Expert in a Year ( Discussion / Questions / Feedback )
- Thread starter Ben Larcombe
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Here is Sam's latest video. It's a set we played this morning when I was playing left-handed. We'd love to hear your comments on Sam's strengths and weaknesses at the moment and what we should be working on with 53 days until Sam's first tournament.
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The body is quite stiff, so it causes Sam miss alots of opportunity shot. Especially the leg/foot part, try to make it like springness whole time, like a tiny jump with heel not touch the ground most of time (but whole foot should never leave ground). Alots of return and shot would require him to do this kind of foot work, then will find it will be much more comfortable to return some of the ball.
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Yes, that is a valid point. We are working a lot on speeding up his footwork and perhaps telling him to try and keep his heels off the floor would help. Thanks!
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Nice game Sam! Your forehand is very good, considering the time you have been playing you have a good understanding getting spin and good contact on the ball. The backhand towards the end you went for more control which won you the point. During the beginning things were fairly rushed. It seemed you were quite rushed during the points, almost trying to win the rally to quickly.
Ben: I would be interested if you did a set against Sam with your left hand, and only Sam could win the point after the 5th shot he played. I think doing controlled games like this will help reduce the eager/rush. I do this with players I coach and it works well. If Sam just kept the ball on the table a bit longer with spin and control I think he would win. It was just a few unforced here and there that cost him. Do you play in the local league Sam?
Brilliant progression, I'm impressed! I love the set up you got to, who needs world class sports facilities when you can get a table in your living room/kitchen
Ben: I would be interested if you did a set against Sam with your left hand, and only Sam could win the point after the 5th shot he played. I think doing controlled games like this will help reduce the eager/rush. I do this with players I coach and it works well. If Sam just kept the ball on the table a bit longer with spin and control I think he would win. It was just a few unforced here and there that cost him. Do you play in the local league Sam?
Brilliant progression, I'm impressed! I love the set up you got to, who needs world class sports facilities when you can get a table in your living room/kitchen
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Hi there
A german tabletennis website has postet somthing about the expert in a year experiment:
http://www.mytischtennis.de/public/Buntes/5172/britisches-experiment--von-0-auf-250-in-einem-jahr
A german tabletennis website has postet somthing about the expert in a year experiment:
http://www.mytischtennis.de/public/Buntes/5172/britisches-experiment--von-0-auf-250-in-einem-jahr
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Aus der Küche unter die besten 250
I really like this title for the paragraph the site explains how you all train in the kitchen.
From the Kitchen under the top 250 hehe, great stuff.
SO MANY Germans got an opinion and like seeing stuff like this. The online jury is still very skeptical of that endstate level, but they are optimistic about achieving some very decent amature level.
I really like this title for the paragraph the site explains how you all train in the kitchen.
From the Kitchen under the top 250 hehe, great stuff.
SO MANY Germans got an opinion and like seeing stuff like this. The online jury is still very skeptical of that endstate level, but they are optimistic about achieving some very decent amature level.
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An update on the Expert in a Year challenge...
Sam played his first ranking tournament last Saturday, the Bristol Grand Prix. He entered Bands 5 and 6.
In Band 6 his first group game was against an unranked player called David O'Connell from Somerset. Sam said he was surprised by how nervous he was and lost the first end. However, he pulled himself together after the first set and went on to win the match 3-1. We were both really happy to see him win a match in a Grand Prix tournament. He played quite a clever game moving the ball around and being very consistent. This worked well against David who made quite a few mistakes himself. His second match was against Jay Ghazi-Timms, a top 100 junior from London Academy and probably one of the best players in the band (although he lost 3-0 to eventual finalist Jeff Rigby in the second round). Sam played well but Jay was simply too solid a player and beat Sam 3-0. Sam has the shots to win points against these kinds of players but at the moment he doesn't have the consistency to be able to do it 11 times in a set. It'll come though. In the first round Sam was up against a young Welsh cadet called Cade Short. Cade in #3 in Wales for cadets so he is a pretty solid player, probably similar in ability to Jay. Again, Sam lost 3-0 but we were pleased with how we played. He was by no means outclassed but just didn't quite have the consistency to win a set against a player like Cade (who made it through to the quarter finals of Band 6). At that level of play Sam is making a few too many unforced errors at the moment because his opponent is putting him under pressure with good quality shots and pushing the pace. That meant Sam was out of Band 6 and had about an hour and a half to prepare for the start of his Band 5 group.
