Daily Table Tennis Chit Chat

[Archosaurus]

@NextLevel

http://imgur.com/a/6YTaF

These?

These aren't loops and I can't see how I could turn them into loops. These are my failed attempts at smashes. Am I looking at the right strokes here?

 

[NextLevel]

Try to get some more core/shoulder rotation on all your forehand shots though. There is a big difference when you do it and when you don't - its obvious and easy to do it on the big shots, but on some of the smaller spin ups, it's not there and that's why they don't have the same level of power.

One way to think about it is to use your shoulder to cover the ball when playing forehands or flicks. That way, you avoid trying to play with just your hand. It's partly a footwork/balance thing, but the concept is helpful.

 

[NextLevel]

@NextLevel

http://imgur.com/a/6YTaF

These?

These aren't loops and I can't see how I could turn them into loops. These are my failed attempts at smashes. Am I looking at the right strokes here?

Yes. Use your imagination or watch some Timo Boll.

 

[Archosaurus]

Yes. Use your imagination or watch some Timo Boll.

The only thing I can think of is following through farther past the ball and brushing over it. Is that what you mean?

Ah, I think I see something.

Comparing the most similar looking shot I could find, it seems that I change the blade angle unnaturally and hit slightly into the ball, while Timo keeps going farther vertically. Is this what Carl means with blade stability?

Apart from that there doesn't appear to be anything drastic, in terms of where the bat is.

Am I on the right track in my thinking?

http://imgur.com/a/AB7go

 

[NextLevel]

The only thing I can think of is following through farther past the ball and brushing over it. Is that what you mean?

Ah, I think I see something.

Comparing the most similar looking shot I could find, it seems that I change the blade angle unnaturally and hit slightly into the ball, while Timo keeps going farther vertically. Is this what Carl means with blade stability?

Apart from that there doesn't appear to be anything drastic, in terms of where the bat is.

Am I on the right track in my thinking?

http://imgur.com/a/AB7go

Yes, you are. You could also just brush a little more even if you wanted to close the blade angle somewhat unnaturally, but that would give less spin and less of a hitting area. Spinning up round the side but while finishing on the same side and adjusting to keep the trajectory going mostly straight forward is most newly trained players play low risk fast modern topspin. Closing the paddle before contact from the back is riskier.

 

[ttmonster]

Created a separate thread to get some inputs on outdoor tables, https://www.tabletennisdaily.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?14435-Recommendation-for-an-out-door-table .... posted here to get attention from the regulars ...

 

[Shuki]

seperate note. calix 1 unused never glued, 85-86 grams. Last of my blades for sale. 80$. Retails 170 includes shipping.

 

[Archosaurus]

@NextLevel

Alright, that makes sense. I think I have somewhat of an idea what I want to practice in terms of forehand form, now.

I wasn't fully conscious of the fact that I could actually just try to brush very vertically (Or at least what feels very vertically) instead of trying to half-smash half-loop awkwardly. It doesn't seem like a very huge adjustment needs to even be made, so I will try to brush more and take a fuller stroke.

After reviewing the videos again and again, I've noticed that although my footwork has improved slightly, I still lean into the ball more than I'd want. I think next time I play, I will consciously try to take one mini-step towards the ball and see if I can take some leaning away.

 

[NextLevel]

@NextLevel

Alright, that makes sense. I think I have somewhat of an idea what I want to practice in terms of forehand form, now.

I wasn't fully conscious of the fact that I could actually just try to brush very vertically (Or at least what feels very vertically) instead of trying to half-smash half-loop awkwardly. It doesn't seem like a very huge adjustment needs to even be made, so I will try to brush more and take a fuller stroke.

After reviewing the videos again and again, I've noticed that although my footwork has improved slightly, I still lean into the ball more than I'd want. I think next time I play, I will consciously try to take one mini-step towards the ball and see if I can take some leaning away.

It's partly about footwork and adjusting to the ball correctly. But what you need to do is consistently spin. The stroke for attacking medium high balls is a bit different and is what you sometimes see me do when I straighten my arm and loop kill. But you aren't there yet. You should be trying to drive through the table with either medium paced heavy topspin (medium brush) or fast paced topspin (thick brush), all with a focus on topspin. In any case. you are better off just posting a video of looping to a steady block so that we can assess your basic technique.

