Daily Table Tennis Chit Chat

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Compare the two videos above. The first loop looks harder and faster, but will get you into trouble once you need to hit the ball harder and once the incoming ball is spinny.

The second loop is slightly riskier because it is coming round the side of the ball to shape it. But for slightly increased risk in missing the ball (not a lot if you know how to approach the ball), you can swing much harder and handle heavy incoming spin much better.

Wow the loop in the second video looks so much spinier! Nice food for thought thanks guys ! :) I actually watched all those videos, but somehow did not really think about it... kind happens because we are so active in that chat xD (Which is a good thing!)
 
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It was 40 degrees celcius today, but it is also the only day of the week that I get to play, so I played table tennis!
I felt alot more comfortable with my new rubbers, with today being the 2nd day of playing with them. I was reasonably happy with the spin that I departed on the ball, and my touch seems to be ok. It is funny how when I don't get to play much then I really value each time that I get to play and I seem to enjoy it more than usual as well.

The sad thing was that Xu Xin lost today, and everytime when he loses, it reminds me to train my backhand.

The only bad thing was that I played at a friend's garage, with the shutters opened, so in a sense, that is outdoor. I didn't exactly played under direct sunlight but the sun is strong. I wonder if my rubbers would be damaged, as I presume uv light can reflect off the surrounding and land on my rubbers? :/
 
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yesterday, unusually for a Saturday evening, I went to my local club because a buddy was coming anyway, even if we could play only 1 hour.

still I'm happy of the experience. 1 hour is short but if done seriously and focused, one can take a lot of good. I actually now think its better to go everyday 1 hour than 2 times 4 hours for example. My buddy is a little bit at a lower level, which makes it easier to try new things. For me, it was improving my FH block where i have the bad habit of having the tip of the racket upwards, which makes control quite difficult on spinny balls. I've been told so many times and perhaps at times corrected it, but perhaps i didn't feel as much as today how much better is the control doing the right thing and how much easier it is to block this way. It looks also more natural to play in the right hit-zone, in front of me, instead of too close

I was even more happy when doing a match later in the session against some young players to return a few good blocks from missile FH attack

The main point I want to make is that there are some important adjustments that we can make easily, because we already have a good enough technical level, or even learnt that technique before (I certainly did for this FH block), BUT we don't use those techniques because of bad habits ingrained, and also we don't make enough notes ! I'm pretty sure i did practice this block 1 or 2 weeks everytime my coach told me about it, and then i came back to my old habits. Rinse, cycle and repeat, it happened more than once probably.

Its important to write things down somewhere. and to practice and actually use the new technique, even if the old one "seems to work", and we would think "why bother ?" but it may look its working when facing lower level opponents, but thats hindering progress.
 
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yesterday, unusually for a Saturday evening, I went to my local club because a buddy was coming anyway, even if we could play only 1 hour.

still I'm happy of the experience. 1 hour is short but if done seriously and focused, one can take a lot of good. I actually now think its better to go everyday 1 hour than 2 times 4 hours for example. My buddy is a little bit at a lower level, which makes it easier to try new things. For me, it was improving my FH block where i have the bad habit of having the tip of the racket upwards, which makes control quite difficult on spinny balls. I've been told so many times and perhaps at times corrected it, but perhaps i didn't feel as much as today how much better is the control doing the right thing and how much easier it is to block this way. It looks also more natural to play in the right hit-zone, in front of me, instead of too close

I was even more happy when doing a match later in the session against some young players to return a few good blocks from missile FH attack

The main point I want to make is that there are some important adjustments that we can make easily, because we already have a good enough technical level, or even learnt that technique before (I certainly did for this FH block), BUT we don't use those techniques because of bad habits ingrained, and also we don't make enough notes ! I'm pretty sure i did practice this block 1 or 2 weeks everytime my coach told me about it, and then i came back to my old habits. Rinse, cycle and repeat, it happened more than once probably.

Its important to write things down somewhere. and to practice and actually use the new technique, even if the old one "seems to work", and we would think "why bother ?" but it may look its working when facing lower level opponents, but thats hindering progress.

I wish there was a triple like button for this post. I try to stress to my students to do the technique the same all the time, but they like doing sideswipes and weird stuff that doesn't get the job done under pressure.
 
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its not easy to re-train the brain when we've been playing such a long time with so many bad habits.

But we should simply not give up. I had the same problem in my BH block. too often the racket was upwards, it worked ok against lower players or against speedy attacks, but if the ball was loaded with spin, more often than not, it would be popping up. Perhaps because i practise more BH block, and that naturally BH is being more targetted in games, i managed to correct it. But for FH i still need some efforts.