In Band 5 Sam was in the only 4 man group, with top seed Chris Clifford, another London Academy top 100 junior. He played Chris first and lost 3-0. Chris is a really sharp player with good shots on both the forehand and backhand. Sam was able to get in first and attack in some points, and general he would win the point if that happened, but Chris was quite an experienced player and once he started attacking he very rarely let up or missed. Sam second match was against another Welsh player, Mathew Pearce, who is ranked #10 in Wales and U13 level. The match was pretty 50/50, with Sam having plenty of chances to win all of the first four ends. Unfortunately he only took two of them and it went to the fifth. In the fifth game Sam got a little too passive while Mathew came out all guns blazing. Mathew took the final set 11-2. I've attached the video of the match at the end of this message. Sam's final game was against Alan Hewitt, a player who actually had a ranking! Sam knew that is he could beat Alan he too would have a ranking, as now you only need to beat one ranked player to get yourself onto the list. Unfortunately this was probably Sam's weakest performance. I think his head dropped halfway through the game when he decided it was unlikely he was going to win. Alan was a senior player, not a kid, and was able to play clever table tennis and exploit Sam's weaknesses. He was also pretty good technically and had a good open up on his forehand. This combination proved to be too much for Sam. He has a good chance against kids you look good but don't think, and adults who think but don't look very good. However, combine the two together in a player like Alan, who has pretty decent shots and can think tactically, and Sam's in trouble, at the moment anyway.
I'd love it if a few of you guys could watch the video and give us your thoughts. As far as I'm concerned this is the best table tennis Sam has played so far, and he has been getting better each and every week, but there are still clearly quite a few things he could do with improving if he is going to start beating ranked players and winning more matches at these tournaments.
We have eight weeks to go and another six tournaments, I think, so there is still plenty of time to see Sam's game develop and improve.
Sam played his first ranking tournament last Saturday, the Bristol Grand Prix. He entered Bands 5 and 6.
In Band 6 his first group game was against an unranked player called David O'Connell from Somerset. Sam said he was surprised by how nervous he was and lost the first end. However, he pulled himself together after the first set and went on to win the match 3-1. We were both really happy to see him win a match in a Grand Prix tournament. He played quite a clever game moving the ball around and being very consistent. This worked well against David who made quite a few mistakes himself. His second match was against Jay Ghazi-Timms, a top 100 junior from London Academy and probably one of the best players in the band (although he lost 3-0 to eventual finalist Jeff Rigby in the second round). Sam played well but Jay was simply too solid a player and beat Sam 3-0. Sam has the shots to win points against these kinds of players but at the moment he doesn't have the consistency to be able to do it 11 times in a set. It'll come though. In the first round Sam was up against a young Welsh cadet called Cade Short. Cade in #3 in Wales for cadets so he is a pretty solid player, probably similar in ability to Jay. Again, Sam lost 3-0 but we were pleased with how we played. He was by no means outclassed but just didn't quite have the consistency to win a set against a player like Cade (who made it through to the quarter finals of Band 6). At that level of play Sam is making a few too many unforced errors at the moment because his opponent is putting him under pressure with good quality shots and pushing the pace. That meant Sam was out of Band 6 and had about an hour and a half to prepare for the start of his Band 5 group.
In Band 5 Sam was in the only 4 man group, with top seed Chris Clifford, another London Academy top 100 junior. He played Chris first and lost 3-0. Chris is a really sharp player with good shots on both the forehand and backhand. Sam was able to get in first and attack in some points, and general he would win the point if that happened, but Chris was quite an experienced player and once he started attacking he very rarely let up or missed. Sam second match was against another Welsh player, Mathew Pearce, who is ranked #10 in Wales and U13 level. The match was pretty 50/50, with Sam having plenty of chances to win all of the first four ends. Unfortunately he only took two of them and it went to the fifth. In the fifth game Sam got a little too passive while Mathew came out all guns blazing. Mathew took the final set 11-2. I've attached the video of the match at the end of this message. Sam's final game was against Alan Hewitt, a player who actually had a ranking! Sam knew that is he could beat Alan he too would have a ranking, as now you only need to beat one ranked player to get yourself onto the list. Unfortunately this was probably Sam's weakest performance. I think his head dropped halfway through the game when he decided it was unlikely he was going to win. Alan was a senior player, not a kid, and was able to play clever table tennis and exploit Sam's weaknesses. He was also pretty good technically and had a good open up on his forehand. This combination proved to be too much for Sam. He has a good chance against kids you look good but don't think, and adults who think but don't look very good. However, combine the two together in a player like Alan, who has pretty decent shots and can think tactically, and Sam's in trouble, at the moment anyway.
