Some of my today training footage

[SleepyMaster]

0! lol. Hopefully he can make some improvements. That is the funny thing about this sport...lots just want to play for fun. I am like you where I want to improve as much as possible. Maybe it is because I hate losing more than I actually like winning. I am at 1500 USATT rating now...a lot of people in my club get stuck here at this level because they don't make the efforts to improve their weaknesses and fortify their strengths.

Hey i was going to ask...would you mind typing up some of the serve tactics you have found to be effective in your match play against higher level opponents? I'm a student of the game, and i know you have an experienced coach you train with, so any insights you can provide, I would appreciate.

Yeah, he will be playing better. He is a really good guy, I wish him all the best. He just needs some time and more practice with the others guys in TT club, not only a bunch of friends.

For the serving there is a different strategies, how you can use them - it depends on whom against you playing leftie or wrighty. How much of a serves do you have. And how the opponents reacts to them. For example, some players are bad against really spiny short sidespin reverse pendulum to forehand - so If I feeling it, I will exploit it. And then they are became aware and prepare for it, coming little bit closer to the table - I serve long pendulum to the backhand etc. My coach is good, but he showing me pendulum one time for two minutes, and that's it. I have trained serves for five times a week for an hour at home by myself.

Also the preferable distance by the opponent, if people like to play from a distance, I will mostly serve short variety of serves to them, to make the play uncomfortable for them.
And a strong third ball - that's the most valuable point of the serving, if you have it in your arsenal + good variety of serves, you will much more quickly go up in rankings up to 2000

Serve and serve receive is about 50% or even 60% of a gameplay, in my humble opinion

I remember, how I winning the set, at the guy with about 2100, and he didn't handle about 4 or 5 my reverse pendulum serves. After the last one, that he put in to the net, he is telling me - "its a shame", and im telling to him - "not at all, just a normal serve"

 

[JJ Ng]

Keeping test with an FZDALC, it goes great for now. I feel that it is more linear than HALC - maybe bc limba is kinda more flexing when power loop. Cmon, TT guys and nerds, give me some sort of an advice on how to loop 🤓

I like the video's. A few comments.

I like how you accelerate when you try to loop backspin. That's exactly what you should do.

I like how you try to attack the opponent's serves. Hey if the serve is long, it needs to be attacked.

You can toss the ball a bit higher on your serves.

that's pretty much it. I like your drills and your game!

 

[JJ Ng]

Nice reverse pendulum serve. Just curious, what level in the Ukrainian system would you rank your opponent in this match? To me, you have clearly outmatched this opponent, but, by my eye test, he does not seem to be rated very high. maybe 700 or 800 USATT

I don't know I would go that low. He can block a couple top spins in a row. I would say anywhere between 1100 to 1300 in USATT ratings?

 

[SleepyMaster]

I don't know I would go that low. He can block a couple top spins in a row. I would say anywhere between 1100 to 1300 in USATT ratings?

Yes, I have mentioned it too. This is a good sign for a guy, that we and a coach admitting, plus he was able to make a few openings during the game.

And when he played for the first year, he barely hold the racket correctly, it was wobbled like fruit jelly. So for next year he is making a big improvement - but proportionally to his level - grown man, that trained two times a week with coach, one hour + some game with friends practicing

 

[blahness]

GM has some highly developed forearm muscles and coordination. The serves are quite a bit spinnier than what the movement looks like it could produce - a bit Timo Boll esque actually.

 

[Lula]

I have not read all the comments and only watched a minute from the first video. I think you move your forearm well but you hit out since the ball is higher and your racket is under the ball, so need to hit up to able to hit it. If you want to have your arm at the same place, a bit low, then you need to take tha ball before the highest point, so the ball is where your racket is. If you want to hit at the highest point you need to move the arm up so can brush forward, otherwise the ball will go out and hard to get power forward.

