Video Footage Safe Thread

says Spin and more spin.
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Inter-club friendly today. Actual game-play starts at 3mins mark. My opponent is an academy trained twenty-something player. Due to to many players and time constraint, the Captain from the two clubs decided to play best of 3 match. He is not that consistent himself probably he is now in university and not under the program anymore.

I didn't played to the best of my ability today. I found myself probably intimidated by his serves and that messes up my confidence and rhythm. Not one of my best match I must say.
Gozo, this is just a comment on camera angle.

If it is two right handed people playing, you do not want to position the camera behind the BH corner of the table because then, most of what you see is the back of the person directly in front of the camera.

What you want to do is place the camera in a similar position behind the FH corner of the table. That way you can see almost everything from both players.

If there are two lefties, where you put the camera would be good. If it was one righty and one lefty, where you put the camera would be good when the left handed player was on the side of the table with the camera because that side would be his FH corner. When the right handed player was on the side with the camera, you would ideally want to move the camera to the other corner which would be the FH corner for the right handed player.

 
says Spin and more spin.
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We've all battled with it in various ways, trust me, I have seen quite a few posters on this thread in the US on their bad days.

I just want to express my gratitude for being able to have you participate in this thread. I really appreciate getting to read how you explain things to people.

 
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Cut out this stupid angry at myself shit right now. It is not helpful, it is really super destructive.

So you met someone with serves you have not practiced against and you didn't know what to do. Of course not.

All you can take away from this is that it will be good at some point to gain more exposure to reverse serves. Be happy you played the match and started on this process. You did nothing wrong in your preparation, your effort, nothing to be upset about.

If we want to play sport we have to accept losing without anger. Anger will only lead to fear.

Anger and fear lead only to the DARK SIDE😄

 
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It is certainly a game that humbles - I can be building up some self belief and feeling confident about my play and improvements and then go to club night and lose to players I really should be beating purely because they push a lot or play a style that causes me problems - it drives me nuts sometimes!

it’s a conundrum but I love the challenge it presents.

I will give you some food for thought and some hope though it is probably a few years away. All things being equal, the topspin stroke (forehand and backhand) is the solution to your problem. It allows you to attack any long ball and even some high over the table balls, as long as you read the spin and adjust your swing to it. Obviously this doesnt happen overnight. But it happens after you learn to play with more and more spin. No not more speed or power, spin (they aren't unrelated but you can't hit a ball with both speed and high levels of spin for the same stroke speed . As your spin quality improves, you just spin to the players who aren't used to that level of spin and then thr points become shorter. To be fair with the new balls, it is harder to overwhelm opponents with pure spin but it is easier to remain consistent with spin. But high levels of spin overwhelm players who are at a level where they dont usually see that level of spin often because the ball trajectories and movements are just alien. I serve to complete beginners and they struggle to touch the ball.

The biggest mistake beginners make when learning to topspin is that they think the topspin is one or two types of strokes suitable for specific kinds of balls (against block and backspin) not realizing that the topspins can be played against *any* ball, it is the trajectory and contact of the stroke that has to be adjusted for the incoming spin. So once you learn to topspin, you can topspin any long ball, you just have to practice adjusting to different kinds of balls.by reading the spin and figuring the right swing plane and racket angle for the ball.

Many players can only topspin against topspin players but that is because they only practice looping against topspin players and not against players where they have to read the ball (pips players often make you adjust your stroke to the ball because the ball doesnt behave like it does when it comes off an inverted racket). I enjoyed playing pips.players because I practiced against them so I never felt under pressure. DerEchte eats them for snacks because of his serve and spin game.

It is one of the reasons that learning to loop serves is important. An under practiced skill but very important once you develop a forehand topspins. In my opinion, a player with a real topspin stroke can"t stay under 1600 USATT unless he has immense difficulty reading spin. Looping with rotation (not speed or power per se) even if the topspin is very slow is the fastest way to improve. Trying to increase the rotation and practicing making the ball rotate from different parts of the court (not move fast but arc and rotate, even if you have to feed yourself by tossing the ball or bouncing it on the floor) will teach you a lot about spin. The Magnus effect is a key part of modern TT.

