Me playing and loosing sindrome

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You wanna get better? Try developing your strokes and footwork first then apply them during matchplays with no concern on winning or losing.

My old, still highly revered coach keeps hammering in his mantra: VPS (“vastheid, plaatsing, snelheid/spin”) - i.e. consistency, placement, shot quality. In that order.

We all like and are drawn towards the big shots, the spectacular rallies. On all but the highest levels, everything hinges on the small stuff.

So, sweat the small stuff. Consistency first.
 
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There are a lot of advices already here. From my point of view, the most valuable is, that you massively need to focus on „learning to read spin“.
You are doing a lot of misreads and therefore taking the wrong shot. For example your opponent does a push (underspin) and you answer with a flat drive, resulting in the ball going straight down.
The only way to improve is to get a better understanding of the opponents spin and how you should react!
A very good way how to practice this is a „drill“ I’m doing with my pupils: get someone who knows what he’s doing. Both (you and your partner) do pushes. Focus on safety and also try to really bring spin into the pushes. At a random point, your partner lifts the ball with a little topspin instead of pushing. You need to react properly to that (safety block/ drive). Your partner can now choose to go on with another topspin or go back to pushing. Do not try to make the point. Focus on safety and try to have the rally as long as possible and as much spin-switches as possible.
Reading the spin and reacting properly is mich more important than learning anything else in table tennis. You can have the best topspin in the world, but you will always fail if you misread the spin.
 
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There are a lot of advices already here. From my point of view, the most valuable is, that you massively need to focus on „learning to read spin“.
You are doing a lot of misreads and therefore taking the wrong shot. For example your opponent does a push (underspin) and you answer with a flat drive, resulting in the ball going straight down.
The only way to improve is to get a better understanding of the opponents spin and how you should react!
A very good way how to practice this is a „drill“ I’m doing with my pupils: get someone who knows what he’s doing. Both (you and your partner) do pushes. Focus on safety and also try to really bring spin into the pushes. At a random point, your partner lifts the ball with a little topspin instead of pushing. You need to react properly to that (safety block/ drive). Your partner can now choose to go on with another topspin or go back to pushing. Do not try to make the point. Focus on safety and try to have the rally as long as possible and as much spin-switches as possible.
Reading the spin and reacting properly is mich more important than learning anything else in table tennis. You can have the best topspin in the world, but you will always fail if you misread the spin.
I will do this in the next training thanks
 
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Here are some videos of me playing in a tournament, and also I think I have a sort of loosing sindrome because I was playing against a very good player the first one in red and I remember I loosed o him 11-9 and another set very close but playing against the child he beat easily I lost I dont know how, and Ihavent won any match in 5 months of playing tournament, my current win loss is 0/18, not counting the other website tournaments, which I havent won any also.
Some parts maybe a weird because my sister was recording for me, and there is a match against a long pip which was very cool missing because it is in her phone and she doesnt want to send me :mad:
And if there is anything you want to point out and say just say
https://youtu.be/uGMeeIKyS1I
https://youtu.be/P8bN2LMzd_0
https://youtu.be/wBV-6qb6v4E
https://youtu.be/NWZt756wqcE
https://youtu.be/rkCWNYnVshg

Nice backhand. Only advice just keep enjoying playing. Think 99% who keep playing is for that element because they love playing the sport.

I play but I know my level isn't elite or good, probably closer to the bottom but I don't care. I watch ITTF because I think these athletes are amazing.
 
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Nice backhand. Only advice just keep enjoying playing. Think 99% who keep playing is for that element because they love playing the sport.

I play but I know my level isn't elite or good, probably closer to the bottom but I don't care. I watch ITTF because I think these athletes are amazing.

Thak you for the feedback, and yes at my level and at my knowledge I play for the sport and for fun and trying to win, and not worrig if I am gonna loose always 101% as my basketball coach always said, for now I am just building experience, when the time for me to me comes it will be a long time
 
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You should not worry about whether you win or lose with these players. All three players in the videos have more experience. The little kid, in some ways, he is the best player in all the videos. The girl is older and more experienced. But the kid has more solid attacking shots from both wings. If that kid lost to your opponent in the first match, it was probably not the usual result. The girl just serves you off the table. Don't worry about that. At some point you will know how to return those serves.

Some positive things: you have a great attitude and don't seem to let it get to you when you make mistakes like missing a serve. Keep this. It is a great attribute.

You do come up with a few really nice shots. Several good BHs a few nice FHs.

What you need to work on:

This is really the main thing worth mentioning in my opinion. You need to learn to make spin contact and spin everything. Most of your contacts are fairly flat. On serves, on pushes and on attacking shots, you are not making true spin contact. As a result, your attacking shots are very low, and close to the net. Also as a result, if you are a little too high, your shots go long and if you are a little too low they clip the net or go into the net.

