This user has no status.
This user has no status.
Well-Known Member
Making this thread for advice and general things I've noticed in my short lived table tennis career
What to expect from this thread?
Table Tennis Background
I first picked up a paddle about 3 years ago (in April it will be 3 years). I instantly fell in love with the sport but became the best player at the dorm I was playing at. I then proceeded to looking into some "clubs" that I could go play at to show my amazing skills and possibly learn a thing or two.
There was nobody near my level there and the club was very unwelcoming toward newcomers. I remember putting my paddle down next to a table as this was how you called the next match at the club I was going to. As soon as those players finished their game they both walked away and said they were done playing. I simply wasn't worth their time, I couldn't hit the table and I don't blame them. I play with these same players frequently now as they're actually both easily over 2000 USATT rated
It gets to a point for high level players where they see new club members, and although it may be rude, you simply don't want to hit with them at all. The majority of new players wont stick with the game and it often feels like a waste of time teaching someone to be better when they'll never be seen again.
I was committed to getting better though and for the next 2 years I work hard, teaching myself for the most part, but also getting little tips from higher level players. Some of which were professional at one point. I had a playing partner (we'll call him Angell) that was about the same level as me lets say (1200 usatt) but he clearly had the fundamentals down. He took lessons and was always doing drills while I was the player that went straight into games so I wouldn't waste other players time missing the table during their drills.
Now Angell had been taking lessons from a woman that I now know as Coach Li. I proceeded to getting lessons from her for the next year of my life, at least once a week, sometimes twice. Every session was for 1.5-3 hours. This is where my skill finally started improving. She first had to break down every aspect of my game and try and start me from scratch.
I would now estimate myself at 1600-1700USATT but then again, I'm being told all the time that I'm more like 1800-1900. Lets just assume the prior so I don't look too much like a tard when you see video's of me.
My top playing partners are as follows:
Irl: a professional in the 70's with more spin and speed than anything I've ever felt. He has huge strokes and never adapted to the changes in the game but also has a couple tables in his basement that we use to train together. Although he never adapted to the changes in the game, he's still well over 2000
Drew: Same level as me but with all short strokes. Very good in rallies and when top players see him playing they always want a piece of him, only to be disappointed as soon as they give him a real serve. He takes time to adjust to players and read serves and that's his biggest weakness.
Coach Li: Played professionally in China and has actually become a good friend over the past year, we exchange presents on holidays. Never do games but I couldn't help but include her in the list.
Vladamir: Ukrainian player that should definitely be out of my league but I play him well. He's known for playing ridiculously high lobs as well as great counter loops off SMASHES. His forehand loop is a true corkspin because he has a bad shoulder and has had surgery on it.
Dante: Very fun player that is extremely consistent. He plays with long pips on one side but in a very unique way. Attacking underspin, no spin and even top spin with these backhand pips. He's the main reason I'm so comfortable with playing long pips and antispin. Forehand side he uses some dhs rubber, couldn't tell you which, maybe h3.
Strengths vs/ Weaknesses I need advice on
Strengths
My two biggest strength at the moment are my blocks, and my touch.
BLOCKS
Most recently we've had a few 2000-2200 level players coming to our club to get a feel for it before the upcoming tournament comes (April 15-17). The few that have visited have the playing style that you would classify as a "Spinner". They like to load up on the ball with as much spin as possible but not necessarily a ton of pace. I actually found these players to be fairly easy to play against. My passive block is a pretty useful utensil at my disposal and the players simply weren't expecting the ball to not get back to them after putting such great amounts of spin on the ball.
However, once the players adapted and moved forward a bit knowing that their spin wasn't coming off me quite as far as they had liked, I would make my blocks more aggressive. Playing against spinners is truly one of my specialties.
TOUCH
Now when I said touch was another strength this applied itself in a few different manners. Firstly heavy spin means nothing to my touch blocks.
