How to train with bad players

[Gozo Zyreruna]

11-0, 11-2, 11-4 seems to make them want to listen more.

but it is not guaranteed.

I have met players whom after getting such result playing with me, walk off with hopelessness and despair before the game ends. Strange things do happen in TT hall.

NB: I do not use pimple nor anti, just regular rubber.

 

[Zezima]

well i tried but they are terrible, they dont rly have the standard techique and they stay up like your average low rated club player. The coach there is 60 year old ukranian who once played 1st league on czechia and he used to be a good coach but he does not even try now, when you ask him about your form he does not correct you in any way and just tells you to spin the ball more or some bullshit haha im not blaming him its mostly teens (14-16) who go there and all the good players are in other clubs.

Just to add to this. If you are a single coach there is no time to teach and correct everyone. I doubt he even gets paid to do it. So instead he goes for a better approachable coaching which is telling the player to spin the ball more or maybe he says your loops are too short. So he gives you something to work with and now its on you how you can achieve that with your technique and making your own adjustments.
This also gives you the responsibility to make it work. Telling 15 or so players and forcing them to do a specific technique is not helpful and puts too much responsibility on himself since he has to correct you almost every single ball. That is only plausible in a 1-1 coaching setting imo.

 

[NextLevel]

Target practice. No matter where they hit the ball, give it back to them exactly where and how they can hit it again. Make them play better than they've ever played and they might even listen to some coaching. Match their speed. Give them predictable light topspin. Work on your footwork. Try to be in perfect position for every shot.

The funny thing is that i play with players with the playing level you would think would make them appreciate the importance of standard warm up but they are older than i am so I don't bring it up so I don't want to be rude. They just smash my topspins and loop the ball all over the place. No it is not about level disparity because I can lose to these players if my game is off, sometimes by a good margin. They just grew up in a completely different warmup culture.

 

[Matteones]

I agree with the ones who said to do those drills that are easy (certain) for the less skilled partner and hard (uncertain) for the more skilled partner.

My favorite exercises to do in these situations:

I topspin where they block best (usually backhand, but sometimes forehand) and they block anywhere on the table.
They give you one ball to the center, one ball corners (or free), again where they block best.
The one they already suggested, they hit topspin from their favorite side to everywhere on the table.

All these exercises can be done starting with service too, just make sure you always serve the same and tell them exactly what spin it is and how to answer.

If you use your fantasy (or ask AI) you will find countless exercises more.

If the level is completely off where they are beginners I teach them (I am a coach too).
If they don't want to be coached and are cocky/ungrateful (very rare) I'll just play with them and wipe them off the table, sometimes using my weaker hand just to rub it in more: nothing useful is going on if the levels are two worlds apart and the weaker one doesn't even want to learn.
This works especially well if they are a bunch of cocky kids who think they are good and need to learn to respect the coach.

I find the majority of less skilled players, especially adults but also kids who are passionate about the sport, are usually grateful for the possibility of hitting with someone better than them, exactly like I am grateful and willing when I happen to spare with the pros in my club.

 

[Zezima]

I don't see myself very qualified to answer this question since I am a selflearner but I can talk a bit about how I went on about this..

So when I started I kept getting destroyed by a 75y old playing in the lowest league playing normal rubbers "normalish" looking technique. I just didn't know how spin works since before I just had an "anti" bat. Took me a year to finally "spin" and loop the ball.

Once I beat everyone in the club after just 3 years I was both happy and sad at the same time because from now on I will be training with worse players.

So what did I do to keep getting better while others stood at same level?

1. Watching youtube videos. Always an hour before training. It would also hype me up to try out that stroke in the hall.
At this stage I was too bad to analyze my own videos so I didn't even bother.
2. Think actively about what Drills to play. Not specific drills but more like ok I have this trainingspartner today. I tried to use his strengths to target my weakness. But only so much that errors from both sides kind of evens out. It's not fun if only one side makes the errors. Then the Drill is not balanced.
3. Play as many times as possible. It's like going into the gym. Quantity > Quality in the earlier stages. Eventually progress slows down a lot and you have to think about your technique and quality more.
4. Play matches and write down anything that seems to make you lose a lot of points.
This one I struggle most till today. Because over the time the points you lose will be very specific to those (good) players. You struggle with receiving their serves which you can't train with your weak partners, you struggle with their agressive return that your weak partners pop up for you to easily kill instead etc...
So what I do here is I stick to one serve and teach them that return that good players do against me. You still won't get that quality but atleast something very close.

But serve return still haunts me till today. That is the only point you need good players. So nowadays when I get that rare chance somehow I make sure I can train serve return for atleast 10min vs that player over any other drills.

 

[Archosaurus]

The funny thing is that i play with players with the playing level you would think would make them appreciate the importance of standard warm up but they are older than i am so I don't bring it up so I don't want to be rude. They just smash my topspins and loop the ball all over the place. No it is not about level disparity because I can lose to these players if my game is off, sometimes by a good margin. They just grew up in a completely different warmup culture.

