Daily Table Tennis Chit Chat

Boogar said:

Oh jea thanks xD that makes more sense.

The things i took away from his video is, to pay more attention to weight transfer and hip turn. Is that a bad point?

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Everything he says isn't necessarily bad, but what if I told you the same? Wouldn't you doubt it, because you know I don't really see the big picture and you're not even sure where my advice is coming from? How is he different?

So if I hide my BS behind some fluff and a smoke wall, you'll buy it? Isn't that exactly what he is doing?


Give me a break.

Alright, I'm going to weigh in on the subject of EmRatThich, nails scratching on a chalkboard, the Revolutionary ARB Blade and other important subjects.

If Boogar appreciates the guy and finds useful information from him, I am okay with that. To each his own. I do find that sometimes I hear stuff he says that is decent information. However, it is usually painfully obvious stuff. It is never stuff that is new or unique.

But I have to confess, I have watched as little of his videos as possible. Why? After I hear a few choice phrases from him I feel the urge to strangle any living being anywhere near me and other unmentionable things I know I would later regret.

I have watched a few of his videos all the way through at the request of some random poster. And I have always felt the worse for the wasted time. In point of fact, I would rather watch the videos for the ARB Blade or listen to nails scratching on a chalkboard than listen to that guy's slimy, patronizing, and annoyingly slow voice.

He definitely gets my BS Detector to kick into overdrive as soon as he's starts flapping his lips.

But, hey, that is just me. If someone else knows better and still likes this guy I am not going to judge them harshly for not being able to tell that the guy is full of it.

But I really would like to see some footage of him playing and/or coaching. With all the racist bias he is spouting, I think I would need to see that to credit him with knowing anything even when he presents information that is simple and obvious but "useful".


Sent from The Subterranean Workshop by Telepathy

The issue I have with EmRat isn't so much the information he's presenting but the guise it is under.

He's disguising simple, basic things as some kind of ancient form of Chinese art that the western world hasn't caught up to.

I had my first lesson with a certified coach last night and it was great. Turns out most of my footwork issues are caused by extremely long strokes on both wings. We worked on pointing my right (non-playing) shoulder at the target and keeping my arm from being part of the "loading" sequence at all. Shorter strokes = taking the ball earlier = way less effort for speed and spin. I played matches after my lesson and did worse, as expected. I'm still getting very basic form down so it was hard to implement what i learned in match situations. The good news is that I woke up this morning and wasn't sore at all - a huge difference from what's normal. I'm really excited to develop my game and actually improve. Still love watching everyone here getting better and better - it's awesome motivation!

This post is golden just for the timing ... anyone who has watched EmRat or whatever's video , just compare it with the experience Knife is saying here and you will probably get why NL is dead against that guy .. I for one cannot tolerate the racist undertones of his videos , but I have learned to accept people in some countries / societies/ families are brought up in such a way that mistake nationalistic jingoism for patriotism ... but anyways the point is the stuff he says can be compared to what you get in your astrology feed , fairly obvious things that may or may not apply to you masked in such a way that it appears golden drops of chinese ping pong wisdom

thekleifheit13 said:

I had my first lesson with a certified coach last night and it was great. Turns out most of my footwork issues are caused by extremely long strokes on both wings. We worked on pointing my right (non-playing) shoulder at the target and keeping my arm from being part of the "loading" sequence at all. Shorter strokes = taking the ball earlier = way less effort for speed and spin. I played matches after my lesson and did worse, as expected. I'm still getting very basic form down so it was hard to implement what i learned in match situations. The good news is that I woke up this morning and wasn't sore at all - a huge difference from what's normal. I'm really excited to develop my game and actually improve. Still love watching everyone here getting better and better - it's awesome motivation!

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UpSideDownCarl said:

... listen to that guy's slimy, patronizing, and annoyingly slow voice.

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Put him on 1.5 speed or more - that usually resolves the problems with the voice. The content is another story.

I played some matches today and I'm disappointed by the continued passivity in my play. It's time to make some changes. It's time to start exaggerating:


- No more blocking on the forehand side. Counterlooping only.

- Kick blocking on the backhand side instead of traditional flat blocking.

- Over the table loop/banana flip against all short serves to my BH and middle except against extremely heavy underspin.

- No more passing up third ball attack opportunities. Ever. I will loop and miss rather than push against deep balls.

In essence, I am going to try to spin every ball. Really tired of playing like a chicken in match play and not making any progress. Either spin the ball or lose trying.

SchemeSC said:

I played some matches today and I'm disappointed by the continued passivity in my play. It's time to make some changes. it's time to start exaggerating a bit:


- No more blocking on the forehand side. Counterlooping only. NL - OKAY but needs practice and you need to learn to flat block for opponent's warm up.

- Kick blocking on the backhand side instead of traditional flat blocking. - NL - NO. Can be hard to counterloop kicking high and low topspins with the limited range of backhand - you have to hit and punch sometimes as well as spin.

- Over the table loop/banana flip against all short serves to my BH and middle except against extremely heavy underspin.
NL- OKAY.

