Daily Table Tennis Chit Chat

Lula · Feb 19, 2019

mart1nandersson said:
Cool name

Is this basically like the Falkenberg drill but with an additional BH before going to the FH wide?

"Varulven" is bh from bh, fh from the middle, bh from the bh and fh from fh.
"omvända varulven" is the opposite. forehand, middle, forehand and backhand.

Is "falkenbergaren" your favorite? since it seems like you are a fan of Stellan?

mart1nandersson · Feb 19, 2019

Lula said:
"Varulven" is bh from bh, fh from the middle, bh from the bh and fh from fh.
"omvända varulven" is the opposite. forehand, middle, forehand and backhand.

Is "falkenbergaren" your favorite? since it seems like you are a fan of Stellan?

I very often train with a lady who played at a quite high level (Swedish top12) during the 80ies. She believes that everyone should use anti rubbers and that it's not a real practice session unless "falkenbergaren" hasn't been performed (and that the ball count is less than 25). I'm a bit tired of the drill so I'll use "varulven" to spice up our next session. Thanks for the tip!

My mother always used to watch him on TV (maybe had a crush who knows) whenever there was TT. I got a Stellan bat for christmas when I was about 5-6 and he's been my hero ever since.

Edit: It's been bit of a cultural change to start training with my yugoslav sensei as all of her drills starts with a serve. She gets quite upset if she catches us doing repetitive drills like 2 BH + 2 FH. What's your opinion about that? Is that better than just doing a pattern type drill like "falkenbergaren"?

Lula · Feb 20, 2019

I think it is good to start with serve since real matches start so. But you lose some tempo i think. It can also be somewhat more difficult. You need to hit all of the opening loops, otherwise you can not start with a loop.

I like when the players think for themselves and change the exercise a little to make it easier or harder depending on the play. Also change it according to playingstyle.

I think i like 2 bh 2 fh more than falkenbergaren. Find it odd that everyone should Do falkenbergaren. If you have better bh than fh i Do nit think you should practice stepping around with the forehand to much. Find this thinking that everyone should play fh from bh and all do the same exercise a bit outdated.

I think one one or two two is some of the better exercises. Have seen alot of pros doing this aswell.

I think you should Do some random drills aswell were you Do not know where the ball is coming if you are good enough to start with a serve every exercise.

FruitLoop · Feb 20, 2019

I think it's strange Falkenberg is so core a drill when it's just one variation amongst many. No idea why you'd prefer it to two-two variations or random drills etc. It's just another drill, not THE drill. I like drills where one player decides to make a switch and it goes free for example. Good balance between footwork and repetition without being able to just wait for it as you know where the ball is going. For example H-X drill then at any time one person can invert and it goes free. To clarify, one person goes cross court only whilst the other is down the line only but at any time one or other can break the pattern and it's free.

NDH · Feb 20, 2019

I'm someone who doesn't do many drills anymore - My practice sessions tend to involve a few of the basics, and then practice matches where I can try different things.

I think drills are crucial for juniors, and players still learning and developing their strokes - It allows the body to build up the muscle memory and simply gets you playing a load of shots over and over again.

But I know players who still do those drills now, and do them very well (far better than I could), yet their match play is awful (at least, it's not as good as you'd expect if you watched them train).

Funnily enough, the ball doesn't always land where you want it to in a match!

So yeah, repetitive drills are good for some, and probably a good habit to get into - But the slightly random drills will keep you sharper.

Lula · Feb 20, 2019

Neither me or he plays falkenbergaren much. His coach likes it. I like other drills better were you Do not play fh from bh. That everyone should play fh from bh is an old way of thinking i think. If the players are able to start with serve they should be able to Do random drills aswell which is important for matchplay as stated above me.

yoass · Feb 20, 2019

Lula said:
Neither me or he plays falkenbergaren much. His coach likes it. I like other drills better were you Do not play fh from bh. That everyone should play fh from bh is an old way of thinking i think. If the players are able to start with serve they should be able to Do random drills aswell which is important for matchplay as stated above me.

But the point of that drill is not so much to engrain extreme pivots to the BH, but help develop a smooth BH/FH transition and fast lateral footwork?

Der_Echte · Feb 21, 2019

Tuesday... Had one of those historically epic fail bad nights where after it all done, you wonder why you even pursued Table Tennis as a sport to learn and love. I had real poor judgment of the ball from about every possible angle. That did not bode well for match performance. AT least I was useful to the best player in the gym after playing by looping to his pips BH over and over with the bat erm gave me. (Intensity Carbon with S3 2.0mm on BH)… at least I could be consistent enough doing that to make it worth somebody to train and not totally stink it up.

