Product Description

Step up to table tennis success! Table Tennis: Steps to Success combines the knowledge and experience of master instructor Richard McAfee with essential table tennis techniques and strategies for today's player.

With a unique 11-step approach designed to maximize table tennis instruction, you'll learn the proper grip for your style of play, execution of the basic strokes, and the correct way to apply spin to the ball. Then, build on these core techniques with masterful footwork, serves, returns, and stroke combinations.

Best of all, learn how and when to apply those skills in match play. With competitive strategies--adapted for both you and your opponent's playing style--you'll raise your game to a new level. And with clear instruction, comprehensive coverage, detailed photo sequences, and drills to ensure mastery of every technique, you'll be playing--and winning--in no time.

As part of the Steps to Success Sports Series--with more than 1.5 million copies sold--rest assured that Table Tennis: Steps to Success is the #1 resource for learning, and loving, the game.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #68176 in Books
• Published on: 2009-05-18
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780736077316
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Review

"In Table Tennis: Steps to Success, Coach McAfee covers all the essential skills for becoming a successful table tennis player. Anyone who appreciates the sport and wants to learn more will love this book."

Scott Preiss
U.S. National Table Tennis Coach
Former U.S. World Team Trainer

"Table Tennis: Steps to Success is quite impressive. The step-by-step instructions lead players of all skill levels through the rules, drills, and tactics of the game."

Don Mudtangam
National Coaching Director of Thailand
Former National Coach and Player

From the Publisher
"In Table Tennis: Steps to Success, Coach McAfee covers all the essential skills for becoming a successful table tennis player. Anyone who appreciates the sport and wants to learn more will love this book."

Scott Preiss
U.S. National Table Tennis Coach
Former U.S. World Team Trainer

"Table Tennis: Steps to Success is quite impressive. The step-by-step instructions lead players of all skill levels through the rules, drills, and tactics of the game."

Don Mudtangam
National Coaching Director of Thailand
Former National Coach and Player

About the Author
Richard McAfee has a lifelong commitment to table tennis. In his early years, McAfee was a successful player winning many singles and doubles events, including the 1972 U.S. Open Class B Championship and the Southern Open Men's Singles title. Later McAfee began to focus on his true passion of coaching. He has coached national champions in each of the past three decades, seven world-ranked players, and two Olympians.

In 1994 McAfee was named competition manager for Table Tennis at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games. This led to further management positions on the international scene and earned him the International Olympic Committee's Olympic Merit Award. He is also certified by USA Table Tennis as a national-level coach, their highest level. Honors include the 2004 U.S. Olympic Committee Doc Counsilman Science Award for table tennis, the 2003 Georgia AAU Coach of the Year award for table tennis, and the 1999 U.S. Committee Developmental Coach of the Year Award for table tennis. McAfee was inducted in to the U.S. Table Tennis Hall of Fame in 2005. He continues to travel around the world conducting coaching education courses for the International Table Tennis Federation.

Customer Reviews

Good for beginners
This book is great for me. I don't know much about table tennis except that my boyfriend loves to play and really wants me to get some game. I can't afford coaching and he's too much of an impatient jerk to teach me. Now I've finally found a resource that will let me develop into a passable player and earn his respect.


What a great book, the drills have already made me able to hit the ball over the net consistently and I can't wait to get to the more advanced strokes. I'm still a rookie but with this book on my side I envision beating my arrogant boyfriend soon.

Thanks coach!!

Great resource for beginners and intermediate players
Richard McAfee's new instructional guide, Table Tennis Steps to Success provides straightforward advice for beginning and intermediate players and their coaches. Coach McAfee covers basic technique and strategy, and provides detailed drills. Each stroke is illustrated with photos and diagrams that highlight correct technique. Common technique mistakes and corrections for each are highlighted. Each new stroke introduction is followed by a drill that helps the player use it in a game situation. A key feature of the book is that each drill includes scoring criteria that help the player track their progress and find their own relative strengths and weaknesses.

The chapter titled Using the Five-Ball Training System presents a well-rounded set of drills designed to mirror common game situations. Each drill includes a diagram, and points out key elements for success at the drill. Any player below the 2000 level who is armed with a table, a practice partner, willingness to work and a desire to improve can use this section of the book to become a better player.

Along with the instructional material, McAfee includes some information that other books have left out: a concise history of the sport, a section on unwritten rules and etiquette, basic stretching instruction and injury treatment. Coach McAfee also describes common styles of play, including the traditional strengths and weaknesses of each. A section on serve tactics includes suggestions on which serves to use against each style. The book concludes with an excellent section on how to get the most out of tournament play.

A Wealth Knowledge From One of The Best Minds in The Sport
A disclaimer before I get started: I know Richard McAfee personally, he's been my coach for about 16 months. In that time he's turned me from a complete beginner into an 1800 player. More important than rating points though, coach has given me a lifelong love for the elegant sport of pong. The man has spent over 40 years playing with and coaching elite players around the globe. In talking to him and reading this book one gets the sense that he's broken down and analyzed every stroke he's seen in that time.

That attention to detail and nuance have made this book an excellent resource for the aspiring pong player. Make no mistake: table tennis is not an easy sport, to master the intricacies of the various strokes takes dedication and hours of practice. The instructions and diagrams in the book clearly illustrate the mechanics of each stroke, and the drills get you on your way to mastering them. I've found these drills invaluable for improving me serve and backhand.

If you don't live in Denver and can't get personal coaching from McAfee this book will go a long way towards improving your game.