Of course as you get better, better players will adjust to all this stuff and give you new problems. But you have to remember where you came from or you will pretend that you never improved lol.

 
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I will give you some food for thought and some hope though it is probably a few years away. All things being equal, the topspin stroke (forehand and backhand) is the solution to your problem. It allows you to attack any long ball and even some high over the table balls, as long as you read the spin and adjust your swing to it. Obviously this doesnt happen overnight. But it happens after you learn to play with more and more spin. No not more speed or power, spin (they aren't unrelated but you can't hit a ball with both speed and high levels of spin for the same stroke speed . As your spin quality improves, you just spin to the players who aren't used to that level of spin and then thr points become shorter. To be fair with the new balls, it is harder to overwhelm opponents with pure spin but it is easier to remain consistent with spin. But high levels of spin overwhelm players who are at a level where they dont usually see that level of spin often because the ball trajectories and movements are just alien. I serve to complete beginners and they struggle to touch the ball.

The biggest mistake beginners make when learning to topspin is that they think the topspin is one or two types of strokes suitable for specific kinds of balls (against block and backspin) not realizing that the topspins can be played against *any* ball, it is the trajectory and contact of the stroke that has to be adjusted for the incoming spin. So once you learn to topspin, you can topspin any long ball, you just have to practice adjusting to different kinds of balls.by reading the spin and figuring the right swing plane and racket angle for the ball.

Many players can only topspin against topspin players but that is because they only practice looping against topspin players and not against players where they have to read the ball (pips players often make you adjust your stroke to the ball because the ball doesnt behave like it does when it comes off an inverted racket). I enjoyed playing pips.players because I practiced against them so I never felt under pressure. DerEchte eats them for snacks because of his serve and spin game.

It is one of the reasons that learning to loop serves is important. An under practiced skill but very important once you develop a forehand topspins. In my opinion, a player with a real topspin stroke can"t stay under 1600 USATT unless he has immense difficulty reading spin. Looping with rotation (not speed or power per se) even if the topspin is very slow is the fastest way to improve. Trying to increase the rotation and practicing making the ball rotate from different parts of the court (not move fast but arc and rotate, even if you have to feed yourself by tossing the ball or bouncing it on the floor) will teach you a lot about spin. The Magnus effect is a key part of modern TT.

Of course as you get better, better players will adjust to all this stuff and give you new problems. But you have to remember where you came from or you will pretend that you never improved lol.

Thanks NL, that’s food for thought. How about shorter pushes - that’s where I get tempted into pushing back and then become involved in an unwanted push rally for which I don’t have the patience and often then attack the wrong ball and throw away the point?

This week my club agreed that all practice matches were “no push” so everything had to be be offensive - I really enjoyed the challenge and found I could use topspin more both short and long.

 

that’s where I get tempted into pushing back and then become involved in an unwanted push rally for which I don’t have the patience and often then attack the wrong ball and throw away the point
=> Wrighty, how are you?
=> I can fully identify this "unwanted push rally" back & forth; i do the same thing
=> if this is not your game, or do not wish to play many points this way ... then please consider your next push with a more compact stroke (add spin), earlier & change direction or even push back with a dead (less spin) ball as a setup
=> another thing is to open as soon as you see a higher % ball you think you can handle looping back with massive spin
=> in training session, have partner pushing return to your BH, then open 3rd or 5th ball ...
=> yah, i too need to be more decisive, decline less
=> i think if you work on your table proximity, foot-work, with a relaxed wrist & snap at contact ... etc etc after 100 ~ 200 mb balls, you will discover a new level of confidence in opening with a spinny loop off of BOTH WINGS (for me BH side is harder)
=> finally i am just a fellow plyr, not a coach, in discussion & sharing what i have tried that's working or not working for me
=> best mate 💪

 
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NDH

says Spin to win!

Thanks NL, that’s food for thought. How about shorter pushes - that’s where I get tempted into pushing back and then become involved in an unwanted push rally for which I don’t have the patience and often then attack the wrong ball and throw away the point?

This week my club agreed that all practice matches were “no push” so everything had to be be offensive - I really enjoyed the challenge and found I could use topspin more both short and long.

I imagine that was a fun exercise in practice, and probably quite a lot of short pushes!

