My first multiball training post-knee-injury... please comment how can I improve!

[blahness]

My first multiball training post-knee-injury... please comment how can I improve!

 

[azlan]

I have to commend you on your effort to improve buddy. How do you think you did in that drill?

 

[blahness]

I think I should be taking a wider stance about twice the width of my shoulders, but this is currently what I'm comfortable with due to the prior knee injury. I should probably move some of the stuff from my BH corner of the garage, coz it's jamming some of my FH's there...(can't move to the left, otherwise I'll knock into a bicycle!)...

There's something pretty weird with my footwork, it really looks quite "heavy" and not fluid and "bouncy"... Also, I think there's something wrong with my weight transfer, but can't really pinpoint where's the problem...

 

[dici]

hm.. try to make you tight feel like a spring, and try to avoid let your heel rest on floor all the time and see? This might help alittle, but whenever I try to practice this infront of a mirror, I just feel so tire after 5-10secs of the routine of moving left to right and back to left using this method.

 

[azlan]

I think I should be taking a wider stance about twice the width of my shoulders, but this is currently what I'm comfortable with due to the prior knee injury. I should probably move some of the stuff from my BH corner of the garage, coz it's jamming some of my FH's there...(can't move to the left, otherwise I'll knock into a bicycle!)...

There's something pretty weird with my footwork, it really looks quite "heavy" and not fluid and "bouncy"... Also, I think there's something wrong with my weight transfer, but can't really pinpoint where's the problem...

Ok buddy. For the time being, I know your movement is a bit restricted because of your right knee injury. Here are some tips :
1. Shorten your back swing..it's way to big. It has to be compact for maximum impact. I see the drill as more of a topspin drill than a drive drill. It must have the whip impact upon contact with the ball. Imagine this, coil a spring, and release it. It's the same with TT.
2. In the videos below, you will see a young boy doing the same drill that you're doing. Watch his back swing (short back swing), and how he whipped the ball.
3. In the 2nd video, you will see Timo doing the same drill as the boy. Since the boy is rather short, I can't really point this out to you. But look at Timo. How low he gets when he hit the ball. Here you can see all, and compare what Timo is doing to yours and you will see it clearly.
a. He's stance is low.
b. The weight transfer that you were talking about. Look at Timo's left foot (yours would be the right). Just upon impact, you can see that his left foot moved to the front (before impact, it was at the behind his right foot). He didn't just step his left foot to the front. IT WAS CAUSED BY THE WHIPPING ACTION. The momentum of hitting the ball causes the left foot to move to the front. (YOUR LEFT AND RIGHT FOOT ARE PARALLEL TO THE TABLE BEFORE AND AFTER IMPACT).
c. Again, short and compact back swing is the key. THE BIGGER THE SWING, THE BIGGER THE MARGIN OF ERRORS.

You see buddy, with the shorter back swing, you'll have the time to coil and focus your energy into the shot. Your stance will be better, the impact will be more solid, and you'll realize that your right foot will move to the front. Remember, keep it compact and hit the ball as if the ball owes you money

 

[svendelle]

Like Azlan is pointing out your forhand swing isn´t optimal. You should be thinking about where you are hitting the ball. Like infront of your body, at your body or behind your body. The optimal position to hit the ball is infront of your body and therefore your swing shouldn´t start so far behind your body. When you are hitting the ball infront of your body. Then you will be useing the acceleration your body will provide in a natural way.

 

[YosuaYosan]

Your forehand starting position is too way back..
Try drawing it shorter, around your hip and knee, that way your body won't tire out too much too.

Well that's from me..

 

[blahness]

Thanks azlan, I found out that my backswing is indeed too big ( I always thought that it was pretty compact!), it seems like it takes away from my recovery time and also power to some extent... It seems like all the pros keep the position of the elbow (relatively to the waist) pretty much almost the same... I trained quite a bit to fix my elbow position today, it seems that it resulted in a more disciplined and more speedier/efficient swing...

And in terms of my right leg, that was really useful, sort of having some sort of forward movement of the right leg during the stroke...

I need to start working out and reduce weight! All those months of studying and eating too much is taking its toll on my movement speed and explosiveness....

My bat and rubbers are also really lacking in elasticity, which is forcing me to use open blade angles to attack heavy topspin balls(crazy as it sounds)... otherwise the ball just kinda dies to the net... the garage kills off any sort of tackiness really quickly...

I think I'm going to change to a bouncier setup to make it easier for me to generate much more power...

 

[olvarox]

I think you lack body weight transfer. With this I mean you need to have a kind of flow, building up momentum by slightly rocking backwards BEFORE the ball comes to you (lets say at the moment your opponent hits the ball) and then fluently shifting your body weight forward as your arm rises with the maximum momentum happening as your wrist snaps upon contact.
(whoa this is one complicated phrase )
Now you are standing upright with bent knees, but any power you generate comes from your arm. Nothing comes from your legs, waist or wrist.

