Coach Shahin’s 7 Pillars | Part 6: Control the Controllables
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
By David Yeakle
You step up to the table for a crucial match, and immediately notice something is off. The lighting overhead has a weird glare, the table feels slightly slower than the practice courts, the ball feels light, and a spectator at the next table keeps shouting.
In any competitive table tennis environment, a multitude of unpredictable variables will arise. The question is: How will you respond?
According to Coach Shahin Akhlaghpasand, Head Coach at the Austin Table Tennis Club, your mental response to these factors dictates your success long before the final point is scored. Having competed in 9 World Championships, 10 Asian Championships, and served as the Iranian National Team Captain for nearly two decades, Coach Shahin has encountered every imaginable distraction on the global stage. His verdict? Elite matches are won and lost in the mind.
Blame Game Trap
Less disciplined competitors waste precious time and emotional energy blaming external factors for their shortcomings. They complain to the umpire about the lighting, glare at the crowd, or get frustrated by an unexpected net or edge ball from their opponent.
Coach Shahin notes that this "Blame Game" is the fastest way to defeat yourself. Drawing from his extensive experience playing professionally in the German Bundesliga and winning 10 gold medals in the Iranian Super League, he emphasizes that conditions are rarely perfect.
"In high-stakes environments, getting angry at a bad bounce or a noisy venue won't change the situation," says Coach Shahin. "It only pulls your awareness away from your own strategy and hands the psychological advantage straight to your opponent."
Protect Your Focus: Coach Shahin’s Formula
To achieve a truly resilient table tennis mindset, an athlete must adopt what Coach Shahin teaches as the "Control the Controllables" framework. As an ITTF Certified Instructor who has completed the prestigious Olympic Solidarity Course, he trains players to strictly divide their environment into two categories:
What You CAN NOT Control | What You CAN Control |
Venue lighting, humidity, and temperature | Your tactical strategy and ball placement |
Net balls, edge balls, and "lucky" bounces | Your technical execution and stroke adjustment |
The opponent's playing style, gear, or attitude | Your attitude, body language, and emotional response |
Crowds, ambient noise, and umpire decisions | Your physical effort, breathing, and footwork |
Put it Into Practice
The next time you find yourself playing under poor lighting or facing an opponent getting multiple net cords, channel the mindset of a champion.
By consciously choosing to ignore external variables and focusing solely on your own attitude and execution—principles Coach Shahin used to capture the 2023 USATT Texas State Championship and the 2023 US National Championship (Men's Over 30)—you protect your focus from breaking down.
Acknowledge the distraction, let it go, and return your attention entirely to your own side of the table.
What’s Next?
Mastering your recognition of what you can and can't control doesn't happen overnight. Next time you step up to the table—whether in a tense club match at the Austin Table Tennis Club or a high-stakes tournament—try putting Coach Shahin’s advice into practice. Take that deep breath, step back, and hit your mental reset button whenever something that you can't control temporarily distracts you
This is just one piece of the puzzle. "Control the Controllables" is Part 6 of our exclusive series breaking down Coach Shahin’s 7 Pillars of athletic excellence.
Stay tuned for Part 7: The Ultimate Secret to Peak Performance, where we will dive into Coach Shahin's elite strategies for harnessing the joy of competition to unlock your true table tennis potential!
We want to hear from you: What part of your mental game do you struggle with the most? Do you find yourself getting distracted by something you can't control? Let us know in the comments below!
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