Solo Drills

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Hi everyone, I am looking for some solo drills I can do to improve my shot quality (spin, speed, placement). Right now all I have are serve drills, which are very helpful in making better quality services, and a drill suggested by Archosaurus (I think) in another forum. In the second drill, I stand at mid distance (5-8 feet from the table) and throw a ball up high enough so that the bounce comes up to where a ball would normally come to in a rally, then I either forehand loop it or backhand loop it to the table. I don't always have a reliable training partner and do not have access to a robot, which is DEFINITELY not optimal, but still want to work on improving my mechanics and shot quality for when I do have a partner to play against. Any help/suggestion is appreciated!
 
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Yup, that's where I found it. Probably my favorite one to use, if I do it for a half hour before I play matches I end up playing way better. I'm just looking for variation is all. Plus, that drill really gathers some looks in my college rec center since the tables are right at the entrance 8)
 
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I can't really suggest anything more, because we're in essentially the same situation, thus the drill. :p

I do long serve backhand flick drills as well with the same method, just throw (more so drop) it lower and closer.

This drill is not really made for gauging how well you perform the shots in reality, because the ball is basically at the ideal spin to be killed and you can put nearly anything on it and get it on the table + there's no incoming energy to redirected, so it does not produce an entirely accurate result for rallying strokes IMO although it is not terribly far off.

Your job in the drill is to be able to keep the good form while adjusting to the no spin. It's a pretty effective loopkill exercise in that regard, and the spin coming at you in a game actually makes it easier to perform the shots correctly, so you end up playing really well if you do this first and prime your subconscious a bit in advance.

Because the ball has basically no velocity and basically no spin, you have an accurate zero point from where you can go "less" or "more" in placement, spin, speed, whatever.

That's why I like this for placement training and technique training, because if you can drop or throw the ball consistently in the same spot every time, you will also have the same scenario every time. That's a lot easier than finding a partner who can feed you the exact same ball in the exact same spot over and over.
 
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I can't really suggest anything more, because we're in essentially the same situation, thus the drill. :p

I do long serve backhand flick drills as well with the same method, just throw (more so drop) it lower and closer.

This drill is not really made for gauging how well you perform the shots in reality, because the ball is basically at the ideal spin to be killed and you can put nearly anything on it and get it on the table + there's no incoming energy to redirected, so it does not produce an entirely accurate result for rallying strokes IMO although it is not terribly far off.

Your job in the drill is to be able to keep the good form while adjusting to the no spin. It's a pretty effective loopkill exercise in that regard, and the spin coming at you in a game actually makes it easier to perform the shots correctly, so you end up playing really well if you do this first and prime your subconscious a bit in advance.

Because the ball has basically no velocity and basically no spin, you have an accurate zero point from where you can go "less" or "more" in placement, spin, speed, whatever.

That's why I like this for placement training and technique training, because if you can drop or throw the ball consistently in the same spot every time, you will also have the same scenario every time. That's a lot easier than finding a partner who can feed you the exact same ball in the exact same spot over and over.

The one thing I do have going for me is that we have carpet flooring where the tables are so the bounce is super inconsistent. I try to make sure the ball is always below the table when I hit it so that takes away the ability to smash it over. Because of this I've actually made a few nice FH and BH loops from shoestring height which nobody expects to see at the low level I am ;) I still really need to improve my brushing since I play a pretty straight arm loop and speed is never the issue so this drill definitely holds a lot of value for me.
 
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While due to this, I can also perform strong and spinny loops from below the table with my bodyweight extremely low, I really don't recommend practicing it below the table. Your contact point will become way too late and low, then.

Get a piece of wood or something to place on the ground, because an inconsistent bounce sucks when you're trying to fix your technique.
 
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So many things you can practice.

Archo's bounce the ball drill is a good one. I remember a video from years ago with Waldner doing that to show people how to learn to loop.

You can also do the same thing at the table. You bounce the ball low on the table and try to make it bounce a little lower than the net, and you loop it. If the ball is a little lower than the net, then you have to have enough spin arc the ball over the net. But you still want to try and take the ball at about the top of the bounce.