 

[SleepyMaster]

GM has some highly developed forearm muscles and coordination. The serves are quite a bit spinnier than what the movement looks like it could produce - a bit Timo Boll esque actually.

I like how he serving, shirt and compact movement - I find it more natural to me, than serve moves with a higher amplitude. l guess the amount of strength in the forearms, allows me to do such short moves, with decent amount of spin

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

Keeping test with an FZDALC, it goes great for now. I feel that it is more linear than HALC - maybe bc limba is kinda more flexing when power loop. Cmon, TT guys and nerds, give me some sort of an advice on how to loop 🤓

a bit late to this thread, but rather late then never.

how is the level of your training partner that uses 2 black rubbers?

feels like he isn't able to block too well, thus can't really make your drills challenging and pushing you more on your FH, to help improve your FH loop?
feels like you waiting too long for his ball to come

 

[SleepyMaster]

a bit late to this thread, but rather late then never.

how is the level of your training partner that uses 2 black rubbers?

feels like he isn't able to block too well, thus can't really make your drills challenging and pushing you more on your FH, to help improve your FH loop?
feels like you waiting too long for his ball to come

First of all, this is my coach, not training partner, and this is his training bat, so who cares what colors rubbers are - it’s made for practice, feeding multi-ball etc.

He can block very good, he is master of sport level, and this is can be about from 2400 to 2700 in usatt, he has master of sports students, do you think, people on that level can’t block? Oleksii Kim is well known and respectable coach in my country. Check other videos, where he blocked 20+ topspin’s with no problems.

The amount of my rotation doesn’t allow him to block so stably, as he does with his most students. I always trying make little pause before the shot from forehand, to make a swing more consistent, i do it for a clear reason. I have pretty long reach and height, so my shots never be looking like 160cm Chinese players for example

Believe me, you will not able to block a lot of my topspin’s as well, without a somewhat occasional mistakes, even I’m don’t know your level - they just really spiny, so it’s okay when they pop out of the table sometimes

 

[Jslick89]

I don't know I would go that low. He can block a couple top spins in a row. I would say anywhere between 1100 to 1300 in USATT ratings?

Definitely not 1300! At least not by Northern California standards. There is a guy at my club who plays exactly like Grandmaster's opponent and he's rated mid 800. he might be 900. I have hit with him and he can do an occasional rally with me. and block 2 of my loops in a row. anyways, i digress as i do respect your opinion.

 

[NextLevel]

Definitely not 1300! At least not by Northern California standards. There is a guy at my club who plays exactly like Grandmaster's opponent and he's rated mid 800. he might be 900. I have hit with him and he can do an occasional rally with me. and block 2 of my loops in a row. anyways, i digress as i do respect your opinion.

Northern California beginner ratings are deflated by lots of lower level events for looping juniors. In parts where ratings are more stable, that guy's skillset is easily over 1000, GM makes him look a bit worse that he is.

 

[NextLevel]

First of all, this is my coach, not training partner, and this is his training bat, so who cares what colors rubbers are - it’s made for practice, feeding multi-ball etc.

He can block very good, he is master of sport level, and this is can be about from 2400 to 2700 in usatt, he has master of sports students, do you think, people on that level can’t block? Oleksii Kim is well known and respectable coach in my country. Check other videos, where he blocked 20+ topspin’s with no problems.

The amount of my rotation doesn’t allow him to block so stably, as he does with his most students. I always trying make little pause before the shot from forehand, to make a swing more consistent, i do it for a clear reason. I have pretty long reach and height, so my shots never be looking like 160cm Chinese players for example

Believe me, you will not able to block a lot of my topspin’s as well, without a somewhat a mistakes, even I’m don’t know your level - they just really spiny, so it’s okay when they pop out of the table sometimes

Tony is a penholder using Hurricane, those low dead blocks may just surprise you lol.

 

[SleepyMaster]

Tony is a penholder using Hurricane, those low dead blocks may just surprise you lol.