The reality of league matches in the UK is very different, as you well know.

A few things from me on this, when you have someone settling down to push all day long.

1. Most of the time (I'd argue, 99% of the time), your opponent won't be able to push the ball short enough for very long - Likely 2/3 shots at the very most, even if you aren't giving them a tricky ball.

In cases like this, I typically get into the mindset of being ready to topspin every single ball that comes my way. Worst case scenario is that you move around to attack on your forehand, they push it a little more awkwardly than you were anticipating, and you simply push it back - An out of position push, against someone who is happy to continuing pushing, is not going to cause any issues for you.

It's also worth practicing attacking backspin shots that are falling close to the table - This is a very easy drill that your coach should have no problem helping with.

Understanding that pretty much any ball can be topspinned if it's coming off the table is the first step, and then understanding the little adjustments required is the next step - Practice and you'll have no problem.

2. Get aggressive with your pushes.

This is rarely a tactic I use, because I never really find the need, but it can be useful to change it up a bit.

Rather than a gentle push to push game, you can really jab at one to catch them off guard - It'll be fizzing if you catch it right, and whilst you'll get a ball back with more backspin, it'll almost certainly be a ball you can attack (if your attack against backspin is solid).

My tactic on this is to jab hard, and then instantly get ready to attack (get low, move around to your favourite side etc etc).

In time, even the wrong ball will be an attackable ball!

 
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I imagine that was a fun exercise in practice, and probably quite a lot of short pushes!

The reality of league matches in the UK is very different, as you well know.

A few things from me on this, when you have someone settling down to push all day long.

1. Most of the time (I'd argue, 99% of the time), your opponent won't be able to push the ball short enough for very long - Likely 2/3 shots at the very most, even if you aren't giving them a tricky ball.

In cases like this, I typically get into the mindset of being ready to topspin every single ball that comes my way. Worst case scenario is that you move around to attack on your forehand, they push it a little more awkwardly than you were anticipating, and you simply push it back - An out of position push, against someone who is happy to continuing pushing, is not going to cause any issues for you.

It's also worth practicing attacking backspin shots that are falling close to the table - This is a very easy drill that your coach should have no problem helping with.

Understanding that pretty much any ball can be topspinned if it's coming off the table is the first step, and then understanding the little adjustments required is the next step - Practice and you'll have no problem.

2. Get aggressive with your pushes.

This is rarely a tactic I use, because I never really find the need, but it can be useful to change it up a bit.

Rather than a gentle push to push game, you can really jab at one to catch them off guard - It'll be fizzing if you catch it right, and whilst you'll get a ball back with more backspin, it'll almost certainly be a ball you can attack (if your attack against backspin is solid).

My tactic on this is to jab hard, and then instantly get ready to attack (get low, move around to your favourite side etc etc).

In time, even the wrong ball will be an attackable ball!

Hi NDH - thanks for the note and thoughts.

It was a great exercise - no short pushes though as no pushes at all allowed, so everything was flick or topspin on both sides. I certainly found that my FH flick was much better and more useful than I thought it was, particularly if played down the line to their BH.

I would say that currently, any ball over the table end, I will always be planning to attack in some form - I never push a long ball back.

The issue for me is those awkward 3/4 pushes that aren't short but are likely to second bounce on table end - it's these I want to attack but tend to hesitate as it's an over the table shot and I am less consistent if they have a decent amount of backspin on them from my opponent (So need to practice I guess getting over the top of these)

I do find longer harder pushes a good tool to force an offensive rally into play and use this whenever I am looking to break a short push rally but have not found the ball to topspin yet.

 
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that’s where I get tempted into pushing back and then become involved in an unwanted push rally for which I don’t have the patience and often then attack the wrong ball and throw away the point
=> Wrighty, how are you?
=> I can fully identify this "unwanted push rally" back & forth; i do the same thing
=> if this is not your game, or do not wish to play many points this way ... then please consider your next push with a more compact stroke (add spin), earlier & change direction or even push back with a dead (less spin) ball as a setup
=> another thing is to open as soon as you see a higher % ball you think you can handle looping back with massive spin
=> in training session, have partner pushing return to your BH, then open 3rd or 5th ball ...
=> yah, i too need to be more decisive, decline less
=> i think if you work on your table proximity, foot-work, with a relaxed wrist & snap at contact ... etc etc after 100 ~ 200 mb balls, you will discover a new level of confidence in opening with a spinny loop off of BOTH WINGS (for me BH side is harder)
=> finally i am just a fellow plyr, not a coach, in discussion & sharing what i have tried that's working or not working for me
=> best mate 💪

Hey LDM7 - thanks mate, good advice there!

