Daily Table Tennis Chit Chat

[NextLevel]

Usually, it is better to post exciting and competitive matches but I will post matches where I played Freddy Krueger vs. medium pips.

I think the biggest benefit of going back to Tenergy 05 is that I don't have to drive the ball past pips players most of the time. I can get them to block off the table if I spin consistently and it is much easier because Tenergy 05 is that much spinnier.

While the ratings gaps here are significant, I do have to play a medium pips player around my level next week. Will let you all know how it goes.

 

[NextLevel]

I did some serve practice for the first time in a long time yesterday. I probably should do it again as I have more spin but have lost a lot of depth control and form.

I also noticed that there has been someone going out of their way to dislike my videos. Not sure why - might be lack of editing, might be my poor physical condition and relatively low technique which goes unexplained unless you know me and how I play. Probably a subscriber as well given how quickly the dislikes show up. In any case, I expect the trend to continue but if you see a video you like or dislike, please feel free to let me know why. I don't make any money of my channel and I actually post far less training videos with public access than I used to and mostly do it if I need a coach to see the video or someone else who trains with me wants to see the video.

I did some shadow footwork drills - mine are the low level impact, focus more balance than speed type. I just want to move to the ball in position to play a stroke. My view is that adrenaline kicks in in matches, but if you don't have the form, it won't miraculously appear. People may see me bringing the feet together and wonder why I am doing something that is wrong. Well, the other way puts too much stress on my knees - it is as simple as that.

The main problem I am trying to solve is my failure to turn my shoulders when going after balls to my wide forehand. Comments are welcome.

 

[TT_Rogue]

if i counted it right 25 chinese are playing in the olympic womens single competition. that's a fcking joke

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

I did some serve practice for the first time in a long time yesterday. I probably should do it again as I have more spin but have lost a lot of depth control and form.

I also noticed that there has been someone going out of their way to dislike my videos. Not sure why - might be lack of editing, might be my poor physical condition and relatively low technique which goes unexplained unless you know me and how I play. Probably a subscriber as well given how quickly the dislikes show up. In any case, I expect the trend to continue but if you see a video you like or dislike, please feel free to let me know why. I don't make any money of my channel and I actually post far less training videos with public access than I used to and mostly do it if I need a coach to see the video or someone else who trains with me wants to see the video.

I did some shadow footwork drills - mine are the low level impact, focus more balance than speed type. I just want to move to the ball in position to play a stroke. My view is that adrenaline kicks in in matches, but if you don't have the form, it won't miraculously appear. People may see me bringing the feet together and wonder why I am doing something that is wrong. Well, the other way puts too much stress on my knees - it is as simple as that.

The main problem I am trying to solve is my failure to turn my shoulders when going after balls to my wide forehand. Comments are welcome.

I get that you are practicing stuff that actually happens like that footwork where you are taking the ball while your feet are still moving. But perhaps you should also practice where you get to the spot, plant your feet and take a stroke after.

The thing about the footwork you are doing is that, your feet are landing after the stroke, which means, you have to reset late. Because the reset should happen at about the time your feet land.

Yes this happens in a real scenario. Yes, I am talking about the ideal. The ideal would be you get there, plant your feet and then stroke. Again, the other happens. But if you practice the ideal, it starts happening more than you would have realized.

If your feet are planted and then you take the stroke, you will much more ready to move to the next ball. Ultimately, that might be better for your joints in the long run.

All that being said, I can see you are rehearsing a specific scenario that actually occurs in matches. So, maybe that specific issue is what you are trying to smooth out.

 

[Gene Tuttle]

I think the serves are good. Hard for me to tell what you are putting on them unless I watch several times. Also good to see you out of your knee brace.

 

[JeffM]

So I played at my club again, and today is 12 days away from my trial..
During random hitting, my strokes were all fine, backhand loop was going quite well too, even for lifting backspin, but then as soon as I start a match, even if it was with the same guy that I just practiced for an hour, everything went off.. backhand felt tight, forehand wise also tight and sometimes missing when trying to loop a chopped ball..
Then after the match, the guy told me exactly that, that I was hitting well before the match, and he knows that I can do it, but just that during match, I have not yet been able to overcome my mentality. I think my biggest enemy is myself.
I do have video of it, its about 15 min long (if anyone is interested), but I feel a bit ashamed to look at it myself, let alone others look at it.