It’s all a nice story, maybe it is true. No one using hurricanes in my tennis club🙂

But when someone is telling about 2400+ players that those can’t block - that sounds strange little bit from my point of view

 

[SleepyMaster]

Tony is a penholder using Hurricane, those low dead blocks may just surprise you lol.

What level is Tony? My coach can play penhold just for fun, with pretty good results, by that i mean stable beating 2100+ players with it, without breaking any sweat

 

[cytivrat]

Oleksii Kim is well known and respectable coach in my country.

Is Peter Kim his son?

 

[SleepyMaster]

Is Peter Kim his son?

Yes, he is

 

[NDH]

Gonna try and comment before this all gets a bit spicy..... 😂

@GM3 - Going back to your practice match video against the chap in black, one thing I'd recommend is trying to have a focus on improving one part of your game (and just work on that one part).

I say this because the difference in level is huge, and you aren't improving by serving so he can't return it (I scanned through the video and not sure I actually saw him get a serve back!)

In your position, I'd maybe try and play ONLY forehands (or backhands), which would get your feet moving and give you a challenge.

A simple practice match against someone of that level isn't going to help you at all (if you let him play, it might help him).

a bit late to this thread, but rather late then never.

how is the level of your training partner that uses 2 black rubbers?

feels like he isn't able to block too well, thus can't really make your drills challenging and pushing you more on your FH, to help improve your FH loop?
feels like you waiting too long for his ball to come

As for this comment....GM3, I fully appreciate why you may be a little defensive of your coach, so let me try and explain a little what Tony is saying (not that he needs my help to do that).

From an outsider looking in, your coaches blocks and general movement/strokes are not what I would call a "high level".

There could be a huge number of reasons for this, and as we know, video doesn't always show the true level of someone, and as I have no idea who your coach is (and Google didn't help), I can't comment one way or the other.

It may easily be that your coach simply isn't concentrating that hard.... But I'd just be guessing as to why he's missing, which isn't really very helpful.

As you've only been playing a relatively short time, I don't know what players you have to compare him too (removing the professional side of the game for example), to be able to truly judge his level.

That's just something that comes with time and experience really.

I also think this whole "rating" business is getting lost in translation massively, and until there is some global rating scale, it causes more confusion than anything!

Being realistic, a top level (amateur) coach is making 99.9% of those blocks with relative ease.

I appreciate your shots are spinny, but for things like topspin drills like that, a really good coach just isn't going to miss many/any of those shots.

Like I said, there could be reasons why it happened, and I'm not commenting on your coaches ability - I'm just commenting on why it looks like (to experienced players), that your coach may not be as high level as you think he is (based on very little video footage).

However, as I've said before, I don't think the level of the coach is "that" important - If he's coached you to a good level in a short space of time, I'd say that his coaching is working, and it doesn't matter if he misses a few blocks here or there.

 

[SleepyMaster]

Gonna try and comment before this all gets a bit spicy..... 😂

@GM3 - Going back to your practice match video against the chap in black, one thing I'd recommend is trying to have a focus on improving one part of your game (and just work on that one part).

I say this because the difference in level is huge, and you aren't improving by serving so he can't return it (I scanned through the video and not sure I actually saw him get a serve back!)

In your position, I'd maybe try and play ONLY forehands (or backhands), which would get your feet moving and give you a challenge.

A simple practice match against someone of that level isn't going to help you at all (if you let him play, it might help him).





As for this comment....GM3, I fully appreciate why you may be a little defensive of your coach, so let me try and explain a little what Tony is saying (not that he needs my help to do that).

From an outsider looking in, your coaches blocks and general movement/strokes are not what I would call a "high level".

There could be a huge number of reasons for this, and as we know, video doesn't always show the true level of someone, and as I have no idea who your coach is (and Google didn't help), I can't comment one way or the other.

It may easily be that your coach simply isn't concentrating that hard.... But I'd just be guessing as to why he's missing, which isn't really very helpful.