TLDR its one thing to be able to execute one technique, its another thing to do it naturally at the right moment.

btw i saw you coaching, (the first few minutes) i was surprised how easy it was for your student to attack with his BH , and his good quality shots in FH attacks too. Probably he inherited his BH from your good BH. It felt awkward a little bit though because i felt his footwork seemed to me a bit slow and like 1 level or 2 even levels below how he was hitting the ball with his BH...
 
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You are right Takkyu. I make notes after every two coaching sessions. Reading it just before the next session really helps me focus on what areas to target and makes for meaningful practice. Because my weekday sessions are always one hour only with a lower level opponent. So I want to extract the most out of it. I make notes on my opponents too and read it before tournaments. I update it when I watch them play others too. Now, obviously I don't have the discipline to do it all the time but I do try. It's one of the easiest things you can do off the table to improve your game.

This week coach taught us to play the bh open on short serves. He said to use sidespin if the serve is cut/backspin and to come over the top on sidespin/side-top serves. It really works and I am so excited that he felt we were good enough to learn this stroke. Today we played matches and I won only 1 out of 5 matches. Was leading 2-0 and lost 3-2 in one match. Mainly because of lack of service variation and hesitation to take the initiative to close out games/matches. Lost 3-0 in only one match. That's the good thing. I am doing better every week since the last 3 weeks. It's a wonderful feeling! :)
 
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I suffer also from the same problems than you, really. Many matches i could not close because I felt nervous with my service having not enough spin or variation, or starting to worry about my receive. After, when watching videos, I think this is mainly a mental problem. If we're up 10-7, certainly we did a few good things to get there, including some good serves and receives.

In the recent weeks, of course i'm trying to serve and/or receive better, but now, I mainly focus on getting ready and play the next ball. Doing so, i feel lighter on my feet, and having more reaction time, so I can also stay more calm. If you watch matches from pros, even for them, from time to time, they make some weak serve that gets immediately attacked agressively, but the good players are quick to react and get ready to counter or block that strong receive when it happens.

If you have more reaction time, you can make the right decision. Its not true that you need to attack strong, or even attack every ball, at least at our level, to win. I train a lot with juniors, a few months ago, i felt very often very late when playing with them, and thought that its only legs and physical condition and that i could never compete with them. Well its true i'm not young and cannot be as fit as they are. But a lot of it has to do with replacement and replacement is also a lot about bad habits and the brain more than the legs. So surely my legs are not quicker than 6 months or 1 year ago, but still my body is responding that fraction of second faster WHEN i can be in the right MENTAL state.

As for variation, I was told that i didn't have enough variation as well. I don't have many serves but its also a question of discipline. Have some plan about some ideal percentage for each type of serves, (you can tweak that depending on the opponent), and try to stick to that percentage. You should be aware and not being told by your partner or coach in between sets that you've been serving everything to the BH side for example !

Also executing the same serve, but from a slightly different position (50cm more right or left) or a slightly different toss (higher or lower) is often enough to derail the opponent.
 
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btw i saw you coaching, (the first few minutes) i was surprised how easy it was for your student to attack with his BH , and his good quality shots in FH attacks too. Probably he inherited his BH from your good BH. It felt awkward a little bit though because i felt his footwork seemed to me a bit slow and like 1 level or 2 even levels below how he was hitting the ball with his BH...

He had a very strong BH motion before I started working with him. It just used to fall apart in matches and I told him how to fix it and he initially complained that it wasn't spinny enough. Thankfully, he came round. People don't realize that modern equipment is spinny enough for you to get spin without brushing. So your first focus must always be stroke trajectory and ball contact. Brushing for spin if necessary should be the last extra with touch and acceleration. Too many people close their rackets extremely without understanding what happens at contact. This leads to all kinds of unnecessary risk and missing the ball.

Foot work is definitely an issue and In general he likes to try to win the rally with one shot and has recovery issues. IT's coming together better and better but he is a serious entrepreneur with a life etc. He is very intense so getting him to relax when taking his best shots is the hard part.
 
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<iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fstigatabletennis%2Fvideos%2F1265817050154847%2F&show_text=0&width=400" width="400" height="400" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe>

lol.. guess where this is? at the same tournament I won the E series!
 
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The problem for me is not that I refuse to take notes, but rather that I take so many notes that I'm stiff as a board when I swing at the ball.

But I agree with the general concept. Try to do the right stroke no matter what and don't accept anything less.
 
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... kind happens because we are so active in that chat xD (Which is a good thing!)
Had to think about this for a minute. Maybe yes maybe no. What happens a lot is that some good things get burried and other things get repeated quite often, which
a) makes it hard to always follow this thread and
b) makes me sometimes feel like we're moving in circles and actually a bit backwards sometimes.
But that might just be me.
[Emoji2]
Nevertheless i really like this thread. So many good and interesting vids and posts.
 
