Daily Table Tennis Chit Chat

[NextLevel]

Hi guys, I have a video of myself playing against my lefty friend today. I would like some feedback if possible.
A little bit of the history of our matches:
2014, we were quite even, I beat him twice, he beat me once
2015, I beat him most of the time
2016 dec - 2017: first time I beat him 3-2; then he beat me 3:1 (11-3, 11-6, 9-11, 11-9) last time. and today he beat me 3:1 (9-11, 11-9, 11-5, 11-8)

I don't think I should say I am rusty as the reason I lost, as he is rusty as well (he only plays tt when i am back in hk).
I think maybe I wasn't doing as much pivoting?
I also think my serves are not good, in that I was not able to serve short backspin to him.

Any feedback will be greatly appreciated. Thanks guys.

Usually, when analyzing a match, start with serve and serve return. You mostly returned his serves poorly. Maybe not poorly enough to you to make you think about it, but poorly enough not to put him under pressure on the third shot and in most cases give him an advantage if you didn't lose the point outright. On your serve, you pushed back the third ball. You also looped a lot of balls off the table.

 

[bobpuls]

your lefty friend is pretty often using breath anti-spin combo ... watch him like he is breathing on the blade before he he is receiving .... and how he is it drying before he serves..... but not always be carefull then... so keep this in mind and apply a full attack after his receive when he is using this technique....

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

I played well this weekend. I felt I was moving better than usually and set for next ball decently.

Realized how much I would like to be able to do 1-2 hours of multiball footwork drills several days a week. That would be really fun. Nope, I did not do any multiball and think playing matches vs more different people would be more important for my overall level improving. But every time I get to do multiball, it makes me happy. And I would like to be able to do all those footwork drills well.

But more important. I have new stuff to work on for my serves improving. Mark showed me something that made my blade face more stable while using the wrist and forearm. Less effort, more spin. I was trying too hard to snap my wrist. I will see when I can get the time to practice serves with or without a table. I don't really need a table to practice what I need to work on. At least not yet.


Sent from The Subterranean Workshop by Telepathy

 

[Flatstyk]

your lefty friend is pretty often using breath anti-spin combo ... watch him like he is breathing on the blade before he he is receiving .... and how he is it drying before he serves..... but not always be carefull then... so keep this in mind and apply a full attack after his receive when he is using this technique....

Bobpuls, that is a good eye to notice that behavior! Props to you.

 

[Ilia Minkin]

your lefty friend is pretty often using breath anti-spin combo ... watch him like he is breathing on the blade before he he is receiving .... and how he is it drying before he serves..... but not always be carefull then... so keep this in mind and apply a full attack after his receive when he is using this technique....

OMG this is hilarious.

 

[TurboZ]

OMG this is hilarious.

I was about to ask what he was doing. I first thought he is a rubber smelling addict and never know about this trick until now. Shame. Is it even legal?

 

[Archosaurus]

Got back to playing today.

I haven't seen a TT table in nearly three weeks and after a few warmup serves, I think my serves actually improved from before I went on my holidays.

I guess it makes sense because I did exercises for ball control and touch during the break.

 

[Der_Echte]

Safe In Lodge in California, no place to stay long term yet, that is first mission, but there will be a West cost MEETUP this weekend in Los Angeles and others in San Jose area.

The REAL first priority is to SLEEP the sleep of the dead for a spell though. 4 days of 10-12+ hrs a day driving alone can get you to that state in a NY second.

 

[Yecats Encerwal]

Hi Archo,

3 weeks can feel like a year when it comes to taking a break from TT can't it

What control/touch exercises did you do and how do you think they helped with your serves?

My personal opinion is that a serve is such a specific shot/way of contacting the ball, that the only real way to directly improve them is to actually practice the action of serving, so I'm interested to know what you did

 

[Archosaurus]

Hi Archo,

3 weeks can feel like a year when it comes to taking a break from TT can't it

What control/touch exercises did you do and how do you think they helped with your serves?

My personal opinion is that a serve is such a specific shot/way of contacting the ball, that the only real way to directly improve them is to actually practice the action of serving, so I'm interested to know what you did

Just simple brushing exercises, like floor and bed serves, and the backspin pancake drill that Shuki showed us some time back.

I just hadn't done any real serves on a table.

 

[Yecats Encerwal]

Just simple brushing exercises, like floor and bed serves, and the backspin pancake drill that Shuki showed us some time back.

I just hadn't done any real serves on a table.

Ah okay, cool

What is it about your serves that has improved? More spin? Lower over the net? More consistency? Better accuracy?

Or perhaps a combination of these?

Its good to hear your serves are improving, given the importance service has in winning matches

 

[Archosaurus]

Ah okay, cool

What is it about your serves that has improved? More spin? Lower over the net? More consistency? Better accuracy?

Or perhaps a combination of these?

Its good to hear your serves are improving, given the importance service has in winning matches

Quality hasn't increased a lot I think, but I have more consistency in producing acceptable quality serves. They're a bit lower and spinnier more consistently, instead of varying as much.

