Daily Table Tennis Chit Chat

[dingyibvs]

When I broke USATT 2000, I went back to the basics for 6 months to fix my forehand. That gave me a different respect for control and fundamentals. I already had that respect, but it made it a bit harder for me to understand the attitude of people who hit balls during practice but spray the ball to so many places once they go for power and continue to do so without reigning it in. You can tell pretty quickly that the person has no respect for ultra consistency in their game.

Our practice sessions usually run for close to 4 hours, and we spend 3+ of those hours just working on our fundamentals. With neither of us having had much training or coaching before, our focus is just on the feel of catching/releasing the ball and proper activation sequence. We strive to achieve that with 100% of the balls, and land them with as much consistency as possible.

 

[NextLevel]

Our practice sessions usually run for close to 4 hours, and we spend 3+ of those hours just working on our fundamentals. With neither of us having had much training or coaching before, our focus is just on the feel of catching/releasing the ball and proper activation sequence. We strive to achieve that with 100% of the balls, and land them with as much consistency as possible.

Just don't get so locked into each other's quality that you aren't challenging your self on 20% of the practice points. As in, while maintaining consistency, do sometimes push for max power or max spin or max placement. Also, do a few drills that are focused on doing things that affect the opponent like blocking one to the middle and one to the corner (also a good drill for the opponent to learn to defend the middle). It is easy to get so focused on consistency that you don't focus on placement and keeping the ball low.

It is always important to play competitive table tennis with thr attitude that making the opponent play worse is as important as you playing better and both should be reasonably built into your practice as you get better. Otherwise the skills you are building will be good exercise, but will sometimes make opponents play better because you have become more predictable.

 

[dingyibvs]

Just don't get so locked into each other's quality that you aren't challenging your self on 20% of the practice points. As in, while maintaining consistency, do sometimes push for max power or max spin or max placement. Also, do a few drills that are focused on doing things that affect the opponent like blocking one to the middle and one to the corner (also a good drill for the opponent to learn to defend the middle). It is easy to get so focused on consistency that you don't focus on placement and keeping the ball low.

It is always important to play competitive table tennis with thr attitude that making the opponent play worse is as important as you playing better and both should be reasonably built into your practice as you get better. Otherwise the skills you are building will be good exercise, but will sometimes make opponents play better because you have become more predictable.

Yeah, we usually practice at 80% power, which is what we intend to play game with. At the end of each set we do a few balls with 100% power. We don't want to do too much of it or it'll tire us out too much. We usually finish each set with our heart rate ~180. With our improvement in blocking, we can work on continuous looping more, and it's taking a toll on our legs more than anything. Today near the end my leg almost gave out at one point, and I was just blocking!

We usually start off with FH counter hit, then FH loop to FH corner while the other one FH blocks. Then FH loop to FH corner while the other BH blocks (this is more to practice BH blocks). Then BH counter hit, BH topspin counters, then BH loop to BH block. At the end we work on BH opening loop into BH/FH loops vs block usually, but sometimes change it up if there's a specific thing we're working on.

 

[gordonluvsu]

I finally got my second return board repaired / glued with new Black grippy and sticky rubbers.

Now I can Practice technique again.

The missing home Practice sessions really had an effect on my consistency and Overall game play.
Especially considering that I cant get many quality Practice sessions at my Club.

If anyone thinks about getting 1 or 2 return boards for home, I recommend it.

 

[NextLevel]

Yeah, we usually practice at 80% power, which is what we intend to play game with. At the end of each set we do a few balls with 100% power. We don't want to do too much of it or it'll tire us out too much. We usually finish each set with our heart rate ~180. With our improvement in blocking, we can work on continuous looping more, and it's taking a toll on our legs more than anything. Today near the end my leg almost gave out at one point, and I was just blocking!

We usually start off with FH counter hit, then FH loop to FH corner while the other one FH blocks. Then FH loop to FH corner while the other BH blocks (this is more to practice BH blocks). Then BH counter hit, BH topspin counters, then BH loop to BH block. At the end we work on BH opening loop into BH/FH loops vs block usually, but sometimes change it up if there's a specific thing we're working on.

Good. Placement over power for point winning drills. Because of recovery demands, it is better to hit with power if you are hitting away from the player or to a disturbing locarion but to hit with spin when you are playing to the player. Not 100% but it usually makes sense. Because as you get better, if the player can touch the ball, it is coming back.

 

[NextLevel]

Thought this might be helpful to explain why good players do this impractical drill

 

[dingyibvs]

Thought this might be helpful to explain why good players do this impractical drill

Interesting, so basically he's serving the ball before the ball would've hit the opponent's racket. I think I could try that with the robot to help improve my recovery.

 

[ben1229]

Interesting, so basically he's serving the ball before the ball would've hit the opponent's racket. I think I could try that with the robot to help improve my recovery.

This one really works for recovery. But very tired , I usually do this with robot 10-20 mins twice a week. And fh bh transition also works with this.

 

[gordonluvsu]

Last Match of the season is over.

Finished strong with 3-0 in doubles.
A clean 3-1 in the first Match.
And a very resilient 3-2 in the second match after being down Match point.

Ive learnt a lot during the last couple of months and Im excited for the near future.

How is it for everyone else?

 

[dingyibvs]

Last Match of the season is over.

Finished strong with 3-0 in doubles.
A clean 3-1 in the first Match.
And a very resilient 3-2 in the second match after being down Match point.

Ive learnt a lot during the last couple of months and Im excited for the near future.

How is it for everyone else?

Been working on fundamentals the past 3 months, FH is now consistent and even more powerful, BH becoming consistently functional, but what's made the biggest difference in games has been the short game as well as a new reverse pendulum and hook serve. I'm pretty pleased with the progress thus far. Next step, develop more quality with BH shots in terms of placement Nad power, and start incorporating more footwork and transition drills into my practices.