 

[Der_Echte]

No shame. Zero shame.

It takes many months, sometimes close to a year for the things you improve to take effect and win points contributing to an increased level. Some improvements are more immediate, like improving serves to get easier attack chances.

Most stuff you improve in drills and trying and goofing off take so frustratingly long to duplicate to same quality and consistency in a match.

Sent from my SM-T350 using Tapatalk

 

[NextLevel]

So I played at my club again, and today is 12 days away from my trial..
During random hitting, my strokes were all fine, backhand loop was going quite well too, even for lifting backspin, but then as soon as I start a match, even if it was with the same guy that I just practiced for an hour, everything went off.. backhand felt tight, forehand wise also tight and sometimes missing when trying to loop a chopped ball..
Then after the match, the guy told me exactly that, that I was hitting well before the match, and he knows that I can do it, but just that during match, I have not yet been able to overcome my mentality. I think my biggest enemy is myself.
I do have video of it, its about 15 min long (if anyone is interested), but I feel a bit ashamed to look at it myself, let alone others look at it.

I can give you at least 5 references to back up what DerEchte says. It happens to pros all the time. How long do you think Xu Xin has been training that super backhand that he used to beat Ma Long in Korea and Japan? Do you think he didn't have the problem of hitting it in practice and it not working in matches? On match point, when he used his backhand, you could see that his backhand had arrived. The next step is when he is down match point, whether he will use his backhand or not.

http://www.samsondubina.com/coaching/13-stages

The only time you can be sure that your practice will work in a match is when your practice is exactly like the match you are playing. OTher than that, it may work, it may not work. Remember that in every point, you need to read the play, prepare your response and execute your response. If you are hitting in a warm up, you are mostly executing your response and have not challenged your ability to read or prepare the play. Very often, players who have practiced looping backspin can fail to loop it in a third ball drill in a match because they are not used to serving and playing behind the serve. Just that extra step throws them off.

Here is one you can try. Tell someone to serve to you long to your backhand and see if you can loop it. Then have the same person serve your forehand you push it back to them and let them push it to your backhand. That extra movement can throw off your body. I use tricks like this all the time to play people under 2000 or people whom I notice have issues with specific movements. People use these things on me too, so it is fair game.

So trust me, this game is complicated - don't beat yourself up for not being able to do what you think you did in practice in a match. It is never that simple.

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

And to piggy back on what Der and NL are saying, are you training game skills too? Serve and receive drills? Do you do any game simulation without counting where each player serves 2 and you play out the point exactly as if it is a match without counting points?

Things like that might help.

Here is the video I have posted way too many times that explains the theory of training how you play:

Hopefully these ideas help move things forward.


Sent from Deep Space by Abacus

 

[Der_Echte]

And to piggy back on what Der and NL are saying, are you training game skills too? Serve and receive drills? Sent from Deep Space Pisser by Mr. T B.A. Bar-Abacus

I couldn't help myself, I'll piggy-back on the piggy back.

It helps after one gets to a point to do game scenario related stuff, even if fooling around. best of 3 at 9-9. Serve long underspin, partner loops, play out point. Serve short to predictable zone, partner flips, play out point... to name a few.

 

[Ilia Minkin]

So I played at my club again, and today is 12 days away from my trial..
During random hitting, my strokes were all fine, backhand loop was going quite well too, even for lifting backspin, but then as soon as I start a match, even if it was with the same guy that I just practiced for an hour, everything went off.. backhand felt tight, forehand wise also tight and sometimes missing when trying to loop a chopped ball..
Then after the match, the guy told me exactly that, that I was hitting well before the match, and he knows that I can do it, but just that during match, I have not yet been able to overcome my mentality. I think my biggest enemy is myself.
I do have video of it, its about 15 min long (if anyone is interested), but I feel a bit ashamed to look at it myself, let alone others look at it.

 

[Der_Echte]

Takes a little hard work.

