Video Footage Safe Thread

[Gozo Aruna]

I am playing for my state / province in a National Tournament. I won this game 3-2 but lost two games earlier. I won't make it to the qualifying round. My state chartered a bus to ferry us seven hours north east to another state for this tourney.

So, to those more experience player with keen eyes, is mine a Euro or Asian style closer to?

Another game: I lost this one but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

I think the terms Asian, Chinese and European styles are used to denote the styles of players who are playing at a very high level and are able to loop the ball repeatedly and end up in long power rallies. I also think they are misnomers. If you look at Ma Long and Fan Zhendong, they do not play with the same style. They play differently. When you look at what is often referred to the "European Loop" (less upper arm and more forearm snap), Fan Zhendong does that kind of loop quite often when close to the table and counterlooping. Probably a better term for those "styles" would be to compare a close to the table loop and a mid-distance loop. When further back, most players take a larger stroke and start with the arm further from the body and less bent at the elbow. Some players, some of the time, have reaction times that allow them to use a full arm loop even when closer to the table. But they still may not always do that.

People do like to generalize. But those kinds of generalizations are about players who are at a level where they can get into rallies and loop many balls in a row, and then the power and aggression of their loops, and the specific technique of their loops when they are at MID DISTANCE AND HAVE TO LOOP OVER AND OVER, becomes something that can be analyzed.

I would say you are playing as an adult learner. So, I would say none of the above applies to how you play.

Some of your "kill shots" are punches or blocks on the BH side where your opponent is out of position. Very good tactically. Once in a while you get a ball you can crush on your FH side. Often those are drive or smash shots with some spin but with more direct contact. At least, that is what looks like is happening in the game.

If you analyze the points you lose, often you lose because you miss-contact whether it is a short ball that you drop into the net or onto the table before the net or when you are trying to smash and your contact is a little off and the ball flies in a direction you were not predicting. Those are standard mistakes. As you improve your footwork, you ability to read what your opponent is sending back to you, those mistakes will happen less. You have improved an awful lot over the past year.

But how you play is how many adult learners play, reacting after the ball is on its way to you and a little too late for you to be in good position on time. There is nothing wrong with that. It just means you need to reset faster and watch for what your opponent is doing sooner.

Ideally, after you serve, you are reset and ready to move and watch the opponent by the time your serve has bounced on your opponent's side so you can watch the ball into his racket and move to where he hits the ball as he is making his shot or a fraction of a second after but long before the ball has gotten even half way to the net.
Frequently, when your opponent is serving, you haven't registered where the ball is going till after it is on your side of the table and by then, it is too late to move into a good position to make the shot you want. On your serves, you look like you get ready, but you are not watching what your opponent does with the ball effectively, so you are not moving till after the ball has bounced on your side.

The key to improving those reactions is to reset as fast as possible and then to watch what your opponent does with the ball. You are moving after the ball bounces on your side. You need to see where the ball is going much sooner and start to move towards where the ball is going before the ball has gotten half way to the net. Once it is over the net, you are moving too late.

What I just explained is hard to change. It takes a lot of practice, a lot of work, and patience. But, you still are playing quite well and your progress from a year ago is quite solid.

 

[Lula]

I think the biggest different between euro and asia are that euro focus more on the arm and the stroke while asia focus on the feet/legs and movement. At the moment it feels like you focus more on the stroke and less at moving the feet

 

[NDH]

I am playing for my state / province in a National Tournament. I won this game 3-2 but lost two games earlier. I won't make it to the qualifying round. My state chartered a bus to ferry us seven hours north east to another state for this tourney.

So, to those more experience player with keen eyes, is mine a Euro or Asian style closer to?

Another game: I lost this one but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Gozo my man!

I’ve not had time to read the forum recently, and it looks like you’ve made some excellent progress.

On the “Asian vs Euro” style, it’s such a topic that is open to interpretation, and Carl has summarised much of what I think.

From a very basic POV, the biggest difference between those styles (for me), are the Forehand technique, and overall footwork/movement.

But there is so much more to it than that, and I’d try not to get too caught up in it.

The Chinese style forehand typically requires very quick movement and reset, as it involves much more “arm” that would put most players out of position.

For your own piece of mind, if you wanted to put in a category, you can think of your style as “not Chinese”.

I don’t like “euro” that much because it’s a similar style to how most Japanese, American, African players play.

Whereas the Chinese players are generally more unique in how they play (exceptions apply as always!)

Anyway…. Back to the videos!

What an improvement! You must be super happy with your progress?

Pretty epic you can look back only a year or so ago and see for yourself what an improvement you’ve made.

Notable comments (I’ve not managed to watch the whole thing, this is being written whilst attempting to look after 2 toddlers!)

1. Backhand loop against backspin - Very nice! It’s arguably the best shot you can have, because most people’s backhands are their weaker side, and people will often play to it!

2. You seem more comfortable with serve return on either side - I remember a few months ago you were setting up on your BH and getting a little stuck if it came to your FH - Looks like you’ve adapted there!

One thing to work on is touch and serve return in general - As you rise through the ranks, you’ll want to try and keep it a little tighter, especially off serve return.

All in all, great work!

 

[NextLevel]

I am playing for my state / province in a National Tournament. I won this game 3-2 but lost two games earlier. I won't make it to the qualifying round. My state chartered a bus to ferry us seven hours north east to another state for this tourney.

So, to those more experience player with keen eyes, is mine a Euro or Asian style closer to?