When I do this one, I hit the ball on the second bounce, not the first. I feel like I am less rushed for the stroke after dropping the ball that way so I get set and make the stroke better and I can let the ball bounce lower and still get set. Got this from a coach at a club that was in. NYC's Chinatown which closed several years ago.

If you are doing this from the BH corner you can practice going BH, Middle and down the line to FH side. Similar options if you are taking the ball from the middle of the table or from the FH side.

The feeding yourself short, low, balls for flip practice is also good.

But shadow stroke/footwork drills are actually really helpful for your strokes improving when you need to move to the ball. Part of the reason is, they help you develop the upper body/lower body counter coordination for actually getting set, moving to the ball, and taking a good stroke.

When you practice shadow stroke and footwork coordination drills, you get to be able to do them in real play much easily than if you don't.

The reason that coordination is hard at first is because your upper body and your lower body are doing different things but they need to be well synchronized.


Sent from Deep Space by Abacus
 
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I made a set of shadow footwork videos that I posted in a different thread. Here they are:




You'd be surprised how much stuff like this actually helps. I find it kind of fun too.


Sent from Deep Space by Abacus
 
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Carl's point about coordination and the importance of practicing it off the table is a good one.

I recently coached a friend of mine, working on his forehand technique and basically redoing his technique completely because he had never received any formal training nor had he ever been extensively influenced by training material or even videos of pros playing.

I won't go in detail about fixing his technique although it went extremely well for a 1 hour session, but fixing his footwork is what stood out to me.

I pretty much explained logically what he is doing and what he should be doing with live examples so he knows what it feels like, gave him one or two very simple pointers to think about and made him shadow, do a drill, shadow some more, do another drill etc.

He got it in no time. We only had an hour session and roughly half of that was footwork related, most of it theory.

He still has problems with in-out footwork, but I didn't get to that yet and he hasn't learned small steps yet. His side to side is excellent for what training he has received.


Ross Bentley talked about taking high level, probably even professional race car drivers and taking them to the skidpad, dropping some water on it and making them control the car to neutral, over or understeer as they wanted. Turns out they were not completely in control at first even if they thought they were, but the improvement after the session was absolutely tremendous.

Shadow practices, especially if filmed or analyze by a coach, are a bit like that.
 
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Hi everyone, I am looking for some solo drills I can do to improve my shot quality (spin, speed, placement). Right now all I have are serve drills, which are very helpful in making better quality services, and a drill suggested by Archosaurus (I think) in another forum. In the second drill, I stand at mid distance (5-8 feet from the table) and throw a ball up high enough so that the bounce comes up to where a ball would normally come to in a rally, then I either forehand loop it or backhand loop it to the table. I don't always have a reliable training partner and do not have access to a robot, which is DEFINITELY not optimal, but still want to work on improving my mechanics and shot quality for when I do have a partner to play against. Any help/suggestion is appreciated!

1. Don't throw the ball up. Loop out of your hand. Or make the toss pretty small and not a high one.
2. Or bounce the ball on the floor or table and then do your stroke.

Both are different from tossing the ball up - they present a different kind of challenge and are helpful.
 
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It'll kill me to quote everyone so here's the replies:

Archo, thanks for the tip to bounce the ball a little higher. I did it today before I played with a friend from the club and it made a huge difference in the spin of my counter loops.

Carl, those variations sound like exactly what I'm looking for. I'll be trying them Monday because my flicks and opening loops are holding me back right now. And I do shadow practice already too, I forgot to add that in there, but I'll definitely be trying the patterns you use!

NextLevel, how do I loop the ball out of my hand? I already do the bounce instead of throwing it up really high. But the drills to work on touch look pretty awesome and I think they'll help me get the feel of my paddle down a lot.

All in all, awesome suggestions everyone, I really appreciate them!
 
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I think mental imagery should also be mentioned.

I can't give an accurate breakdown on mental imagery in a single post, but mental imagery is imagining doing something, with the look, feel, sound, taste, everything included.

Ideally you would want to do a form of mental imagery pretty much subconsciously on every shot, but also actively in practice, to really understand what it is you're trying to achieve. Your results will improve.
 
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