 

[Jslick89]

Been working on fundamentals the past 3 months, FH is now consistent and even more powerful, BH becoming consistently functional, but what's made the biggest difference in games has been the short game as well as a new reverse pendulum and hook serve. I'm pretty pleased with the progress thus far. Next step, develop more quality with BH shots in terms of placement Nad power, and start incorporating more footwork and transition drills into my practices.

you ever gonna make it up to the sacramento region? would love to have a hit with you.

 

[dingyibvs]

you ever gonna make it up to the sacramento region? would love to have a hit with you.

Yeah, what day of the week usually works for you? Weekdays or weekends? I have a pretty irregular shift work schedule and no kids so usually can come up with some sort of time.

 

[Tyce]

Last night club training which was good to have. A few exercises focused on stepping around to play FH from BH side which was a great opportunity to let the footwork rip!
I honestly don't know why I always underestimated light-footedness before, as it feels like an absolute key element in the game for me now.
Had a bit of trouble to keep applying body rotation and leg power to shots, but that's probably due to the high pace that these footwork exercises gave.
After training, I kept playing around a bit longer, and after I was too tired to apply any form of proper stance and technique I started lobbing balls for the other guy to smash. It's weird how my feel for the ball just seems to be off. I kept lobbing most of the balls either very close to the end of the table or out, and the ones that felt like they wouldn't make it ended up landing nicely over the net. I'm blaming the shift to 7-ply here, but maybe it's a combination of things including the balls, rubber, and the opponent too. He did smash flat balls with a hint of backspin.

 

[Jslick89]

Yeah, what day of the week usually works for you? Weekdays or weekends? I have a pretty irregular shift work schedule and no kids so usually can come up with some sort of time.

maybe we could cause some trouble with @Der_Echte too. There's two "big" clubs in our area. Tuesday nights in citrus heights. Monday nights in sacramento. Besides that, there are tables always available in folsom to play at any time. Saturday would be good for us to play the longest uninterrupted. Tuesdays would be good for you if you want to play many different opponents. Same with monday. There's also another place we could play in the sacramento area that always has tables available. i've never been but i think Der has the details.

 

[dingyibvs]

maybe we could cause some trouble with @Der_Echte too. There's two "big" clubs in our area. Tuesday nights in citrus heights. Monday nights in sacramento. Besides that, there are tables always available in folsom to play at any time. Saturday would be good for us to play the longest uninterrupted. Tuesdays would be good for you if you want to play many different opponents. Same with monday. There's also another place we could play in the sacramento area that always has tables available. i've never been but i think Der has the details.

Alright, maybe one of these Saturdays would work. What are the hours usually?

 

[dingyibvs]

So when I was practicing with my practice partner on Monday, I was showing him the video of Fang Bo doing FH drills. He remarked on how well FB was using his hips. I hadn't really paid attention to his hips before, but at that time I noticed how far out his hip sticks out to the left during the backswing. I've recorded my FH motion before and I couldn't quite figure out why it looks different from the pros, but now I realize that it's because I'm only rotating at the waist, and not much at the hip.

What I need to do is to basically do what @blahness described for the BH side, bend my left knee more to allow my hip rotate fully to the left. This allows my hip and right leg to contribute more to the shot. I've improved my FH power and consistency a good amount the past month by focusing more on the activation sequence. If I can incorporate my hip/leg more I think I would get another nice boost.

 

[Der_Echte]

Alright, maybe one of these Saturdays would work. What are the hours usually?

The other place is Mather Sports Complex... you pay $6 to get in and tell them you playing TT.

You setup in a multipurpose room up to three tables if taekwondo classes are not going on... otherwise, you put one table in one of the racquetball courts.

There is no control and people who have not contributed to the cost of all the TT equipment privately purchased are playing they a lot taking advantage... so sometime soon in the future, there may be required membership in a certain TT association to be able to play there... this would ensure everyone pays a consistent fair share of equipment acquisition and maintenance costs.

I do not know what the annual amount would be, but it will be very reasonable... and one can buy a 10 punch card for $38 at Mather to get in there for under $4 a visit. You show your TT association card and punch ticket and play TT like a beast.

 

[Der_Echte]

Found out ttd member @ttmonster is in my singles and doubles events this weekend in a west bay area tt tourney.

Gunna get interesting.

 

[kindof99]

So when I was practicing with my practice partner on Monday, I was showing him the video of Fang Bo doing FH drills. He remarked on how well FB was using his hips. I hadn't really paid attention to his hips before, but at that time I noticed how far out his hip sticks out to the left during the backswing. I've recorded my FH motion before and I couldn't quite figure out why it looks different from the pros, but now I realize that it's because I'm only rotating at the waist, and not much at the hip.

What I need to do is to basically do what @blahness described for the BH side, bend my left knee more to allow my hip rotate fully to the left. This allows my hip and right leg to contribute more to the shot. I've improved my FH power and consistency a good amount the past month by focusing more on the activation sequence. If I can incorporate my hip/leg more I think I would get another nice boost.

Good technique to learn, but be careful of possible injuries. For me, I believe amateurs can play decently enough without playing exactly like the pros. They have a lot of training, even physical training to support all their strikes. For amateurs, as long as one applies body power properly, the shot will be of high quality already.

 

[dingyibvs]

Good technique to learn, but be careful of possible injuries. For me, I believe amateurs can play decently enough without playing exactly like the pros. They have a lot of training, even physical training to support all their strikes. For amateurs, as long as one applies body power properly, the shot will be of high quality already.

I think for TT techniques good form usually helps prevent injury. I've certainly gotten some injuries from bad form before.