 

[NextLevel]

Now here's my match footage. The match I lost (best of 7) will have to come tomorrow, huge upload time.

ps quality will increase within an hour

IMO, you are generally on a good path. There is a lot of stuff you do that I wish Boogar would take a page out of when trying to be very aggressive with your forehand. You are a backhand player so it is actually funny that Boogar who is a forehand player is not as aggressive when dealing with forehand opportunities. Most important thing would be to evaluate what you do if a ball comes to your forehand when you are in a backhand stance. That ball is the scourge of backhand players, and the footwork to deal with it is not trivial. Very often, you are caught out when that happens. But it happens to some degree to backhand players at all levels.

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

Jamming yourself on purpose makes no sense.

Do you remember when I was talking about Mark Croitoroo telling me about a coach in Europe making him do multiball drills that forced him to learn to track the ball with his feet?

Us adult or older learners tend to track the balk with our hand. To lean to adjust to ball placement.

If you have ever seen a kid who is 7-9 years old hit with a coach, they have no choice but to track the ball with their feet and move their feet to each separate ball. They are too small to shift their body and reach for a ball most of us would just shift to rather than moving our feet.

That is when the top players get that level of precision in their footwork. They had no choice when they were 5-10 years old. And therefore, the good habit of adjusting the feet, even when the feet only need to move a few inches is already ingrained in them before they are old enough to be lazy and cheat by leaning and reaching.


Sent from the Subterranean Workshop by Telepathy

 

[Archosaurus]

It's partly about footwork and adjusting to the ball correctly. But what you need to do is consistently spin. The stroke for attacking medium high balls is a bit different and is what you sometimes see me do when I straighten my arm and loop kill. But you aren't there yet. You should be trying to drive through the table with either medium paced heavy topspin (medium brush) or fast paced topspin (thick brush), all with a focus on topspin. In any case. you are better off just posting a video of looping to a steady block so that we can assess your basic technique.

I've noticed that a good topspin stroke and good positioning kind of go hand in hand.

However up to now I haven't really understood where exactly I want to be and doing what kind of stroke. Even now I don't really know: but I have more of an idea.

If I can train some of my partners to block well, I'll try it, but I'm not too sure if I can find a steady block around here.

 

[Takkyu_wa_inochi]

some of your comments feel just incorrect to me but I'm biased because I like myself. look at point 10:45, my opponent does his strongest attack, VERY little "going down" on his forehand. and the point you referenced that I made at 12:23, this is the first time I served heavy underspin the entire match I believe. making the attack easier. although it felt good at the time, looking at it in video I'm disgusted with my form. I hate the way I crossed my body.

I also want to throw in that my opponent doesn't use much spin in his attacks, serves, chops, anything really. there may be a lack of adjustment on my part for this, which sends a lot of balls higher than I'd like. My opponent wins 50% of our matches, I think he was playing poorly or working on something.

i can only judge on what I'm seeing.
10:45 your opponent indeed does a good FH. He's bending on his knees, its low enough to make a good shot. he's also shorter than you. Look at how well his (muscled) legs/ upper body rotation movement is well coordinated with his arm swing. and how is body is stable, and going into the ball.

Many times, i see you only using your arm when looping. NL says the same thing. I'm saying this has got to do with your upper body being too upstraight. You have to keep it lower and bent a little forward all the time and keep it stable. I have exactly the same tendency and get called for it all the time !


Your opponent must really be in a bad day, because if he plays all the time like in the video you should win 90% of the time. You are extremely consistent on your BH side against his ball, very few mistakes. Your FH push is not exceptional but no mistakes. I see FH drives and FH as mistakes mainly but your opponent wasn't playing in your weaknesses and kept feeding your BH. He is not consistent and makes mistakes from both sides, missed many returns and cannot put more than 3 attacks in a row on the table. Moreover, even though he has a good and stable stance, he is absolutely not moving and keeping his stance still.

 

[NextLevel]

i can only judge on what I'm seeing.
10:45 your opponent indeed does a good FH. He's bending on his knees, its low enough to make a good shot. he's also shorter than you. Look at how well his (muscled) legs/ upper body rotation movement is well coordinated with his arm swing. and how is body is stable, and going into the ball.