 
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Only managed to read thoroughly contents from 5 days ago till now.

Have to give a big thumbs up to NL with his detailed explanation.
I'm sure it took him a lot of time to type it out, where, saying it would take 10% of the time only.
So to express it so clearly in words, tons of effort is required!

Now, my feedback to Gozo.

Can definite see you have the heart and passion for the sport and to improve.

If I was your coach, I would suggest you to have 70% training and 30% matches. or even 80/20.
Matches I know are fun, as sport is about being competitive. But however, it is also the playing field where all bad habits and wrong technique comes out. You don't even need to train for them, it will just appear.

I've coached many adults players in South Africa. Due to time limitations, I mostly use multiball, and focus more on "live match" drills.
Ie from serves, to 3rd ball to 5th ball to open play or serve return, to 4th ball to 6th ball, to open.
I don't want to say technique, but I want to say my goal was to focus on the movement.
If you can't move your feet, your body will never be in position, if your body is not in position, your stroke won't be in position, if your stroke isn't in position, and you hit the ball and it goes in, it is called pure luck.

So I focus more on the movements first, and to prepare the player to be able to move around just like "match play".

Of course there are further trainings required, like serving and spinning the balls NL and a few other mentioned above.
Due to time limitation, I can't help them 1 on 1, but I give them homework. Ghost serve is a very good start to understanding the power of spin and I found that most of my adults student who can master it, they would add up knowing how to contact the ball for other kinds of spin and overall, after a while, the quality does become better.

Serve is not only about spin, but about placement, and the hard or soft contact. It is also a mind game, and to trick your opponent.
But then, once you serve, you need to be ready for the next shot, up to a stage where your next move is even premeditated.
For example, if you are serving to expect the ball to come up high, you need to be ready to move into position for a FH shot. If you going to chop the ball back, or give a week return, then you haven't thought of it properly.

I think with training, it is easier to get the above on and correct. But in matches, it doesn't appear so quickly.
I would say, that is because of not enough training, not enough time of training, and maybe too much matches.

And then, when you do your matches, is to go by what your train.
I tell my students - its okay to loose, its okay to hit the ball off. As long as you are doing what you trained, and you are playing base on your game plan, your strategy.
Execution quality comes with playing level, and with more training, that quality will come. But if you rely on luck here and presents there, and you have no idea how you win the points, then it is just too random and out of control for my liking.
So, I rather see they loose, but I can see the movement is correct.
Rather see they loose, but trying out things we did in practice, etc.

Imo, it is pointless you win, where the quality of win is not there at all.

