Amateur with incredible feeling

[nicedream]

 

[hclnnkhg]

Very interesting style. Stürzebecher covers the middle very well with his BH, which is vital for him as he probably doesn't want to pivot a lot (did he even pivot once in the match?). He also does quite a lot of long serves and long pushes, letting his opponent to turn the backspin to topspin, which allows him to block and counter.
On the other hand, his opponent Toma doesn't seem to exploit his weakness or adjust the game plan sufficiently. Most shots are going to Stürzebecher's BH, which are relatively comfortable for a good blocker that doesn't like to move a lot. The wide FH is not exploited enough. Although this is entirely understandable, some players prefer to play their own best game over mixing up their shots to make it uncomfortable for their opponents.

 

[AndyK]

Big guy is super impressive with amazing touch. Thanks for sharing the video.

 

[Gozo Aruna]

+100 to the Big Guy for using real rubber and not crutch rubber.

True Men does not hide behind pimple.

 

[igorponger]

The guy in question is known for being a German semi-рrofi a while ago. Regretfully he got disease through a metabolic disorder.

 

[bachikho]

so good backhand

 

[bachikho]

The wide FH is not exploited enough. Although this is entirely understandable, some players prefer to play their own best game over mixing up their shots to make it uncomfortable for their opponents.

a lot of amateur players do this, not some

 

[Trevize84]

I'm a beginner, but it looks to me the amateur guy has super trained strokes... and great touch on top of it.

 

[d3nium]

Big guy's style is great to watch, reminds me a bit of Chris Doran from the UK

 

[Nima Abadi]

On the other hand, his opponent Toma doesn't seem to exploit his weakness or adjust the game plan sufficiently.

We have a similar player with similar style in our club who competes in Pro B league in France. He ain't this much of a man but he's big enough that every now and then, he smacks his love handles cause they get in the way of the ball and his racket .

The thing is they control the placement so well that they don't let you exploit their weakness.

Their strategy is to hold their position, it's quite simple but they've had years and years of practice with the same strategy that they've become masters in it (fear the person who practices 1 kick 10000 times).

They don't have great footwork so they immediately pick an angle (wide FH/BH) to limit your options. BH doesn't have a big range so they develop a strong BH and just want to kill the ball and not get into BH rallies (think of Sensei's BH from Pongfinity, they all have the same type of BH).

They have learned to play their FH with fully extended arm to limit their movement and it's loaded with sidespin to pin you to one corner so that they don't need to worry about you giving them the ball in an opposing angle (which would make them move). They don't give you much speed either so that you can't use it against them, it's just pure spin.

Also, because they don't move around, they work on all these weird shots like those fanning backhands (or snakes) and difficult placements so over the years they develop a really great touch.

It's a nightmare to play against them but at the same time, it's so much fun cause they play so unorthodox that it makes you laugh every time they score on you.

 

[blahness]

The biggest problem with the athletic guy is that his BH against backspin is very weak or nonexistent even. So many times the big guy just pushed long and he only pushed it back or was forced to pivot. If he had the big guy's BH he would have won for sure imo. Pivoting too much at this level means that you have to run like Ryu Seung Min to win matches...especially if the FH loopkill is not strong enough to outright kill the opponent. Strange because his FH is so strong and the basics are good, why didn't he develop a better BH....

 

[valerickk]

The fun thing is that "amateur" guy is former German youth national player. This is how he looked 9 years ago

 

[Jslick89]

The fun thing is that "amateur" guy is former German youth national player. This is how he looked 9 years ago

clearly still a talented player but damn, pretty sad how far he has let himself go. dude needs to get his weight in check so he can play table tennis for a long time.

 

[TareqPhoto]

How old is he now?

 

[d3nium]

clearly still a talented player but damn, pretty sad how far he has let himself go. dude needs to get his weight in check so he can play table tennis for a long time.

Yeah, presumably he was playing a lot of table tennis so i wonder how he managed to put on so much weight?

I guess it could be a medical condition or something.

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

So title is misleading haha
firstly he was a semi-pro or pro trained player.
Meaning, he had to do the hours.

secondly, as an Asian, we always say Europeans have such good "hand control" and feeling.
They train less than Asian, but have much better feeling/control - some what of a myth that still goes on today.
every one that goes and plays league in Europe comes back and says the same thing.

So, don't let appearance trick you.
if they have a good 10+ years of foundation, that foundation is there for life

 

[Jslick89]

Yeah, presumably he was playing a lot of table tennis so i wonder how he managed to put on so much weight?

I guess it could be a medical condition or something.

who knows but it's something that needs to be addressed ASAP. Hope he can get it fixed. One of the main reasons i switched to this sport from 15+ years of soccer is that this is a sport i'll be able to play at a (relatively) high level into my 60s. You just can't do that with any other sport that i can think of, but you have to maintain the health of the body.