Paddle Palace 2013 Advanced Serve & Serve Return Clinic

Check out the highlight video of the last clinic on forehand loop. 

Time:Sunday, December 29th 3-7pm @ THPRD.15707 SW Walker Rd, Beaverton, OR 97006

Coaches: Sean O'Neill (2 x Olympian) & Tim Aikey (Oregon State Champion). Also some assistant coaches to help with video recording / coaching.

Sponsor: Paddle Palace, Orange Nittaku Top Balls.

Cost: $60.00 for four hours. Contact me Tim Aikey, Aikeyt@gmail.com to get into the clinic.

Required level & Partnering: We're not going to put a minimum level on this clinic, but do know we will be focusing on advanced topics. This clinic is certainly good for players 2000+. Players will be partnered up with similar skilled players. Top 20 players will get into the clinic.


Overview: Serve and serve return are the most important parts of the game, after the serve and serve return you are either at a great advantage or a great disadvantage. Sean and I want to make serve and serve return a stronger part of your game so that the following balls are easy to attack instead of hard to defend. Being an advanced clinic we are going to be getting into the "hows" and "whys" of all the aspects of serve and serve return so that you can make the best choice possible. All the topics below will be covered. Time will be saved at the end of the clinic for Q&A, questions can also be asked during the lectures. Clinic structure will be lecture, drill, lecture, drill. We will also have two different time blocks of match play where players can try to put newly learned material into match play.


Service demo & lecture:
1) Spin deception, why and how to.2) Placement deception, why and how to.3) General serve placement and why and why to vary the placement.4) Varying spin and why and how to.5) Importance of variety of types of serves, many types of serves will be shown.6) Serving based on your opponents strengths and weaknesses, knowing what their options are based on what strokes they know how to execute.7) What serves i should be doing at the end of the game, 8-8,9-9,10-10 etc.8) Super tricky serve and 3rd ball that your opponents will have no idea whats going on.


Serve return demo and lecture:
1) Options on short serve, flips, drops, pushing, when, where, and in which cases.2) Options on long serve and also half long, looping and pushing and how to, when and when not.3) Super secret serve return that only the really good players know so that their opponents can't kill the ball, how it works and what happens.4) The biggest mistakes players make when returning serves that make it an easy win for their opponents.5) When to spin, when to smash, how to balance and why.6) We will go over all the tricks and ways of how to read opponents tricky serves.7) Tricks of how the top level players adjust to tough serves from their opponents.8) The importance of a good push, how to and why.9) How to return the super spinny side spin serves like the tomahawk and the pendulum serve, also smart placement on these serves and why.


Recent changes to my clinics due to players requests from my post clinic questioner:
1) Lecture times are kept as short as possible.2) Drill time will be 15 minutes +3) Two time blocks of match play.4) Private session with Sean O'Neill looking at your serves and or serve return.5) The drills will be recorded by an assistant coach of individuals and a private playlist will be made for each player. This allows players to see themselves doing the drills on camera. In addition to the recording either Sean or I will make comments on your playlist detailing either what happened or what needs to happen or worked on.

Table Tennis Hybrid Clinic : Complete Overview: Basic + Advanced Strokes + Strategy

Coaches: Tim Aikey (Current Oregon State Champion), Sean O’Neill (former Olympian), Ang Pemba, Jim Hermann, Thomas Kung.

Where: Tualatin Hills Park and Rec Main Gym - 15707 SW Walker Rd, Beaverton, OR 97006

Time:  One Day, five hour clinic. Sunday, August 18th, 12pm-5pm.

Introduction: This clinic will be completely different than any other clinic that I have done so far.  We will have five high level coaches that have all just successfully completed the International Table Tennis Federation Level One Coaching Course.  This clinic will be perfect for beginner to intermediate level players, up to 1500 USATT rating. The great thing about this clinic is the student to coach ratio 4:1, so lots of personal attention.  Four of the five coaches will be presenting material and the other coaches will be able to add on additional information.

Clinic Format:  There will be a total of 20 people in the clinic, with four head coaches plus Sean O’Neill assisting the other coaches and giving personal instruction as well.  The information will be given in chunks of five to ten minute lectures / demonstration then drills will be about 15 minutes, this repeats for the five hours with some small breaks mixed in for water and some snacks.  Last 30 minutes will be ladder style matches, you try to implement the newly learned material into your game, while the coaches critique your game play.  Make sure to bring in a notebook dedicated for table tennis, you will have time for journaling. I’m going to match you up with an equally skilled partner as best as I can, hopefully different for each drill.

What will be covered:  Basic to advanced strokes, proper footwork for all strokes, how to move, game strategy, how to practice efficiently. The following strokes will be covered: forehand counter, forehand loop, backhand counter, backhand loop, pushing, drop shot, lob, fish, chop, smash and block. Services that will be covered; pendulum, reverse pendulum, tomahawk and backhand serve with how to make variations on all of them. Serve return and serve and attack strategy. Fourth and fifth ball attack / defend strategy as well.

Cost:  The cost of the clinic is $75 cash or check when you arrive. Balls are provided for the clinic. Bring a paddle, some will be available for purchase by request in advance as well.  To enter or if you have any questions my email is: Aikeyt@gmail.com. You must email me to enter the clinic.