Secondly, for whatever reason, I don't have an issue returning virtually any serves. Now obviously I mess up reading serves occasionally or my timing is off on my return, but it really doesn't matter to me how much side, top or underspin they have on the serve. If I know what's coming, I can place it anywhere with beautiful low trajectory.
Lastly (at least that I can think of right now) for my touch, I'm always able to place the ball when my opponent chops. I can place it short or long and keep the chop rally going short at various angles. The only issue I have with keeping these chops short, is that I really don't have much backspin on the ball at all when chopping short.
WEAKNESSES (PLEASE ADVICE)
1. The first weakness I want to talk about is my issue with penholders.
It was extremely hard for me to pinpoint why it was I struggled with penholders in general.
The first conclusion I came to was that penholders have no elbow. When I say this I'm talking about that point where a shakehand player has to decide to move over and do a forehand or move the other direction and do a backhand. Finding this point against a shakehander is a big part of my game, and I abuse them when I find it. I started placing the ball with better angles on my attacks but still had no answer to what made me struggle so much. These damn penholders just made me so uncomfortable!
I got to thinking (are they just jamming me? playing the angles too well? just out of my league?) The out of my league part is definitely true, we have 7 penholders at our club with the worst one being around 1920usatt
But then I figured it out, when I played a bad penholder that I could demolish I was still VERY uncomfortable. It's the fact that almost all penholders hit the ball flat. There are a few out there that loop with some spin but none that I've come across where that's their play-style. I found out I struggle with flat hitters. The ball comes at me with very little to no topspin, sometimes even a slight hint of backspin.
Now for most of you this may not be an issue, but remember what me TOP strengths are. Touch, and Blocking. I can't simply block these shots back, I need to be more active with them which is causing me to feel the need to drive more which simply isn't my game.
My solution so far has been to take a half step back so I can allow myself a bit more time and loop the ball. It's working moderately well but I would love some suggestions on other ways to tackle this issue!
Learned so far for penholders
2. Second weakness is balls near the edge of the table with good pace.
My go-to reflex to a ball with decent pace that hits near the edge of the table (toward my backhand) is a more upward looping stroke where I'm actually leaning back. The stroke is actually pretty consistent but it's not that powerful especially since my body is slightly moving backwards during the stroke and I'm not going forward. What would be a better recommendation? Take a step back to make sure my timing is better and get the proper loop/loop-drive completed? or simply do what I'm doing and have better placement to where it would be difficult for my opponent to be satisfied with my return.
I've done both of these in the past and both have worked moderately well to scare my opponent off of these deep strokes that truly make me uncomfortable. What do you guys believe would be the best option? This is a heavy backspin ball with pace they're giving me by the way, I'd prefer not to play a safe chop back since my backhand is very capable of consistently flipping the ball.
Unanswered Questions
I'll move these questions to an "answered question" area with their answers after they get a good answer or two
Answered Questions
Feel free to discuss these and I can change them if there's a strong disagreement with an answer.
What to expect from this thread?
- Video's (within about a month)
- Strategies
- Questions about gameplay
- Strengths and weaknesses
- General Discussion
- Advice
Table Tennis Background
I first picked up a paddle about 3 years ago (in April it will be 3 years). I instantly fell in love with the sport but became the best player at the dorm I was playing at. I then proceeded to looking into some "clubs" that I could go play at to show my amazing skills and possibly learn a thing or two.
There was nobody near my level there and the club was very unwelcoming toward newcomers. I remember putting my paddle down next to a table as this was how you called the next match at the club I was going to. As soon as those players finished their game they both walked away and said they were done playing. I simply wasn't worth their time, I couldn't hit the table and I don't blame them. I play with these same players frequently now as they're actually both easily over 2000 USATT rated
It gets to a point for high level players where they see new club members, and although it may be rude, you simply don't want to hit with them at all. The majority of new players wont stick with the game and it often feels like a waste of time teaching someone to be better when they'll never be seen again.
