Video Footage Safe Thread

[NextLevel]

Also, don't be fooled, when someone like NextLevel says, "you are probably higher level than most of the people allowed to post in this thread": NextLevel is a much better player than most people would realize just from looking at the footage. And there also may be SOMETHING TO BE SAID ABOUT MODESTY.

To be fair to myself, the guy posted many points he won against a 2250 player. If we took those points as being representative and the rating as given, that makes him higher than 2250. 2250 is not a joke rating, it is dominant rating of players in divisions 2 and 3 of the NA Teams, to give one example. Beating a 2250 player on a regular basis easily makes you a semi-professional. Of course with nuance and a trained eye, one can comment on many things and point out his technique is not 2250+ but I gave the reason why technical analysis can have limitations as well, though to be complete, it is the main context in which TT is trained and improved.

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

To be fair to myself, the guy posted many points he won against a 2250 player. If we took those points as being representative and the rating as given, that makes him higher than 2250. 2250 is not a joke rating, it is dominant rating of players in divisions 2 and 3 of the NA Teams, to give one example. Beating a 2250 player on a regular basis easily makes you a semi-professional. Of course with nuance and a trained eye, one can comment on many things and point out his technique is not 2250+ but I gave the reason why technical analysis can have limitations as well, though to be complete, it is the main context in which TT is trained and improved.

Yep. However.....we can only guess how good you would be if you did not have RA (a joint disease that limits mobility of the most important joints for TT). And regardless of rating, you know and understand many things that some higher level players just do not because of the work you have put into learning as an adult with a mobility issue.

So.....I stand by what I said regardless of actual rating. There are some people who can play better, but Omelet should know, there is a reason the constructive feedback you give is quite insightful and functionally, it is extremely practical and useful. One can be a certain level as a player and still be able to bring another player to a higher level as a coach based on their understanding of the game.

And one thing we can say from seeing those clips that kaveernmalik posted, he knows how to spin the heck out of the ball....even when he misjudges the length a little.

 

[Zezima]

Training Drills & 2 Matches
a few short vids of me playing. I am the one with the black shirt and white nike shoes.
I also realized I have the same pattern of mistakes. But don´t know how to fix them moving on.
I am a both wing looper 1350RC in Austria (~6Y of playing).

Was focusing on sidespin (longish) pushes and Countertopspin(with BH all balls flew out FH was better still very uncontrolled).
Backhand flick into Backhand topspin

 

[NDH]

Training Drills & 2 Matches
a few short vids of me playing. I am the one with the black shirt and white nike shoes.
I also realized I have the same pattern of mistakes. But don´t know how to fix them moving on.
I am a both wing looper 1350RC in Austria (~6Y of playing).

Was focusing on sidespin (longish) pushes and Countertopspin(with BH all balls flew out FH was better still very uncontrolled).
Backhand flick into Backhand topspin

Hey Zezima,

A few observations from me.

I wasn't sure who was doing the "drilling" - Ideally, it's better if just one of you is doing a drill, but it felt a little like you were both trying to work on something.

All that happens here, is that the consistency of "feed" deteriorates dramatically, so neither of you end up getting a consistent ball.

Fortunately, you've done a good job of making one of the observations nice and easy (and I assume the counter topspin is what you want to improve).

I've got 3 screenshots below.

The ball on this one sails long.

You haven't managed to get over the ball enough, and you are quite "high" - You look tall-ish, so getting low is going to be a big win for you.

This is the very next point, and the ball does go on.

Improvements:

Better head position
Better wrist position going over the ball
Better balance and slightly lower.

Side note..... Look how identical your opponent is! I had to double check to make sure it was indeed a different screenshot

Save the best for last....

This was by far your best counter topspin (and it was the very last point of the video).

Just look at how much better your balance is (not leaning back on your heals and a nice square shape to the table).

You also get your elbow higher, which forces you to play more down on the ball, rather than lifting it off the end of the table.

Great head position and nice follow through with the shot.

You want to try and replicate this shot every time!

Keep up the good work!

 

[Zezima]

Hey Zezima,

A few observations from me.

