Daily Table Tennis Chit Chat

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I think your technique is easily good enough to beat players like that pretty comfortably. If you would move him side to side more he'd have no chance. Keep up the good work!


I appreciate any criticism. Always good to get different points of view.

The last few months or so my performance has been volatile as there's a few things I'm trying to change technically. TTedge and NL has helped me a lot. NL has especially helped me with my BH.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7rK3yGlGuI

This was probably my worst loss this season to a blocker.. though I realized I didn't play too badly despite the loss. And I know my placement of most of my shots and variation of serve against this guy was atrocious.
 
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The blocker is tricky 100% for the tactics you played you are right. From looking at the video he gives you a heavy push return at your hip quite a bit waiting for the spin then a floaty or flat block return. Then little spin next ball and you dropped back a bit which made life tricky. I bet if you played him second time around you would play closer and move the ball round looking for that switch to the forehand. Really good you are having good ideas and tactics all the time read for next maches.
 
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I was in poor form today in the club playing with my usual buddies.
The only good thing was that I beat an old guy who crushed me 3-0 last time. He has very very tricky serves that I couldn't receive well, (or he even aced me more than once !) and it was the same story in game 1, but i managed to adapt and win. I made some even some fantastic receives on his trademark serves towards the end (with a bit of luck though lol )

Actually i played very well yesterday against one of coaches, a chopper with whom I spent 2 hours. For the 1st time I took a game out of him, and i was very close in game 2 (10-12) but i lost the third (-3) and thus the match (best of 3 only).

My buddy say I play TT too much and I'd better off resting more else I'm not enjoying myself enough, and that i need to recharge more.
 
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I've done some work on my bh which was non existent in games before. Lately I've put work into fh against backspin and making sure I use my body better/properly to drive my arm instead of just using my arm muscles. The same goes for bh, I want my body to drive the action more and I also understand better how the BH works thanks to NL. Before I thought it was important to just whip the wrist.. now I try to rotate my upper arm which I think should be driven by the body and then I imagine my forearm and wrist just fall into place. When I think of it like this everything feels much smoother and I can generate a lot more power.

I've posted these clips in the thread before
This was me about 2 and a half years ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxhDTgY1bLw
and you can see the way I do fh against backspin the technique is completely wrong, I'm just using my arm. I've been doing this up until pretty recently. And you can see on my BH's that there's no body usage and I'm just trying to whip the ball with my wrist.

https://youtu.be/qpb_vrLCBX8?t=117 here's my bh about 5 months ago when I tried to change it. I'd say it's a bit different now from then and I'd hope I've developed it a bit more since I recorded that, but I'd have to record again to say for sure. I have never felt this much safety in my BH compared to before though. I'm no longer desperately trying to avoid hitting BH topspins, now it's what I want to do lol.

I'm curious what you mean about the BH wrist snap that surprises you?

I just saw the same video of your backhand so maybe i am commentating on the wrong video. I have some thoughts that i think is correct, but there are so many ways to play.

Hard to tell from this angle but i think you hit the ball to much in front of you, so you extend the arm. You lose power. Like a boxer trying to hit someone with an extended and straight arm, there is nothing to use. So try to hit the ball more closer to your body.

I also think you need to stop the stroke after hitting the ball. The reason you do not hit very hard with the backhand is proably this. If you have a follow through and no stop the power goes to the side, somewhere else. It is like when you whip your siblings with the towel when you were little, no energy and pain without stopping :)

So try hitting the ball closer to the body, and most importantly stop the stroke after you have hit the ball. By doing so i think you will get much more quality and will be able to have more spin and power in the shot if you want to.
 
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I just saw the same video of your backhand so maybe i am commentating on the wrong video. I have some thoughts that i think is correct, but there are so many ways to play.

Hard to tell from this angle but i think you hit the ball to much in front of you, so you extend the arm. You lose power. Like a boxer trying to hit someone with an extended and straight arm, there is nothing to use. So try to hit the ball more closer to your body.

