Frequent topic: How to improve alone

Der_Echte said:

Saw this on another forum and it is a good time to discuss again.

We see this on the forums every now and then. There is some situation where a player is in a land (like USA) where in the area there is no proper TT club with a coach anywhere close by, so players manage to somehow meetup and play some matches and try to improve, but going it alone like that has its challenges for sure.

The question often pops up: How to improve alone

I can say this and that and that... but when you boil it all down, you still need some other player on the other end to try to practice what you are trying to improve.

In conclusion, I can say that practicing serves is the ONLY practical TT exercise one can do on his/her own to improve. Even that, one still needs some help from others to get in the right direction.

Next up would be reading TT books on basics and tactics.

After that would be making and posting vids, but even that, you need a partner near your level and that may or may not be so easy.

Learning alone can be a frustrating thing for sure.

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MaLongPower said:

I recommend shadow training before a mirror.

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BLUE said:

("before" wird nur für Zeitangaben etc. benutzt)

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UpSideDownCarl said:

I wrote this when there was only one comment on the thread. But, I fell asleep and I am too lazy to edit it to account for the fact that some of these suggestions have been posted. I am glad other people have good ideas about self practice too. I think it can be really useful.

There are a few other self practice things that are table tennis specific. There is this Waldner video where he is bouncing a ball on the ground and then looping it to develop the correct form for the stroke. I do something similar where I bounce the ball on the table and try and keep it low and then loop it. I have used that to add more of the forearm into my forehand stroke and get more of that sort of whip action or snap action that gives the ball more spin. I have also used that to learn how to keep my wrist from dropping or perhaps hooking is a better term for what my wrist used to do.

I also like to do shadow strokes with a mirror, and shadow footwork drills, like falkenberg, 3-2-1, switching from forehand to backhand as though the ball was going to the same spot, switching from forehand to backhand with a onestep to get from one side to the other. When you can do things like that and take a good shadow stroke while doing the footwork drill you will be able to move better if there is a ball there; maybe not perfect, but things like that will help you improve.

I don't like them, but, machines are better than nothing when you have nobody to hit with.

At some point you do need to be playing with a real human. But, those things could help you progress, even when don't a coach around and even if your practice partners are not so great.

The one thing that these things will not help with, is, if your technique is off, you will be ingraining the wrong techniques into your muscle memory. At some point, you need someone who knows what they are doing to help you do things with the right technique.

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