 

[pgpg]

Sounds great NL, always a pleasure to read about your progress!

As for me i finally got to play for the second time on this trip. We visited Montreal yesterday. While others were out sightseeing I found myself a club. http://www.echottc.com/en/index.html this one here.
I played against three people there, one of em had an awesome backhand topspin and sidespin forehand and he liked to hide his serves. The matches were close but i won two and let one be a remis at the end
I feel like I'm ready for another Princeton league now gonna get my revenge against Robert with his 1800 points !

The next stop is going to be in Boston the 23. playing with pgpg! Looking forward to this!

In the meantime I will do some bed serve training

Serve training paid off - Boogar's serves look pretty good (although they were mostly neutralized by my pips ). We spent 4+ hours at the club with Boogar getting a chance to play 5-6 folks close to his level (I think...). We practiced a bit as well, mostly focusing on his loop agains LP returns. It was fun.

 

[ttmonster]

Thanks pgpg for letting us know that boogar is doing alive and doing well in his table tennis adventure in the new world . We were getting anxious because he had gone AWOL for a while .... on a serious notes, did you guys get videos , its always fun to watch some of those, NL did a great job of catching Boogar in action , I found it very interesting ...

Serve training paid off - Boogar's serves look pretty good (although they were mostly neutralized by my pips ). We spent 4+ hours at the club with Boogar getting a chance to play 5-6 folks close to his level (I think...). We practiced a bit as well, mostly focusing on his loop agains LP returns. It was fun.

View attachment 10351

 

[Ilia Minkin]

Ok, here is my daily story.

Today I played a practice match. In the first two games I fooled around experimenting with different serves and receives and lost the games. Then I decided to play seriously and easily pulled out to 2-2. As it often happens in such matches, the fifth game went totally downhill. All my forehand openenings went into the net like rocks and soon I was down 6-10. Then I suddenly realized that there is a huge, massive blot of sweat on my FH rubber! After cleaning it I won the match, but it was so frustrating to miss that many shots because of it.

 

[Boogar]

Thanks pgpg for letting us know that boogar is doing alive and doing well in his table tennis adventure in the new world . We were getting anxious because he had gone AWOL for a while .... on a serious notes, did you guys get videos , its always fun to watch some of those, NL did a great job of catching Boogar in action , I found it very interesting ...

Thanks again pgpg for the guidance I had a lot of fun!
I didn't feel like taking videos there sorry. Felt wrong to set up the camera on those tables where you have to switch all the time.
Ah and jea my phone broke, that as well

So in total i got to play three times in the so called New World once in Princeton near NY, once in Montreal Quebec and now here in Boston. Btw what was the club called pgpg?

 

[pgpg]

Thanks again pgpg for the guidance I had a lot of fun!
I didn't feel like taking videos there sorry. Felt wrong to set up the camera on those tables where you have to switch all the time.
Ah and jea my phone broke, that as well

So in total i got to play three times in the so called New World once in Princeton near NY, once in Montreal Quebec and now here in Boston. Btw what was the club called pgpg?

Boston Table Tennis Club - to make things a bit confusing, it's actually located in Medford (but still quite close to Boston proper).

 

[pgpg]

Ok, here is my daily story.

Today I played a practice match. In the first two games I fooled around experimenting with different serves and receives and lost the games. Then I decided to play seriously and easily pulled out to 2-2. As it often happens in such matches, the fifth game went totally downhill. All my forehand openenings went into the net like rocks and soon I was down 6-10. Then I suddenly realized that there is a huge, massive blot of sweat on my FH rubber! After cleaning it I won the match, but it was so frustrating to miss that many shots because of it.

Now you know why most players look at their rubber in disbelief after their shot went into the net or sailed long - to make sure there is no wet spot on the rubber!

 

[NextLevel]

Now you know why most players look at their rubber in disbelief after their shot went into the net or sailed long - to make sure there is no wet spot on the rubber!

It's the truth, not a joke.

 

[Der_Echte]

I was in 5th deciding set up 15 to 14 in league and got a ball to step around and finish. My shot barely made it past end line. There was sweat all over table
I gave point to opponent and lost game 19 to 17.

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