I also think you need to stop the stroke after hitting the ball. The reason you do not hit very hard with the backhand is proably this. If you have a follow through and no stop the power goes to the side, somewhere else. It is like when you whip your siblings with the towel when you were little, no energy and pain without stopping :)

So try hitting the ball closer to the body, and most importantly stop the stroke after you have hit the ball. By doing so i think you will get much more quality and will be able to have more spin and power in the shot if you want to.

If you play your forehand, do you stop your stroke after you hit the ball? Just curious.
 
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If you play your forehand, do you stop your stroke after you hit the ball? Just curious.

I think you should stop the stroke at both backhand and forehand when you loop and smash. Otherwise you do not get any power in the shot. As long as you are able to releax again but i think that is practice. Edit: then everyone proably have some follow through because it is not physical possible to just stop.

I think we should try to think that every time we want power in the shot we want to explode at contact. Like a short BOOM, not long booooooooom. Hard to explain in words haha

But in strokes where you want more control i think it is okay to have longer contact with the ball, since that means that you have more control.
 
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I think you should stop the stroke at both backhand and forehand when you loop and smash. Otherwise you do not get any power in the shot. As long as you are able to releax again but i think that is practice. Edit: then everyone proably have some follow through because it is not physical possible to just stop.

I think we should try to think that every time we want power in the shot we want to explode at contact. Like a short BOOM, not long booooooooom. Hard to explain in words haha

But in strokes where you want more control i think it is okay to have longer contact with the ball, since that means that you have more control.


If you translate the Chinese for loop, it means to "pull past". So the Chinese define the loop as a stroke where you can't stop at the ball. That is part of the reason I ask the question because sometimes, people mean different things from what they think they are saying so I try to understand what they are really trying to say.

Probably better to reference video.
 
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If you translate the Chinese for loop, it means to "pull past". So the Chinese define the loop as a stroke where you can't stop at the ball. That is part of the reason I ask the question because sometimes, people mean different things from what they think they are saying so I try to understand what they are really trying to say.

Probably better to reference video.

You should not stop at the ball. Try to stop after you have hit the ball. I also think that many Times it Do not look like players are stoppning because they get follow through because they can not stop at once.

I think We can look at any video of a pro playing and i think they all try to stop somewhere by the nose more or less.
 
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You should not stop at the ball. Try to stop after you have hit the ball. I also think that many Times it Do not look like players are stoppning because they get follow through because they can not stop at once.

I think We can look at any video of a pro playing and i think they all try to stop somewhere by the nose more or less.

The advice to stop after hitting the ball to me will end up confusing a player who doesn't understand it. If Ma Long or Xu Xin is doing a windmill forehand or a big backhand, are they trying to stop after hitting the ball?

What they do is they have a contact point and finishing position for the stroke they are trying to play. Both will affect the shot.

I know that contacting the ball a bit closer to the body will engage the body a bit better on some shots but if it is too close you any not get leverage from the length of the arm. So it is a balancing act. Usually, the advice is to backswing into the chest/stomach and bow a little so you can have more room to swing.

But depending on the power, everyone has a finishing position. People can get more efficient by learning to find the right contact point on the ball and using a good backswing and finishing position. But I would not tell someone to stop right after hitting the ball, that depends on stroke structure and the recovery demands. I would tell them to standardize their finishing position or improve it relative to the contact point. Follow through is very important for ball quality.
 
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The advice to stop after hitting the ball to me will end up confusing a player who doesn't understand it. If Ma Long or Xu Xin is doing a windmill forehand or a big backhand, are they trying to stop after hitting the ball?

What they do is they have a contact point and finishing position for the stroke they are trying to play. Both will affect the shot.

I know that contacting the ball a bit closer to the body will engage the body a bit better on some shots but if it is too close you any not get leverage from the length of the arm. So it is a balancing act. Usually, the advice is to backswing into the chest/stomach and bow a little so you can have more room to swing.

But depending on the power, everyone has a finishing position. People can get more efficient by learning to find the right contact point on the ball and using a good backswing and finishing position. But I would not tell someone to stop right after hitting the ball, that depends on stroke structure and the recovery demands. I would tell them to standardize their finishing position or improve it relative to the contact point. Follow through is very important for ball quality.

Yes, Maybe i explained sloppy. The most important part is that you Do not keep on going with the stroke. Then you lose alot of power. Need to try to stop the motion somewhere after you have hit the ball. Personally i think you should stop somewhere where your nose are. Like it is a line in the middle of the body and you want to avoid to Cross it.

