is the episode for you! Sponsored by… Eastfield Co. Today’s episode is sponsored by Eastfield (my table tennis equipment brand) and in particular, the Eastfield Offensive Table Tennis Bat. The Eastfield Offensive is ..read more