Several tabletennis induced injuries will usually make you rethink such a culture. I need to take it at least a little seriously nowadays because I've gotten hurt so many times.

 

[Zezima]

The question Id like to ask is how to deal with the slow pace training with weaker players and then playing important matches vs better opponents where the match has a faster pace. I couldn't find a solution to this since you would need atleast someone who can give "fast" multiball.

 

[merlin el mago]

You can train service & receive, that's it's a very important part of table tennis.

 

[Matteones]

The question Id like to ask is how to deal with the slow pace training with weaker players and then playing important matches vs better opponents where the match has a faster pace. I couldn't find a solution to this since you would need atleast someone who can give "fast" multiball.

There is no real substitute, ideally you should train with people who are one level down (lose only one match every 4-5), your level and one level up (win only one match every 4-5).

If you can't have this in training try to play as many tournaments - leagues at possible to expose you to better level.

P.S. remember if you are not fast and struggle with fast pace rally players that the trick is to slow down the game (and ideally increase the spin), not try to meet them at their pace. There are many many ways to become a good player.

 

[Lula]

-multiball
- semiballs
-less serve return
- more irregular footwork exercise. They block everywhere; you focus on footwork, try to play a lot of forehand, play softer. Also get this a bit natural against worse players which is good
. play softer, focus on techniqe. Better against worse player since the tempo is lower
- practice blocking, they loop free and you block
- so basically make exercise harder for you and easier fore them

without partner
- tshadow play
- only service training
- strength and cardio training instead

You will find ways!

 

[Nima Abadi]

So i go to 2 clubs in the better club there is players that can block and have good form and i can practise there but only 2 times a week so i go to diffrend club also hbut the players are bad and cant block almost anything so how do i train with them until i find better second club to play in? Ive tried to play some combinations with them but its hopeless, in matches i win but its wierd because they have such a wierd playstyle.

It doesn't happen very often but if I go my club during leisure hours, I usually only play backhand to their preferred side but I play BH everywhere (even on my FH side) and my main goal is to keep the ball alive, not to score on them. It's great for footwork, it's good for backhand control and for general consistency.

But again, there are those that just want to smash every single ball regardless if it's top/back/side/short/long or if their ball lands or not. Just avoid them as their goal doesn't align with you.

You can always find something to improve, just keep it simple for them and make it extra difficult for yourself.

 

[vanjr]

I have always felt that while I want to train and get better or play competitive matches, that I have a responsibility to work with lower rated players. (And yes, there are players even worse than me). Every player who goes to a club should spend at least some time working with a lower level player. Except absolute professionals. It is kinda our duty. Didn't we all start at the bottom at some time? Don't players better than us play us? imo...

 

[songdavid98]

The question Id like to ask is how to deal with the slow pace training with weaker players and then playing important matches vs better opponents where the match has a faster pace. I couldn't find a solution to this since you would need atleast someone who can give "fast" multiball.

If you stand closer to the table, you transform slower pace into faster pace.
It's a nice way to play a quicker rhythm.

 

[ShakehandJpenCpenEnjoyer]

Just realized.. Why am i reading this when i AM the bad player 😭

 

[Colestt]

Target practice. No matter where they hit the ball, give it back to them exactly where and how they can hit it again. Make them play better than they've ever played and they might even listen to some coaching. Match their speed. Give them predictable light topspin. Work on your footwork. Try to be in perfect position for every shot.

I like to move into a position as if to kill the ball, then just roll it back.

 

[Archosaurus]

Just realized.. Why am i reading this when i AM the bad player 😭

When people get on the road in a car for the first time, they pay more attention to the laws and road rules than the experienced ones with some more skill.

 

[Takkyu_wa_inochi]

Just realized.. Why am i reading this when i AM the bad player 😭

exactly

just learn from the better players how they practice with you

 

[Gozo Zyreruna]

exactly

just learn from the better players how they practice with you

not sure about you but whenever I meet bad player or lower skill player, I'll bring out my funky moves.

what? don't be judgemental... how else you will get a chance to practice those funky boggie moves that you have been desiring l?

 

[blahness]

Usually i just do serve/receive drills in this instance. Ie i serve, they receive and then I attack the 3rd ball. Train yourself not to miss at all even if they spray the ball everywhere with random spin. To me it is even more challenging than playing a properly trained player in such a drill.

 

[Takkyu_wa_inochi]

Actually I’ve been losing a lot to « bad players ». And the reason is I had not trained seriously enough with them.

Their serves are lower quality, often going long with less spin than better players. If I don’t make the effort to make a good push or to attack the ball with good spin then of course the ball will float high and give an opportunity that even they are able to convert.

Against more spinny serves it’s easier to use the opponent spin, against shorter serves there’s many options.

But really against those easier bad players serve, just attack (mostly) everything with spin and have no mercy. On pushes be careful with bat angle often more vertical than not on no spin serves even if they look like underspin.

If you practice seriously then in match you can reproduce and have consistent results . If you don’t practice seriously against these players then there will be inevitably some accidents and disappointments