Video Footage Safe Thread

[UpSideDownCarl]

I dont know the thread rules or list.

Then you should read the first post in the thread. Quoted the first post below.

Now, I am sure, at some point you knew the rules of this thread. Because, of something you posted in a different thread quite a while ago. But....the rules of the thread are that only people who have been selected to comment on video footage are allowed to. The people who are allowed to have been selected for a reason.

This thread is for forum members to post footage of yourself. This is different than a regular thread. I will moderate this thread heavily. Anyone can post footage. But the only people who can comment on the footage are people who have been specifically selected because they are players who are able to give useful commentary.

These are the players who can give commentary on video footage:

1) Baal
2) Der_Echte
3) NDH
4) Richie
5) Lula
6) NextLevel
7) Brs
8) Takkyu_wa_inochi
9) Tinykin
10) pingpongpaddy
11) Tony's Table Tennis
12) Victor Moraga
13) cytivrat
14) ander999


Anyone can post footage. However, if anyone not on the list above tries to post commentary on footage, that commentary will be deleted. If someone presents commentary to me via PM for posting, and I deem it okay to post, I may make exceptions to this every so often. I also am reserving the right to edit the list and add if I decide someone is capable of making good, insightful commentary.

Hopefully, this will make it so people feel comfortable posting footage of themselves for people on the forum to see and get to know each other without feeling like the commentary that happens after posting footage is uncalled for. Also, if you wanted to post footage but would prefer nobody comments on the footage you present, you can ask that. I will help make that happen as well.


Again, comments from people who are not on the list above will get deleted.

 

[TensorBackhand]

Then you should read the first post in the thread. Quoted the first post below.

Now, I am sure, at some point you knew the rules of this thread. Because, of something you posted in a different thread quite a while ago. But....the rules of the thread are that only people who have been selected to comment on video footage are allowed to. The people who are allowed to have been selected for a reason.

ok. Well if you add me to the list, I will always give constructive feedback according to my own understanding and experience in the sport

 

[NextLevel]

Any comments on how I could improve my stroke mechanics? I mainly was focusing on generating quite a bit of spin and developing kind of a safe backhand against backspin. At the end I have copied some of the shots I thought were the best looking, the timestamp is in the description. Thank you for any input

The quality of the feed is not that good, it seems like you have something more complicated than just developing a safe backhand in mind based on that. Your basic stance is a bit upright so you seem to be going down and coming back up - yes there should be a squat, but you shouldn't be coming out of it as much as you seem to be, so the whole thing looks less smooth than it should. And how much that is being caused by the ball feed is unclear since it doesn't consistently come long.

For drills like this, it is usually better to hit one backspin and then one topspin at some point, as that is a better measure of your recovery to continue the rally after a block or counterspin. This might help break the tendency to come out fully upright.

EDIT: The other thing that is going on is that you start with a relaxed stance with your paddle by the side and you seem to finish/recover into one as well. You need to feel more like you are ready to play a stroke (forehand or backhand) by the end of stroke. Again, this will keep you from coming out upright unless your ready position is fundamentally upright. The idea is that most of your stroke should be guided by your body motion with less of it coming from your arm, but because you start with your racket low and not in a ready position for topspin, you will probably lose time playing the next ball or even playing a ball if it came to you as topspin.

 

[omelet]

I had been having problems with feeling shoulder tension with my usual BH loop technique so I tried to rework it yesterday by just tightening core every shot and focusing on relax/tighten/relax for forearm/wrist....

no pain today at all...but the video makes the technique seem a little off...

most of the closed angle ending to the stroke is due to immediate relaxing after stroke (i think). and the i tried to reset with body loosening/maybe slight hop rather than purely arm reset.

any comments?

 

[NextLevel]

I had been having problems with feeling shoulder tension with my usual BH loop technique so I tried to rework it yesterday by just tightening core every shot and focusing on relax/tighten/relax for forearm/wrist....

no pain today at all...but the video makes the technique seem a little off...

most of the closed angle ending to the stroke is due to immediate relaxing after stroke (i think). and the i tried to reset with body loosening/maybe slight hop rather than purely arm reset.

any comments?