The First Video that you just watched is about him serving to my FH. I sidespin preferable push it back he opens up and I countertopspin it. My push is free. Maybe it was too much variation. I just feel like in the game I also don´t know where the ball is coming so I should also train flexible if that makes sense, but as you said I don't get consistent ball changes.
I am 196cm so quite tall yes. In the first two screenshots (I can´t tell the timestamp) I am quite bend with my legs already. How can I get low and at the same time get over the ball? As you saw I struggle getting "over" the ball so getting even lower will make this problem bigger no?

So a few questions to get more clarity what u were saying:

• What exactly do you mean by wrist position?
• Never thought about Head position either. What do I have to watch out for?
• In terms of balance it looks like the placement of his ball was more to the left (when I missed it). I was bending my upper body to the left to compensate it, instead of moving with the legs to the left. And in the last shot his placement was perfect (right side of the white line) so no additional movement needed or any upper body bending, so I had success in that shot.
  
  
• "not leaning back on your heals and a nice square shape to the table"
  • I was working on this hard (not leaning back on my heels I mean) Not sure what you meant with nice square shape to the table.

I don´t think I understand the concept of counterlooping even though I had ~2 really good ones on this video. Specially the last shot It felt like more "hitting" than brushing if that makes sense. But it felt really good thats all I remember.Because sometimes when I brush too thinly it drops if that makes sense.


I would also like to get some feedback on my countertopspin with my BH since they also fly out of the table currently. I don´t know if I am too far / hit it too early / have to close my racket more / have to brush more whatever.
In terms of serve return I realized I can take the ball way earlier I take it after its peak even (when its falling) so I know how to work on that atleast.
At the end of the playlist there is me playing 2 Match games aswell. Mostly same mistakes I did in the Drills.

 

[NDH]

The First Video that you just watched is about him serving to my FH. I sidespin preferable push it back he opens up and I countertopspin it. My push is free. Maybe it was too much variation. I just feel like in the game I also don´t know where the ball is coming so I should also train flexible if that makes sense, but as you said I don't get consistent ball changes.
I am 196cm so quite tall yes. In the first two screenshots (I can´t tell the timestamp) I am quite bend with my legs already. How can I get low and at the same time get over the ball? As you saw I struggle getting "over" the ball so getting even lower will make this problem bigger no?

So a few questions to get more clarity what u were saying:

• What exactly do you mean by wrist position?
• Never thought about Head position either. What do I have to watch out for?
• In terms of balance it looks like the placement of his ball was more to the left (when I missed it). I was bending my upper body to the left to compensate it, instead of moving with the legs to the left. And in the last shot his placement was perfect (right side of the white line) so no additional movement needed or any upper body bending, so I had success in that shot.
  
  
• "not leaning back on your heals and a nice square shape to the table"
  • I was working on this hard (not leaning back on my heels I mean) Not sure what you meant with nice square shape to the table.

I don´t think I understand the concept of counterlooping even though I had ~2 really good ones on this video. Specially the last shot It felt like more "hitting" than brushing if that makes sense. But it felt really good thats all I remember.Because sometimes when I brush too thinly it drops if that makes sense.


I would also like to get some feedback on my countertopspin with my BH since they also fly out of the table currently. I don´t know if I am too far / hit it too early / have to close my racket more / have to brush more whatever.
In terms of serve return I realized I can take the ball way earlier I take it after its peak even (when its falling) so I know how to work on that atleast.
At the end of the playlist there is me playing 2 Match games aswell. Mostly same mistakes I did in the Drills.

Ahhh, I hadn't seen the other two videos, I'll watch those later.

Wrist position - It's*very* slight, but do you see in the top photo (where you missed), you have the bat a little more open? Where as in the second photo, you manage to get a little more "on top" of the ball, and close the bat over it?

You'll need to do this if you want to counter against good top spin.

With the head position, it's nothing I would focus on - You'll find the head follows the body, so as long as your feet/body are in a good position, your head will follow.

Balance..... In a perfect world, you'll be making very small footwork adjustments to get into the position you are in on the bottom photo, regardless of where the ball is.

However, the world is not perfect, and you are not professional (yet!) - In the meantime, when you find yourself out of position on those shots, just remember to "get over the ball" otherwise they'll have a tendency to fly off the end of the table.

