Teaching a forehand drive

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Hey,

I am helping a left hander out with learning a better forehand drive. Right now I notice that he either crosses over in front, lifting his elbow a bit, or does not finish the stroke in front at all.

I am trying to communicate that he should move the forarm from the side, perpendicular to the table, close the bat angle, come a bit over the ball and finish a little higher facing forwards. I think that many people think if they finish facing forwards, then the ball will go to the side.

Being a right hander, it is not easy to demonstrate. I showed him a TTD academy video about forehand drive, but he felt it wad easier to watch a flipped video.

Anyway, he is a good guy and keeps the ball on the table. He has the same problem with finishing in front on backhand, but the stroke is better.

I have stressed him a lot with keeping knees bent, and that's improving.

I am open for suggestions on how to explain and teach this stroke :) People are different, some key points work better for some, others don't. I know from myself, that when I find a good visual advice, then it often sticks as an image in my mind and this helps.
 
the best corrective measure is shadow drills first before doing multiballs in every sessions. it will slowly give him muscle memory and will coordinate his movements especially with turning the torso. also, use point of references in every part of the body that is involved in the stroke like where is the elbow on or before the stroke, the hand salute position when doing follow through, the amount of swing and its position, the position of the torso before and after the stroke, things like those.
 
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Thanks, this is a good suggestion. I was thinking about doing shadow drills, will definitely give this a try.
 
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First thing to look at is if his grip is classic and solid. No fingers up the rubber etc.
Wonky grip is most usually the biggest problem to look at because even if he manages to ultimately put the ball on the table somehow he'll still need to review his grip in the future which may be harder then.

Second thing to look at is if he is hitting the ball softly enough to just put the ball on the table very consistently be able to aim it consistently to the corner.
You know, instead of hitting hard.

Everything else is covered well by the pingskills tutorial but the most important thing is the grip. Could be he got all the motion right but the grip is messing him up. With beginners I stress the grip more than anything. While it's true what yogi said that muscle memory has to built up, it has to be the correct muscle memory.
 
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Yogi! Good enthusiasm!

Regarding the forehandcounter i think it is important to always have the elbow in front of the body at all time. I think you can try to teach him to start with the elbow and racket infront of the nose then go back a little to the side of the body, But you still want to have the elbow infront, so not move it to far back and then end the stroke by going back to the starting position with elbow and racket infront of the nose, head.

You want to have forehandfeet and hit the ball infront of you so you create a triangle with feet and the arms.

Maybe it is a good Idea to learn to bring the torso back lika yogi showed and the change of weight. So one alternative is to Do like i explained first But not move the arm at all But just turn the torso to learn to use rhe body.

I am trying to only learn them to use the body now since i feel many players can not use the body well.
 
Use a mirror. He will stand in front of the mirror facing it, and you would stay between him and the mirror with your back to the mirror, slightly aside. That way his left handed mirror reflection should fit your right handed live and he will be able to fit his movements with yours.
 
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First thing to look at is if his grip is classic and solid. No fingers up the rubber etc.
Wonky grip is most usually the biggest problem to look at because even if he manages to ultimately put the ball on the table somehow he'll still need to review his grip in the future which may be harder then.

Second thing to look at is if he is hitting the ball softly enough to just put the ball on the table very consistently be able to aim it consistently to the corner.
You know, instead of hitting hard.
You are totally right, those are very important points to first take care of. The grip was the first thing we worked on, in addition to hold the bat loosely. He has a finger that moves up on the forehand side. It still happens sometimes, but is much better now. I made a slight change to my grip not very long ago, and it took months.

The hitting ball too hard is always and ongoing process, and this will probably be a lifelong learning (at least for me it is). Very easy to hit the ball harder if you tell someone to take it on top of the bounce, or to take a larger swing, if rushing forward into the stroke etc. I believe getting this right, involves a soft and smooth stroke and being relaxed. And to get there, the technique has to be right.
 
