Carl, I get your point. The pointers I got on my last video were helpful indeed, and I'm sure my serve would improve as well if I got it out there.
However most of the discussion regarding the last video, while helpful, was depressing. I'm sure you remember the remarks on just how bad I was compared to how people had expected me to improve.
I've established far too high expectations that I can't meet, and I don't feel like being told I'm a liar because I haven't shown any proof and that I'm an even worse liar because reality doesn't match the hype.
Now, I know that you know just about exactly how bad my serves and my game are even if you can't see them and you just want to help me improve. At least, I hope so. So I have some will to go out there and get shat on so my game can improve. However it's slightly disheartening at times.
Here is the thing Archo, I can remember having that feeling, day by day of how I made great improvements. I also know, looking back, over years, how slow the real process of improvement and development is. How much work it really can take. And how, it is so much more about certain things that just take time on the table and also time in general because your brain needs to wrap itself around those specific things. Things that seem invisible, that you just can't see or understand, slowly, over time, your brain begins to discern and register these shades of difference and you start to understand them without even realizing how it happened.
But the thing is, in arguing your position about why you think all traditional penholders probably have trouble with reverse sidespin to their BH--based on a sample of ONE--you said some things about how your serve curves noticeably to the left and a few other things.
So, to me, statements like that require some backup. Particularly when it is coming from someone with your history.
Now the last time you posted video, you had been going on for ages about how much you have improved since the first video you posted. Now, if that was all, it would be one thing. But a very short time before you posted that video you had made a long post critiquing a video of loop vs block posted by a guy whose technique was pretty solid. And you were saying things in your post to him; things like, "it's okay for a loop from a guy who is OUR LEVEL!!!!!" As though you were anywhere close to as good and as though you had ever looped as many in a row as he did in the video.
So you create this scenario by liking to talk theory and by having a tendency to present yourself as an expert.
I am confident that if you played for a few months with a real coach your level would actually skyrocket. A good coach is great for giving you meaningful reps and helping you change things you didn't even know needed changing.
And unfortunately, by hearing certain technical details like "whip mechanics" on the forum, you end up trying to talk about stuff that I fear, for you, is totally besides the point.
And when you make some odd claim like: "traditional penholders have more trouble returning reverse sidespin with their BH." Based on the fact that you know a player who plays TPBH and he has trouble with your serve. And then you say "a long, fast, reverse pendulum serve." And then you say, "it curves noticeably." Well, since it is rare for a reverse pendulum to be a real long, fast serve, and you have not really demonstrated the serving skills you have claimed to posses, then, it is kind of time to post video.
When I play someone who is my level or better, I will cycle through my serves and test if he has trouble with any of them. If he does, I make a mental note of it. It is interesting how different players will have trouble or be skilled at returning different serves. Those things change player by player.
Sent from the Subterranean Workshop by Telepathy
