Daily Table Tennis Chit Chat

[blahness]

Played with a double inverted practice partner who I haven't played in a long time. His BH game has improved heaps since I saw him last. I dont think i got a lot out of going BH to BH with him as I did last time. He also read a lot of my BH spin variations during the rally which is quite impressive because my other penhold practice partner falls victim to that all the time. He also smartly avoided the sidespin serves to shut down my chiquita. A bit annoying to chiquita against heavy underspin /no spin serves, there is no sidespin for me to borrow. So I was forced to bring my push game (especially short push) to the forefront and damn I was found to be a bit lacking in that. Also he has the chiquita operational on his BH side too so I already had to go into whole table countering mode right from the serve.

Unfortunately for him, my hook serve was way too strong and I got way too many direct and indirect service points from him, so I pretty much won the match like that.

Gonna work on my pushes a lot more in the future. I've been drilling too much topspin countering drills.

 

[dingyibvs]

Played with a double inverted practice partner who I haven't played in a long time. His BH game has improved heaps since I saw him last. I dont think i got a lot out of going BH to BH with him as I did last time. He also read a lot of my BH spin variations during the rally which is quite impressive because my other penhold practice partner falls victim to that all the time. He also smartly avoided the sidespin serves to shut down my chiquita. A bit annoying to chiquita against heavy underspin /no spin serves, there is no sidespin for me to borrow. So I was forced to bring my push game (especially short push) to the forefront and damn I was found to be a bit lacking in that. Also he has the chiquita operational on his BH side too so I already had to go into whole table countering mode right from the serve.

Unfortunately for him, my hook serve was way too strong and I got way too many direct and indirect service points from him, so I pretty much won the match like that.

Gonna work on my pushes a lot more in the future. I've been drilling too much topspin countering drills.

I see the pros who BH flick a lot approach all short balls with a BH flick stance then switch to a push if they see it's not an easy one, is that what you do as well? Today when I played in the club I noticed that my stance is too low during service receives, which makes it too difficult for me to judge depth quickly. I think that's something I need to work on.

 

[blahness]

I see the pros who BH flick a lot approach all short balls with a BH flick stance then switch to a push if they see it's not an easy one, is that what you do as well? Today when I played in the club I noticed that my stance is too low during service receives, which makes it too difficult for me to judge depth quickly. I think that's something I need to work on.

Yes, i do that from time to time but I disguise it mainly with the sideswipe and some other push variations. Tbh as long as it's short or half long it's not too bad. You're right that the hardest part with chiquita is actually identifying the depth of the serve, and knowing how to defend against long serves after going in to chiquita something. There's some Lin Yun Ju tutorials on Butterfly Japan website which I learnt quite a bit from.

Also yes, too low of a stance is not so good. If you read the batsuju step thread by turbozed - a lot of the energy to kickstart the foot movement is coming from dropping your centre of gravity (which then preloads the legs and then you are free to lunge hard to wherever you want). You cannot "drop" your centre of gravity if you are already low!

 

[dingyibvs]

Yes, i do that from time to time but I disguise it mainly with the sideswipe and some other push variations. Tbh as long as it's short or half long it's not too bad. You're right that the hardest part with chiquita is actually identifying the depth of the serve, and knowing how to defend against long serves after going in to chiquita something. There's some Lin Yun Ju tutorials on Butterfly Japan website which I learnt quite a bit from.

Also yes, too low of a stance is not so good. If you read the batsuju step thread by turbozed - a lot of the energy to kickstart the foot movement is coming from dropping your centre of gravity (which then preloads the legs and then you are free to lunge hard to wherever you want). You cannot "drop" your centre of gravity if you are already low!

Yeah, I find that when I'm focused on long, I struggle to get in deep enough with my body to flick, and end up reaching with my arm which results in a weak flick. But if I watch short, then I get jammed long. Do you have a link of LJY's video?

