How to train with bad players

[blahness]

Actually I’ve been losing a lot to « bad players ». And the reason is I had not trained seriously enough with them.

Their serves are lower quality, often going long with less spin than better players. If I don’t make the effort to make a good push or to attack the ball with good spin then of course the ball will float high and give an opportunity that even they are able to convert.

Against more spinny serves it’s easier to use the opponent spin, against shorter serves there’s many options.

But really against those easier bad players serve, just attack (mostly) everything with spin and have no mercy. On pushes be careful with bat angle often more vertical than not on no spin serves even if they look like underspin.

If you practice seriously then in match you can reproduce and have consistent results . If you don’t practice seriously against these players then there will be inevitably some accidents and disappointments

Yep exactly. Also it is good practice for e.g. to for eg loop everything with heavy spin and make sure you are always back in position, even if it doesnt come back. Do not play in an 'easy' way for eg light pushing or floating stuff back to save energy.

i challenge myself to not 'take it easy' on them - ie try not to miss a single one even in practice, and if you play matches try to control them to the least amount of points for eg below 5 or even below 3 in a 11 point game. To do that you have to be extra precise with your movements and that is something very valuable at any level. Then even practice against 'bad players' will lead to improvements. Tbh i am always willing to play against worse players but i have 0 qualms about beating them bad, have actually done quite a few 11-0s. Imo it shows respect to them too that you take a match seriously. So far no one has taken it badly - a lot of beginners dont want other people to 'take it easy' on them - if they wanted that they could have stayed home and play in their garage...

Practice against bad players also allows you to experiment parts of your game which dont get much attention. Could be short push, chiquita, etc...

 

[Yuomay]

This thread is already full of great ideas! I already used quite a few of them in my own sessions, both when I was the strong player and when I was the weaker player.

When I train with weaker opponents, in match play, I always focus on 2 things. First two touches and intentions.

So first two touches is service or receive with follow-up (not only kill-shots of course). If they get through that I defend the point.

Intention is just that the level of commitment and focus needs to be consistent. Not standing upright just because I could and still win. No stupid mistakes etc.

 

[Grumms]

Multiball. After 3 minutes they can send balls with consistency and it will train you as well as with national players.