Two days ago my coach told me that since i started playing in his club(about one and a half years ago) i have been making a certain mistake when executing the forehand topspin.When i first started palying table tennis i didn't have a coach.So the mistake is i either close the racket angle or open it automatically a short moment before ball contact,which means the angle is not stable,every time a little different so it is a matter of luck if i get it on the table or not.No stability.I wonder why he didn't tell me this mistake one and a half years ago.Now maybe it is to late to change this bad habit.Any advice?I am thinkng of quiting table tennis.What is a player without forehand topspin?I don't want to become a defender.
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Nobody's technique is perfect and all it'll take to correct it is intelligent practice. A good start would be to start every shot with a vertical paddle face and close on impact. This helps with your control and spin. Also, make sure you're not shifting your grip around too much within the shot. Shifting between FH and BH is OK, but shifting within the stroke is inviting inconsistency. You'll learn the feel for it with consistent practice and it's only up from there. Try not to get too discouraged friendo, I've come to realize in the last few months that my FH technique is actually horrible. No consistency and pretty low power. But it's a journey to get better and that's half the fun.
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Shadow your forehand swing in front of the mirror for ten minutes every night before you go to sleep. Visualize the spin on the ball and make a confident swing. Do it for a month and let me know if you see any improvement. When you plan just play from instinct don't try to change anything consciously even if you miss or lose. Just forget about the results for a month.
You shadow practice will translate automatically to a stroke.
You shadow practice will translate automatically to a stroke.
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Post video if you want proper feedback. Otherwise, just practice the correct stroke until it works. It is not too late a change a bad habit. You just have to stop focusing on putting the ball on the table and just do the stroke until the stroke puts the ball on the table.
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Spin and more spin.
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Most of your comment is excellent thekleifheit. But I am not so sure about that info I just quoted. I have heard a few people make that recommendation. But the people who made that recommendation, well, they weren't very good.
The info that I have been given by guys who are 2500-2700 is: keep your blade face in one plane the whole way through your stroke.
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I agree, I have also been taught to set the angle of your forehand topspin while moving your hand backwards.
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For a few months I was closing too much before I'd even start my swing so the vertical start thought process is what corrected it. I think of closing as spinning the ball and I'll be the first to admit it could be a completely incorrect approach. I don't wanna hijack this thread though, might start another about this. Thanks for weighing in!
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It's an incorrect approach. I use to think like you. The bottom line is that spin comes from hitting the ball off center. What is ideal is to read the incoming ball and set the angle early and only use the closing over as a last second modification if necessary. Making the closing process the whole basis of your stroke means you will lift your stroke into heavy topspin once in a while and anyone who does that now knows why they struggle to control heavy topspin.
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Well, I know what I'm practicing tomorrow. Is that why you guys advocate a flatter loop stroke than a mechanically inclined, TT unskilled guy would imagine?
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OP, every player changes his grip and/or strokes in time. Don't worry too much about what is the right stroke as the right stroke is the one that works. Experiment. That's what keeps the interest going.
I see advanced players with strokes that would make many coaches cringe. Example is my teammate who actually grips the bat like a hammer yet he has topped our division averages for the last 5 years. There's another player that I play whose spinny FH causes the ball to kick to his righthand side. It catches me out every match.
Don't be a robot,listen to advice, experiment and enjoy.
I see advanced players with strokes that would make many coaches cringe. Example is my teammate who actually grips the bat like a hammer yet he has topped our division averages for the last 5 years. There's another player that I play whose spinny FH causes the ball to kick to his righthand side. It catches me out every match.
Don't be a robot,listen to advice, experiment and enjoy.
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IT's easier to just see a video and say whether your loop looks good or not. As Tinykin pointed out, you can play at a decent level with technically inefficient strokes if the stroke output and consistency is decent enough. There are many approaches out there but I am familiar enough with what drives most of them to look at your loop and say whether I think it has major problems or not. The major problems don;t mean that you can't get good - the major problems just make it harder to get good or place a clear limit on how good you can get without serious athletic and game reading ability.
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So far this is the most important comment.
Tinykin's comment is great for emotional support. However, sometimes, to improve your technique, you have to do something that feels wrong but is right and miss a bunch before your nervous system adjusts and you start spinning the ball in. Lots of right ways to do things. But when you are training a technique that will improve your level, you can't be afraid to miss a bunch so that, over time you build better technique.
All this being said, it would be foolish to think we can correct someone's technique without seeing what the person is actually doing. So video would help.
The comment by ttmonster about shadow strokes with a mirror is also really helpful. When you can see what you are doing you can adjust things to improve your technique and grove better technique into muscle memory more quickly. Tricky part about it is, you may actually need to know what good strokes are to start for this to be truly effective. But even if you don't actually know things that make a good stroke, it will still end up making your stroke better. Because most people can see when a stroke is not good and then, at least, make it not somewhat better.
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I'm scared now. That info doesn't sound right either. Do you know any coaches or players over 2000? Better to have them show you a good stroke for shadow practice in the mirror.
Here is a story. This is a guy who is a coach and a friend of mine. He is about 2500. He had some back issues and he asked if he and I could do a trade, me fixing his back and he would give me a table tennis lesson. I said sure. And later he watched me play to see what he would need to work on with me. After a while he called me over and he said: "my back, it's not so good, but it's not as bad as your table tennis!" Hahaha. Then he brought me over to a mirror in a room that didn't have tables. The room was for dance.
He showed me a good stroke for FH and a good stroke for BH. Now, it took him about 5-7 min for me to get each, so, 12-15 min total, before he was satisfied that the shadow stroke I did would help me and not make things worse or different bad.
Once I was okay with each stroke he told me, "now, do shadow practice with a mirror 1,000 strokes each side every day from now till Wednesday." It was Saturday. And Wednesday was when he was going to give me the lesson. I did what he asked. And he told me in the lesson that he could tell I did my homework because things were already a lot better.
Anyway, long story short, get someone who really knows what a good stroke is and make them watch until you have it right with the mirror. And then do shadow strokes with the mirror for a while before you try to bring it to the table. A few thousand on each side will really do wonders. That doesn't take that long to do.
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Actually there is a trick to change that. The trick is called dscipline. Man up and just dont do that.
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A video would be a good reference. It's hard for the people here to give advice specifically for you apart from instructions on how to fix your strokes from the ground up. We could give additional advice if we saw what exactly you're doing.
If you're too shy, don't worry, we're only going to laugh at you for many, many long hours, and then show the video to every member of our family and all our friends.
Or, maybe not.
If you're too shy, don't worry, we're only going to laugh at you for many, many long hours, and then show the video to every member of our family and all our friends.
Or, maybe not.
thanks for the advice guys.I will ask the coach to make a video when i will contnue playng in two weeks.I am a student and there will be two weeks easter holidays so i will go to my parent's house as almost all students do.I will try to make the move correctly in front of the mirror until then and hopefully it will help.
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