You need to learn to generate enough spin so that your ball can pass 10-50cm over the net and arc onto the other side. Watch the little kid. Notice how his ball is aimed a little up and it curves down to the table. You need to do that.

These next things are not so important but it is worth addressing them sooner rather than later.

1) You are tall. Your arm is long. Why do you spend so much time in the middle of the table taking the ball with your BH? Learn to cover 2/3 of the table with your FH. You will still be able to use your BH effectively. But you rarely get to use your FH because of how you position yourself.

2) a) Pretty much all of your serves are technically not legal. When you serve, the ball is supposed to be flat in your palm with your fingers spread and not touching your fingers. You are holding the ball with your fingers.

b) You are supposed to have a moment when the ball is completely still and you are presenting the ball to your opponent. Your hand never stops moving before you serve.

c) Sometimes, during your toss you drop your hand, and the ball below the table taking the ball out of the site of your opponent. This is also against the rules. You have to keep the ball higher than the playing surface.

d) You miss way too many serves. Missing more than 1 every 20-30 games is okay. Missing 4+ every game means you need to practice serving a lot until you miss fewer serves.

Those are all easy to fix. At your level, it does not really matter. But, as you get to higher levels, those things will start being used against you by your opponents (mind games) and will also start being called against you. None of them really matter in the large scope of things. But they will cause you some grief when someone starts calling you on them. So I would fix them now. Easy to fix.

cache.php


That is Ma Long, set and paused before serving. Note, his forearm is resting on the table and his palm is behind the end line. This ensures 1) that the ball cannot go below the table, 2) that there is a pause where the ball is still, 3) that he is low before serving, and 4) that the ball stays behind the line before serving.

That may not be how you should do it since you are tall. But if you watch the opponent in the first video, he does this.
carl, I dont know if it is a tall player issue but most of my hit are in the bh, is this because more of my placement or just a tall guy tendency?
 
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carl, I dont know if it is a tall player issue but most of my hit are in the bh, is this because more of my placement or just a tall guy tendency?

That you might not want to get as low as Ma Long in preparation for your serve might have to do with your height.

However, that you stand in the center of the table and don't use your FH really has nothing to do with your height. And in fact, your height SHOULD allow you to stand further towards the BH side and cover more of the table with your FH because you are tall and have long arms. That you stand in the middle of the table and are not so comfortable turning open for your FH probably has to do with what you are and are not comfortable with: comfortable with BH and not comfortable using FH.

For that, perhaps you need to work on the transition from BH to FH.
 
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Little update- Today I trained with my new racket that was from my sister stiga artic wood-fh rxton1 and focus 3 snipe on bh, the most noticeable different I can tell from my original paddle was the bh loops and drive, the sponge is very thin so spinning with it is weird and hitting drives I could feel the wood at every shot, when hitting fh drives I feel a bit more control, but cant tell the difference with looping. Also coach said to change my fh rubber as it is very hard and it tends to go down to the net, what do you think? I have a xiom vega pro at my dispose should I change to that rubber for fh?
My coach also say my movements are too big/wide its like i am playing baseball, he say do keep the strokes compact and release the power in a instant, so the chance of error are minor, and I can recover faster.

Pretty much everything your coach says is spot on. You should trust the coach, which sounds obvious but not as such. (1) it gives you the focus you need, rather than wandering your mind around random things. (2) if you show the coach that you are trying hard to take what he/she gives, it’s much easier for him/her to tell you. It’s human thing.

Regarding the compact swing. Even Ma Long has a much shorter swing than yours :cool: Since your technique is not there, it’s hard for you to see. A large part of the large swing is made by a huge body rotation. If you don’t look carefully, you think it’s a big arm whacking like you and almost all beginners, me in the past included, do. There are too many things to explain in details. That’s why it’s easier to find a coach you can trust and then trust him.
 
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Another way to absorb the mechanics of a stroke is to watch your “heroes” in slow motion, but focus on individual joints to see how they go in a stroke, AFTER you listen to people telling you about it. Your brain copies more easily if you watch enough. It helps me a lot. But unfortunately I learnt that this doesn’t work for everybody. Different people learn different ways.
 
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That you might not want to get as low as Ma Long in preparation for your serve might have to do with your height.

However, that you stand in the center of the table and don't use your FH really has nothing to do with your height. And in fact, your height SHOULD allow you to stand further towards the BH side and cover more of the table with your FH because you are tall and have long arms. That you stand in the middle of the table and are not so comfortable turning open for your FH probably has to do with what you are and are not comfortable with: comfortable with BH and not comfortable using FH.

For that, perhaps you need to work on the transition from BH to FH.