Before the drills, it was a bit of a coin toss when I served low, heavy backspin, but now I can feel it better so the consistency has increased.

 

[Yecats Encerwal]

Quality hasn't increased a lot I think, but I have more consistency in producing acceptable quality serves. They're a bit lower and spinnier more consistently, instead of varying as much.

Before the drills, it was a bit of a coin toss when I served low, heavy backspin, but now I can feel it better so the consistency has increased.

Awesome

Sometimes taking a couple of weeks off can help with focus when you get back.

Its easy to get bogged down by the frustrating and negative things in TT, and so taking a short break can help to refresh the mind and forget about these things a little bit. I don't know about you but I find it hard to not play for longer than a week if I'm honest

 

[Yecats Encerwal]

Hi Everyone,

Had a local tournament on Monday night, which happened to also fall on my 21st birthday (that's TT commitment!). In Guernsey we hold quite a few local tournaments for members of the association to play in, which occur every year. Usually player entry is between 50-70 players, ranging from young to old (10 years old to 81!).

Anyway, it just so happened that I ended up playing my brother in the semi finals on our birthday, which was rather annoying Its 50/50 as to who will win on the night and usually goes to 5 sets. As it happens, I managed to scrape through in 5 before losing to the islands best player in the final. It was nice to get to a final on my birthday, even if it was a runner-up trophy that I took home in the end

I switched to T05 recently and so far am really enjoying them, compared to my previous setup which was T80 on FH and T64 on BH. T05 seems to handle the plastic ball well, and feels great on my Viscaria (sorry NL!!!)

Will be spending another few hundred pounds ( ) to go to England to play in a Grand Prix in Feb/March, so will let you guys know how I get on

 

[Richie]

Hi Everyone,

Had a local tournament on Monday night, which happened to also fall on my 21st birthday (that's TT commitment!). In Guernsey we hold quite a few local tournaments for members of the association to play in, which occur every year. Usually player entry is between 50-70 players, ranging from young to old (10 years old to 81!).

Anyway, it just so happened that I ended up playing my brother in the semi finals on our birthday, which was rather annoying Its 50/50 as to who will win on the night and usually goes to 5 sets. As it happens, I managed to scrape through in 5 before losing to the islands best player in the final. It was nice to get to a final on my birthday, even if it was a runner-up trophy that I took home in the end

I switched to T05 recently and so far am really enjoying them, compared to my previous setup which was T80 on FH and T64 on BH. T05 seems to handle the plastic ball well, and feels great on my Viscaria (sorry NL!!!)

Will be spending another few hundred pounds ( ) to go to England to play in a Grand Prix in Feb/March, so will let you guys know how I get on

I might be going to Bath grandprix with a friend. Maybe I will see you there?

 

[Yecats Encerwal]

I might be going to Bath grandprix with a friend. Maybe I will see you there?

Yeh, haven't 100% decided as the costs are fairly high, but its looking likely.

Is it a good GP? Never been to it before

 

[Richie]

Yeh, haven't 100% decided as the costs are fairly high, but its looking likely.

Is it a good GP? Never been to it before

It's the first tournament I'll be entering other than BUCS so I don't know. Think we're only entering the banded tournament on the Saturday.

 

[Yecats Encerwal]

It's the first tournament I'll be entering other than BUCS so I don't know. Think we're only entering the banded tournament on the Saturday.

Fair enough, me and my brother enter Men's singles + Under 21's as well, as it costs a lot to fly over so we like to play as many matches as possible

 

[Richie]

Fair enough, me and my brother enter Men's singles + Under 21's as well, as it costs a lot to fly over so we like to play as many matches as possible

Ah, makes sense . Well if we have time over on the Saturday we could play a bit! Pretty sure you're a lot better, but I've taken players in the top 150 to 5 so I'll hopefully be able to put up a little bit of a fight .

 

[Takkyu_wa_inochi]

I played yesterday 2H yesterday and 3H today, alas not too many drills as few wanted to help, but a lot of games.
I'm happy overall about my level.

Yesterday, i couldn't do a 3rd ball attack with BH properly while in all other aspects my BH was fine (during rallies, topspin or block, or soft shots). I realized that 1- i was too slow to get ready after serving 2- i was overplaying it and putting too much power.

Today i was lucky to play with some less advanced players so i just decided to go more slowly and put all those 3rd ball attacks (with BH) on the table, even if its short or slow, the result was a low, short and spinny opening shot, with a very high percentage ( quite a change with yesterday near 0% success). When i played more advanced players, the percentage didn't go down a lot. That way i gave them all a good game, and i even won one young player (of a group of 3). he was probably the weaker of the 3, but that was a good win for me, he probably didn't expect to lose, and i'm not sure i would beat him every time. For the other 2, well, i felt i was a bit slow to react on the opponent serve, sometimes forgetting to receive short serves at the bounce, and I didn't recover quick enough after a short receive

The priorities for me is for early 2017 is to be more consistent in the 3rd ball attack (higher percentage, not necessarily a fast shot), recover more quickly after a shot over the table, and keep the upper body always low.