 
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Only managed to read thoroughly contents from 5 days ago till now.Have to give a big thumbs up to NL with his detailed explanation.I'm sure it took him a lot of time to type it out, where, saying it would take 10% of the time only.So to express it so clearly in words, tons of effort is required!Now, my feedback to Gozo.Can definite see you have the heart and passion for the sport and to improve.If I was your coach, I would suggest you to have 70% training and 30% matches. or even 80/20.Matches I know are fun, as sport is about being competitive. But however, it is also the playing field where all bad habits and wrong technique comes out. You don't even need to train for them, it will just appear.I've coached many adults players in South Africa. Due to time limitations, I mostly use multiball, and focus more on "live match" drills.Ie from serves, to 3rd ball to 5th ball to open play or serve return, to 4th ball to 6th ball, to open.I don't want to say technique, but I want to say my goal was to focus on the movement.If you can't move your feet, your body will never be in position, if your body is not in position, your stroke won't be in position, if your stroke isn't in position, and you hit the ball and it goes in, it is called pure luck.So I focus more on the movements first, and to prepare the player to be able to move around just like "match play".Of course there are further trainings required, like serving and spinning the balls NL and a few other mentioned above.Due to time limitation, I can't help them 1 on 1, but I give them homework. Ghost serve is a very good start to understanding the power of spin and I found that most of my adults student who can master it, they would add up knowing how to contact the ball for other kinds of spin and overall, after a while, the quality does become better.Serve is not only about spin, but about placement, and the hard or soft contact. It is also a mind game, and to trick your opponent.But then, once you serve, you need to be ready for the next shot, up to a stage where your next move is even premeditated.For example, if you are serving to expect the ball to come up high, you need to be ready to move into position for a FH shot. If you going to chop the ball back, or give a week return, then you haven't thought of it properly.I think with training, it is easier to get the above on and correct. But in matches, it doesn't appear so quickly.I would say, that is because of not enough training, not enough time of training, and maybe too much matches.And then, when you do your matches, is to go by what your train.I tell my students - its okay to loose, its okay to hit the ball off. As long as you are doing what you trained, and you are playing base on your game plan, your strategy.Execution quality comes with playing level, and with more training, that quality will come. But if you rely on luck here and presents there, and you have no idea how you win the points, then it is just too random and out of control for my liking.So, I rather see they loose, but I can see the movement is correct.Rather see they loose, but trying out things we did in practice, etc.Imo, it is pointless you win, where the quality of win is not there at all.

Tony,

I am only as passionate as I can be due to the fact I have a group of like minded individuals around me ( my club-mates ) whom also share the same passion. If I am alone in this, I would have quit a long time ago. Comrade in arms are very important to keep the passion alive.

We laughed at our silly mistakes, we goad each other to do better, we tease each other when we are doing too well or too poorly. We have a meal together after practice; sometimes loser buys winner dinner.
sate%20jpg.jpeg

USD 3.00
nasi%20lemak%20jpg.jpeg

USD 2.00
And we go to competition together.

 
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Tony,

I am only as passionate as I can be due to the fact I have a group of like minded individuals around me ( my club-mates ) whom also share the same passion. If I am alone in this, I would have quit a long time ago. Comrade in arms are very important to keep the passion alive.

We laughed at our silly mistakes, we goad each other to do better, we tease each other when we are doing too well or too poorly. We have a meal together after practice; sometimes loser buys winner dinner.
sate%20jpg.jpeg

USD 3.00
nasi%20lemak%20jpg.jpeg

USD 2.00
And we go to competition together.

The Korean TT scene must be fun, DerEchte likes to carry these practices with him till this day.

 
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Hey LDM7 - thanks mate, good advice there!

You got good advice from everyone. The tight short game is really a high level thing. No one pushes short at the levels you play at. Or serves short and tight. Doing so is really hard. Even top players struggle to keep the ball short consistently. I have watched matches on ittf where a lower ranked player is struggling to serve the ball short enough to keep the better player from attacking his serve.

What is more likely is that there are balls you feel uncomfortable attacking. My only answer here is a combination of practice, risk-management and self awareness. As long as you remain aware that many balls you think are short are really long if you let them come off the table, the real question is whether you trust your opponent or not.

Most people decided to push early well in advance of letting the ball come long. A top coach told me that a truly short ball is easy to push short if you are not late to it. If you are repeatedly making mistakes keeping balls short when you are there early, the ball is really a long ball.

Pushing takes far less effort than looping though. That's the real rub. Sometimes you just have to push to give yourself time to prepare for the next ball. But if your opponent is putting you under pressure when you push back, it forces you to take more risk and attack first.

 
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I think players underestimate the value of those long push rallies as beginners. If I had it to do over again I would play those out until I could dominate anyone at my level with only quality long pushes. Instead I learned to topspin like everyone does, and balls started getting blocked out until I didn't need to play pushers any more in competition. That was emotionally very satisfying, and great for my rating. But thinking of long-term development, it stunted my learning to push properly, which I now have to go back and study ten years on. And possibly of more concern to you, it also warped the development of my forehand loop technique.

