Meet Melanie Heilemann, a functional fitness coach of compass who shares her specific approach to training table tennis players. Discover her expertise and advice for coaches.

Table tennis coaches can talk day and night about technique and game strategies. But what about the body needed to execute the strokes and movements? Meet Melanie Heilemann, personal trainer and athletic coach who works regularly with three young compass players: Annett Kaufmann, Josephina Neumann, Noah Hersel.

Melanie Heilemann is a gifted former table tennis player who studied sports science, with a focus on management. After graduating from the University of Stuttgart, she went to Turkey for two years to work as a sports entertainer.

“It was a childhood dream come true for me,” she says over Zoom in her Stuttgart studio. “I worked at a resort and was part of a team that entertained the guests. I was in the dance troupe, participated in various plays and musicals, and my main athletic activity was beach volleyball.”

After two years of enjoying the fun in the sun, Melanie wanted to move on; she went back to Germany, where she worked for a fitness company and prepared to become a functional fitness coach and personal trainer. Alongside this, she was able to gain extensive experience in the fitness industry through providing training for years for various groups, even such as the professional fire department in Stuttgart. Constantly willing to learn and grow, Melanie further completed various training in the health and sports sector in the USA of her own volition and became a ‘fascial stretch practitioner’.

When asked on how she experienced the differences, she pointed out that “compared to Europe, the USA is very far ahead in the fitness industry. That’s why I decided to further my education in the USA.”

Among other things, Melanie also completed training to become a certified speed and agility coach with Lee Taft and a certified functional strength coach with Michael Boyle. Then in 2014, Melanie was ready to start her own business and since then, she has expanded her coaching to work with a whole wide range of athletes, including many from handball, soccer and various other sports.

With all her variety of experience, it is important to ask; what’s specific to table tennis?

“Fitness for table tennis is mostly about fast movements so agility is key; to be able to move at high speeds and change direction quickly. You need strong legs for moving in a low position and a stable torso to ensure harder hits, through using your hips and core accordingly. Stability in the ankles is necessary for good balance, and let’s not forget the importance of strong shoulders. 

A table tennis player needs to build a body that is both strong and ready for explosive movements.”

Three years ago, as she herself is a former table tennis player at the regional league level, she went to the table tennis centre in Böblingen where she met Annett Kaufmann, who was 12 years old at the time. Thus began a fruitful collaboration that continues to this day. 

“As a personal trainer, you have to know what the person you are working with really wants. In Annett’s case, that’s crystal clear. She aims to compete in the 2028 Olympics, if not already in 2024 in Paris. That’s the goal we focus on in every single training session.”

Sometimes however, a coach must consider much more short-term goals in their athlete’s interest; when Annett was scheduled to compete in the Europe Youth Top 10 tournament, she was extremely nervous before departure. To help her manage her anxieties, Melanie employed a breathing technique, as a way to help Annett loosen up her blocked body and perform at her usual high standard.  

“I felt she was kind of locked up, and there was a need to calm her down. So, I got her to lie down and breathe deeply.”

Melanie is a coach who trains not only the physical, but the mental fortitude of her athletes and this multifaceted approach is key to helping athletes be the best versions of themselves, allowing them to learn techniques that help them achieve their most ambitious goals in the long term. 

Currently, Melanie is working with two other compass players besides Annett – Noah Hersel, born in 2008, and Josephina Neumann, born in 2010. Due to the pandemic lockdowns, they have not been able to meet personally yet but through online fitness training they have been able to develop a good rapport and look forward to their in-person training sessions. 

Dealing with such young athletes, Melanie makes it clear what her approach is, pointing out that “first of all, they need to learn to know their body. It’s important to recognise the muscles in the glutes, stomach, legs and so on. Following that, I teach them how to use their body, how to use those muscles in different situations arising at the table.”

Usually when teaching table tennis, coaches are incredibly thorough so the young athletes will have perfect techniques, and this precision must carry over to their athletic training too. When asked about this, Melanie exclaimed “absolutely! I follow the golden rule, which is a quote from Gray Cook: move well, then move often.”

A table tennis coach is usually highly specialised in their respective sport. But as they are still often responsible for their player’s physical and mental development, a lot of work must be done to ensure the most optimal development of the player’s potential in all areas. 

1. Do no harm: If an exercise looks bad, it is bad for your athlete. You need to correct your athletes or change the exercise. Never take the risk of your athlete getting hurt.

2. Keep it simple: Pick basic exercises like squats, deadlifts, push-ups, rowing, etc. It doesn’t have to be fancy to be effective.

3. Leave your ego and agenda out of it: If you are personally having a bad day, never let your athlete know. As a coach, your first priority and focus should be your athlete.

4. Push-ups as a pleasure, not a punishment: Athletic training should be fun. Stop using push-ups as punishment after a failed shot!

5. Listen to your athletes: Before you start your training session have a quick conversation about how your athlete is feeling that day. Sometimes you may need to change the agenda to get the best result with the training session.

Visit Melanie’s YouTube channel for suggestions and exercises that players and coaches can use.