Another game: I lost this one but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

From a Nigerian who only played serious TT after being coached in the US, I get told I play a Nigerian style.by people who know Nigerians and I honestly have no clue what that is - maybe because Nigerians often return serves haphazardly and rely on rally skills to save them.

More seriously, style doesn't matter in the context you have defined it. Most of the technical knowledge has found the most effective ways to use the arm and body and you can learn them as best you can regardless of where you come from as long as they suit how you play. And if you are not training to win world titles the choices are pretty wide and you don't even have to do many things.

Your game is on an upward rise it will be a few years before you truly stagnate. Your movement is getting better and more TT specialized. For me, the main thing I would work on is how you approach anf spin with the forehand. You drive/smash the forehand in a way that will slow down your improvement since you are not consistent when you do it. Obviously it works for a certain situation, ball quality and level of opposition but there is room to get it consistent and expand the level of opposition that it can be a weapon against while improving its consistency if you don't try to hit winners but work on placement and consistency which are tied to making it fundamentally a spin shot.

Figure out how to spin on your forehand the way you spin on your backhand. It may not be Euro or Asian, it might just be your shot. But that approach will take your game further.

 

[Der_Echte]

I would agree, learn to slow ball down and make heavy spin... it will make it easier to loop at all speeds and lead to many opponent mistiming errors.

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

From a Nigerian who only played serious TT after being coached in the US, I get told I play a Nigerian style.by people who know Nigerians and I honestly have no clue what that is - maybe because Nigerians often return serves haphazardly and rely on rally skills to save them.

More seriously, style doesn't matter in the context you have defined it. Most of the technical knowledge has found the most effective ways to use the arm and body and you can learn them as best you can regardless of where you come from as long as they suit how you play. And if you are not training to win world titles the choices are pretty wide and you don't even have to do many things.

Your game is on an upward rise it will be a few years before you truly stagnate. Your movement is getting better and more TT specialized. For me, the main thing I would work on is how you approach anf spin with the forehand. You drive/smash the forehand in a way that will slow down your improvement since you are not consistent when you do it. Obviously it works for a certain situation, ball quality and level of opposition but there is room to get it consistent and expand the level of opposition that it can be a weapon against while improving its consistency if you don't try to hit winners but work on placement and consistency which are tied to making it fundamentally a spin shot.

Figure out how to spin on your forehand the way you spin on your backhand. It may not be Euro or Asian, it might just be your shot. But that approach will take your game further.

I would agree, learn to slow ball down and make heavy spin... it will make it easier to loop at all speeds and lead to many opponent mistiming errors.

This info does get to the heart of things.

 

[Gozo Aruna]

I won't be able to reply you guys in depth at the moment coz I am still at the tourney and tomorrow I will be playing in the Semis ( Men's Doubles ) against a strong opponent and my partner is semi-injured. He took some tylenol I gave him and we hope for the best.

I'll be playing in a large university stadium surrounded by hundreds if not thousand of cheering fans tomorrow. I'm so pump up for this new experience.

p/s On the Men's Singles my journey stops at the qualifying stage. I did not make pass the QLY stage into the knock-out stage.

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

I won't be able to reply you guys in depth at the moment coz I am still at the tourney and tomorrow I will be playing in the Semis ( Men's Doubles ) against a strong opponent and my partner is semi-injured. He took some tylenol I gave him and we hope for the best.

I'll be playing in a large university stadium surrounded by hundreds if not thousand of cheering fans tomorrow. I'm so pump up for this new experience.

Don't worry about replying. Just post more footage.

Good luck.

 

[Wrighty67]

I won't be able to reply you guys in depth at the moment coz I am still at the tourney and tomorrow I will be playing in the Semis ( Men's Doubles ) against a strong opponent and my partner is semi-injured. He took some tylenol I gave him and we hope for the best.

I'll be playing in a large university stadium surrounded by hundreds if not thousand of cheering fans tomorrow. I'm so pump up for this new experience.

Good luck, enjoy it 👊🏻

 

[Gozo Aruna]

Oh Sheet!

I just got into the Finals!

 

[Gozo Aruna]

my match winning shot. We won the Gold Medal for MD

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

View attachment 24545
my match winning shot. We won the Gold Medal for MD

Highly skilled at raising the arm in victory.

 

[Gozo Aruna]

Highly skilled at raising the arm in victory.

I have some idols to emulate...

 

[Gozo Aruna]

Video 1 of 3

Video 2 of 3

Video 3 of 3

This is my MS QLY Match against a slightly weaker / similar level player. I won the match with a 3-2 score-line.

 

[IB66]

my match winning shot. We won the Gold Medal for MD

way to go champ!!!!!

 

[Wrighty67]

Highly skilled at raising the arm in victory.

Congratulations 💪🏻🏓🏓👍

 

[Der_Echte]

Congrats on your win and gain of confidence.

 

[NDH]

my match winning shot. We won the Gold Medal for MD

Awesome stuff!

Appreciate it was only a few points, but the ability level of the doubles looked to be a bit higher than the singles I've seen you play in.

Is that the case? Or is it deceptive?

 

[Gozo Aruna]

Awesome stuff!

Appreciate it was only a few points, but the ability level of the doubles looked to be a bit higher than the singles I've seen you play in.

Is that the case? Or is it deceptive?

I will post the full video of my Men's Doubles Semi-Final as well as Final and you can judge for yourself. Editing for brevity takes some time.

p/s: Somehow I have always have better result in Doubles. I don't know why...