You have a keen eye friend. You notice something that is so minute.
Usually playing distance is adjusted to the tempo of the point but these are drills. In reality you would back up to where you feel comfortable seeing the play evolve (which might even only.be a foot or two further than where you are currently standing) and then you would get to your backswing faster when you want to play a forehand and get to it tastee when you intend to play a backhand. As part of getting to your backswing you would practice the grip change.
There is nothing wrong with changing grip as long as it is practiced sufficiently for you to get comfortable with it and in a few years you will do it without noticing. Many players tell you they use the same gro but if you watch their hands and fingers, you see something different.
What you should work on aggressively is setting your legs and body in preparation for the next shot. The better and faster you do that at the optimal distance even with a little "hopping" is the key. Figure out how the legs should move to efficiently facilitate getting into position for backhand and forehand and get to that position in your head when you decide the ball is coming. Sometimes you may have to play thr shot whole moving sometimes you may be able to get there before the ball.arrives.
I know this is a thread for feedback and advice, but can we all just take a minute to appreciate how much improvement @Gozo has made in a relatively short space of time.
Not only the fact he’s learning as an adult (which is always harder!) but uploading updates and videos on a regular basis is absolutely what this thread is all about!
@Gozo…. 👏 👏
Anyway, some actual advice, rather than just blowing smoke up your 🍑 😂
Firstly, it’s not bad at all. These drills will always make you feel worse than you actually are, and they aren’t reminiscent of match play (but the whole, train hard - play easy motto is good to remember here).
As others have said, if your aim is to simply do this drill better, take the ball earlier on your forehand.
At the moment, you are loading up a little, and semi looping the ball back, which makes you play the ball later.
If you played it more like a FH to FH knock up, you’d be in better position.
BUT….. In a real world match, how often are you going to load up on a FH loop, and then do the same on BH? Very little….
What you are doing is much more relatable - A decent FH shot followed by an aggressive, but controlled backhand punchy type shot.
Other than that, you’ll just get better at this the more you do it.
You’ll probably start to be a little “busier” at the table - More micro movements as your footwork gets better.
But it’s a really solid starting point, and I’d be very happy if I were you!
To summarize, are you saying for me to stay a little bit further from the table so that I have more time to transition between FH / BH as well as have more time to adjust my grip? Is my interpretation of your above statement correct?
Thanks NDH for your word of encouragement.
This is my 3rd lessons where the coach start to give me random placement of return. Previously we would do preset drills like 2BH then 2 FH or something similar. It is hard, and you can see I wheeze more than those previous drills. I believe the more wheezing is not so much the physical but from the added stress of not knowing where the next ball will come, either to the FH or BH side.
My body may be prepare for FH but suddenly it comes to my BH and vice-versa hence less time to get into in-pai.
However, playing game is more simpler especially as a server I can decide and serve a pre-planned series of execution and mentally let my body prepare in advance unless of course I face a much higher level player who can mess up my plan and dictate his way.
For those who follow this thread, you may recall my old BH was more of a blocking type. I could not generate spin on my own but now I can drive back with added spin and not longer just passive block.
Hey Matt,
Some great videos there!
Looks like you are already on the way to becoming a very good player - Keep up the good work!
It depends on how you want to play. There are no easy answers in table tennis. But yes, stepping away from the table is one way to gain time though it can coat you other things. But in the rally most people move slightly back.
I am saying that as long as you can anticipate the ball and you can practice the grip changes, they will come naturally one day. Most top players and many amateurs switch grip all the time..
If you need to step back to have more time to transition and you will pla at that distance during matches then do that.
But when you practice your transition and grip changed, if you are practicing footwork, most of the preparation for the stroke is based on how the legs move optimally.
One thing that sometimes helps is to start the drill with serve and return. It makes the flow into the point feel more natural. The downside is that there is more opportunity for you and the training partner to miss before the rally but I find in general that doing lots of serve and return helps players get better much faster because those elements of the point are often more important relative to your level than rallying.
You have really good backhand structure.
Thanks NL,
This BH is entirely from my coach as prior to this I have no BH or at least BH that is capable of generating spin.
BTW, I will be playing in a little inter-club competition in two weeks' time. I hope to upload some footage here for your constructive criticism. Watch this space.