Square shape to the table means your feet are level with the table - If you have one foot a bit further forward, you'll suffer when you have to go from FH to BH and vice versa.

If you can do 1000 counter loops like that last one, you'll soon get the feel for it!

I'll watch the other vids and come back when I have some more time

 

[Der_Echte]

I still wanna hear @NextLevel articulate the differences of Ma Long and Rambo looping. I am not sure if I qualify anymore for the Rambo sweepstakes.

 

[Der_Echte]

I still wanna hear @NextLevel articulate the differences of Ma Long and Rambo looping. I am not sure if I qualify anymore for the Rambo sweepstakes.

Somehow discovered how to double post. Wow.

 

[Zezima]

Ahhh, I hadn't seen the other two videos, I'll watch those later.

Wrist position - It's*very* slight, but do you see in the top photo (where you missed), you have the bat a little more open? Where as in the second photo, you manage to get a little more "on top" of the ball, and close the bat over it?

You'll need to do this if you want to counter against good top spin.

With the head position, it's nothing I would focus on - You'll find the head follows the body, so as long as your feet/body are in a good position, your head will follow.

Balance..... In a perfect world, you'll be making very small footwork adjustments to get into the position you are in on the bottom photo, regardless of where the ball is.

However, the world is not perfect, and you are not professional (yet!) - In the meantime, when you find yourself out of position on those shots, just remember to "get over the ball" otherwise they'll have a tendency to fly off the end of the table.

Square shape to the table means your feet are level with the table - If you have one foot a bit further forward, you'll suffer when you have to go from FH to BH and vice versa.

If you can do 1000 counter loops like that last one, you'll soon get the feel for it!

I'll watch the other vids and come back when I have some more time

Would be nice if anyone could help me understand Backhand counterloop and FH counterloop with a few more examples how I should hit the balls. Giving me Timestamps and a short explanation would be helpful.
So from what I have seen on my vids. I get low and I can lift the backspin ball (with my BH). Then I do the mistake against his block basically. I do the same stroke as I would do against a backspin ball (don´t ask me why I do it).
I just have a harder time to grasp how I should have a tangential hit on the ball but not upwards motion but more forward motion. If I hit the ball with a very closed racket I obviously either hit the edge or the ball slips from the rubber. 2nd thing is I need to get the elbow higher but how do I hit the ball then with a bend knee . The Ball is way up high but I am bend down and I should have the elbow high up there aswell. I am super confused.
BH Rallies I stand a little big more back and take it also when its falling (Got no problem hitting the ball forwards with spin even!) But closer to the table I seem to have a problem.
I am 196cm if that helps understanding my situation.
Drill2 is the Backhand Drill

 

[Gozo Aruna]

My club internal doubles tournament. In this particular game, I won 3-1. For the uninitiated, I am the dude in black T-shirt with the Timo Boll style head gear.

Some trivia: my new serves it seems got me many easy cheap points. I had been practicing literally thousand of times this pendulum serve to send the ball rapidly to very end of the middle white line this week just before this tourney.

 

[OvrChkn]

Hey all, I have a couple of practice matches for review. Have been getting coached for about 4.5 months now, once a week. Been dealing with on and off stiffness in my legs (apparently for a long time), but I think I'm making some progress from when I last posted here. I struggle with positioning and I'm trying to think through all the strokes I've learned while in a match which is not great. I uploaded a match vs a pusher and vs a looper.

 

[Der_Echte]

Hi @OvrChkn

A few things jump out at me right away.

**** Your ready position has your arm and bat WAY in front of your body. ****

This makes it longer in terms of time and space to make your backswing/prep for your shots.

**** You seem to not discern well where the slow long balls are going. you often mis-judge the ball to come further out and closer to you. ****

so you are now positioned too far behind and side of the ball... which makes you reach and lose leverage and timing... results in many balls struck out long, since you are way on upswing by the time you impact the ball. When you find yourself like this, the only way to effectively adjust is to slow down your power and loosen your shoulder, arm, and hand... so that you can still land the ball with a little spin and not piss away the point immediately. You did this at 3:03 in your first vid, even though you lost the point, that opponent still had to make an attack and win... he will not do that 100% of the time, but when you go strong on balls out of zone, you lose nearly 100% immediately. you did it again at 3:22... you got ball on table and opponent failed. that is how percentages work. better to get something from the percentages than lose immediately 100%.

later, when you see and discern the impact better, you will be in position better and more often, then you will see the quality and consistency of your shot greatly increase.

