trolling in training?

[the-don]

there's this kid who when we are training and it's his time to serve he will constantly throw the ball against the net.
like say he has to do a short backspin serve.
he will throw one, two, sometimes 3 to the net and then do a good serve.
as a receiver you are constantly moving forward to receive a ball that never arrives.
when he finally makes a good serve you are hesitant to move because you assume he is gonna throw the ball to the net.
this upsets your rythm obviously.

then they say "ok let's play a match....".
the kid will miss 0 serves.
short, long, backspin, no backspin, he never misses the serve.

what do you think about this situation? did you suffer something similar?
this kid is not a rookie learning to serve, he's one of the best players in the club.

 

[doppelmoral]

discussing this will just sour your mood. there will always be people like the kid you descibed.
best to move on, play with people that respect you and that you have fun playing with

 

[tzifos]

There is time for practicing serves and time for practicing other things. You need to tell him (politely or the coach) when it is time for the one or time for the other. If he "doesn't understand" this after discussing it, then ... see what doppelmoral wrote above!

 

[the-don]

discussing this will just sour your mood. there will always be people like the kid you descibed.
best to move on, play with people that respect you and that you have fun playing with

I'm not entirely convinced he does it on purpose.
why would he do that?

then in the match each set he will make at least 2 shots that touch the net and go in.
not sure what to think of that either.... if it's on purpose or what.

 

[doppelmoral]

I'm not entirely convinced he does it on purpose.
why would he do that?

then in the match each set he will make at least 2 shots that touch the net and go in.

he might do it on purpose, he might not. ask him to find out

there are a bunch of kids but also grown-ups in my club who troll from time to time. during warm-up, you block their topspins precisely into their FH. when its your turn to loop, they try to smash your loops, chop them from 5 meters behind the table with little success, or my favourite part, block into your backhand. When I asked them to kindly play to my forehand since its just warmup, the answer is "but in a match you also have to get any ball".

you just cannot click with everyone because they have a different philosophy or, there are also these kind of people who like to disrespect their opponent because they are better. arguing is mostly a waste of time, I rather let them be and play with someone else. luckily, Id say its a very small minority who acts like that

 

[the-don]

he might do it on purpose, he might not. ask him to find out

if he is not doing it on purpose -> he will say he is not doing it on purpose

if he is doing it on purpose -> he will say he is not doing it on purpose (he is clearly trying to hide what he is doing).

so....100% of chances he will say he is not doing it on purpose.

 

[NetProphet]

I miss loads of serves at training as I experiment with weight of shot, body movement, contact point and ball placement.
In matches I miss almost none because I revert to the serves I know I can execute 99% of the time.
So someone missing serves in training isn't an issue for me.
Complaining about anyone missing in training seems silly.
On the other hand, if you think he's doing it deliberately then he's either an idiot or probably doesn't like you. In either case just stay away from him.
Or just suck it up and make the most out of training with someone who's better than you

 

[the-don]

I miss loads of serves at training as I experiment with weight of shot, body movement, contact point and ball placement.
In matches I miss almost none because I revert to the serves I know I can execute 99% of the time.
So someone missing serves in training isn't an issue for me.
Complaining about anyone missing in training seems silly.

if the training is not focused on serves and for each successful serve he needs 3 tries then it will be frustrating for the receiver.
and he's not practicing serves, he's just making a super simple backspin serve over and over.
yet in the match he never misses.

On the other hand, if you think he's doing it deliberately then he's either an idiot or probably doesn't like you. In either case just stay away from him.

I don't think he's an idiot, I think he's just trying to frustrate me.

Or just suck it up and make the most out of training with someone who's better than you

I'm not sure if he's better than me.
I'm not sure if he has played competitively either.
Might be one of those kids who just goes to the club and that's it.

 

[NetProphet]

if the training is not focused on serves and for each successful serve he needs 3 tries then it will be frustrating for the receiver.
and he's not practicing serves, he's just making a super simple backspin serve over and over.
yet in the match he never misses.