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Yogi! Good enthusiasm!

Regarding the forehandcounter i think it is important to always have the elbow in front of the body at all time. I think you can try to teach him to start with the elbow and racket infront of the nose then go back a little to the side of the body, But you still want to have the elbow infront, so not move it to far back and then end the stroke by going back to the starting position with elbow and racket infront of the nose, head.

You want to have forehandfeet and hit the ball infront of you so you create a triangle with feet and the arms.

Maybe it is a good Idea to learn to bring the torso back lika yogi showed and the change of weight. So one alternative is to Do like i explained first But not move the arm at all But just turn the torso to learn to use rhe body.

I am trying to only learn them to use the body now since i feel many players can not use the body well.

Very good suggestions! Often one forgets that one possibility is to go in reverse, like starting with the finish position first and going back. I think finish and start positions are often the key.

You are very right about the body. Quite often it looks like only the arm moves, and this probably restricts or results in incorrect movement. I think we need to work on this next time and see how it goes. I know this is difficult, I myself still struggle a bit with sideways movement on topspins, instead of forward.

What do you think about the forehand feet? He was standing almost 90 degrees sideways to the table in the beginning, with a lot of in and out movement. I myself stand around 30 - 45 degrees sideways on forehand, and he still asks me about the right angle. Difficult to explain.

Great video, Yogi! Very helpful.
 
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Very good suggestions! Often one forgets that one possibility is to go in reverse, like starting with the finish position first and going back. I think finish and start positions are often the key.

You are very right about the body. Quite often it looks like only the arm moves, and this probably restricts or results in incorrect movement. I think we need to work on this next time and see how it goes. I know this is difficult, I myself still struggle a bit with sideways movement on topspins, instead of forward.

What do you think about the forehand feet? He was standing almost 90 degrees sideways to the table in the beginning, with a lot of in and out movement. I myself stand around 30 - 45 degrees sideways on forehand, and he still asks me about the right angle. Difficult to explain.

Great video, Yogi! Very helpful.

I think you should almost just move the arm when you do forehand counter. You are so close to the table so you have no time to use your body.

But it is can be good to start to use the body in the counter so you know how to use the body when you do the forehand loop.

I do not follow the degree part very good, long time since i did math. But if he is 90 degrees sideways he can not hit the ball infron to his body. He always need to stand so he can hit the ball infront of the body.

There is also a discussion today how much forehand feet you want, or if you want any. Because of the fast pace of the game today. So it is hard to answer this. I am of the old school coaching and i think you should have forehand feet to be able to generate power with the body. But i try to learn people to have little forehand feet, not as much as before.

Did you not understand the triangle bit? explain that to him.
 
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I can try the triangle method. Not sure if I understood it correctly, but the top of the triangle is the racket. I guess if you stand completely sideways, then the hitting point will always be to the side of the body. If you try standing more and more square to the table with left foot forward, then the hitting point (top of the triangle) is more and more in front of the body, unless you do something very weird.
 
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Yes. But i hope you understand that you do not want to stand sideways to the table.

Try standing completely square to the table, like you are standning on a line, then put your left if a little in front of the right if you are righthanded and that is fine!

Then if you are standing correct with your feet now, like explained above. If you then try to extend your arms forward you want to hit the ball where the hands reach eachother. Where the hands reach eachother is the top of the triangle and the bottom is between your feet.

Hard to explain in words, and this is not exact science but maybe it can help to hit the ball at the correct place. Basically you just need to try to hit the ball infront of you, but not to far infront of you, then you will loose power.

It would be much easier if you post a video of his counter.
 
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No worries, I fully understand that completely sideways is wrong ;) Been working on it from day 1 since it is a major issue. It is just the degree of sideways, but the triangle method might work.

Yeah, a video would be nice but not everybody likes to appear in a public forum. However, I will see what I can do. I do use a camera from time to time, since it is a fantastic tool. And then you grief for days about the flaws you see in your own stroke.
 
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