*** I see you sometimes like to go for the reverse pendulum serve ***

I would say keep practicing it for the future, but hold off on using it in matches, unless you are just itching to get match practice using it. This serve does not do anything extra for you at this point and it is too risky a serve for no gain.

**** I see you do very well retrieving ball when under pressure ****

Time and time again you give opponent a chance at a strong attack and you bring it back with a soft hand. That is a skill not easily taught or learned.

**** Your fast deep regular FH pendulum serve is getting you what you need ***

When you occasionally do this serve, you sometimes get an error from over eager opponent or get an attackable ball. This is exactly what the serve is for - getting an IMMEDIATE OFEENSIVE ADVANTAGE in the rally, which you expect to boss over and win.

**** On your BH serve, you are moving arm forward way too much ***
You did a BH serve at 3:48 like this and you failed to control it. Consider moving hand and arm accross your body like you doing violin or cutting a loaf of bread. Do this motion with an open bat and it will be way easy to serve short or deep depending on what you want.

**** When you land a topspin and it is blocked, the ball bounces high and your bat prep is way too low causing you to hit the ball out ***

At 1:01 of your second vid you can see this. you made a nice BH topspin to setup the point, but your FH backswing, you took bat down to table height or below for a ball that bounced as high as your chest... the way to fight this is after your first topspin, prep bat at belly button height and be ready... all you need to do then is raise hand and arm a bit, step in, and hit. If you continue to prep bat too low after your first topspin, you will give away a lot of free points this way and crush your confidence if you keep this up.

To be fair to you, I do not know of a single adult who has fixed this the first week they tried.

 

[Der_Echte]

My club internal doubles tournament. In this particular game, I won 3-1. For the uninitiated, I am the dude in black T-shirt with the Timo Boll style head gear.

Some trivia: my new serves it seems got me many easy cheap points. I had been practicing literally thousand of times this pendulum serve to send the ball rapidly to very end of the middle white line this week just before this tourney.

For the price of ONE sheet of a Diginiski rubber, you could buy THREE tripods with cell phone adapter.

That would make ur vids much more viewable and easier for loser commenters like me to see the action and provide more effective feedback.

 

[NextLevel]

Would be nice if anyone could help me understand Backhand counterloop and FH counterloop with a few more examples how I should hit the balls. Giving me Timestamps and a short explanation would be helpful.
So from what I have seen on my vids. I get low and I can lift the backspin ball (with my BH). Then I do the mistake against his block basically. I do the same stroke as I would do against a backspin ball (don´t ask me why I do it).
I just have a harder time to grasp how I should have a tangential hit on the ball but not upwards motion but more forward motion. If I hit the ball with a very closed racket I obviously either hit the edge or the ball slips from the rubber. 2nd thing is I need to get the elbow higher but how do I hit the ball then with a bend knee . The Ball is way up high but I am bend down and I should have the elbow high up there aswell. I am super confused.
BH Rallies I stand a little big more back and take it also when its falling (Got no problem hitting the ball forwards with spin even!) But closer to the table I seem to have a problem.
I am 196cm if that helps understanding my situation.
Drill2 is the Backhand Drill

Sorry I didn't respond to this earlier, but over time, counterloop is something you practice and do, not so much something you think through. But if you want my opinion:

The biggest thing about counterloop IMHO is *time*. You need time to see the ball so you can adequately prepare and follow through your stroke. In fact, very often, in drills, I counterloop the ball easily because I know where the ball is going and can prepare early, but in a match, I am not always ready to swing early and this causes hesitation. Very often, you need to get back to a reasonable playing distance to practice the stroke, if you are too close to the table, it is hard to get a comfortable swing in unless you read the ball perfectly and it stays somewhat short.