Scoobie Doo afterwards correctly noted that the mental state is the issue.

That doesn't mean I am mentally weak, or have issues or am not resilient… it just means than I didn't have it all there working together at the right level.

Sccobie Doo has seen enough of my game, knows enough about me, and has more than enough data to instantly point this out.

Technically and physically, I have enough offense and game to trouble or win vs Scoobie or players his class, but the major reason I fail vs them is I never get enough into the zone vs them. I surely improved in many technical and tactical things this last year, even mentally was largest improvement, but it is an indicator/indictment of where I am, how little I truly advanced, and how much potential is out there to be gained.

I have a lot of friends in Table Tennis, especially where I do tourneys. Our tourneys are more than just competing in tourneys and the together thing is a real strength... has probably helped my performance in tournament matches measurably.

@erm has seen more than enough data points as well and prolly concluded that over a year ago. He also subtly nudges me in a direction too.

I have noticed I perform my absolute worst on Monday or first duty day of the week... for obvious reasons so many things for harmony and preparation are not thee, it isn't rocket science why it is hard to get it all going right on those days over compared to others... but eventually, this will become a strength of mine. I have done it in tourneys and need to do it more consistently in other times. It is a sign of not enough time in the sport, another realm of improvement possibilities.

Takkyu_wa_inochi · Feb 21, 2019

i've decided recently to pay more attention to those small adjustment mini-steps when doing drills (multiball or not).
As a result, the ball quality is better, and i can reach some balls that i couldn't do without, but its 2 or 3x more effort (there are 2-3x more steps !) for only some extra %. Is it worth the effort ?

I wish i could sustain those efforts, but I get tired pretty quickly when trying to play like this. But it's fun !

Lula · Feb 21, 2019

yoass said:
But the point of that drill is not so much to engrain extreme pivots to the BH, but help develop a smooth BH/FH transition and fast lateral footwork?

Yepp, but you still train to go around and play forehand from the bh corner. I think it is very wrong to think that this drill suits everyone. Do not feel that the coach thinks much about the individual then. Perhaps it is good to do it if you are developing, but if you are a better player with a better bh than fh, then i do not see why this player would train to play fh from the bh corner. Maybe good for high balls. I think it is very important that we practice what we use in a match. If we train stuff we do not use in a match, i think it is almost a waste of time. Some of the players i the other club in our hall, trains loop loop alot. Very much loop loop. They are very good at it. But when they play a match they rarely comes to loop loop. So they would proably benefit much more and use their time better if they would train in example serve and return, which you always use. But that is just my opinion.

mart1nandersson · Feb 21, 2019

+1 to Lula.

I'm starting to appreciate my new coach's approach where every drill starts with a REAL serve no matter what the purpose of the drill is. It may be a little bit too advanced for me as a beginner but I'm starting to see results during real matches compared to the initial year which has been spent on doing drills like Falkenberg. Most of the drills are based on some kind of pattern. Sometimes way too advanced but sometimes quite basic like a short serve, long push to FH and an opening loop followed by free play. It's hard to argue with her as she's got more european and world championship medals than she can carry and has trained numerous pros at the DTTZ in Düsseldorf as well as having coached two youth players from nothing to top 3 in their age group on a national level in Sweden (still haven't figured out what she's doing in a small suburban club in Stockholm).

I like doing Falkenberg, 3 point FH & 2FH + 2BH type drills for the exercise so I don't get too chubby but I'm starting to appreciate that they're probably not going to do that much to improve my play during matches.

t95mwp · Feb 21, 2019

Der_Echte said:
Tuesday... Had one of those historically epic fail bad nights where after it all done, you wonder why you even pursued Table Tennis as a sport to learn and love. I had real poor judgment of the ball from about every possible angle. That did not bode well for match performance. AT least I was useful to the best player in the gym after playing by looping to his pips BH over and over with the bat erm gave me. (Intensity Carbon with S3 2.0mm on BH)… at least I could be consistent enough doing that to make it worth somebody to train and not totally stink it up.

Scoobie Doo afterwards correctly noted that the mental state is the issue.

That doesn't mean I am mentally weak, or have issues or am not resilient… it just means than I didn't have it all there working together at the right level.

Sccobie Doo has seen enough of my game, knows enough about me, and has more than enough data to instantly point this out.

