But what I have seen is that if you play a close to the table game , the only way to be faster is to take the ball early and transfer balance.
Transfer balance is a very ambiguous term. IF you bend your knees and rotate your core, that is sufficient.
I am trying to come out from a shoulder and back injury 3 weeks back . I was not able to get out of bed yesterday and had to do a lot of stretches on my gluteus midius or whatever it is called and pressure it with tools. But then I went to the club and started playing close to the table and found most of my issues and injuries went away because I could generate power off the bounce and not use my body. I think if your reflexes are good it might be worthwhile trying to do that instead of always thinking that that kind of game is only for kids or women.
Up until I broke 2000, I had no forehand and my game was essentially the women's game. This match is before I ever got advice on how to do anything from Brett with my strokes - I used to stay at the table and block:
Also, trying to change my Backhand stroke technique , going for more ulnar deviation than wrist rotation around the elbow. Saw Bob Chen do it and found that it was easier on the shoulder and it was easier to transition from a close to the table backhand to a mid distance, more classical backhand. Again, a topic for another thread
Easier on the shoulder, possibly with bad technique, but good technique should always limit the use of the shoulder by tying the upper arm motion to the core. Superior technique? That's where the real debate begins.
I can see your point when you play a more mid distance kind of game. But won't you agree from training the technique , we should start with the close to the table game and then when the form is in place , put the rest of the pieces together ?
I largely speak about the close to the table men's game. I have only been playing a mid distance game for less than a year if even that. And my dream is still to stay close to the table. The problem is that you have to consistently bend your knees if you want to loop close to the table and play forward and over the ball and staying close to the table for a player my height makes my middle very vulnerable - that said, most players would still consider me largely to be a close to the table player with mid-distance variation. Also, the incoming trajectory of loops from mid distance can give you issues close to the table unless you are fully committed to blocking and quick movement. I also don't return serves well for my level so I needed to be able to find ways to stay in the point after bad returns.
When you are close to the table looper, bending your knees is critical because you want to maintain a constant height and eye level and be able to loop over low balls without too much upward motion. I fall back to mid distance against players with too much topspin arc but also because I like to loop. I could probably still block and play pretty well. But I need to get fitter to loop at the table because of my height.
When you play at the table, your dominant mode of getting power is core rotation, not weight transfer. Core rotation is similar to what happens with a spinning top - it doesn't transfer its weight. I tell people to always recenter their weight - if you bend your knees, it can look and feel like weight transfer. For me weight transfer is more full bodied looping for third ball kill or mid distance play.