As you've only been playing a relatively short time, I don't know what players you have to compare him too (removing the professional side of the game for example), to be able to truly judge his level.

That's just something that comes with time and experience really.

I also think this whole "rating" business is getting lost in translation massively, and until there is some global rating scale, it causes more confusion than anything!

Being realistic, a top level (amateur) coach is making 99.9% of those blocks with relative ease.

I appreciate your shots are spinny, but for things like topspin drills like that, a really good coach just isn't going to miss many/any of those shots.

Like I said, there could be reasons why it happened, and I'm not commenting on your coaches ability - I'm just commenting on why it looks like (to experienced players), that your coach may not be as high level as you think he is (based on very little video footage).

However, as I've said before, I don't think the level of the coach is "that" important - If he's coached you to a good level in a short space of time, I'd say that his coaching is working, and it doesn't matter if he misses a few blocks here or there.

As for the game like this, I totally understand that this doesn't give me anything, my coach asking me to play - sometimes with the students that comes back after me, so I have agreed, with respect to him. What the point of the game if opp can't receive 80-90% of serves? For me - no point at all, I was telling it before I posted a video - this is just a fun match, no need to judge anything by it. I have tried to play just relaxed and chill game - I gave him long pushes, giving him first attacks and softly blocking.

There is the reason why im the only one, from our team, who can win a coach, sometimes, counter loops forehand to forehand far from the table, or close, for example. He is is saying, that the quality of my loop is really high, not like an amateur - that's why some occasional mistakes occurs. Maybe you don't see it from the video, but you feeling it on a racket. And my coach is often sceptical about my skill, so I don't think he would be not fare, in his judgment of my loops. In other drills he saying that im one of the worst (it didn't prevent me from winning those people in matches) I have counter looped with other masters of sport too, and they admitted the quality - but again from the video you can make your own judgment, I don't mind it. But maybe, there is a reason to that, that all those people, including my coach just bad, and their are just trying to find an excuse hehe Anything can be, im just a noob in this sport so, I maybe wrong in all things that seemed right to me - if its so, in few years I will be remembered this friendly talking with the smile on my face.

Yes, those ratings are broken, but you can check how people with master of sport rating play - there is a bunch of games. I have already showing games here - just check them if you want. They know how to play. If you spent five minutes and watching the games you will, plus minus, understand what im talking about. And I compare him to them. We have masters of sports in our club, so there is a lot of guys whom I can compare. We training side by side mostly.
But Oleksii is 61 years old, so he is far from his prime, and didn't compete official anymore, when he was 50 he had winning other younger masters of sport in rated tournaments. Now he just playing with students, and some sparrings and tourneys that take part in our club. His main goal is his work with the students.

But anyway, you right, the most valuable thing, does he able to make his students progress, which he did. So his mission is as a coach is accomplishing. As an ex coach myself I understand that.

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

No disrespect GM!

I have a 2 black side bat too.
heck, i have blue + purple bat too.

Back to those blocks, they look like passive blocks to me. You can see that there is not much power onto the block. Or what we call "pushing" back in Chinese.
Maybe for fun, I don't know, I didn't listen with audio. Listening to the rubber contact could prove my point right, or maybe wrong.
I only jump through the 3 videos. I couldn't see any one good enough to really give you some work out.

I'm no longer a high level, maybe 15 kgs lighter and fitter, and almost 20 years ago (heck, am I getting that old now????). I've stop training/playing post university.
Back then, 30~40 hours week, blister over a blister over another blister.... memories.

I'm all over the show nowadays in Taiwan, having access to half a dozen high level training centres (sport schools), where a bunch of the Chinese Taipei national juniors reside. Last I checked, they do feature pretty well in world level wise. So I do consider that I am surrounded by some of top junior centres in the world today.

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

Tony is a penholder using Hurricane, those low dead blocks may just surprise you lol.

you didn't add, heavily boosted 🙈

jokes, I know use the thinnest layer I can. I moved from wood to alc.