Redeveloping strokes

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Revisiting my bh for improvement

I was a provincial/regional player way back until 1997 when i stopped playing tt and just rediscovered my passion just 2017. So it was a 20 years off but this time the passion revenged with a vengeance with a lot of equipments and a lot of better players which made it more challenging. When i was playing back then, the norm was a single wing looper. In short, my backhand is weak and i’m trying to improve it. With robot i can hit all out because i know where the ball is coming and i dont care if it will go in or out. During drills and match play, my bh is not confident so it’s more of fishing for safety. I can barely hit with power and confidence.
What would you suggest to improve it?
With bat, do you think i’m good to develop using my main setup which is viscaria with vega europe 2.0 on bh? Or should i use and stick with my extra bat which is stiga allround with mantra m max on bh and stick to it until i feel confident with my bh stroke? It’s a dilemma for me since i think i play better with viscaria maybe because of it’s speed and my fh is well with it.
 
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Just practice more on it and think how you should do that. Can you change your technique for the better? What kind of bh do you need? are you going to play close to the table, or far away. Are going to kill the ball with the backahnd of mainly with forehand? What drills should you do?

You will come a far way just practicing, but i think your backhand will become even better if you think what you can change to improve it.
 
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To me stiga all around with mantra M max sound a bit surprising as it is a slow blade and mantra M is quite fast in my opinion. Plus it's a big hardness difference with vega europe. So in my opinion it seems better to stick with your main setup especially if you like it

Maybe put 1.8mm vega europe on your BH ?

For your BH, maybe begin with getting a good feeling on blocking as it helps to get first the essential stroke mecanism and from there get it more and more active (do an active block, then more a drive, then a loop). And as said Lula maybe you don't need a very very active BH
 
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Thabks for your advices. I’m taking it. Will keep using my main setup and will do more pratice matches. Maybe play a match to improve mentality rather than play to win.
 
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I think you should stick with your Viscaria, and as others mentioned, practice more!

If you have the time and means, get some 1 on 1 coaching. Play a few games, ask the coach, try out the suggestions, play more games and repeat. I started weekly coaching 2 years ago and still walk away with new techniques/tactics every time. Big boost to game improvements.
 
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I was a provincial/regional player way back until 1997 when i stopped playing tt and just rediscovered my passion just 2017. So it was a 20 years off but this time the passion revenged with a vengeance with a lot of equipments and a lot of better players which made it more challenging. When i was playing back then, the norm was a single wing looper. In short, my backhand is weak and i’m trying to improve it. With robot i can hit all out because i know where the ball is coming and i dont care if it will go in or out. During drills and match play, my bh is not confident so it’s more of fishing for safety. I can barely hit with power and confidence.
What would you suggest to improve it?
With bat, do you think i’m good to develop using my main setup which is viscaria with vega europe 2.0 on bh? Or should i use and stick with my extra bat which is stiga allround with mantra m max on bh and stick to it until i feel confident with my bh stroke? It’s a dilemma for me since i think i play better with viscaria maybe because of it’s speed and my fh is well with it.

You are a very good player so the advice is a bit more difficult. I will give you my prescription.


1. Stop using the robot. Use multiball.

2. Backhand play is very different from forehand play for most players. Backhand is good against quality ball. Backhand is not so good against a hard to time junk ball. So most of your backhand practice should be in drills where you are close to the table playing opening topspin or defending opening with counter topspin and blocking or quick rally. The biggest mistake most players make is to start out trying to make their backhand like their forehand. If they are lucky and get there, good, but even Kreanga, Fan Zhendong and Harimoto have many balls they will never play with their backhand. Backhand play is more about redirection, containing the opponents movement and reducing your pivoting demands, not about having 2 forehands.

3. Practice swinging at the ball at all speeds and distances in the same session. Most of your balls should be close to the table. About 20% further away to develop power. Another 20% where you focus on trying to generate spin and not so much speed for variation.

4. Practice against all spins. The most important spin to work on is the backhand topspin vs backspin. Especially if you can combine it with Chiquita or basic flick.

5. Focus on spin and timing not power in the beginning. Power will come naturally when the spin and timing are there and the footwork is good. If you focus on power, especially using a robot, you will.not be able to develop good timing.