Many times, i see you only using your arm when looping. NL says the same thing. I'm saying this has got to do with your upper body being too upstraight. You have to keep it lower and bent a little forward all the time and keep it stable. I have exactly the same tendency and get called for it all the time !


Your opponent must really be in a bad day, because if he plays all the time like in the video you should win 90% of the time. You are extremely consistent on your BH side against his ball, very few mistakes. Your FH push is not exceptional but no mistakes. I see FH drives and FH as mistakes mainly but your opponent wasn't playing in your weaknesses and kept feeding your BH. He is not consistent and makes mistakes from both sides, missed many returns and cannot put more than 3 attacks in a row on the table. Moreover, even though he has a good and stable stance, he is absolutely not moving and keeping his stance still.

Assume you were coaching someone who started playing as an adult, maybe 3 or 4 years ago at most, possibly 2. What would you tell him? I know you can't see how long he has been playing for, so I want to see if that changes your approach to evaluating his game.

 

[Takkyu_wa_inochi]

Well first for this specific match I would congratulate him because he outplayed his opponent. But really on this match his opponent was quite weak with many errors.

Then I'd repeat what I said above... Very good BH. Good touch and spin, good opening shots able to hit flat after the bounce with confidence as well, consistent 4 or more times in a row...good body balance.

Keep the upper body lower and don't use just the arm for FH. Coordinate swing with body. Learn to pivot in one step (jump). Maybe do more footwork drills focusing BH to FH. Practise against choppers and pimples for variation

When blocking don't go back. keep your upper body as low as possible and try to get the ball at the bounce

You can't put too much critics when u see him trash his opponent. It was a good match from many point of views. But if I say everything is well it doesn't serve him so much.

But here again good job. Try to beat him even harder next time including with your FH and please show us how you do against stronger players.

 

[Takkyu_wa_inochi]

If I had something to say to shuki opponent I would tell him to move his ass cause he is not moving at all ! Serve long backspin to FH or BH or serve with sidespin on the short side of the table. Basically serve to avoid the Chiquita receives because he didn't miss any. I would try to go to play in the FH diagonal instead of the BH diagonal and would often try to block on his FH side.

Anyway if it was me if I'm dominated in the BH diagonal by shuki I would try this as well as pushing long to see how he does against backspin especially on his FH.

Lastly perhaps he could try to have his neutral stance more in the middle of the table. His stance now is one of a FH oriented player he is in front on the middle of the left rectangle

 

[NextLevel]

Well first for this specific match I would congratulate him because he outplayed his opponent. But really on this match his opponent was quite weak with many errors.

Then I'd repeat what I said above... Very good BH. Good touch and spin, good opening shots able to hit flat after the bounce with confidence as well, consistent 4 or more times in a row...good body balance.

Keep the upper body lower and don't use just the arm for FH. Coordinate swing with body. Learn to pivot in one step (jump). Maybe do more footwork drills focusing BH to FH. Practise against choppers and pimples for variation

When blocking don't go back. keep your upper body as low as possible and try to get the ball at the bounce

You can't put too much critics when u see him trash his opponent. It was a good match from many point of views. But if I say everything is well it doesn't serve him so much.

But here again good job. Try to beat him even harder next time including with your FH and please show us how you do against stronger players.

I know you get coaching but my questions to you are as follows:

1. How old were you when you started playing?
2. How many older players have you extensively coached?

 

[Shuki]

my opponent is better than this video leads us to believe. upload of next match says 35 min left where he poops on me and I play terribly myself. we pretty much swap places. We've played a couple times in the past, when he loops hard to my forehand I counter it hard so he learned not to do that. that could be his primary reason for going to my backhand in this match. but maybe he just wanted to work on his own.

 

[Shuki]

But here again good job. Try to beat him even harder next time including with your FH and please show us how you do against stronger players.

???? he's a better player than me. why try using my forehand more?? why don't you show me a video of you using your lesser quality stroke against a player that's better than you instead of doing the ones that give you a better chance. and when you ask me to try and beat him by more.... That's the most I've ever beaten him by. whether it be his lack of movement or whatever, that was the best scores I've had on him.

 

[Shuki]

post deleted because not worth making excuses for my opponent. don't like a friend looking bad.