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Ran into TT Daily member T95MWP dude can really loop in a long rally.

ec05ef894b4501d130752a5dd0d3b42f.jpg


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I Played in a Tournament in El Paso over the weekend. Played under 3700 Doubles and our team got second. I had never played doubles in a tournament before and as I was the low rated person on the team at 1389 with Dan Seemiller JR.(2306) as my partner I had to concentrate on just getting the ball on the table and trying to keep my serve short and low. Most of the other teams we faced were set up in a similar manner with a high rated player and one rated significantly lower. I failed to keep the ball low enough and short enough too many times and I really need to work on it. I have to bend my knees more and start the serve from a lower position. The opposite teams strong players were all over 2300 so they really picked my serves apart.I had thought my serves were low enough and spinny enough, but for those guys they were a joke (as my posted video will show) and only posed a problem when I mixed in some dead balls short and low. In singles we had a two stage round robin. The top two players from the first brackets moved to the "A" bracket for the second round while the others went to the "b" bracket. There was supposed to be a "c" bracket but 6 players failed to show for the tournament.In the first round I beat two players about my level (1310,1400) then defeated a 1635 short pips/inverted blocker. The next match was against my doubles partner and I lost but with only one loss I moved to the "A" group for the second round. The "A" bracket in the second round had players rated 2420,2359,2306,1747,1578 and myself at 1389. I had fun playing the higher rated players while trying to learn but of course I got spanked hard. I won a single game from the 1747 player who had anti on one side and short pips on the other and won my match with the 1578 player who had short pips on one side and long pips on the other as after the anti/short pips guy I was already keyed in on watching for which side they were hitting with and paying attention to what spin I could expect.
There is video.. It is embarrassing but as I have never managed to have video of me playing posted here I will post it. Video is definitely a good tool though as it shows how high and long my serves are and my ponderous movement :) I am the large guy in the blue shirt.Enjoy!
 
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I suffer also from the same problems than you, really. Many matches i could not close because I felt nervous with my service having not enough spin or variation, or starting to worry about my receive. After, when watching videos, I think this is mainly a mental problem. If we're up 10-7, certainly we did a few good things to get there, including some good serves and receives.

In the recent weeks, of course i'm trying to serve and/or receive better, but now, I mainly focus on getting ready and play the next ball. Doing so, i feel lighter on my feet, and having more reaction time, so I can also stay more calm. If you watch matches from pros, even for them, from time to time, they make some weak serve that gets immediately attacked agressively, but the good players are quick to react and get ready to counter or block that strong receive when it happens.

If you have more reaction time, you can make the right decision. Its not true that you need to attack strong, or even attack every ball, at least at our level, to win. I train a lot with juniors, a few months ago, i felt very often very late when playing with them, and thought that its only legs and physical condition and that i could never compete with them. Well its true i'm not young and cannot be as fit as they are. But a lot of it has to do with replacement and replacement is also a lot about bad habits and the brain more than the legs. So surely my legs are not quicker than 6 months or 1 year ago, but still my body is responding that fraction of second faster WHEN i can be in the right MENTAL state.

As for variation, I was told that i didn't have enough variation as well. I don't have many serves but its also a question of discipline. Have some plan about some ideal percentage for each type of serves, (you can tweak that depending on the opponent), and try to stick to that percentage. You should be aware and not being told by your partner or coach in between sets that you've been serving everything to the BH side for example !

Also executing the same serve, but from a slightly different position (50cm more right or left) or a slightly different toss (higher or lower) is often enough to derail the opponent.

True. I find myself serving short to the middle around 70%. It is like auto-pilot because I do the same in practice. Serve short to the middle and opponent pushes long and open rally ensues. But there are easier ways to setup points in a match. Like you said, changing the serve angle is a good variation for starters who don't have a wide-range of serves or fake motion to deceive. I have added that to my check-list of things to try next weekend.
 
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... I really need to work on it. I have to bend my knees more and start the serve from a lower position. The opposite teams strong players were all over 2300 so they really picked my serves apart.I had thought my serves were low enough and spinny enough, but for those guys they were a joke (as my posted video will show) and only posed a problem when I mixed in some dead balls short and low. In singles we had a two stage round robin. ..I had fun playing the higher rated players while trying to learn but of course I got spanked hard. I won a single game from the 1747 player who had anti on one side and short pips on the other and won my match with the 1578 player who had short pips on one side and long pips on the other as after the anti/short pips guy I was already keyed in on watching for which side they were hitting with and paying attention to what spin I could expect.
There is video.. It is embarrassing but as I have never managed to have video of me playing posted here I will post it. Video is definitely a good tool though as it shows how high and long my serves are and my ponderous movement :) I am the large guy in the blue shirt.Enjoy!