I feel like zero truly high-level players skipped over the ability to push long aggressively and with placement and variety. But we only see the finished product on WTT streams, so many amateurs go straight on to short pushes and flicks, and we never learn a proper long push. Nowadays you do see pros pushing long fairly often because they counterattack so easily and well. But to do that your push had better be pretty special. As a final inducement, there are few better ways to totally crush an opponent's spirit than to constantly feed him long balls that he cannot successfully open against. I know I hate that when people do it to me.
 
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I think players underestimate the value of those long push rallies as beginners. If I had it to do over again I would play those out until I could dominate anyone at my level with only quality long pushes. Instead I learned to topspin like everyone does, and balls started getting blocked out until I didn't need to play pushers any more in competition. That was emotionally very satisfying, and great for my rating. But thinking of long-term development, it stunted my learning to push properly, which I now have to go back and study ten years on. And possibly of more concern to you, it also warped the development of my forehand loop technique.

I feel like zero truly high-level players skipped over the ability to push long aggressively and with placement and variety. But we only see the finished product on WTT streams, so many amateurs go straight on to short pushes and flicks, and we never learn a proper long push. Nowadays you do see pros pushing long fairly often because they counterattack so easily and well. But to do that your push had better be pretty special. As a final inducement, there are few better ways to totally crush an opponent's spirit than to constantly feed him long balls that he cannot successfully open against. I know I hate that when people do it to me.

Nah, you are overvaluing those push rallies. Those push rallies have very little to do with high level pushing. Moat high level deceptive pushing comes in the short or half long game. A proper long push is played off a short ball. The only time you arguably have some justification for practicing long pushing is against choppers and that is a very different dynamic. In some rare cases, you may also want your opponent to open first esp you can block him around. But that assumes a lot of stuff that has little to do with high level pushing.

In fact if it was not so hard to push a long ball short, it would be a practiced skill.

 
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You got good advice from everyone. The tight short game is really a high level thing. No one pushes short at the levels you play at. Or serves short and tight. Doing so is really hard. Even top players struggle to keep the ball short consistently. I have watched matches on ittf where a lower ranked player is struggling to serve the ball short enough to keep the better player from attacking his serve.

What is more likely is that there are balls you feel uncomfortable attacking. My only answer here is a combination of practice, risk-management and self awareness. As long as you remain aware that many balls you think are short are really long if you let them come off the table, the real question is whether you trust your opponent or not.

Most people decided to push early well in advance of letting the ball come long. A top coach told me that a truly short ball is easy to push short if you are not late to it. If you are repeatedly making mistakes keeping balls short when you are there early, the ball is really a long ball.

Pushing takes far less effort than looping though. That's the real rub. Sometimes you just have to push to give yourself time to prepare for the next ball. But if your opponent is putting you under pressure when you push back, it forces you to take more risk and attack first.

This makes sense - I am sure that I don't receive many truly short balls. My real question though is that surely I should be attacking these longer short/mid balls over the table rather than waiting for them to come over the end?

My coach is all over taking balls earlier and giving opponents less time - could I not flick or lift the open up over the table?

 
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Really great posts here, very inspiring to read.

I thought I’d share one video from a bit over a month ago and one from around a year and a half ago:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZ0SGaYBq3E (older video)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwCQNBP5xlc (newer video)

I know that I’ve had some changes in perspective on technique between these, but that was more so for the FH. I feel less explosive now, don’t know if that is partly due to injury or because of other changes as well. But I do feel like I have more control and that I don’t use as much effort in each shot. Maybe to compensate for the injury as well.

I feel like I used to hit bigger winners and that may have caused some distortion. I think I have better match results in training now and the latter half of the season. I've been told I've improved. Yet being told that plus the results, I still find it hard to believe. But this just goes to show again that if we just manage to hit a few big shots in a match that can really skew how we evaluate our performance. Or if we have some spectacular points etc.

I've been using my acoustic the last few sessions and as expected the results are pretty much the same. Though I do play safer with the acoustic, it gives me more time etc. So it's possible I'll stick to it. But it doesn't have the block stability of my TB ALC or the wow factor when I loop harder or counterloop. Still, it gets the job done. Maybe that will persuade some players to also be ok with using an allwood blade. You'll probably get more reps in with it compared to an outer ALC blade which will help improvement in the long run. NL, Der_Echte and others have been hammering in the importance of spin and we know that it's easier to spin with an allwood blade.. so especially at the lower levels, if you want to win a little easier I suggest using allwood.

