Search results

You didn't really prove otherwise. It's not that it can't be done, the problem is that you can't push ALL the time without putting pressure on your defense and if people know that all you do is push and block, they will just move you with the serve, open and kill the block.

Yes. It's never that simple though. Sometimes your reluctance to take the shot is based on a subconscious read of the situation. It's more important to have footage for you to figure out why you passed up the shot. I agree if you were in position and read the ball perfectly that you should...

Spoken like a true chopper. I know what you mean though.

What he meant was that your focus should be on doing the right strokes not on winning. I know what he means but it is always complicated of course.

Serving short is a discipline/habit - it is not something you do upon demand. If you don't know how to do it, you don't know how to do it. It's best to have a good mixed strategy of quality short and long serves so you can then adapt to opponents, but if don't waste your time trying to serve...

Yeah, that happens to even the world class players. It's really more the pushing of long balls that is the issue, not being deceived as to where the ball is going.

It's racket head speed and brush and estimating the spin. Racket head speed is what gives you confidence to loop, don't believe anything else. If you can overpower the ball, then you know that you just have to estimate the spin in the right range. Even if you play it safe, you should be able...

Usually a tight serve is rare at the levels below 2400. It is usually short and high or low and long - short and low and spinny is not common. The first rule is that at the lower levels, all serves to the forehand are long or half long. If they are short, they are high enough to be looped...

One of the skills I had to build was to know how to tell a serve was or wasn't long. I am 95% sure that the higher level player gave you some half long serves, it's just harder to read and loop those if you are not used to it or if you think you don't have the loop timing. Looping footwork...

It's the crue the Goon Squad is after for trafficking in pro version Karis M national rubbers.

I currently coach three adults. One of them used to play as a junior in Russia though not to a high level. He worked with the other coaches in the club and settled on the club's former Asian pro. When the former pro travelled home on vacation, he worked with me in the interim. For some...

Funny how time flies.... "shame video".

To be fair to Gene, it is easier when you are young. Old age makes you more conservative generally, but we have to remember that in Table tennis, losing the point is far less consequential than losing in other things in life. The other problem is that when better players make you take those...

Gene, I think you should be careful about over-rating the quality of your play vs higher level players. Sometimes, there are things at play that make it easier to read and control higher level balls and the relative improvement in the results vs playing people at your level can be misleading...

The ITTF rankings past 200 may not be as accurate when ranking the relative order of players but they are pretty accurate for showing the overall level of a player. It is too rare to have genuine top 200 level players remain outside the top 200 for their entire careers as international players...

Yes. It's fun to see some of the old timers play (people trained in 60s and 70s) and see how effective their outdated technique can be against current players even with the age disparity.

I think that "not that far apart in level" was a mis-characterization of the match - a player who has been in the top 100 and is still in the top 200 is not the same as a player ranked in the top 500 - Makanjuola is already 30. You write pretty cryptically, no offense, and it's nice to see your...

This is generally true but some better opponents are better because of serves. As someone who transformed from a rally player to a serve and attack player, I think that better serves made my level far more stable. I used to have lots of weird losses but after I got better serves, I stopped...

Yes. I love to embarrass (long) pips players on their serve return. Some of my favorite matches are driven by the whole concept. One day I will make a compilation video of me servicing backspin and no spin to pips players rated over us attached 2000. It will be glorious and epic. The one for...

I watched that match earlier. It was good to see you play people that actually allowed you to use your strokes the way you like to. I know people like to say you learn best from your losses but I personally learn a lot from my wins as I like to see my strokes in action. Your forehand really...