Then you should ask him outright why he misses so many of his serves and he may give you insight to what he is doing and why. You can ask without complaining so it's a fair question.

I don't think he's an idiot, I think he's just trying to frustrate me.

To me, him doing it just to annoy you makes him an idiot. Most of us get 3 to 4 hours practice time a week of we're lucky and this guy is gonna compromise it by deliberately annoying you. He's definitely an idiot if this is true.

I'm not sure if he's better than me.
I'm not sure if he even plays tournaments.
That could be a good bath of humbling to his nature.

Ah, you didn't say better, you wrote 'one of the best players in the club'. Sorry, that was a misread on my part 👍

 

[the-don]

Then you should ask him outright why he misses so many of his serves and he may give you insight to what he is doing and why. You can ask without complaining so it's a fair question.

If he's doing something wrong on purpose he will obviously deny it.

 

[jk1980]

it sounds to me like it is one or two things.
first: he does not like to do training drills with you where he needs to serve.
second: he does not want you to learn how to receive his serves.

 

[the-don]

it sounds to me like it is one or two things.
first: he does not like to do training drills with you where he needs to serve.
second: he does not want you to learn how to receive his serves.

it's all about frustration.

he wants you to be ready to receive..... "ok the ball is coming, I need to get ready, move forward because it's a short serve..... ooops serve didn't pass the net".

it's like being in a bar "ok the beer is coming now!!! oh no it's not coming.... you have to wait....... it's coming now!!!! get ready!!!! this is the most important moment in your life!!! the greatest beer ever!!!!! no wait, it's not coming yet....you have to wait some more".

by the end when the beer finally comes you want to throw the glass to the wall and destroy it

 

[Tyce]

If he's doing something wrong on purpose he will obviously deny it.

Nah if he's messing with you there's a fair chance he also owns up to it. Could just be clowning to see how long he can do it. It's all speculation at this point, you need to have a clear and nice conversation about it.
Just like, what's up with all the net dumps? I thought you were a really good player (butter him up a bit) and you seem to ace these serves in matchplay.

 

[NetProphet]

If he's doing something wrong on purpose he will obviously deny it.

You don't know what he'll tell you.
You reckon he's not an idiot, so ask him what's going on. I realise you don't have to take the advice you're given in here but you DID ask what we think.
So, forgot about him and satisfy yourself so that you can make the most of your training without this annoying you.
Ask him what's going on and figure it out so that you no longer have it bothering you

 

[the-don]

Nah if he's messing with you there's a fair chance he also owns up to it. Could just be clowning to see how long he can do it. It's all speculation at this point, you need to have a clear and nice conversation about it.
Just like, what's up with all the net dumps? I thought you were a really good player (butter him up a bit) and you seem to ace these serves in matchplay.

in the end he's wasting my time and effort...... but he's wasting his time and effort just as much, or more.

 

[NetProphet]

in the end he's wasting my time and effort...... but he's wasting his time and effort just as much, or more.

Don.
You make these categorical statements about the situation in response to every piece of advice you get. You don't know that he's wasting his time or yours because you don't know what's going on.

It seems that you still don't know what to do so, this is a 'be a man and ask him situation', its not a be a wimp on the Internet situation.

 

[the-don]

Don.
You make these categorical statements about the situation in response to every piece of advice you get. You don't know that he's wasting his time or yours because you don't know what's going on.

It seems that you still don't know what to do so, this is a 'be a man and ask him situation', its not a be a wimp on the Internet situation.

if he's not doing it on purpose then I will wait until he improves ---> no reason to talk about it

if he is doing it on purpose he has some mental issues and he's also wasting his own training session ----> no reason to talk about it, he needs to address these issues outside the court with a professional

 

[doppelmoral]

I am starting to think that the kid is not the problem here

 

[the-don]

I am starting to think that the kid is not the problem here

You all need to re-read the first message and understand I never came here asking for advice and I never said I would do anything you suggested.
I just wanted to talk about the issue.

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

he's one of the best players in the club.

the kid is trolling you