Curious to hear anyone's thoughts and if they are or are not consistent with mine. I don't mind receiving thoughts and comments from other than those in the list.

 
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This makes sense - I am sure that I don't receive many truly short balls. My real question though is that surely I should be attacking these longer short/mid balls over the table rather than waiting for them to come over the end?

My coach is all over taking balls earlier and giving opponents less time - could I not flick or lift the open up over the table?

The danger with being too aggressive over the table is being stuck over the table (or even out of position) when the ball comes back. So it becomes a balance between whether the approach is winning points or losing points in a real match, but hopefully having built the skill in practice..

Taking balls earlier is beautiful, but it also has its disadvantages, though to me, they are preferable to running around to loop, but some other players who are much better players than myself may feel differently. We aren't going to be world class players, ultimately, enjoy the learning process and you will get good at some things and not so good at others and work on how to fix or change some things over time. And even something you do that wins points against players you regularly face at one time becomes a liability when you keep trying it but it doesn't work against different players at another point in time, usually after you have moved up a couple of levels.

But it's never all about the results, if it is, your brain will always reset and get greedier when you improve. It is inevitable. So it is always important to have good markers of progress.

 
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Really great posts here, very inspiring to read.

I thought I’d share one video from a bit over a month ago and one from around a year and a half ago:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZ0SGaYBq3E (older video)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwCQNBP5xlc (newer video)

I know that I’ve had some changes in perspective on technique between these, but that was more so for the FH. I feel less explosive now, don’t know if that is partly due to injury or because of other changes as well. But I do feel like I have more control and that I don’t use as much effort in each shot. Maybe to compensate for the injury as well.

I feel like I used to hit bigger winners and that may have caused some distortion. I think I have better match results in training now and the latter half of the season. I've been told I've improved. Yet being told that plus the results, I still find it hard to believe. But this just goes to show again that if we just manage to hit a few big shots in a match that can really skew how we evaluate our performance. Or if we have some spectacular points etc.

I've been using my acoustic the last few sessions and as expected the results are pretty much the same. Though I do play safer with the acoustic, it gives me more time etc. So it's possible I'll stick to it. But it doesn't have the block stability of my TB ALC or the wow factor when I loop harder or counterloop. Still, it gets the job done. Maybe that will persuade some players to also be ok with using an allwood blade. You'll probably get more reps in with it compared to an outer ALC blade which will help improvement in the long run. NL, Der_Echte and others have been hammering in the importance of spin and we know that it's easier to spin with an allwood blade.. so especially at the lower levels, if you want to win a little easier I suggest using allwood.

Curious to hear anyone's thoughts and if they are or are not consistent with mine. I don't mind receiving thoughts and comments from other than those in the list.

It is definitely easier to spin with a slower(less stiff) blade, but spin is not everything, especially at your level, where the time that an opponent has to respond is very critical since they usually can handle the spin. I personally was beginning to use a Mazunov when I stopped playing (fastest all wood looping blade out there) and I loved the results I was getting but never got a chance to compete with it. That said, a lot of this is less about training and more about competition results tied to training. In training, a lot of subconscious cues are far more familiar and even the training hall is more familiar so you can get good/similar results in training when you change blades but in competition, the tradeoffs around how you win points may be different. When you play in unfamiliar circumstances with different opponents, the tradeoffs become clearer because you can't pick and choose the weaknesses you are adjusting to on demand. Of course, the contributions are subtle and small, but IMHO, the more you train, the faster the blade you can reasonably use because the biggest issue with using faster blades is the timing demands. Also if you use your technique to generate more power/spin, then your blade should be relatively slower. And finally, if you use tacky rubber, your blade should be relatively faster. But these are all rules that can be violated by specific players experiences and circumstances. As long as you enjoy using what you are using for the time/period you are using it, nothing to complain about. But if your rubbers change substantially or your approach to winning points changes for physical reasons, definitely a reasonable time to look at your equipment and see whether it is working for your style.

BTW, all things being equal, the rotation on the balls in the second/newer video is definitely better to my eye.

 
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