How to improve my game

[kjanko]

Hey guys,

since I've no coach nor somebody to learn from in my town ( table tennis is not developed at all here ) I require some tips regarding my game from you
Every stroke I learned was from youtube and reading articles only. Here's a video of today's session with my father ( he's not really good ). I know that my footwork is bad and I can't bend a lot because I've a small knee injury from the time when I played tennis.

Any tips will be highly appreciated.

[Please note that in the first 2-3 min I'm kinda warming up and trying to get the feeling And I'm still working on my serve!]

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

I think Dan and Matt (pingpongpom) might have more to say on technical matters but I am going to start with something very simple. You don't seem to be practicing very intelligently. I skimmed through the first 15 minutes of that video and it is hard to find rallies that go for more than 3 hits. I don't think it is the quality of the hitting partner. I notice, sometimes you hit the first ball with control and then you rip the second one. Sometimes when you rip the ball you don't grab it with the rubber and it falls into the net. You cannot expect a hitting partner to hit back to you consistently if you are changing speed, spin and placement with every shot.

The stroke you are taking is a giant stroke. Could be okay for looping with someone who is good at blocking. But, some of the time you flat hit it, some of the time you put more topspin on it.

You need to learn a very simple, basic counter hit; a small stroke where you are not hitting the ball hard, you are not taking a big swing, you are not spinning the ball much but it has some topspin on it. And you need to slow it down enough so that you can hit 50, 100, 200 in a row without missing the ball once. This is not what everyone needs to work on. But, until you can keep the ball on the table, in the same place, with the same speed, with the same spin for an extended period of time, you cannot do what you are trying to do and get better. At a certain point you should be able to do a counter hit rally with a training partner for 20-30 minutes without missing the ball once. That would be several thousand hits without a miss.

When you can counter hit decently, you will be able to take a bigger stroke, loop the ball and have a hitting partner continually block your loop back and keep it on the table for 15-50 loops. You should also be able to block for someone else when they are looping. If you can loop and you cannot block, you are going to be in trouble in game situations.

 

[HLDang]

My teammates tell me that sometimes forget the basics and try techniques far ahead of my skill level. Like Carl says, you gotta slow down what you're doing and work on basics such as stroke and consistency.

 

[kjanko]

When you can counter hit decently, you will be able to take a bigger stroke, loop the ball and have a hitting partner continually block your loop back and keep it on the table for 15-50 loops. You should also be able to block for someone else when they are looping. If you can loop and you cannot block, you are going to be in trouble in game situations.

That's the issue, there's no player in my town who can block decently and I want to practice a full stroke - the short one is ok.

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

That's the issue, there's no player in my town who can block decently and I want to practice a full stroke - the short one is ok.

If you cannot do the basic one with that person, you cannot hope to do the big one. You are missing at least as often as your partner. If he can counter hit with you and you can do many counter hits in a row, then you can do baby loops and keep the consistency. If you can do 50 baby loops in a row, then you can start doing a little bigger, and a little bigger and a little bigger.

But even for a loop your stroke is way too big and way too much arm for how close you are to the table. And you are missing 40% of your shots dropping them into the net or hitting them long. If you are missing that many, it is not your hitting partner's fault. You are spending more time chasing balls that have been hit into the net or off the table than you are hitting.

 

[harveyaquino]

Tips:

Equipment: You're using tensor rubbers with an OFF blade and you're hoping to improve your game with it? It maybe is reasonable to use that combination if you have solid basic strokes, but the way I see it, you need to develop your basic strokes first... So, my advice is to get a slower equipment. An ALL-WOOD BLADE in OFF- or even ALL range is good. And NON-TENSOR RUBBERS like maybe Yasaka Mark V or even Butterfly Sriver. The reason why a slower setup is needed is that you will get what you call "feeling" better than with that fast blade and rubbers, because the ball will stick to the paddle for a longer and sufficient time. This makes it easier for your muscles to feel the ball and you can develop a better muscle memory for each type of strokes.

Stroke: You need to learn the basics before smashing/ topspinning the ball. A basic counter-hit stroke is what you need in order to have your own pace or what I call "rhythm"..You can search the Internet for videos on how to do a basic counter-hit. Once you mastered your counter-hit strokes, you can now do some simple topspins.

Hope that helps

 

[--Furry--]

Hey there u need to find a person who is better than u if u want to improve ... I know its hard coz im from struga and its hard for me to improve my game !! good luck

 

[kjanko]

Alright, I'll slow down a little today and maybe post a new video

 

[NeneHerrera]

nice dude..still practing

 

[Sali]

everything was written. I just can recommend to buy a training robot if you do not have good enough partner. And start with simple shots.

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

Tips:

Equipment: You're using tensor rubbers with an OFF blade and you're hoping to improve your game with it? It maybe is reasonable to use that combination if you have solid basic strokes, but the way I see it, you need to develop your basic strokes first... So, my advice is to get a slower equipment. An ALL-WOOD BLADE in OFF- or even ALL range is good. And NON-TENSOR RUBBERS like maybe Yasaka Mark V or even Butterfly Sriver. The reason why a slower setup is needed is that you will get what you call "feeling" better than with that fast blade and rubbers, because the ball will stick to the paddle for a longer and sufficient time. This makes it easier for your muscles to feel the ball and you can develop a better muscle memory for each type of strokes.

