The Expert Table Tennis Podcast

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Alan Cooke is the Performance Coach at Table Tennis England. That means he works very closely with our national teams and travels with them to tournaments. If you watched any of the World Team Championships out in Kuala Lumpur you will have seen Alan corner coaching Paul Drinkhall, Liam Pitchford, and Sam Walker to an incredible bronze medal result.

As a player, Alan Cooke made his England senior debut in 1984. He won countless national titles and was consistently England #1 during his era. He reached a career high of 27th in the world rankings in 1990 and made a comeback to the sport in the 2000s becoming the over 40 world champion in 2006.

[Read more…] about #35 – Alan Cooke: England’s Performance Coach

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In many ways, you could say that Gavin Evans was always destined for table tennis greatness. He was born into a family where both parents played to a high-level and he had two older brothers who were both part of the England Youth Squad. Add to that Gavin’s immediate love of the sport and you have the perfect combination.

He began playing at 5-years-old. By 11, Gavin had overtaken both of his older brothers and was beginning to establish himself as the best young player in Europe. For the next four years, he was near enough unbeatable in his age category and was crowned European Youth Champion in Terni 2008. There was a huge amount of excitement and buzz in English table tennis.

[Read more…] about #34 – Gavin Evans: Bulletproof Table Tennis

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Sean O’Neill is one of the most knowledgeable and respected table tennis coaches in the USA. As a player, he represented USATT during the 80s and 90s, reaching a career high world ranking inside the top 100.

In 1995, Sean transitioned to coaching and has worked with a number of top USA players, as well thousands of beginners and improvers. Among some of his students are former guests on the show Brian Pace and Tahl Leibovitz!

[Read more…] about #33 – Sean O’Neill: Top Tips for Intermediate Players

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William Henzell is without a doubt the greatest table tennis player Australia has ever produced. He has won the men’s national championships a record 13 times, consistently been ranked among the top 100 players in the world, and had some fantastic results representing Australia in the Olympic and Commonwealth Games.

Then, a couple of weeks ago, Will released a statement on Facebook announcing his retirement from competitive table tennis. With Rio 2016 Olympic qualification just months away this came as a bit of shock to many table tennis fans. Despite cutting back his training in recent years, Will is still the best player in Australia and everyone would have expected him to qualify for his fourth Olympic Games.

[Read more…] about #32 – William Henzell: Time to Retire

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Tahl Leibovitz is a Paralympic gold medalist, is currently ranked #8 in the world in Class 9, and has over 25 years of table tennis experience as both a player and coach. Who better to join me on The Expert Table Tennis Podcast for the first episode of 2016?

Rio 2016 is just six months away and 40-year-old Tahl is training hard so that he can be in a position to give his all at what will probably be his last major competition. I caught up with him last week for about 40 minutes to ask him about his book Ping Pong for Fighters and to hear some of the lessons he’s learnt from competing at the highest level for so many years.

[Read more…] about #31 – Tahl Leibovitz: Ping Pong for Fighters