Training/playing while alone

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Hi! I train 3 times a week 3 hours each time, so 9 hours in total. I don't have time to go to my club any more times, but sometimes I have some time while at home. I have a table but I don't have anyone to play with that is good enough. I don't have a robot either, and I can't buy one. Is there anyway I could play? Training?
 
says 2023 Certified Organ Donor
says 2023 Certified Organ Donor
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Best thing I could tell you is to practice SERVING !!

I was in a place where there was a table, but absolutely ZERO players even capable of returning a basic serve or drive, it waz HOPELESS!

I tried training people around me, but none of them were going to improve much. I ended up just practicing serves a few minutes 3-5 times a week.

At the end of the year and when I got a chance to get back to do tourneys, that serve practice resulted in a 1.5-2 level improvement in standard!

There are so many threads about serves and serving is the only thing you got complete control over in a match, so why not do 5-10 minutes a day and see how it goes! it will surely help your feel for the ball and timing, so that could carry over a little bit to other areas of your game!
 
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I used to serve 1 hour a day, 7 days a week.
Really good training - and important if you want to improve.
The top CNT players require to do the same, so i'm sure we "humans" need to too :)

Also, see if you can get a multiball feeder - like a family member
That will help you a lot too
 
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says 2023 Certified Organ Donor
says 2023 Certified Organ Donor
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Another idea is to practice your footwork. How? Let's say you do it as part of a shadow drill. You are in BH corner. You imitate doing a BH shot, you step around all the way to make a FH cross corner. You imagine it gets blocked down your FH line. You have to hop back a bit as part of your recovery, see the ball going down FH line, and make a crossover step to get to that ball and make an aggressive loop, and pounce back to middle of table as recovery. Doing 10-20 of those will wear you out.

You could also practice simply stepping ALL the way around, a common problem for even some 2000-2200 level players in USA. You do a BH shot and as part of recovery, you slide bounce swing your way all the way around ready to make a FH shot anywhere.

That drill is a very basic part of offensive TT, but it is not mastered by even many "advanced" USA players and is worthy of training by yourself if you have a table.
 
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