Just my opinion. I am not a coach or a high-level player. You have good serves. You can extract more mileage out of it. You don't necessarily have to bend your knees more. Let the ball drop more and contact it lower. It does look spinny from here. You could do better with a softer contact. That will help you keep the serves short and spinny when you want it. I have similar problems too that I hope to sort out soon.

I like your FH. It is effective and you can hit and/or loop to various spots. your BH flat hit is good but the opening loop can be spinnier. Work more on BH pushes. It will help control opponents one level above you. Does your BH rubber allow you to feel the ball and graze it on a push? If not, move to a slower rubber or practice more to get the touch. I feel these are easy ways for you to improve, without adding new strokes or complicated footwork. All the very best! :)
 
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I Played in a Tournament in El Paso over the weekend. Played under 3700 Doubles and our team got second. I had never played doubles in a tournament before and as I was the low rated person on the team at 1389 with Dan Seemiller JR.(2306) as my partner I had to concentrate on just getting the ball on the table and trying to keep my serve short and low. Most of the other teams we faced were set up in a similar manner with a high rated player and one rated significantly lower. I failed to keep the ball low enough and short enough too many times and I really need to work on it. I have to bend my knees more and start the serve from a lower position. The opposite teams strong players were all over 2300 so they really picked my serves apart.I had thought my serves were low enough and spinny enough, but for those guys they were a joke (as my posted video will show) and only posed a problem when I mixed in some dead balls short and low. In singles we had a two stage round robin. The top two players from the first brackets moved to the "A" bracket for the second round while the others went to the "b" bracket. There was supposed to be a "c" bracket but 6 players failed to show for the tournament.In the first round I beat two players about my level (1310,1400) then defeated a 1635 short pips/inverted blocker. The next match was against my doubles partner and I lost but with only one loss I moved to the "A" group for the second round. The "A" bracket in the second round had players rated 2420,2359,2306,1747,1578 and myself at 1389. I had fun playing the higher rated players while trying to learn but of course I got spanked hard. I won a single game from the 1747 player who had anti on one side and short pips on the other and won my match with the 1578 player who had short pips on one side and long pips on the other as after the anti/short pips guy I was already keyed in on watching for which side they were hitting with and paying attention to what spin I could expect.
There is video.. It is embarrassing but as I have never managed to have video of me playing posted here I will post it. Video is definitely a good tool though as it shows how high and long my serves are and my ponderous movement :) I am the large guy in the blue shirt.Enjoy!

Given how you have described your game in the past, I would never have known you play this well!
 
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its not easy to re-train the brain when we've been playing such a long time with so many bad habits.

But we should simply not give up. I had the same problem in my BH block. too often the racket was upwards, it worked ok against lower players or against speedy attacks, but if the ball was loaded with spin, more often than not, it would be popping up. Perhaps because i practise more BH block, and that naturally BH is being more targetted in games, i managed to correct it. But for FH i still need some efforts.

TLDR its one thing to be able to execute one technique, its another thing to do it naturally at the right moment.

The other point that I wanted to make is that this is partly the truth, but also not always true. I remember someone telling me yesterday that bad technique is better than no technique, and I said this is true, but only if you are selecting and mastering the bad technique.

As you pointed out, bad technique tends to break down more easily at higher levels of play. So you should always practice selecting the the same technique ALL the time. But too many people do not accept this, and start smashing the ball in matches in a way that they never did in practice. If you have to play one more shot, play the rally shot and play one more, in practice, miss the ball while trying to retain the technique. Even in practice, during a drill, some people look for a chance to change their shot instead of looking for away to adapt their current shot or a standard to a new ball. Always look for and find a technique. Even if it is one you want to invent and master. Inventing stuff repeatedly under pressure or selecting technique you don't practice will get you into trouble.
 
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The thing about serve variation and serve location is really about practice. The real reason why people play a certain way, unless they are anomalies, is that it is related to how they practice or how they feel comfortable playing the next balls. Most people who serve to the backhand want the ball to come back to the backhand but they also want to limit the angle of play and the kinds of spins they get back when they add sidespin. Pendulum sidespin limits the angle to the wide forehand, reverse sidespin limits the angle to the wide backhand. I used to serve to the short forehand a lot but it was often a bad serve placement for me back then because people would use the angle into my wide forehand to force me out there. Also, some people know how to loop certain kinds of sidespins better than others and these sidespins will still be on your serve if the opponent returns the ball in certain ways and you have to adapt your stroke to them, meaning you may miss a lot if you haven't practiced against these sidespins even if they give you effective returns. Just things to think about when moving a serve around and a remind to practice things you intend to use in matches.
 
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