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I have an international umpire friend with very short limited training in Chinese, but he can pronounce and use what tiny he learned just fine and get great compliments, but let's keep it real... there is about ZERO chance you would achieve a level of proficiency in the first 6 months trying that would even approach successfully and correctly asking a lady for a date and not getting assassinated for some huge mis-step and/or mis-use of word, that would likely result in a grave physical beating... unless you are a 2nd and 3rd degree black belt... that MIGHT give you a fighting chance.

The same could happen to an english man in a german shop, asking for a cushion - "ein kuss, bitte".

 
says 2023 Certified Organ Donor
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I once made a huge mistake, a small mispronounciation.. In the 1980s, I once sid to a lady her clothers looked good, but with just one TINY mis-pronounciation, LOOK turned into the organ they have between their legs...

...so that got received like " Hey babe, you got a fine-azz (organ)"

...You kow that will not cut it and elicit an immediate and violent response just a hair short of maiming and prompmt / total dismemeberment.
 
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@Lula
thanks. I've posted a lot of videos in the past. There were many things in my FH I wasn't happy with.

I think i have a better (= lower) stance, with legs a bit more apart. my swing is more horizontal and less vertical, and the racket angle more closed than in the past.
regarding the use of the body, and power, i don't feel like i'm lacking power but more that i could add more spin if i used the wrist more. its a bit frustrating.

During the video, the coach tells me that i should try to keep my upper body low, and his way of teaching is that the left arm should be like a crosshair and i should try to keep it high and avoid that left shoulder to go down, because it would mean i kind of twist my body and i would lose balance and power. OTOH, i should try keep that crosshair fixed and the right arm should converge to the left arm at the end of the stroke. so the 2 shoulders shouldn't move together. That might be a reason why you say im not moving my body enough.

in the past, i had also a bad reflex with the racket suddenly changing angle at impact and im doing strange things with my elbow as well i.e. my arm wasn't stable. I still do it from time to time but much less I believe.

One thing which might make me tense is that in the waiting position, im making an extra effort to keep the racket higher; and also i'm waiting more for the ball. I try not to swing before the ball has crossed the net.

I agree with you my BH is much better quality than my FH. I still make a lot of mistakes but ball quality is better, i can feel i grip the ball and give it a lot of spin. I'm using better the power of my legs, and i'm quite quick with my BH swing and wrist.

Watching the video, I can see my upper body is going up much more than i'd like to. I think its because I'm lacking core muscles and use that extra movement to gain more power.

Hey Takkyu,

Your strokes look pretty good to me. I think you're using your body well. You are going for a pretty short backswing most of the time. Nothing wrong with that, especially for the balls you're training against here. Would be interesting to see the swing against slower balls and from further back though as then you'd have to lengthen it. You might get more whip if you took the ball slightly further away from the body (on the FH) and that I think might solve the "not using wrist" problem. Pretty hard to let the wrist whip through when the ball is hit closer to the body. Though I still think it looks like your wrist is whipping through well on your FH from watching the start of the first vid.

I'm not sure if you are trying to add arm muscles (consciously tensing the arm) to get more power, even though you are using your body well. This is something I've been especially focused on unlearning for quite some time. It feels much better and easier on the arm when you allow it to let go and kind of accidentally let it collide with the ball from the initial push of the legs. Let the push from the legs drive the whole arm and body movement and try to not do anything with your arm (if you feel like you are). Changing angles during the swing is to me a sign of getting the arm involved. If the swing is done without involving the arm all the angles and everything have already been set from the initial body motion, so it's nothing you can really change without messing up the swing. But it seems ok here, like you say.. so I wouldn't worry about that.

I think you could also put a bit more weight on your right leg when you're going for the FH backswing, that would also lower your center of gravity a bit and allow you to push off harder, which will lead to more power and spin depending on how you use your body. If you fold your torso (bend from the hip joint) a bit more you'll get more spin. It's not something you have to do, I think it's good as it is, but something worth experimenting with - especially for FH vs backspin where you pretty much have to do this. But I think you're doing well, I just recommend experimenting with it as long as it feels comfortable.
Hey Takkyu,

Your strokes look pretty good to me. I think you're using your body well. You are going for a pretty short backswing most of the time. Nothing wrong with that, especially for the balls you're training against here. Would be interesting to see the swing against slower balls and from further back though as then you'd have to lengthen it. You might get more whip if you took the ball slightly further away from the body (on the FH) and that I think might solve the "not using wrist" problem. Pretty hard to let the wrist whip through when the ball is hit closer to the body. Though I still think it looks like your wrist is whipping through well on your FH from watching the start of the first vid.

I'm not sure if you are trying to add arm muscles (consciously tensing the arm) to get more power, even though you are using your body well. This is something I've been especially focused on unlearning for quite some time. It feels much better and easier on the arm when you allow it to let go and kind of accidentally let it collide with the ball from the initial push of the legs. Let the push from the legs drive the whole arm and body movement and try to not do anything with your arm (if you feel like you are). Changing angles during the swing is to me a sign of getting the arm involved. If the swing is done without involving the arm all the angles and everything have already been set from the initial body motion, so it's nothing you can really change without messing up the swing. But it seems ok here, like you say.. so I wouldn't worry about that.