 

[latej]

Yeah, I find that when I'm focused on long, I struggle to get in deep enough with my body to flick, and end up reaching with my arm which results in a weak flick. But if I watch short, then I get jammed long. Do you have a link of LJY's video?

Fang Bo's video on BH flick.

 

[blahness]

Yeah, I find that when I'm focused on long, I struggle to get in deep enough with my body to flick, and end up reaching with my arm which results in a weak flick. But if I watch short, then I get jammed long. Do you have a link of LJY's video?

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvjUxcGdF8P9rUBLSyVQFea7pi9n00pRJ&si=zNDwlWv3c1J2r9Xe

The real key is that you need to take 3 steps to get to the right position for the chiquita - right, left right. If you notice that the serve will be long, after the 1st step with your right foot you need to immediately go back with your left leg so that you are in position to loop it, if you need to use your FH then it's 1 more step with your right leg after that.

also you need to learn how to loop various spins in a jammed position, off the bounce because most likely you won't be able to get back into position sufficiently.

 

[ben1229]

Still have some good Young guy in NYC.

 

[SleepyMaster]

Hello everyone. Im coming back for some table tennis. I didnt play as much these days. But doing what i can. Wish all of you all the best.

Little bit of my todays training video

 

[Jslick89]

Hello everyone. Im coming back for some table tennis. I didnt play as much these days. But doing what i can. Wish all of you all the best.

Little bit of my todays training video

looking good buddy! welcome back.

 

[SleepyMaster]

looking good buddy! welcome back.

Thank you😌 got a lot of work to do, but I need to get my training schedule right, to avoiding burning myself out. Luckily I didn’t have so much free time now, just trusting the process and having fun 👯‍♂️

 

[dingyibvs]

Haven't had too much practice time the past couple of weeks, but I've been working on my BH drive timing as directed by @Der_Echte. I still have a habit of hitting the ball too early when trying to drive, so for every shot I'm telling myself to watch the ball and wait.

I think this is a common issue for adults because most of us start playing and get into the game before seeking teaching/coaching. This is unlike kids who often start right away with coaching and learning BH counters as they're directed to play by their parents. So for adults, we often learn to block well before we learn to loop, and blocking requires taking the ball relatively early, way in front of the body.

 

[NextLevel]

Haven't had too much practice time the past couple of weeks, but I've been working on my BH drive timing as directed by @Der_Echte. I still have a habit of hitting the ball too early when trying to drive, so for every shot I'm telling myself to watch the ball and wait.

I think this is a common issue for adults because most of us start playing and get into the game before seeking teaching/coaching. This is unlike kids who often start right away with coaching and learning BH counters as they're directed to play by their parents. So for adults, we often learn to block well before we learn to loop, and blocking requires taking the ball relatively early, way in front of the body.

Elbow positioning is 95% of this, but I don't remember you blocking weird. If you have the right arm structure, everything tends to work out whether you take the ball early or late. But the arm structure and elbow need to be in the right place.

 

[kindof99]

Haven't had too much practice time the past couple of weeks, but I've been working on my BH drive timing as directed by @Der_Echte. I still have a habit of hitting the ball too early when trying to drive, so for every shot I'm telling myself to watch the ball and wait.

I think this is a common issue for adults because most of us start playing and get into the game before seeking teaching/coaching. This is unlike kids who often start right away with coaching and learning BH counters as they're directed to play by their parents. So for adults, we often learn to block well before we learn to loop, and blocking requires taking the ball relatively early, way in front of the body.

The key for good timing on backhand is to not backswing too early. QSB talked about this quite a lot. Backswing until the ball bounce on your side of table. And backswing with body, not by hand alone.

 

[Jslick89]

Thank you😌 got a lot of work to do, but I need to get my training schedule right, to avoiding burning myself out. Luckily I didn’t have so much free time now, just trusting the process and having fun 👯‍♂️

always work to do! I wish i could play more but i've been hosting my inlaws from south america. also working about 50 hours a week. Doesn't leave too much time for TT unfortunately.