The second biggest thing is *first contact point* on the ball. You need a contact point that allows you to swing through the ball while adding spin. Usually this is on top or the side top of the ball. Counterlooping with the top half of your racket (which is what is supposed to be used to play most spin strokes anyways) tends to help this.

If you have addressed these two things and you don't start your swing too low (so that you don't lift the ball upwards too much), you should be able to do almost anything you want to counterloop well. But missing is part of the practice, it takes a lot of time to get used to counterlooping, it is usually easier to do when playing weaker players, most players will tend to block the first ball they get from an opponent their level because the speed of play challenges them, it is usually when a worse player is playing a better player that the better player tends to counterloop the first opening call with confidence because the game speed doesn't challenge him as much.

For someone like you, you might need to stay low to be able to play powerful shots, but I think as long as you ca can practice the first contact point to control topspin easily, then you should be able to play short counters with topspin - this is where I would start.

 

[Der_Echte]

I frequently advocate the first starting point to FH counter topspin balls is to SHORTEN the SWING and LOOSEN the HAND. (and go for less power) Go for maybe 30 percent power at first tops. EDIT: Do this and allow ball to come into strike zone. Just focus on that - letting ball come to strike zone and meet it with a loose hand, short stroke and reduced power. Do not go for too much - you are training yourself to see the ball to the strike point inside your strike zone. This will make you a big boss later. believe it.

This makes it much easier to consistently get the ball to the strike zone. You do not judge ball to strike zone and you try for power, then ur goose is already cooked to lose.

later, when you can judge and time the ball to strike zone better, you can add more backswing and power and firming of grip at impact.

 

[NextLevel]

Hey all, I have a couple of practice matches for review. Have been getting coached for about 4.5 months now, once a week. Been dealing with on and off stiffness in my legs (apparently for a long time), but I think I'm making some progress from when I last posted here. I struggle with positioning and I'm trying to think through all the strokes I've learned while in a match which is not great. I uploaded a match vs a pusher and vs a looper.

A lot of good stuff, especially your ball touch in there. I was initially going to be a bit harsher but I have to remember, this is a massive improvement from where you were a few months ago. The main things I would continue to work on:

1) read the Der Echte commentary carefully, he is pointing out things that I would have pointed out as well if I didn't remember where you were to where you have come to.
2) continue to work on your ability to read and adapt to spin. Remember that you don't have to contact the back of the ball all the time, especially when attacking backspin balls. Contacting the ball more towards the tip of your racket in addition to giving you more leverage, also allows you to play a fuller spin stroke on the ball. Very often you play straightforwardly into the ball when you could get more time to play the ball by following the shape of it with your stroke more. Playing with curved strokes on some balls can make your life easier, it will enhance spin and give you more options especially on large forehand strokes.
3) work on the placement of your forehand and footwork required to support it better or you will be stuck in long points which could be shortened by precise placements of easy ball followed by one more shot to the right point. After playing a good shot, you might need to take a short step back to give you time to see the table and adapt if it comes back. Lining up your forehand with your core and foot positioning is key. I think your forehand is weaker than it could be when you get easy balls because you don't actively load it up, compare what you do to what both your opponents do when they want to hit a powerful forehand. Not saying they are right with what they are doing, but you see them getting ready to actually kill the ball, you don't give that impression and you do need kill shots in table tennis.

4) I left the lowest hanging fruit for last, I like your backhand, but it could be so much better. Your backswing and wrist flexion need to be practiced and ingrained as the backhand default position, even on pushing. Most good players switch grip somewhat between backhand and forehand, even if mildly, even if just with wrist flexion, you need to get there sooner rather than later.

Again a lot of good stuff, I just want to see more attempts to avoid all these rallies with some attempts to put pressure on the opponents with more precise serves, more precise ball placements, heavier spin etc. Don't try to hit the ball early, try to hit a ball that makes the opponent have to respect either the spin or the blinding speed.

This is well ahead of where you were a few months ago, just trying to push you a bit.

 

[OvrChkn]

Hi @OvrChkn

A few things jump out at me right away.

**** Your ready position has your arm and bat WAY in front of your body. ****

This makes it longer in terms of time and space to make your backswing/prep for your shots.