Technically and physically, I have enough offense and game to trouble or win vs Scoobie or players his class, but the major reason I fail vs them is I never get enough into the zone vs them. I surely improved in many technical and tactical things this last year, even mentally was largest improvement, but it is an indicator/indictment of where I am, how little I truly advanced, and how much potential is out there to be gained.

I have a lot of friends in Table Tennis, especially where I do tourneys. Our tourneys are more than just competing in tourneys and the together thing is a real strength... has probably helped my performance in tournament matches measurably.

@erm has seen more than enough data points as well and prolly concluded that over a year ago. He also subtly nudges me in a direction too.

I have noticed I perform my absolute worst on Monday or first duty day of the week... for obvious reasons so many things for harmony and preparation are not thee, it isn't rocket science why it is hard to get it all going right on those days over compared to others... but eventually, this will become a strength of mine. I have done it in tourneys and need to do it more consistently in other times. It is a sign of not enough time in the sport, another realm of improvement possibilities.

Who is the Scoobie Doo

?

Takkyu_wa_inochi · Feb 21, 2019

Easy to beat Scoobie Doo. Give him a lot of burgers. He won’t move well. And do the ghost serves. He’s scared of them

FruitLoop · Feb 22, 2019

Der_echte, I saw on your video you are quite hard on yourself after every miss. This probably exacerbates tension, as you miss you get tighter and then you miss more and get more annoyed and spiral. I recognise the symptoms because this is what I do. You need to try to just observe the results without reaction and try to stay even tempered. It gets better with practice. If you watch Scoobie doo I bet you you can't tell if he won or lost a point by his body language after. I am not saying you need to be an emotionless zombie, but it's more about not reacting negatively to lost points and tensing up.

ttmonster · Feb 22, 2019

Imagine being his double's partner !!!

FruitLoop said:
Der_echte, I saw on your video you are quite hard on yourself after every miss. This probably exacerbates tension, as you miss you get tighter and then you miss more and get more annoyed and spiral. I recognise the symptoms because this is what I do. You need to try to just observe the results without reaction and try to stay even tempered. It gets better with practice. If you watch Scoobie doo I bet you you can't tell if he won or lost a point by his body language after. I am not saying you need to be an emotionless zombie, but it's more about not reacting negatively to lost points and tensing up.

ttmonster · Feb 22, 2019

But to be fair to Der_echte .. he is also the master in cheering up the team ... so I guess he makes up for it ...

FruitLoop said:
Der_echte, I saw on your video you are quite hard on yourself after every miss. This probably exacerbates tension, as you miss you get tighter and then you miss more and get more annoyed and spiral. I recognise the symptoms because this is what I do. You need to try to just observe the results without reaction and try to stay even tempered. It gets better with practice. If you watch Scoobie doo I bet you you can't tell if he won or lost a point by his body language after. I am not saying you need to be an emotionless zombie, but it's more about not reacting negatively to lost points and tensing up.

Der_Echte · Feb 22, 2019

GROWWWWWWLLLLL. Growl.

Go Team.

That's the ticket, yeah.

BTW, I played a mach vs our resident Romanian LP player, goofed off 1st game and tried to get serious... had a lot of bad breaks go against me... was able to envision the match at our club as a tourney match and approach it calmly, came back from deficits to win games and match.

On a separate note, Our Romanian LP player had a match with Scoobie Doo Sergey where LP guy was just balling out making plays.

There was one spectacular play where I yelled from my seat "I have the POOOOWWWWEEERRR !!! Yabba Dabba Doo !!!

2 minutes the owner came over to give me the evil eye. I must have woken him from a drowsy nap... along with anyone else who happened to be asleep at the time within a 2km radius.

Der_Echte · Feb 22, 2019

Brought my box of 100 white/orange 2 star ABS balls and got in almost an hour of drills on several things I identified as needed, Sergey also requested certain sequences.

Was productive. Very.

The match I played had same result... a loss, but in game one I was 6 for 6 landing BH flips, or at least 5 for 6... I might have won 3-4 of those points... after I BH slapped his return THREE or FOUR times in a row just to get one point. Dude just gets stuff back... so same drill, I lose, but show improvement of consistency somewhere. One day, it is gunna get good.

Der_Echte · Feb 22, 2019

ttmonster said:
Imagine being his double's partner !!!

Busted

Outstanding.

NextLevel · Feb 22, 2019

So I had one of those "if it is not on video, it did not happen" days. I was actually looping topspin repeatedly, aggressively and early with the forehand. Hoping it will continue to happen when I use the camera as well. Granted these were peers not better players, but the progress is encouraging.

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