 

[dingyibvs]

Elbow positioning is 95% of this, but I don't remember you blocking weird. If you have the right arm structure, everything tends to work out whether you take the ball early or late. But the arm structure and elbow need to be in the right place.

Yeah that's one way to look at it. It's not so much about where to take the ball, per se, it's that if you're at a standard distance from the table and you want to take the ball early as a block, it necessitates you to reach for the ball. It's the reaching that's the issue, and it stems from the instinct to take the ball early while not being in position to do so.

For the elbow positioning, everything is connected. If you're reaching for the ball, your elbow is not gonna be in the right position. You're not always gonna be in position regardless, of course, so you can't always drive the ball with a lot of power. For me, I need to learn when I'm actually in position to do so, how to get into position more often, and to take advantage of it when everything is aligned.

 

[blahness]

Haven't had too much practice time the past couple of weeks, but I've been working on my BH drive timing as directed by @Der_Echte. I still have a habit of hitting the ball too early when trying to drive, so for every shot I'm telling myself to watch the ball and wait.

I think this is a common issue for adults because most of us start playing and get into the game before seeking teaching/coaching. This is unlike kids who often start right away with coaching and learning BH counters as they're directed to play by their parents. So for adults, we often learn to block well before we learn to loop, and blocking requires taking the ball relatively early, way in front of the body.

Imo positioning is more important than timing. With BH if the incoming ball is too fast you do have to take it early. If it's slow you have to wait for it to come to you. And you have to move into position quite fast with the single step lunges (this part is the most complicated - if it's too much to the left or deep you have to lunge with left leg, if it's short or too much to the right you have to lunge with right leg to make room)

 

[Der_Echte]

Yes, positioning, stance, how you set leverage, the biomechanics of how you strike, WHERE in hte strike zone you strike and hand grip are uber important.

The BH hit is using lower arm and it is like opening a door to the outside... imagine you are striking a soccer ball with that door... you strike it very late in the swing... the door is almost entirely open and you end up hitting the ball 90 degrees to the right... you strike it with door open 30 degrees and you pounded it cross court (assuming you in BH corner) you move your door hinges forward (like when you stick elbow out in front and hit the ball with 30 degrees open... now you pounding it to opponent FH line short side.

This is the kind of thing @dingyibvs is discussing... how much to open the door given all other things stable (after setting elbow in front and getting leverage with a crouch and bow forward.

 

[SleepyMaster]

Have working today on Amicus Prime, doing multiball drills, and i kinda like it tbh. Last time i have tried a robot i had zero understanding what im doing and zero technique also, so it was kinda useless, my topspin only got worse - so i stopped. Had some games after - the feeling on the ball after session with a robot is def very good =)

And i have a short video with me drilling

 

[NextLevel]

Yeah that's one way to look at it. It's not so much about where to take the ball, per se, it's that if you're at a standard distance from the table and you want to take the ball early as a block, it necessitates you to reach for the ball. It's the reaching that's the issue, and it stems from the instinct to take the ball early while not being in position to do so.

For the elbow positioning, everything is connected. If you're reaching for the ball, your elbow is not gonna be in the right position. You're not always gonna be in position regardless, of course, so you can't always drive the ball with a lot of power. For me, I need to learn when I'm actually in position to do so, how to get into position more often, and to take advantage of it when everything is aligned.

The devil is always in the details, but the issue is probably more with taking the ball early, but there is nothing wrong with extending as long as you don't break the arm structure. It's more of a feeling though the elbow is stable with it.

Also thr ability to fish and loop and block, especially the first two, mean you don't have to take the ball early all the time once you develop a good stroke. While it might be optimal to take the ball early, it is reasonable to let the ball come into a position you can spin from even if it is late.

 

[TritOnil189]

Tennis is the only sport i play with that much joy