says
Spin and more spin.
says
Spin and more spin.
Well-Known Member
Super Moderator
I guess I should add a little context. Watch this. Watch it again. Try to understand what they are saying. This video explains a decent amount of why the way a lot of Table Tennis coaches coach is good at making you look better in practice but not better at playing matches.
It is also worth understanding that, when they are talking about retention of skills, they are talking about skills crossing over from practice directly into match performance skills. So, the graphs they show, show that, in block practice, the student looks like he is improving faster, but the skills don't transfer into match situations (there is little skill retention).
In random training, in practice, it looks like the training is not as effective. But the skills that are learned are directly applicable to match playing scenarios so the skills are directly retained. (Hence the name, "Train Ugly").
How can you apply these concepts of training to table tennis: there are so many ways to add the random element to your training. But a certain amount of match simulation where you are playing points exactly as you would in a match but you are not counting so you can experiment and try different things without the pressure of winning or losing the point.
But, you would also do yourself a favor to just play a lot of matches, a lot of matches and not fuss about whether you win or lose but treat the matches, even though you are counting points, as an opportunity to try new things and learn.
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