I'd love it if a few of you guys could watch the video and give us your thoughts. As far as I'm concerned this is the best table tennis Sam has played so far, and he has been getting better each and every week, but there are still clearly quite a few things he could do with improving if he is going to start beating ranked players and winning more matches at these tournaments.
We have eight weeks to go and another six tournaments, I think, so there is still plenty of time to see Sam's game develop and improve.
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I've watched a few of your videos now and I thinks it's great what your trying to do. Just got to get him to loosen up and work on recovery I think obviously u can analyse everything but I think that's what's stopping him hitting great shots consistently
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Hi Ben! It's incredible what Sam and you have managed to achieve. Even if you don't meet your goal, Sam's skill has gone up by an incredible amount. I'm pretty sure that he can beat me if he can return my tricky serves properly
I'm sure that you can do a better technical analysis than me but I'll just write down what I observed:
1.) First set was pretty good. Sam is serving a good height and length and the opponent had some problems in the first set.
2). The second set was not as good. I felt that Sam was pre-meditating returns and maybe thinking too much. I think you might need to work on his short game and pushes, especially the backhand push. The ball popped up high quite a lot of times and a better opponent would have used those opportunities. Sometimes he was trying to go for a hard topspin, while a softer and more safe topspin would have sufficed.
3). Sam seemed more relaxed in the third game. I felt that his footwork was lacking compared to his opponent. Those tiny jumps could help in restoring Sam's balance.
I think that his opponent kept getting better in the 4th and 5th sets.
I'm sure that you can do a better technical analysis than me but I'll just write down what I observed:
1.) First set was pretty good. Sam is serving a good height and length and the opponent had some problems in the first set.
2). The second set was not as good. I felt that Sam was pre-meditating returns and maybe thinking too much. I think you might need to work on his short game and pushes, especially the backhand push. The ball popped up high quite a lot of times and a better opponent would have used those opportunities. Sometimes he was trying to go for a hard topspin, while a softer and more safe topspin would have sufficed.
3). Sam seemed more relaxed in the third game. I felt that his footwork was lacking compared to his opponent. Those tiny jumps could help in restoring Sam's balance.
I think that his opponent kept getting better in the 4th and 5th sets.
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a couple of things caught my eye...
sam's forehand technique seems to be working his arm too much. try doing multiball in a way that he rests his arm in the ready position as much as possible, mainly relying on the body to generate the swing. i think this will help both his reaction time and recovery.
i really like his backhand BUT... sometimes when reacting to topspin balls his bat starts the swing too low. this is a reoccuring mistake for him: he keeps his bat around net height even when the balls are much higher than that. this leads to bad timing and an awkward stroke. try feeding him topspin multiball from around 2 meters away from the table, that way he will get used to those higher bouncing balls. specifically on the backhand, he will see that starting the stroke too low doesn't work on those shots (unless he has incredible timing), but rather keeping the arm as high as the top of the bounce and only dropping the head of the bat as preparation for a topspin shot.
and finally, sam seems to get caught up with his right leg in front too often. this is fine during short game while looking to open up the point, but after a quality opening shot sam NEEDS to get that right foot behind. this will make him automatically look for a strong forehand on the next shot while allowing him to move in position easily wherever his opponent places the ball. he does this wonderfully at 6:28 mark: a nice backhand opener followed by moving his right foot a little bit back allows for a great forehand finisher.
i hope i've helped, keep at it because you guys are doing an awesome job!
sam's forehand technique seems to be working his arm too much. try doing multiball in a way that he rests his arm in the ready position as much as possible, mainly relying on the body to generate the swing. i think this will help both his reaction time and recovery.