I think you could also put a bit more weight on your right leg when you're going for the FH backswing, that would also lower your center of gravity a bit and allow you to push off harder, which will lead to more power and spin depending on how you use your body. If you fold your torso (bend from the hip joint) a bit more you'll get more spin. It's not something you have to do, I think it's good as it is, but something worth experimenting with - especially for FH vs backspin where you pretty much have to do this. But I think you're doing well, I just recommend experimenting with it as long as it feels comfortable.
 
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hi Richie

thanks vm for your long comment.
i'll try to think about the things you said when I'm next at the table, notably the right leg for more power (v backspin) and relaxing the arm.

I don't remember being particularly tense but i'll double check that. perhaps I've got the FEELING its a bit more tense/difficult than before because i think im making an extra effort to keep the racket higher, but i don't think i'm so tense during the swing.
 
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The knee has been bit more stable lately, but due to busy roster, I didn't get much time to play TT.
I tried to play with some friends ytd, but they were busy, so I ended up playing a bit at home.

Was practicing the banana flip, then i thought, why not create an exercise to make some follow up shots after too.
So I recorded the session, first time trying it on the robot.
Possibly can adjust the timing between the balls to make it more realistic and also try to keep the serve bit lower and shorter, but didn't have time ytd.

Feedback welcome.
Maybe next time I'll try to make one for side back spin serve.
 
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The knee has been bit more stable lately, but due to busy roster, I didn't get much time to play TT.
I tried to play with some friends ytd, but they were busy, so I ended up playing a bit at home.

Was practicing the banana flip, then i thought, why not create an exercise to make some follow up shots after too.
So I recorded the session, first time trying it on the robot.
Possibly can adjust the timing between the balls to make it more realistic and also try to keep the serve bit lower and shorter, but didn't have time ytd.

Feedback welcome.
Maybe next time I'll try to make one for side back spin serve.

nice keep on like that, and try it in matchplay !

 
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The knee has been bit more stable lately, but due to busy roster, I didn't get much time to play TT.
I tried to play with some friends ytd, but they were busy, so I ended up playing a bit at home.

Was practicing the banana flip, then i thought, why not create an exercise to make some follow up shots after too.
So I recorded the session, first time trying it on the robot.
Possibly can adjust the timing between the balls to make it more realistic and also try to keep the serve bit lower and shorter, but didn't have time ytd.

Feedback welcome.
Maybe next time I'll try to make one for side back spin serve.


when you practice the backhand banana flick, how many rpm backspin have you got the robot set ?

 
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when you practice the backhand banana flick, how many rpm backspin have you got the robot set ?

This video is not backspin, but topspin.
Usually when I practice, i set it to second highest setting for backspin. But it usually ends up too short near the net, so it takes lots of time to fiddle to get the right placement.

 
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Some points from a recent practice match with Nicky, we had a really fun and tight match as usual 😀. Also gave me some ideas on what I want to work on

That is good stuff. I enjoyed watching. Thanks.

 
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Love to read your stories! :)

Gratz @ Shuki for beating those players you struggeled with. The hint i got from my partner was to use more under arm snap. At first i only used the the wrist just like you did in the video, but just the under arm i so much better and easier. Even a flick down the line with reasonable pace is possible.

Kudos to you Gene. I know how tiring it is to play against the robot that thing is just not human! How is the weather over there? In switzerland its all rain at the moment, but strangely its still hot so almost jungle feeling here.


So today i played about one hour outdoors on the Münster Plattform, that's the plaza before the Münster (a big kathedral) in bern. View attachment 10071

View attachment 10072

The first hour around 4 pm i played against a lady from our outdoor league. She is a total beginner and i taught her the basics. She even managed to do a pretty good backspin serve that rolled back on the plate.

After that my trainings partner showed up and we did some basic drills until the wind started to blow. We took a break and met again in the club at 7 pm.
There we played up to 9:30 pm. I had problems to concentrate myself on the game and had trouble reading spin. However i was happy that i still did all the drills.
I think to train when you dont feel like it at all is even more important than training in perfect condition. Doing things constantly is the key to success.

After that i went home and had some beers with my roomate and other friends :) gn8


nice pics.
do they still have the lift going down to the matte ?

 
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nice pics.
do they still have the lift going down to the matte ?

Lodro, what page was this quote from. I see Boogar has not posted since January 2021 and I believe Shuki has not posted since 2017. So, likely the post you are quoting is 4-5 years old.

 
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that's ok Carl. It was a quick trip down nostalgia-way - i am already healed 😁

Yep. And I know it is okay to wake things up. When I see someone does, there are times I just want to make sure they know how old what they are posting might be. But memory lane, nice photos and places you've been.....I get that. :)

 
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Some points from a recent practice match with Nicky, we had a really fun and tight match as usual 😀. Also gave me some ideas on what I want to work on



If you moved better you would be able to play more attack all the time. Now you get the opening loop or attack one ball but the next ball you just play soft since you do not move the feet. How do you guys practice exercises? i think it is important at your level that the player that blocks go over and attack if you loop to easy, otherwise you will think that it works in a real match. And try to always go for the loop and not play soft, if you always go for the loop your feet will become faster. Keep up the good work!

 
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