**** You seem to not discern well where the slow long balls are going. you often mis-judge the ball to come further out and closer to you. ****

so you are now positioned too far behind and side of the ball... which makes you reach and lose leverage and timing... results in many balls struck out long, since you are way on upswing by the time you impact the ball. When you find yourself like this, the only way to effectively adjust is to slow down your power and loosen your shoulder, arm, and hand... so that you can still land the ball with a little spin and not piss away the point immediately. You did this at 3:03 in your first vid, even though you lost the point, that opponent still had to make an attack and win... he will not do that 100% of the time, but when you go strong on balls out of zone, you lose nearly 100% immediately. you did it again at 3:22... you got ball on table and opponent failed. that is how percentages work. better to get something from the percentages than lose immediately 100%.

later, when you see and discern the impact better, you will be in position better and more often, then you will see the quality and consistency of your shot greatly increase.

*** I see you sometimes like to go for the reverse pendulum serve ***

I would say keep practicing it for the future, but hold off on using it in matches, unless you are just itching to get match practice using it. This serve does not do anything extra for you at this point and it is too risky a serve for no gain.

**** I see you do very well retrieving ball when under pressure ****

Time and time again you give opponent a chance at a strong attack and you bring it back with a soft hand. That is a skill not easily taught or learned.

**** Your fast deep regular FH pendulum serve is getting you what you need ***

When you occasionally do this serve, you sometimes get an error from over eager opponent or get an attackable ball. This is exactly what the serve is for - getting an IMMEDIATE OFEENSIVE ADVANTAGE in the rally, which you expect to boss over and win.

**** On your BH serve, you are moving arm forward way too much ***
You did a BH serve at 3:48 like this and you failed to control it. Consider moving hand and arm accross your body like you doing violin or cutting a loaf of bread. Do this motion with an open bat and it will be way easy to serve short or deep depending on what you want.

**** When you land a topspin and it is blocked, the ball bounces high and your bat prep is way too low causing you to hit the ball out ***

At 1:01 of your second vid you can see this. you made a nice BH topspin to setup the point, but your FH backswing, you took bat down to table height or below for a ball that bounced as high as your chest... the way to fight this is after your first topspin, prep bat at belly button height and be ready... all you need to do then is raise hand and arm a bit, step in, and hit. If you continue to prep bat too low after your first topspin, you will give away a lot of free points this way and crush your confidence if you keep this up.

To be fair to you, I do not know of a single adult who has fixed this the first week they tried.

Just getting to this now, so thank you @Der_Echte for the pointers. A few questions:
1. What would be the optimal starting position for where my arm would be? Just closer to my abdomen like you had mentioned in the last tip (and NL as well)?
2. I definitely struggle against a slower playstyle and coming in and out of the table is something that my coach is starting to focus on this month. Is there any sort of mental note to track of how I need to position relative to how fast/slow the ball is + where the ball is on the table?
3. On the positioning of my long FH pendulum serve, is there a trick to get more success or an advantage out of it? For example, I like to use a lot of short serves, and then set up the long serve to mix it up, but should I be focusing on doing the long serve more?
4. I'll also work on by BH serve and slowly build up the reverse pendulum, thank you for the suggestion. I might need to see a few videos on it, but I think I'm visualizing the concept. For the reverse pendulum serve, it's just something that I've found that helps me a lot against the left-handed players I go against, and they just seemingly return a lot of serves if I give them a pendulum serve to their forehand.

=====================================================

@NextLevel thank you for the advice and the encouragement too. A few questions for you as well:
1. On point 3, how should I focus on loading up on easy shots? Is it more of a positional issue for me or am I just not putting the right contact/power in the ball? Do you also have a video on positioning shots in table tennis? I'd like to do some work into setting up my serves and placements to where I can maximize my chances of getting the point.
2. On points 2 and 4, I need to look over the videos you've sent again. I get on a one track mind where I'm focusing a lot on just making contact behind the ball. This is where I struggle more mentally in the game, and it's hard to break out of. I'll keep grinding on those mechanics and make sure that's a big focus going for me forward. The rallies are a bit taxing physically on me after a while, so I'll focus a lot on that.
3. Mechanically, for my BH backswing, how should it look? Same question for the wrist flexion on a push.