- No more passing up third ball attack opportunities. Ever. I will loop and miss rather than push against deep balls. NL- OKAY but the footwork demands are immense.

In essence, I am going to try to spin every ball. Really tired of playing like a chicken in match play...

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The real bottom like is why you are afraid of missing. Just play a game where you lose 11-0 by hitting balls off the table. Get it out of your system that missing is the end of the world.

Then play another game where you are trying to make good shots but may miss or make them. Try to put on spin or spin and speed.

By this time, caring so much about the result would have left your system. Get into the habit of actually trying to play beautiful points or play the right way. Winning the point is not so important unless you are in a tournament and by the time you have played enough proper and beautiful points, it becomes a habit of sorts.

thekleifheit13 said:

I had my first lesson with a certified coach last night and it was great. Turns out most of my footwork issues are caused by extremely long strokes on both wings. We worked on pointing my right (non-playing) shoulder at the target and keeping my arm from being part of the "loading" sequence at all. Shorter strokes = taking the ball earlier = way less effort for speed and spin. I played matches after my lesson and did worse, as expected. I'm still getting very basic form down so it was hard to implement what i learned in match situations. The good news is that I woke up this morning and wasn't sore at all - a huge difference from what's normal. I'm really excited to develop my game and actually improve. Still love watching everyone here getting better and better - it's awesome motivation!

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love this post. shows what coaches can do for you and what you know you can work on immediately.

NextLevel said:

The real bottom like is why you are afraid of missing. Just play a game where you lose 11-0 by hitting balls off the table. Get it out of your system that missing is the end of the world.

Then play another game where you are trying to make good shots but may miss or make them. Try to put on spin or spin and speed.

By this time, caring so much about the result would have left your system. Get into the habit of actually trying to play beautiful points or play the right way. Winning the point is not so important unless you are in a tournament and by the time you have played enough proper and beautiful points, it becomes a habit of sorts.

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The other thing you need to learn to do is to build out that in-between slow heavy topspin game. That's what people who play like you are lacking - you have practiced hitting the ball at 100mph or just rolling the ball that you don't know how to put must of your stroke into topspin. It's all about whip, playing around the shape of the ball and finding the right contact point.

Boogar said:

If you'd show it with a video of a pro player, where i can see the effects. I would.

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No wonder I have been waiting in vain for Boogar to play real topspins. He is listening to videos that make him feel like he understands Chinese secrets. Sorry to tell you the bad news, Boogar, but the secrets are not going to hit the ball, you are, and the best stroke in the world is the one that wins the points for you, not the one that is described in the Chinese secrets.

NextLevel said:

The other thing you need to learn to do is to build out that in-between slow heavy topspin game. That's what people who play like you are lacking - you have practiced hitting the ball at 100mph or just rolling the ball that you don't know how to put must of your stroke into topspin. It's all about whip, playing around the shape of the ball and finding the right contact point.

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Something that helps with developing the right instincts is serve and receive drills where you don't count points but where there is some sort of fallout from not making the correct shot. That fallout could just be you telling yourself: "what the heck is wrong with me. I am supposed to loop the third ball and I pushed even though it was long."

You can train yourself to develop the habit of attacking shots that you thought you weren't able to attack.

booger. remeber there is more than one way to rip the skin off of a cat and wear it on your face. even for the chinese national team. you do you, see if you can get to a high level your way. Next time you visit the states with your new profound playing abilities, lets see how you do against us >=]

I just bought myself a Joola Xplode Sensitive rubber and I already regret it. I seriously have no idea why I bought it. I haven't even taken it out of the plastic.

NextLevel said:

The real bottom like is why you are afraid of missing. Just play a game where you lose 11-0 by hitting balls off the table. Get it out of your system that missing is the end of the world.

Then play another game where you are trying to make good shots but may miss or make them. Try to put on spin or spin and speed.

By this time, caring so much about the result would have left your system. Get into the habit of actually trying to play beautiful points or play the right way. Winning the point is not so important unless you are in a tournament and by the time you have played enough proper and beautiful points, it becomes a habit of sorts.

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Thanks NL.

I have played against the same 2000 level player almost every week for years and I have never lost a single game at 11-0 or even 11-1. That should tell you all you need to know about my mental state when playing matches...

Something to think about regarding copying pro Chinese/European technique:

Take a second to watch a pro video or two. Take a close look at the width of their stance, and how low and wide they stay throughout the point.

A stance that wide and that low allows for a lot of body rotation and fast swings while remaining balanced.

Now take the average 1500 level player who is over 30 years old and not in the greatest of shape. They are going to struggle to get as wide and low as a pro, and will especially struggle to maintain that form in a rally or match.

Should these players be copying pro forehand technique, or would they be better off using some other technique that might not look exactly like a pros but which makes allowances for their physical abilities?

TLDR;

If you can't get your stance as wide and low as a pro player, and maintain it, what is actually the optimal technique for something like a forehand loop?

Shuki said:

Next time you visit the states with your new profound playing abilities, lets see how you do against us >=]

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Shuki, statements like these.......