Yes close to the body i was talking about his backhand. You Will proably get more power from the forehand with an extended arm. But i think Maybe players that work around more chose to have th arm a little closer to the body to have less to move. Atleast old school short pimple players that i have watched But there the technique different and is is more about speed. Work more with just forearm with short pimples so works proably better to have arm closer to body. Maybe not possible to be able to swing with inverted that way, arm Will be to stiff. And you Will look like platonov.
 
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What they do is they have a contact point and finishing position for the stroke they are trying to play.

This. This is what helped me and still helps me improve my shot quality.

I visualize contact point, finishing point. The trajectory follows, and whip mechanics powered by body mechanics rather than muscle strength should do the trick.

Reading the depth of the ball is the hardest part. And once you're wrong there, you don't get to go through the ball properly anymore. This is what I need to work on most (that, and to engrain fluid recovery from the shot more naturally in the shot itself).
 
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Coach Oya taught me two nice BH receives against short serves (from right-hand player, I'm right-hand as well) which are rather easy to execute

always step in to the ball and time the ball early

- to make an agressive long push against the pendulum serve, the head of the racquet is forward. Contact the ball slightly on the right side. angle of the racquet in a vertical section is 1 / 7 o'clock
- to make an agressive long push against reverse sidespin serves (shovel, hammer, YG, BH), the the head of the racquet is forward. Contact the ball slightly on the left side. angle of the racquet in a vertical section is 11 / 5 o'clock
- to make a (vicious) short stop receive against the pendulum serve, the head of the racquet is forward. Contact the ball slightly on the right side. angle of the racquet in a vertical section is 1 / 7 o'clock. Aim and give an impulse for the short FH side (you can even feint a push and go fo the stop for a surprise !)
- to make a (vicious) short stop receive against reverse sidespin serves (shovel, hammer, YG, BH), the head of the racquet is forward. Contact the ball slightly on the left side. angle of the racquet in a vertical section is 11 / 5 o'clock. play a touch shot it should bounce near the net and go out on the short BH side of the court.

some of those are not necessarily intuitive but they work quite easily, try them ! those push are agressive and with the additional side spin, its possible to make a quality shot which will give headaches to your opponents
 
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Today I played my first tournament since 3 years ago.
Leading up to this tournament, I have been exercising practically every day, primarily cardio with the exercise bike or playing with the robot for at least the last few weeks. I have also been getting some coaching from time to time.

I had some good shots today, in my singles, I was leading 2-1, but then end up losing 2-3.
Then after a long period of waiting around.. I was playing doubles. We won the first doubles, shots were going in, touch was sufficient, with a score of 3-0. Then second doubles, we had our chances, despite 2-1 down, in the 4th set, we were leading 9-5, then lost 9-11.

That was my day at this tournament, it was definitely fun to join and play with players that are there to win.
I will need to look at my video and see what I have done wrong to lose in the singles. I don't think I lost in the technical side, but more on the mental and adjustment aspect, which is fair enough as they are regular players, so I would need to have a bigger margin on the technique to overcome that advantage.
For 6 hours that I was there, I only played 3 matches.. I think I need to have more confidence before I will consider joining another tournament as the time it takes is not worth it for 3 matches only.
 
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@JeffM yes not very fun to spend all your day at a tournament for only 3 matches and just 1 singles on top of that.

As for me, i had also a mini round-robin tournament 4 rounds at a TT school.
I finished with a 3W 1L record, lost only to one of the coaches (BH SP) 0-3 but I played very decently against him, managed to score winners, sometimes taking the initiative, sometimes by good counter-initiative. I struggled against his YG serve but I scored a few on my serves as well.

2 wins were against lesser ranked players. The last one was about my level, a veteran leftie penholder with LP !!! Blocking and pushing with LP and twiddling to attack (flat hit or topspin) with his BS. I didn't start the match well, almost no warmup after a long pause and just after being a referee at another table. In the 1st game, all he had to do is touch the ball with his LP and I would miss.. He had also some nasty serves. He crushed me 4-11 this game.