I was committed to getting better though and for the next 2 years I work hard, teaching myself for the most part, but also getting little tips from higher level players. Some of which were professional at one point. I had a playing partner (we'll call him Angell) that was about the same level as me lets say (1200 usatt) but he clearly had the fundamentals down. He took lessons and was always doing drills while I was the player that went straight into games so I wouldn't waste other players time missing the table during their drills.
Now Angell had been taking lessons from a woman that I now know as Coach Li. I proceeded to getting lessons from her for the next year of my life, at least once a week, sometimes twice. Every session was for 1.5-3 hours. This is where my skill finally started improving. She first had to break down every aspect of my game and try and start me from scratch.
I would now estimate myself at 1600-1700USATT but then again, I'm being told all the time that I'm more like 1800-1900. Lets just assume the prior so I don't look too much like a tard when you see video's of me.
My top playing partners are as follows:
Irl: a professional in the 70's with more spin and speed than anything I've ever felt. He has huge strokes and never adapted to the changes in the game but also has a couple tables in his basement that we use to train together. Although he never adapted to the changes in the game, he's still well over 2000
Drew: Same level as me but with all short strokes. Very good in rallies and when top players see him playing they always want a piece of him, only to be disappointed as soon as they give him a real serve. He takes time to adjust to players and read serves and that's his biggest weakness.
Coach Li: Played professionally in China and has actually become a good friend over the past year, we exchange presents on holidays. Never do games but I couldn't help but include her in the list.
Vladamir: Ukrainian player that should definitely be out of my league but I play him well. He's known for playing ridiculously high lobs as well as great counter loops off SMASHES. His forehand loop is a true corkspin because he has a bad shoulder and has had surgery on it.
Dante: Very fun player that is extremely consistent. He plays with long pips on one side but in a very unique way. Attacking underspin, no spin and even top spin with these backhand pips. He's the main reason I'm so comfortable with playing long pips and antispin. Forehand side he uses some dhs rubber, couldn't tell you which, maybe h3.
Strengths vs/ Weaknesses I need advice on
Strengths
My two biggest strength at the moment are my blocks, and my touch.
BLOCKS
Most recently we've had a few 2000-2200 level players coming to our club to get a feel for it before the upcoming tournament comes (April 15-17). The few that have visited have the playing style that you would classify as a "Spinner". They like to load up on the ball with as much spin as possible but not necessarily a ton of pace. I actually found these players to be fairly easy to play against. My passive block is a pretty useful utensil at my disposal and the players simply weren't expecting the ball to not get back to them after putting such great amounts of spin on the ball.
However, once the players adapted and moved forward a bit knowing that their spin wasn't coming off me quite as far as they had liked, I would make my blocks more aggressive. Playing against spinners is truly one of my specialties.
TOUCH
Now when I said touch was another strength this applied itself in a few different manners. Firstly heavy spin means nothing to my touch blocks.
Secondly, for whatever reason, I don't have an issue returning virtually any serves. Now obviously I mess up reading serves occasionally or my timing is off on my return, but it really doesn't matter to me how much side, top or underspin they have on the serve. If I know what's coming, I can place it anywhere with beautiful low trajectory.
Lastly (at least that I can think of right now) for my touch, I'm always able to place the ball when my opponent chops. I can place it short or long and keep the chop rally going short at various angles. The only issue I have with keeping these chops short, is that I really don't have much backspin on the ball at all when chopping short.
WEAKNESSES (PLEASE ADVICE)
1. The first weakness I want to talk about is my issue with penholders.
It was extremely hard for me to pinpoint why it was I struggled with penholders in general.
The first conclusion I came to was that penholders have no elbow. When I say this I'm talking about that point where a shakehand player has to decide to move over and do a forehand or move the other direction and do a backhand. Finding this point against a shakehander is a big part of my game, and I abuse them when I find it. I started placing the ball with better angles on my attacks but still had no answer to what made me struggle so much. These damn penholders just made me so uncomfortable!