6. Equipment doesn't matter. It all depends on how hard you like to swing.
 
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You are a very good player so the advice is a bit more difficult. I will give you my prescription.


1. Stop using the robot. Use multiball.

2. Backhand play is very different from forehand play for most players. Backhand is good against quality ball. Backhand is not so good against a hard to time junk ball. So most of your backhand practice should be in drills where you are close to the table playing opening topspin or defending opening with counter topspin and blocking or quick rally. The biggest mistake most players make is to start out trying to make their backhand like their forehand. If they are lucky and get there, good, but even Kreanga, Fan Zhendong and Harimoto have many balls they will never play with their backhand. Backhand play is more about redirection, containing the opponents movement and reducing your pivoting demands, not about having 2 forehands.

3. Practice swinging at the ball at all speeds and distances in the same session. Most of your balls should be close to the table. About 20% further away to develop power. Another 20% where you focus on trying to generate spin and not so much speed for variation.

4. Practice against all spins. The most important spin to work on is the backhand topspin vs backspin. Especially if you can combine it with Chiquita or basic flick.

5. Focus on spin and timing not power in the beginning. Power will come naturally when the spin and timing are there and the footwork is good. If you focus on power, especially using a robot, you will.not be able to develop good timing.

6. Equipment doesn't matter. It all depends on how hard you like to swing.

Thanks for your pointers. I guess i should take more sessions with a coach now and focus on thise areas.
 
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The new plastic ball has hurt the backhand of some inverted players. The long pips OX backhand has evolved with the plastic ball, if used properly will set up a lot of attacking shots for a good 4h.

Tried to use lp ox already. It’s good against same level or a bit higher level but when faced with higher level players, it’s like playing with them with one arm on your back. They keep on targetting my pips side keeping me on defensive mode. My heart is still on offense.
 
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Tried to use lp ox already. It’s good against same level or a bit higher level but when faced with higher level players, it’s like playing with them with one arm on your back. They keep on targetting my pips side keeping me on defensive mode. My heart is still on offense.

You can reverse that by tactics, watch all the related long pips videos by Yangyang TT, playing with and against. Another neutralizer is the chop block, allows you to step over for an offensive 4h.
 
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Your technique is probably underdeveloped vs your forehand. Get some private coaching and start filming yourself would be my recommendations. If you watch top backhands like Fan Zhendong, Calderano, Pitchford, Falck, to see what they are doing and comparing you can learn a lot. The backhand flick was probably not so common in your prime at all so definitely worth learning.
 
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Interestingly enough I have the exact same background.
Provincial / regional player back in the 90s, stopped for 18 years and came back for a revenge in sep 18. Back then we were indeed mostly playing forehand heavy-spin loops with shorter (on average) rallies, which means I was mainly struggling with:
- marginally slower game
- less acing at serve time
- longer rallies (harder to win at 2nd or 3rd ball)
- people serve short (a lot) more than they used to, and advanced players are able to flick / strawberry things I never thought possible (at least in my leagues).

What I did to get back in shape:
- first I got a very similar (but slower) setup than what I was used to: allround noname blade with 1.8 marv V gps on both sides, which allowed me ease back in the game (I was using a similar setup with speed glue back then)
- then when I started feeling confident again I uped the antes by going for a significantly faster setup: Stiga Nostalgic Offensive + Mantra M 2.1 (bh) + Rakza 7 max (fh). It worked but I was struggling to keep my backend consistent and my fh wasn't as effective as it should, so I went totally nuts and... switched backhand and forehand rubbers :)

TL;DR: Fast (wood) blade + mantra on the forehand and something softer on the backhand should work quite well for you.

Oh, and obviously... train, train, train :) My current focus is 80% on my backhand.

Hope this helps, welcome back!
 
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I use Mantra M on BH with Allround Classic. On FH I have H3 Neo. This setup comes from EmRatThich article about 10 Backhand Rubbers. For me it’s a very enjoyable setup and the Mantra works well on BH, except with short touches where the bounce makes it hard to control. I need to practice that more. Attacks are plenty fast and I can’t imagine any benefits of viscaria for developing BH, although the extra speed might come in handy later.

I suggest you keep the AC/Mantra and practice full out BH loop attacks and punches as much as you can, just adjust opening depending on distance from table. It will quickly become a killer, you will see!
 
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