The technique seems off because the backswing is inadequate and you are changing the plane of the stroke aggressively while swinging and not letting the elbow do the work. There is a "C" - shape out of which the modern backhand starts - if you get to that "C" shape and play out of it, the need to overextend on the follow through is largely reduced. In the "C" shape, you feel like the butt of the wrist is leading the swing. It is almost like you are pulling your racket into the ball. It is sometimes called "unsheathing the sword".

All the other things you mention are important, but I have found that if someone get that "C" shape, the rest of the stroke tends to follow naturally. You can see the C-shape in the backhand flick here in the thumb nail.

The coach has a lot of good backhand videos that are worth watching to put together a simple but fundamentally stable and high level backhand. I will link the main ones here, including the one on backhand hit and backhand topspin.

This is the backhand topspin video - it is actually after the backhand hit video which is the second video below:

This second video is important because of the point he makes about wrist flexion being the base grip for the backhand strokes.

Finally the backhand topspin against backspin video:

IF you get the backswing right, a lot of stuff about the backhand topspin tends to happen naturally. The C can be formed in many similar but superficially different ways, but I don't know anyone with a really good backhand topspin who doesn't form some version of it.

 

[omelet]

The technique seems off because the backswing is inadequate and you are changing the plane of the stroke aggressively while swinging and not letting the elbow do the work. There is a "C" - shape out of which the modern backhand starts - if you get to that "C" shape and play out of it, the need to overextend on the follow through is largely reduced. In the "C" shape, you feel like the butt of the wrist is leading the swing. It is almost like you are pulling your racket into the ball. It is sometimes called "unsheathing the sword".

All the other things you mention are important, but I have found that if someone get that "C" shape, the rest of the stroke tends to follow naturally. You can see the C-shape in the backhand flick here in the thumb nail.

The coach has a lot of good backhand videos that are worth watching to put together a simple but fundamentally stable and high level backhand. I will link the main ones here, including the one on backhand hit and backhand topspin.

This is the backhand topspin video - it is actually after the backhand hit video which is the second video below:

This second video is important because of the point he makes about wrist flexion being the base grip for the backhand strokes.

Finally the backhand topspin against backspin video:

IF you get the backswing right, a lot of stuff about the backhand topspin tends to happen naturally. The C can be formed in many similar but superficially different ways, but I don't know anyone with a really good backhand topspin who doesn't form some version of it.

Thanks. Really appreciate the detailed reply. Hmmm...Im still trying to work out incorporating what the videos said. If you pause during the start of my stroke, it feels like I dont have more space unless I start taking the racket to my left hip, which I heard is the old style and one is supposed to take the ball in the middle instead. I wonder if for further distance loops, I need to rotate upperbody more and snap my forearm more, BUT mainly, i need to STOP the wrist at the end of the stroke rather than keeping it loose throughout.

I also wonder if its a question of loop vs drive ratio. If its loop with higher arc, my swing starts looking more normal. But if I try to create this straight line to the opponents table with more speed than spin, my stroke keeps changing to the previous video.

Am I doing the same things wrong you mentioned in this video? Im showing Bh Drives, Backspin Loop, then Loop/Smash. Unfortunately, thats as far as I can stand in the room.

Again I appreciate your time and input.

[Some advice around technique is really confusing. The guy you linked you has awesome videos but he says you need to drop right shoulder for FH loop. I was told thats really bad in terms of balance and I shouldnt do it.]

 

[NextLevel]

Thanks. Really appreciate the detailed reply. Hmmm...Im still trying to work out incorporating what the videos said. If you pause during the start of my stroke, it feels like I dont have more space unless I start taking the racket to my left hip, which I heard is the old style and one is supposed to take the ball in the middle instead. I wonder if for further distance loops, I need to rotate upperbody more and snap my forearm more, BUT mainly, i need to STOP the wrist at the end of the stroke rather than keeping it loose throughout.