I got to thinking (are they just jamming me? playing the angles too well? just out of my league?) The out of my league part is definitely true, we have 7 penholders at our club with the worst one being around 1920usatt
But then I figured it out, when I played a bad penholder that I could demolish I was still VERY uncomfortable. It's the fact that almost all penholders hit the ball flat. There are a few out there that loop with some spin but none that I've come across where that's their play-style. I found out I struggle with flat hitters. The ball comes at me with very little to no topspin, sometimes even a slight hint of backspin.
Now for most of you this may not be an issue, but remember what me TOP strengths are. Touch, and Blocking. I can't simply block these shots back, I need to be more active with them which is causing me to feel the need to drive more which simply isn't my game.
My solution so far has been to take a half step back so I can allow myself a bit more time and loop the ball. It's working moderately well but I would love some suggestions on other ways to tackle this issue!
Learned so far for penholders
- Backhand is weaker but don't just go straight for it, move them to the forehand side first and THEN go to the backhand
- Never go to the middle or else they'll be able to move you around with ease.
- Blocking off the bounce is easy for them so try not to get pushed off the table too far looping.
2. Second weakness is balls near the edge of the table with good pace.
My go-to reflex to a ball with decent pace that hits near the edge of the table (toward my backhand) is a more upward looping stroke where I'm actually leaning back. The stroke is actually pretty consistent but it's not that powerful especially since my body is slightly moving backwards during the stroke and I'm not going forward. What would be a better recommendation? Take a step back to make sure my timing is better and get the proper loop/loop-drive completed? or simply do what I'm doing and have better placement to where it would be difficult for my opponent to be satisfied with my return.
I've done both of these in the past and both have worked moderately well to scare my opponent off of these deep strokes that truly make me uncomfortable. What do you guys believe would be the best option? This is a heavy backspin ball with pace they're giving me by the way, I'd prefer not to play a safe chop back since my backhand is very capable of consistently flipping the ball.
Unanswered Questions
I'll move these questions to an "answered question" area with their answers after they get a good answer or two
Answered Questions
Feel free to discuss these and I can change them if there's a strong disagreement with an answer.
- What do you think the best ratio of drill-practice time vs game-practice time is? We've all played those players who when warming up look amazing but in games are terrible. Or even more commonly warm up terribly but in games take a big crap on you. What do you think is the best ratio of drill vs game practice?
- The general concensous for this question seems to be keeping the ratio about 50/50. But adjusting this ratio depending on the person. Drills are important for developing your skills but then you'll lack the game experience which is definitely needed. So you may have to adjust the amount of time you put in each depending on where you're struggling at the moment.
- If you know you have a strategy that can guarentee you points, do you use it or do you hold off on it for an upcoming tournament where you may face that player?
- If you think you have a way of forcing your game on the opponent, use it and practice it to get better at it. If there is a glaring hole in your opponent's game, it is quite unlikely they'd will manage to fix it just in time for that upcoming tournament. Also, if you pin all your hopes on that super strategy, it is too easy to end up going into the match a bit complacent, so when the strategy stops working in the middle of that tournament match, you could find yourself in big trouble.
- If your opponent struggles with a serve, do you do it relentlessly until it stops working or do you use it once every few serves to keep them on their toes?
- IMHO, it depends on where in the match you are, and your opponent's mental strength. Some people play much more relaxed when they're a couple of points ahead (and conversely some give up when they're behind), so if you're one of the former and/or your opponent is one of the latter, you could use the serve repeatedly to build up/maintain a lead. Obviously, if you're nearing the end of a close match, and your opponent still hasn't worked out how to neutralize this serve, you'd want to use it more.
On the other hand, if the match is still in the early stages and/or your opponent is at least as good as you, you could try doing one of the other normal serves, and use the "magic" serve only if you lose the first one.
- I'll use the serve on crucial points - Either to stop them running away with the set at an early point - But mainly towards the end of the set when points are absolutely vital.
Last edited: