Video Footage Safe Thread

[Gozo Aruna]

That's the whole point of using a fast blade with fast rubber - take away the need to use the body to actually generate anything on some shots. It has a cost. Nothing is free in table tennis. That you think the ball goes over nicely is interesting. You aren't consistent enough in practice to complain about it not working in matches.

Apology NL, this sentence of yours is a teeny wee bit confusing for me. I am not sure what you mean. Sorry, can you rephrase into simpler sentence?

 

[NextLevel]

Apology NL, this sentence of yours is a teeny wee bit confusing for me. I am not sure what you mean. Sorry, can you rephrase into simpler sentence?

You aren't doing well enough in practice to complain about how you miss in matches. Your current approach will break down easily under pressure.

 

[NextLevel]

BTW, as you practice this more and more, it is important to get used to alternating backspin and topspin. So that you mimic playing against backspin and then against block and don't drop your racket or lower your body all the time. But you still have ways to go to get the stroke consistent.

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

That's the whole point of using a fast blade with fast rubber - take away the need to use the body to actually generate anything on some shots. It has a cost. Nothing is free in table tennis. That you think the ball goes over nicely is interesting. You aren't consistent enough in practice to complain about it not working in matches.

And in practice, the ball is being hit directly to the racket and you know where it is going. In a match you have to read where the ball is going, how much spin and what specific spin, and move to the ball before taking the shot.

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

Apology NL, this sentence of yours is a teeny wee bit confusing for me. I am not sure what you mean. Sorry, can you rephrase into simpler sentence?

For you to be able to do this well in match play, the consistency would need to be near 98% in a RANDOM drill in practice. On FH your consistency vs backspin is at just about 60% and on BH your consistency is well below 50%. And that is with you knowing exactly what is coming and where the ball is being given to you. In a match, your opponent is trying to make it hard for you. In this training, your coach is trying to give you as much of a chance to get the ball on the table as possible by not giving you a lot of spin and by putting the ball just about right to where your racket is already lined up.

It is still good practice. But this shows many of the things you need to work on.

BTW: I think the videos of you training against topspin in those most recent videos also show how much you are taking off of your stroke as a result of how fast your racket is. In reality, if you were used to a slower setup where you needed to use more power to get quality shots, your stroke would get exponentially better because you would have to be putting a lot more effort into getting the racket to move faster. Right now your racket speed is too slow for you to really get massive spin from the stroke. And you would want to get MASSIVE SPIN. That would really help you improve more and faster.

 

[Brs]

BTW, as you practice this more and more, it is important to get used to alternating backspin and topspin. So that you mimic playing against backspin and then against block and don't drop your racket or lower your body all the time. But you still have ways to go to get the stroke consistent.

I am working on this progression exactly with the beginners I coach (free coaching) at a local club. Multiball fh vs push, multiball fh vs normal ball, and once those are competent (75%+) the next step is feed push, they fh loop, feeder blocks back, play loop v block as long as possible trying for ten balls on table.

Some of the other volunteer coaches encourage the players to let the push drop so they can lift it up. That increases their success rate quicker v push. But imo it is undesirable timing when you had the option to play at top of the bounce. And lifting backspin up makes it so much harder for them to play over the ball against block after.

I don't even like to fool with bh topspin until the fh is pretty solid including blocking to 70% of the table and playing all fhs, alternating placement to two/three positions, me blocking one fast one slow, them alternating one spinnier one speedier, all that stuff.

 

[NextLevel]

For you to be able to do this well in match play, the consistency would need to be near 98% in a RANDOM drill in practice. On FH your consistency vs backspin is at just about 60% and on BH your consistency is well below 50%. And that is with you knowing exactly what is coming and where the ball is being given to you. In a match, your opponent is trying to make it hard for you. In this training, your coach is trying to give you as much of a chance to get the ball on the table as possible by not giving you a lot of spin and by putting the ball just about right to where your racket is already lined up.

It is still good practice. But this shows many of the things you need to work on.

BTW: I think the videos of you training against topspin in those most recent videos also show how much you are taking off of your stroke as a result of how fast your racket is. In reality, if you were used to a slower setup where you needed to use more power to get quality shots, your stroke would get exponentially better because you would have to be putting a lot more effort into getting the racket to move faster. Right now your racket speed is too slow for you to really get massive spin from the stroke. And you would want to get MASSIVE SPIN. That would really help you improve more and faster.

And the common refrain from many people when using a slower blade is to complain about the speed.

1. You don't have to use it forever. You need to develop a full stroke set to appreciate what the limits of faster equipment are. So that way you appreciate better the tradeoffs in going too fast. It helps you understand why every pro doesn't use a Primorac Carbon or an Amultart.
2. Speed isn't everything, and the fact that you are focused on speed at a level where both players don't back off the table is not necessarily a good thing. Again, consistency, ball placement, spin etc. also win points and are important to learn as part of a complete game before focusing on speed, which can be very limiting if you use it as the only trick you have before you have developed a complete stroke set.

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

But imo it is undesirable timing when you had the option to play at top of the bounce.

And when you are taking the ball at the top of the bounce, you can often loop forward over the top of the ball which gives you a much more direct opening loop. Maybe that is advanced technique. But if you learn to take the ball as it is rising, or at the top, it is much easier later on to add this detail.

And if you are taking the ball earlier rather than waiting for it to drop, you give your opponent less time. So there are multiple advantages to being able to take the ball earlier.

This said, at a certain point you should be able to take the ball on the rise, at the top and as the ball is dropping even if you use one of those more than the others.

 

[Gozo Aruna]

The above is my MS game. I lost 1 - 3.

Some commentary:
1. I arrived 30 mins prior to game time. After getting parking and putting on my gears, I am left with less than ten mins of warm-up time before my name was called.
2. The hall was without air-conditioning and it was two in the afternoon on a very sunny day. Local humidity is in the 90's percentage. When you step into the hall, it is like stepping into an pre-heated oven. It mess with your breathing, you will have slight difficulty breathing.
3. My opponent is a lefty with approx 30 years playing experience. He uses a 10.5mm J-pen One-Ply hinoki ( TSP Dynam ) with Dignics 05 on one side and long pips OX on the reverse side.
4. In my first two serves, twice I served out. You can see that I was not able to settle down just yet. Those butterflies got me. My hand feelings have not arrived.
5. Other than that, E-N-J-O-Y!

 

[Gozo Aruna]

Some highlights to showcase my BH topspin against cut balls and blocks against opponent loops.

E-N-J-O-Y!

 

[Gozo Aruna]

Showcasing my FH loop against cut balls:

 

[Gozo Aruna]

My point I want to highlight is that I do have the skill-set for the individual techniques, but my problem and certainly many hobby players have difficulty implementing them in an smooth and effective sequence in match play. I guess I do not have adequate randomness training.

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

Some highlights to showcase my BH topspin against cut balls and blocks against opponent loops.

E-N-J-O-Y!




View attachment 24978

Watch this one Gozo. I think this one shows one of the biggest things you need to work on. If you just watch your hand holding the racket, your body and head, and where the opponent starts to swing at your serve, you are still holding the serve grip, and you are still in the position you were in on the followthrough of your serve as your opponent is starting to swing for the ball.

You may have won this point. But you are not recovering to a neutral position after your serves and strokes and are trying to respond to where your opponent hits the ball while you are just not read or even in a position to be ready for the ball coming back.

If you work on resetting to a neutral position as soon after your serves and strokes so you are ready for the next ball, your level will go up dramatically in fairly quick fashion.

If you add to that work on reading and handling varied spin, that will also cause you to improve.

Photo:

Your opponent is fully in his backswing and about to swing in a fraction of a second. The ball has bounced on his side of the table. You are standing how you were when you finished your serve, still holding the racket with the grip for the serve, and absolutely not ready for what is about to come back. You are watching. But your body is not ready.

You did win this point. But there are so many points you are simply losing because you are just not ready for the ball to come back.

 

[NextLevel]

My point I want to highlight is that I do have the skill-set for the individual techniques, but my problem and certainly many hobby players have difficulty implementing them in an smooth and effective sequence in match play. I guess I do not have adequate randomness training.

Everyone can make one shot under the right circumstances, the question is what challenges them from feeling confident that the shot is repeatable when the score 9-9 in the fifth and they need to do it twice to win a match, or it is 9-10 and they need to make the shot to keep the game going. Do they trust that shot enough to play it under pressure? Or will they push? These are some of the things that keep people from executing shots for a long time vs a certain level of opposition.

The most important thing is that you have provided your video for objective feedback. Do realize that a lot of the success with a stroke has much to do with the execution, but even more to do with the preparation. That you can wait on a long serve in a doubles match since you have to cover only half the court is a good thing. Being able to extend that preparation to other scenarios where you are not so confident where the ball is going is the challenge.

The other question is that are you willing to play against backspin as you did in that video *all* the time but trying to use your body and wrist better to get more rotation? And was it the blinding speed of your shots (which obviously didn't blind the receiver that touched them) that won those points? Food for thought, though it would probably have been better to see the shots in live action with audio as sound tells a lot.

 

[Gozo Aruna]

If you work on resetting to a neutral position as soon after your serves and strokes so you are ready for the next ball, your level will go up dramatically in fairly quick fashion.

You are standing how you were when you finished your serve, still holding the racket with the grip for the serve, and absolutely not ready for what is about to come back. You are watching. But your body is not ready.

View attachment 24986

You did win this point. But there are so many points you are simply losing because you are just not ready for the ball to come back.

Hear Hear USDC,

What you say is in line with what my coach said to me. Here is what he said, " Gozo, why you stand there? You watch ball after serve. Are you a player or spectator? " ( 您 是 旁 观 者 还 是 球 手 ? )

N/B: Now say the above in English with a Nigel Ng / Uncle Roger accent for extra comedic effect. Coincidentally, Nigel Ng & Ronny Chieng are both my fellow countrymen and both these rascal came from the same state / province.

 

[Gozo Aruna]

Everyone can make one shot under the right circumstances, the question is what challenges them from feeling confident that the shot is repeatable when the score 9-9 in the fifth and they need to do it twice to win a match, or it is 9-10 and they need to make the shot to keep the game going. Do they trust that shot enough to play it under pressure? Or will they push? These are some of the things that keep people from executing shots for a long time vs a certain level of opposition.

The most important thing is that you have provided your video for objective feedback. Do realize that a lot of the success with a stroke has much to do with the execution, but even more to do with the preparation. That you can wait on a long serve in a doubles match since you have to cover only half the court is a good thing. Being able to extend that preparation to other scenarios where you are not so confident where the ball is going is the challenge.

The other question is that are you willing to play against backspin as you did in that video *all* the time but trying to use your body and wrist better to get more rotation? And was it the blinding speed of your shots (which obviously didn't blind the receiver that touched them) that won those points? Food for thought, though it would probably have been better to see the shots in live action with audio as sound tells a lot.

1. Blinding speed: I like that, I like that a lot. Fast & Furious, my kind of play style. Bluestorm Z1 anyone?

2. BH loop against cut balls all the time? Unfortunately this is also what my coach wants me to do. Bloody hell, he wants me to be aggressive 110% all the time. I am not so good yet, but, it is work-in-progress for me. I'll get there soon, someday. Not sure why my coach is always in such a hurried state of play?

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

Hear Hear USDC,

What you say is in line with what my coach said to me. Here is what he said, " Gozo, why you stand there? You watch ball after serve. Are you a player or spectator? " ( 您 是 旁 观 者 还 是 球 手 ? )

N/B: Now say the above in English with a Nigel Ng / Uncle Roger accent for extra comedic effect. Coincidentally, Nigel Ng & Ronny Chieng are both my fellow countrymen and both these rascal came from the same state / province.

You can practice resetting during shadow strokes. It is interesting how that gets you to do it. That could also get you to change grips faster.

I actually think you would benefit from practicing shadow strokes with footwork in front of a mirror and shadow serves to practice, after the serve, swinging your body around to a read position while bring your racket, gripped for a stroke rather than a serve, into a ready position.

If you learn the action and skill without the ball there, you will start doing it automatically, without thinking about it when your body learns the movement sequence. Then your third ball will become soooooo much more solid.

But you should read what NextLevel wrote a few times. Because what he wrote is pretty important to understand. Also, it is worth understanding, the balls you are attacking are not hard. The skill level to attack those balls is pretty easy. You should be able to make those shots.

Still, making them in a match--even if the guy you played really tore you apart in games 3 and 4--is good stuff.

 

[J Bus]

Hello all of you best sport in the world loving souls.

I've recently got to record a good pennant match which I feel I played mostly quite well for my knowledge level of execution. IMO I'd win vs my opponent a good 7/10 times but that's another topic

Looking for any and all feedback.

Things I'm aware of.
- My footwork is still trash (slightly better since my FH v backspin / follow up has improved) but still weak in coming into and away from the table.
- My confidence in my BH v underspin is non existent when I'm keen to win instead of force my training shots into a match. (Still not good enough at execution though)
- I'm awful at receiving pendulum like (side top spin to BH and off the side corner) serves. Is the only response to this is learning different variations of BH flick?

Thanks folks, appreciate you all.

(bonus) - Curious if anyone can guess my favourite shot of the match if anyone can be bothered watching the whole set.

 

[NDH]

You need to change the settings on the video to "unlisted" rather than "private" - Assuming you don't want it to appear in YT search.

 

[J Bus]

You need to change the settings on the video to "unlisted" rather than "private" - Assuming you don't want it to appear in YT search.

My bad! Should be fixed now!