Stroke: You need to learn the basics before smashing/ topspinning the ball. A basic counter-hit stroke is what you need in order to have your own pace or what I call "rhythm"..You can search the Internet for videos on how to do a basic counter-hit. Once you mastered your counter-hit strokes, you can now do some simple topspins.

Hope that helps

This is a great comment. Top quality information. Often players at a lower level get equipment that higher level players use thinking it will help their game and that is what they need. Then the ball does not stay on the rubber and wood for long enough and you don't get the muscle memory to get the subtle aspects of how to hold the ball on the rubber and control the ball and how to accelerate the bat swing after the rubber grabs the ball not before. The technique in table tennis is so precise. Also, how to keep the bat angle stable through the stroke so that you can really hold the ball on the rubber longer and spin the ball more. But, the place to start, is with All+ or Off- wood and simple rubber.

Blades for developing technique:

Butterfly Primorac Off-
Stiga Tube Allround
Stiga Allround Evolution

Rubbers for developing technique:

Butterfly Sriver FX
Butterfly Sriver
Yasaka Marv V

 

[kjanko]

Took a slower approach today, much higher consistency and switched my FH rubber to 05. Here's a shorter video, my phone ran out of battery while recording :/

Am I doing the stroke right, from technique PoV?

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

Okay, your swing is still way too big. Your arm is moving from the shoulder joint way to much. Your elbow is moving forward and back way to much. Your elbow needs to be much more stable and it needs to maintain position in line with your torso.

On your back swing, your elbow moves back and away from your side. As you swing forward, your elbow goes over your shoulder.

Here:

Watch how, when he is hitting the counter hit, his elbow is always below his shoulder and it may move back 2-3 inches and forward 2-3 inches but not the 2-3 feet that your elbow is moving. Watch how his loop, the elbow rises a little but is still way lower than his shoulder. You can pause the video on the backswing and on the end of the follow through and see where his elbow is. And then do the same with your elbow. See where you start and where you end up. You will never get good accuracy with that much movement from the shoulder joint if you are trying to do a counter hit. That is why you are still only getting 4 balls at most in a rally.

Here is another video. Watch his elbow when they get to counter hitting:

Alois's elbow is nice and stable

Here is Timo:

Timo's elbow is super stable. His whole stroke comes from the forearm snap; movement is at the elbow joint.

You need to watch how stable their elbows are and see how much your elbow moves back on the backswing and forward and up on the follow through.

And you need to learn how to do a counter hit because what you are doing is not a counter hit.

 

[kjanko]

I tried to keep my elbow stable today and while playing I thought I was doing fine. However when I saw the video after finishing my session, it seems like I still unconsciously move it, although not as much as previously. Is there anything I can do about this?

 

[HLDang]

just practice forcing yourself to do the correct form until it becomes a habit really. Practice practice practice. keep it up.

 

[Denni]

Some suggestions:
1. Keep the ball on the table for at least 10 strokes every time. Consistency is the key to a good table tennis.
2. You need to bend down a bit and to use foot work adjusting your position slightly so you can maintain a continuous stroke. This might help you to have a good form.
3. adjust your power to your distance from the table. It seems that with that power you need a bit further from the table. To lessen the power try to hit the ball with smaller stroke. The line ( distant between beginning point to end point after impact) should be shorter. Keep the follow through while doing this.
4. ask your friend to block rather than counter. You can use counter after you have a more consistent basic stroke.

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

I tried to keep my elbow stable today and while playing I thought I was doing fine. However when I saw the video after finishing my session, it seems like I still unconsciously move it, although not as much as previously. Is there anything I can do about this?

If you notice that your stroke was still bigger than you thought even though you were trying to make your stroke shorter, and you are able to see it on your video, that is a good first step. Consistently practicing to make your stroke smaller is the first step towards trying to learn to keep your elbow stable and your stroke more efficient.

The other comments are good. But I think, getting your stroke smaller and more technically sound, is the first step. You were making the rallies a tiny bit longer, on average in the second video, but over time you should shoot for being able to hit a few hundred in a row on the table. And again, I think you should work on that first, learning the counterhit because it is the foundation for the other strokes.

 

[Der_Echte]

I tried to keep my elbow stable today and while playing I thought I was doing fine. However when I saw the video after finishing my session, it seems like I still unconsciously move it, although not as much as previously. Is there anything I can do about this?

The Koreans all have huge mirrors in their clubs where new players stand and do stroke practice over and over and over holding the bat and watching themselves in the mirror. Doing this will give you immediate feedback.

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

The Koreans all have huge mirrors in their clubs where new players stand and do stroke practice over and over and over holding the bat and watching themselves in the mirror. Doing this will give you immediate feedback.

Funny, I was just about to write this. Shadow strokes in front of a mirror can really help you improve. It is amazing how you might not think it would but, it really helps.

When I first started doing shadow strokes in a mirror, I got board and wanted to balance things out a little so I started doing them lefty as well. About a week after I started doing forehand and backhand shadow strokes lefty in a mirror, I played someone who was a lot worse than me and he wanted to play matches. After the first match I started playing lefty and I was amazed that I was decent. I had always sucked at lefty before. I completely could not do it. Anyway, they guy I was playing had a 1200 USATT rating. I beat him left handed entirely because I had been practicing shadow strokes left handed.

I still practice shadow strokes one or two times a week for about 40 minutes to an hour. It definitely helps.