Give better training with Todo2d!
A quick note: The author is a table tennis trainer
As a table tennis trainer, I dedicate four days of the week to teaching this sport at three distinct clubs catering to varying age ranges and skill levels. Given the diverse needs of my students, I must create customized training plans for each session. My approach is centered around a recurring theme, such as enhancing footwork, attacking the ball, placement, and so on.
For individual training sessions, I adhere to a standardized format: warming up, three exercises, and a final assessment (to gauge the effectiveness of the training). Each segment is intricately connected, making it apparent that they serve a cohesive purpose.
Determing the themes
The first step in my process is establishing specific goals for each training session. These objectives are designed to improve the players’ skills, such as:
- Mastering the Backhand Topspin Parallel
- Enhancing Forehand Topspin Diagonal
- Perfecting Forehand Topspin Opening
- and other relevant skills
And after a while I end up with the following collection.
Quick note: “BHTS” stands for “Backhand Topspin”, “FHTS” stands for “Forehand Topspin”. Parallel and Diagonal is the direction we play the ball.
Connect the themes
Not all training sessions can be conducted independently. Many skills, such as forehand topspin, are more easily acquired when paired with a ball possessing backspin. This mutual dependency necessitates reorganizing the objectives to ensure they complement each other.
To achieve this, I connect tasks that are essential for one another. For instance, Backhand Topspin Opening is more easily learned when the trainees receive a “push ball” (a ball with backspin). This process allows me to create a harmonious flow of skills.
Once the objectives are organized, I notice that there are three standalone goals. These are moved to the left side of my collection.
The remaining objectives, dependent on the standalone goals, are moved to the right.
At this juncture, I observe that “push” and “parallel” strokes occupy the central position. While it’s theoretically possible to remove the dependency between diagonal and parallel strokes, I choose to maintain this structure due to the forgiving nature of diagonal strokes. In fact, this presents a valuable lesson: diagonal strokes are often more forgiving than parallel strokes.
With the objectives and exercises in order, I can begin adding new activities. By reviewing my goals, I identify suitable exercises to support the learning process.
This initial 5-minute brainstorming session allows me to focus on my first objective: mastering the backhand push. I create a map theme\BHBS serve, along with other related themes. This will allow me to organize the exercises.
Preparing a theme
For this tutorial, I will be focusing on the “BH Push” theme. By navigating to my map and searching for related tasks, I identify the necessary exercises, while ensuring that they don’t impede progress.
Upon examining my tasks, I discover that there are no exercises. I utilize the “Search” feature again to locate additional push exercises and integrate them into my plan.
After organizing, I notice that some tasks are still missing. I employ the “Place Related Tasks” feature to add these essential exercises, retaining only those that precede them in the sequence.
It’s at this point that I realize a scheduling error: the goal “Serve with Backspin” can be accomplished without effort, which implies that no training is required. The mistake is simple, I placed the goal before the required exercises, swapping them around fixes that.
The final result is achieved, revealing a well-structured training plan. It becomes clear that I should begin with diagonal serves on the backhand, using short and long serves to teach backspin control and develop the backhand push. However, the backhand push can only be trained when trainees have mastered serving with backspin serve.
For my initial training sessions, I focus on developing two skills: Serving and playing with the backhand. This flexibility allows me to adapt my approach as needed, catering to students’ varying skill levels and challenges
All it took was a few minutes of effort to write down the goals and potential exercises to create a training plan for the first training session.