 

[Lula]

Hey all, I have a couple of practice matches for review. Have been getting coached for about 4.5 months now, once a week. Been dealing with on and off stiffness in my legs (apparently for a long time), but I think I'm making some progress from when I last posted here. I struggle with positioning and I'm trying to think through all the strokes I've learned while in a match which is not great. I uploaded a match vs a pusher and vs a looper.

Just watched a bit. I think you should try to work on:
- learning how to make spin. Just try to make spin on the floor, how do i make downspin/topsin, sidespin? Can also put a pencil inside a ball and work on it. Then do some looping where you drop the ball on the floor, then make topsin and when you mastered it you can make topspin against a partner but stand a bit away. If the ball drops you need to create topspin, otherwise the ball will hit the net or out.
- Footwork: need to move first then hit. So do a lot of easy drills like one-one, two point forehand and have a very low tempo
- if you learn how to make spin you will get better serve and servereturns. You will get a lot more safety since you get an arc on the ball, so footwork is less important. But with better footwork you will be able to do the same stroke all the time, i think this is the big difference between the chinese and europeans. Good luck

 

[Der_Echte]

Just getting to this now, so thank you @Der_Echte for the pointers. A few questions:
1. What would be the optimal starting position for where my arm would be? Just closer to my abdomen like you had mentioned in the last tip (and NL as well)?

Maybe try holding it so elbow is at side of belly with a few inches of space.

2. I definitely struggle against a slower playstyle and coming in and out of the table is something that my coach is starting to focus on this month. Is there any sort of mental note to track of how I need to position relative to how fast/slow the ball is + where the ball is on the table?

You simply just need to get better at discerning impact. The better you get ar reading what happened at impact, judge where ball is going when with what speed, spina and vector... and in the first one foot after impact figure out what you want to do about it, then it is simply a matter of moving to position ready with leverage to set the strike zone and do it to it.

This happens in every ball in TT. The better you get at this, the higher and higher level you will play.

3. On the positioning of my long FH pendulum serve, is there a trick to get more success or an advantage out of it? For example, I like to use a lot of short serves, and then set up the long serve to mix it up, but should I be focusing on doing the long serve more?

You are getting into how to vary your serve and get/keep opponent off balance to give you more advantage. This is great stuff to think about and discuss. To over-simplify it all, you need to understand what opponent is looking for, and keep giving him something else and be sudden or surprising about it. When opponent mentally has no clue what is about to happen and an ever increasing doubt of what or if he can do anything about it, good things happen for you.

Short serves setup fast/deep serves. Short heavy underspin serves setup dead serves which setup your offense.

Halflong serves alternating 2nd bounce on line and one inch past line often setup mostly weak returns.

The key is using the same serve motion, but be able to contact ball on all different points of ball on different parts of swing and make swing smooth and accelerating so it all looks the same.

4. I'll also work on by BH serve and slowly build up the reverse pendulum, thank you for the suggestion. I might need to see a few videos on it, but I think I'm visualizing the concept. For the reverse pendulum serve, it's just something that I've found that helps me a lot against the left-handed players I go against, and they just seemingly return a lot of serves if I give them a pendulum serve to their forehand.

For the BH serve, just look at any of the women choppers, like say Korea's Suh Hyo Won. You can do ALL the variations with a BH serve that you can do with a FH serve. In fact, in doubles, I often serve with BH and can control depth pretty good and keep it low.

Spin is not the only variation, you also have tempo, vector, curve break, depth, height variations too.

 

[Fnub]

Hello! Recently I came to my relatives to Russia and took part in a local tournament. And I got filmed on camera and decided to use the chance.

Here is the video of myself playing against a higher ranked player. I'm in a black t-shirt. I won but I'm curious to know about my mistakes. Personally I think that my game looks awkward. I have a decent FH loop but I lack the confidence to use it consistently. That's why I mostly use BH drives close to the table. I'd like to get some advice on BH loop and footwork mainly. From what I see that on BH my elbow is too low. And because of the lack of confidence I don't move my legs correctly. I do too many useless small steps. How to fix it? will be grateful for advice