So which type of position should I use for serving, I just copy the one that most pro uses, and where should I exactly be after the serve, do my left leg leave the table corner? A arm of distance...
Sorry for asking so many questions hehe
And a tip I got from my coach that might help some people, bend you leg a little when contacting the ball and make your center of gravity low for the instant for the ball to go short(height of the net), not short in term of the table.
 
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Another way to absorb the mechanics of a stroke is to watch your “heroes” in slow motion, but focus on individual joints to see how they go in a stroke, AFTER you listen to people telling you about it. Your brain copies more easily if you watch enough. It helps me a lot. But unfortunately I learnt that this doesn’t work for everybody. Different people learn different ways.

What if my hero is a chopper or a very short guy, just kidding.:eek:
 
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Pretty much everything your coach says is spot on. You should trust the coach, which sounds obvious but not as such. (1) it gives you the focus you need, rather than wandering your mind around random things. (2) if you show the coach that you are trying hard to take what he/she gives, it’s much easier for him/her to tell you. It’s human thing.

Regarding the compact swing. Even Ma Long has a much shorter swing than yours :cool: Since your technique is not there, it’s hard for you to see. A large part of the large swing is made by a huge body rotation. If you don’t look carefully, you think it’s a big arm whacking like you and almost all beginners, me in the past included, do. There are too many things to explain in details. That’s why it’s easier to find a coach you can trust and then trust him.
In a hypothetical situation if I keep the movement very big but use the right professional level techinique would my fh be more powerful than malong's?
 
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I changed the rxton for a xiom vega pro that I had here in dispose, should I keep it or go for a more begginer rubber
Go for a cheap rubber such as Yinhe Mercury 2, Kokutaku 868 or Loki RXTON I.

I like testing all the stuff from AliExpress and a couple of months ago felt that my allwood cPen DHS W312 was too heavy and wanted again(had a carbon blade in the past) something fast because I was starting to gain consistency.

So I went for a Yinhe T11+ balsa carbon, very light and fast. The results weren't so convincing, one day I was playing at my highest level, another day I was struggling to put the ball on the table. The most important was that I wasn't able to control my shots so when I was in a bad form I was making the net crying without any mercy then I was hitting very weak, so easy job for my opponents: 3/4 of their points were my gifts, the rest were slow and high returns due to lack of control/confidence, so easy job to finish the ball for them.

So I decided to switch again, this time to a junk racket (less than 10USD), using a Boer blade + a pair of Kokutaku 868 which I was using for playing outdoors.

I also started training my footwork and hand&body coordination, making "air loops" at least 20 minutes everyday in my bedroom and I am getting more power and consistency, but there's still a lot to work, so at least a couple of months I won't change back my setup. I'm planning to switch the rubbers, so I'm gonna put the Neo 3 + Palio Ak47 Red on the Boer allwood blade and play at least two months with that setup, then finally go back to the balsa carbon setup.

Kokutaku 868/Yinhe Mercury2 rubbers are spinny and a controlabile speed, they force you to develop your technique and swing to obtain power in your shots, their apparently lack of speed is even better for your backhand shots, you'll gain consistency and confidence in executing flicks with great power.

I put some videos from my latest sessions using this setup, there's still a lot of place for improvement :

- https://youtu.be/HWay--pD5uw
- https://youtu.be/cAG-kDNYzeA
- https://youtu.be/kjYeURmYXK8
- https://youtu.be/gSoMEIm9PpY
- https://youtu.be/y_tq3m6q-e8

Sent from my moto g(7) power using Tapatalk
 
Practice, practice and practice.

A lot of times it’s difficult to see during a match situation and other times it’s easier...

The kids are too fast so you don’t get the time perform proper hits, I have exactly the same problem.
Also you are quite tall you need to bend your knees more. You want to hit the ball at chest level. You are almost hitting it at hip level, that’s difficult. Also with a low center of gravity your entire balance will get better. Check out Mattias Falck and Jorgen Persson two tall guys and their stance. I also noticed a lack of upper body movement on forehand strokes, that could be that game is a little too fast.

Anyway I would work on
1. The stance and footwork.
2. upper body movement for forehand strokes.

Better technique = faster game.

cheers
L-zr
 
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Practice, practice and practice.

A lot of times it’s difficult to see during a match situation and other times it’s easier...

The kids are too fast so you don’t get the time perform proper hits, I have exactly the same problem.
Also you are quite tall you need to bend your knees more. You want to hit the ball at chest level. You are almost hitting it at hip level, that’s difficult. Also with a low center of gravity your entire balance will get better. Check out Mattias Falck and Jorgen Persson two tall guys and their stance. I also noticed a lack of upper body movement on forehand strokes, that could be that game is a little too fast.

Anyway I would work on
1. The stance and footwork.
2. upper body movement for forehand strokes.

Better technique = faster game.

cheers
L-zr
Yeah I agree with the bending knee thing but I always forget during the match, and the weight transfer/upper body movement I am trying to work on it
 
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