I knew I wouldn't be able to win if I didn't play my best and put myself in the challenger position. Fortunately it worked out for me. I went all out, with 100% focus, i started receiving much better became able to attack his LP balls, especially my BH slow but spinny loops (even when rather high) hurt him a lot. It was a big fight and I think i had a bit more luck than him on lets and edges at crucial times, and fortunately a few difficult and risky smashes against his high LP floating / backspin balls were all winners.

I managed to win it 3-1 (-4 10 8 8) that was a good win for me. Finally losing the 1st game gave him perhaps too much confidence. He thought i was playing over my standard later, and perhaps was just betting I would make sooner or later the same misses than in game 1, so he did'nt attack as much as he could have. I'm not sure i would win a rematch.

All in all a decent performance for me.
 
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You are right on the money regarding the confidence thing. The way I felt it was that you have to have more match practice to keep your focus and motivation going till the end .. even if you encounter a situation where you cannot qualify to the knockouts and still have to play your last match etc.. the way you described your loses .. I feel you should actually play more tournaments ... confidence does not grow on itself ... you have to break through it in a real tournament ... I normally plan for playing two to three singles events and may be throw in one doubles ... one singles ( may be in a slightly higher rated category ) to warm up your match play ... then go for a doubles and singles where you really want to compete ...
Today I played my first tournament since 3 years ago.
Leading up to this tournament, I have been exercising practically every day, primarily cardio with the exercise bike or playing with the robot for at least the last few weeks. I have also been getting some coaching from time to time.

I had some good shots today, in my singles, I was leading 2-1, but then end up losing 2-3.
Then after a long period of waiting around.. I was playing doubles. We won the first doubles, shots were going in, touch was sufficient, with a score of 3-0. Then second doubles, we had our chances, despite 2-1 down, in the 4th set, we were leading 9-5, then lost 9-11.

That was my day at this tournament, it was definitely fun to join and play with players that are there to win.
I will need to look at my video and see what I have done wrong to lose in the singles. I don't think I lost in the technical side, but more on the mental and adjustment aspect, which is fair enough as they are regular players, so I would need to have a bigger margin on the technique to overcome that advantage.
For 6 hours that I was there, I only played 3 matches.. I think I need to have more confidence before I will consider joining another tournament as the time it takes is not worth it for 3 matches only.
 
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I used to go to a lot of tournaments where the level was too high for me, its K.O. from the start, its far from home, there is warmup with 12 people on the same table at 9am, i get called only 1pm , I lose 0-3 to a much stronger player. It just ain't fun.
its even less fun if its 0-3 to a guy which is not so good, but I just lack confidence, or bad warm up, or not used to these kind of tournaments.

If you play league often, every match is not so important, because there is soon a next one. So you can play freely with less stress. If you go in a tournament only once in a while, its too much pressure, because THIS TIME you WANT TOO MUCH a good result.

So the only way is to play tournaments more often. You get used to the routine, to the noise, to play without too much warmup at the table, to get the competitive state of mind very quickly to be able to fight 100% from the 1st point
 
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Today I was with coach Oya for 2 hours. We worked on what I think is one of the main weakness in my game:
When the opponent serves short to my FH, whether i receive with a push or a flick, I get back WAYYYY too slowly in position.
I think there is a mix of causes: my receive technique is not perfected yet, so I worry too much about my ball and not enough about getting back. I haven't trained enough during all those years this particular footwork. I'm getting old and don't have enough leg power.

Yet another reason for missing is when i get ready to play the next shot, i have the bad habit that the upper body tends to go up.

Well i can say that despite doing drills for more than 1 hour, (and having practiced that a lot in recent months), I still feel I suck at this, and can't see much progress from that session.

We finished by a match the first time we did one, he made a good show of what he's able of, and he won by a crushing -1 -3 -2.. and out of the 6, I can only remember one REAL point (a strong BH), i think the rest were receive misses or careless misses of him.

I asked him if these matches are really any use...I think his answer was polite... Anyway with my previous coaches, it all started like that and with time, I got better, even taking here and there a game or more from time to time. of course their level is several levels below Oya but from where I am , it is difficult to do worse, isn't it ? I hope to stay motivated !
 
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