Think of it like trying to throw a rock into the sea as far as you can. You'll notice that you'll throw it a lot farther, not by making a bigger armswing, but by leaning backwards, rotating your hips and then letting your leg - waist - torso - shoulder - arm and wrist muscles all work together to generate big power and a very far throw...

 

[azlan]

My bat and rubbers are also really lacking in elasticity, which is forcing me to use open blade angles to attack heavy topspin balls(crazy as it sounds)... otherwise the ball just kinda dies to the net... the garage kills off any sort of tackiness really quickly...

I think I'm going to change to a bouncier setup to make it easier for me to generate much more power...

I'm glad that you find the video useful. It helps a lot, like what you're doing now. recording your play and analysing them with other more established players. Most of the time when we record, we still won't be able to see the mistakes. We need someone else to point them out. All credits to you for this.

Now, about your set up. You must realize that TG has quite a hard rubber/sponge than some of other european rubbers. To fully utilize these DHS rubbers, you must have power. Otherwise, the ball will just drop into the net...just like what's happening to you now.

Here's the logic, if you're a hard hitter with power, when you make contact with the ball, the ball will sink into the rubber, the sponge and ended up at the blade. Then all these three elements will propel the ball out with loads of speed and power too. If you don't have the strength, the ball just might only penetrate the rubber, and a bit of your sponge. As a result of this the ball drops into the net, and they will go around saying the rubber has got no power/pace.

That is why we always recommend softer rubbers for beginners. Over the years, when you have a more developed technique, you may incorporate power in your shots, and at that time you will realize that soft rubber that you've using is too slow. Only then you may use a harder rubber to take your game to another level.

 

[blahness]

I'm glad that you find the video useful. It helps a lot, like what you're doing now. recording your play and analysing them with other more established players. Most of the time when we record, we still won't be able to see the mistakes. We need someone else to point them out. All credits to you for this.

Now, about your set up. You must realize that TG has quite a hard rubber/sponge than some of other european rubbers. To fully utilize these DHS rubbers, you must have power. Otherwise, the ball will just drop into the net...just like what's happening to you now.

Here's the logic, if you're a hard hitter with power, when you make contact with the ball, the ball will sink into the rubber, the sponge and ended up at the blade. Then all these three elements will propel the ball out with loads of speed and power too. If you don't have the strength, the ball just might only penetrate the rubber, and a bit of your sponge. As a result of this the ball drops into the net, and they will go around saying the rubber has got no power/pace.

That is why we always recommend softer rubbers for beginners. Over the years, when you have a more developed technique, you may incorporate power in your shots, and at that time you will realize that soft rubber that you've using is too slow. Only then you may use a harder rubber to take your game to another level.

I'm actually buying the DHS rubbers precisely to train up my power, they work fine the first few weeks, then when the tackiness dies off(very fast in garage hitting) I find it pretty hard to hit hard with consistency as the spin factor is no longer there... I do use SpinMax to restore tackiness to the blade but it somehow reduces the elasticity of the sponge somewhat, sometimes even blocks die into the net unless i do a more active stroke.... I think I'll be changing rubbers soon...

 

[The Mighty Satch]

Ok nice backhand technique is developing; concentrate on the forehand technique and try to play the shot more from the shoulder and not so much from the elbow. also correct your stance a little so that you are slightly more sideways on and not so square to the line of play.

hope that helps! take it easy with the knee and build up the playing slowly!

Coach satch

 

[azlan]

I'm actually buying the DHS rubbers precisely to train up my power, they work fine the first few weeks, then when the tackiness dies off(very fast in garage hitting) I find it pretty hard to hit hard with consistency as the spin factor is no longer there... I do use SpinMax to restore tackiness to the blade but it somehow reduces the elasticity of the sponge somewhat, sometimes even blocks die into the net unless i do a more active stroke.... I think I'll be changing rubbers soon...

With Chinese rubbers, they have the tendency to collect dust, you're right. I would say, go foe European rubbers instead. There are many out there which are reasonably priced and doesn't burn a hole in your pocket.

What coach Satch said is spot on. Go easy on the practice for the time being.

 

[blahness]

With Chinese rubbers, they have the tendency to collect dust, you're right. I would say, go foe European rubbers instead. There are many out there which are reasonably priced and doesn't burn a hole in your pocket.
What coach Satch said is spot on. Go easy on the practice for the time being.

Haha the good ones are indeed expensive, 2 times the price of the DHS Neos... Also I don't like the bouncy feeling of Euro rubbers, coz it hurts my serve/receive game heavily which is a big part of my game. Also H3 Neo's are really unforgiving in terms of power input, you really need to hit hard with good form to have good control of the ball, which is good for my game development...