i really like his backhand BUT... sometimes when reacting to topspin balls his bat starts the swing too low. this is a reoccuring mistake for him: he keeps his bat around net height even when the balls are much higher than that. this leads to bad timing and an awkward stroke. try feeding him topspin multiball from around 2 meters away from the table, that way he will get used to those higher bouncing balls. specifically on the backhand, he will see that starting the stroke too low doesn't work on those shots (unless he has incredible timing), but rather keeping the arm as high as the top of the bounce and only dropping the head of the bat as preparation for a topspin shot.
and finally, sam seems to get caught up with his right leg in front too often. this is fine during short game while looking to open up the point, but after a quality opening shot sam NEEDS to get that right foot behind. this will make him automatically look for a strong forehand on the next shot while allowing him to move in position easily wherever his opponent places the ball. he does this wonderfully at 6:28 mark: a nice backhand opener followed by moving his right foot a little bit back allows for a great forehand finisher.
i hope i've helped, keep at it because you guys are doing an awesome job!
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You are right about his pushing. It must be improved. He gives away too many points from stray pushes.
We were in the gym today, away from the table, just focusing on Sam's footwork. It gave him blisters but it was a big step in the right direction. I want to do this with him once a week for the remainder of the challenge as footwork is currently such a big weakness for him.
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Thanks for the comments!
Sam's forehand is a little too arm-y at the moment. Too much shoulder and a bit too big. We are working on it.
Your analysis of his backhand sounds exactly like what I say to him over and over. We are still working on it but it takes time.
The right leg thing is a big deal too as it is ruining his forehand shots. I picked up on this a few weeks ago while watching Sam at ISH and it is well and truly on his radar now so hopefully he'll remember it on Saturday.
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Nice game Sam! Your forehand is very good, considering the time you have been playing you have a good understanding getting spin and good contact on the ball. The backhand towards the end you went for more control which won you the point. During the beginning things were fairly rushed. It seemed you were quite rushed during the points, almost trying to win the rally to quickly.
Ben: I would be interested if you did a set against Sam with your left hand, and only Sam could win the point after the 5th shot he played. I think doing controlled games like this will help reduce the eager/rush. I do this with players I coach and it works well. If Sam just kept the ball on the table a bit longer with spin and control I think he would win. It was just a few unforced here and there that cost him. Do you play in the local league Sam?
Brilliant progression, I'm impressed! I love the set up you got to, who needs world class sports facilities when you can get a table in your living room/kitchen
I would be interested if you did a set against Sam with your left hand, and only Sam could win the point after the 5th shot he played.
Avery good advice for training.
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It is amazing how you progress from casual player to top player in not even 1 year, samuel has a lot of talent and good coaching, his forhand is killer, wait until his backhand develop. Needs to move better but you should reach your goals and win low ratings tournaments soon.
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I hope to meet up with Sam and Ben at some point and I'm sure we can make a nice video. Would be good to do that.
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That sounds like a great idea Dan. Are you going to be at any of the tournaments over the next couple of months? You could always come out of retirement and enter the Cippenham Teams in January!
Yeah it would be awesome! Erm when is London GP? I am not to sure if I will be going to any soon really. But haha yes I could enter the Cippenham team, I love that tournament! I will see and keep you posted Ben
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It's all over!
What an epic year. I didn't make it into the top 250 but I did improve a huge huge amount.
A massive thank you to everyone who helped out along the way!
Here is a the whole year of training condensed into 5 minutes. 1 second for every day!
A lot of the time I felt I wasn't improving very much - but watching that video and seeing the how much better I played almost every match really does show that I was. Even when it gets tough and you feel like you're going nowhere keep putting the hours in and you'll surprise yourself with how far you go.
What an epic year. I didn't make it into the top 250 but I did improve a huge huge amount.
A massive thank you to everyone who helped out along the way!
Here is a the whole year of training condensed into 5 minutes. 1 second for every day!
A lot of the time I felt I wasn't improving very much - but watching that video and seeing the how much better I played almost every match really does show that I was. Even when it gets tough and you feel like you're going nowhere keep putting the hours in and you'll surprise yourself with how far you go.
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