I also wonder if its a question of loop vs drive ratio. If its loop with higher arc, my swing starts looking more normal. But if I try to create this straight line to the opponents table with more speed than spin, my stroke keeps changing to the previous video.

Am I doing the same things wrong you mentioned in this video? Im showing Bh Drives, Backspin Loop, then Loop/Smash. Unfortunately, thats as far as I can stand in the room.

Again I appreciate your time and input.

[Some advice around technique is really confusing. The guy you linked you has awesome videos but he says you need to drop right shoulder for FH loop. I was told thats really bad in terms of balance and I shouldnt do it.]

A couple of points, I usually don't watch backhand topspins from behind so maybe you are doing things I can't see. But when I look at it, you are pronating from the shoulder to get most of your effect. And I think this is because your backswing is insufficient to shorten the follow through. But is this a possible approach? Sure. If you are happy with it, keep doing it. Your backhand is quite serviceable.

The modern approach is to get the C-backswing with the wrist snapping back and then decide from there whether you want to 1) use mostly wrist 2) use wrist and elbow or 3) use all wrist elbow and shoulder (using the body/core is always a given).

Here is a different video that emphasizes the main point I was trying to make again. This guy's backhand is different from the other video. But the focus on the backswing is just as important:

You can play a very short backhand out of the same backswing. You can play any backhand out of that backswing. But if you want to shorten your follow through, that backswing is what does it. Most of us who learned late hit the ball kind of like Tom does, and there is nothing to be ashamed of doing it that way.

All the videos show different things but what I want to emphasize is the backswing and the extra energy you can get if you manage to get to it. Again, your backhand is quite serviceable. I think you can do a lot with it. I am just explaining why it doesn't look like what a modern backhand usually looks like and why the wrist follows through so far (it is often because it didn't start back enough).

 

[omelet]

A couple of points, I usually don't watch backhand topspins from behind so maybe you are doing things I can't see. But when I look at it, you are pronating from the shoulder to get most of your effect. And I think this is because your backswing is insufficient to shorten the follow through. But is this a possible approach? Sure. If you are happy with it, keep doing it. Your backhand is quite serviceable.

The modern approach is to get the C-backswing with the wrist snapping back and then decide from there whether you want to 1) use mostly wrist 2) use wrist and elbow or 3) use all wrist elbow and shoulder (using the body/core is always a given).

Here is a different video that emphasizes the main point I was trying to make again. This guy's backhand is different from the other video. But the focus on the backswing is just as important:

You can play a very short backhand out of the same backswing. You can play any backhand out of that backswing. But if you want to shorten your follow through, that backswing is what does it. Most of us who learned late hit the ball kind of like Tom does, and there is nothing to be ashamed of doing it that way.

All the videos show different things but what I want to emphasize is the backswing and the extra energy you can get if you manage to get to it. Again, your backhand is quite serviceable. I think you can do a lot with it. I am just explaining why it doesn't look like what a modern backhand usually looks like and why the wrist follows through so far (it is often because it didn't start back enough).

Thanks NextLevel. I will try elongating my backswing and see how that works out and get back to this thread.

Any comments on my FH loop? I am reworking it to combine with the little hop/footwork rather than being stationary every loop.

 

[NextLevel]

Thanks NextLevel. I will try elongating my backswing and see how that works out and get back to this thread.

Any comments on my FH loop? I am reworking it to combine with the little hop/footwork rather than being stationary every loop.

Others may find something, but from where I sit, your forehand looks pretty standard and your legs seem to be doing the right things and the power seems to be driven largely by your rotation. Some might tell you to lean forward a bit more but I don't know about that. You might want to practice different timings by moving in and out, but that is not necessarily a technical issue. Maybe some things will break down if you are more aggressive but for what you are doing, it looks really good.

 

[Gozo]

Tell me what happened in G2 & G3?

I should not have lost.

 

[Lazer]

Tell me what happened in G2 & G3?

I should not have lost.

It’s the greeen (sheesh) rubber. 😉

Cheers
L-zr

 

[z0uLess]

1 minute counter-topspin vs. robot:

Forehand topspin vs. block:

The first set of a tournament I recently participated in: