OOAK Table Tennis Forum

I think spatial awareness is a skill, if I may calli that, not talked about much in TT. You need to be very "tuned in" to your position relative to the table and to the ball to play the right shot. We talk about footwork a lot, but I think the more spatially aware u are, the more likely u either get feet in position or compensate with bat angle for being a little out. Thoughts?

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I'm always in the dark, but the Dark sheds lights upon everything!! Beauty is only pimple deep! Beauty is in the eye of the pipholder!
S/U 1: Blade: Bty Gergely . FH Black Andro Rasant 2.1 . BH Red National Pogo Ox
S/U 2: Blade: Bty Gergely . FH Black Hexer+ 2.1 . BH Red Tibhar Grass Dtecs Ox
S/U 3: Blade: Bty Gergely . FH Black Hexer+ 2.1 BH Red Dornenglanz Ox
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Agreed to a certain extent.

While spatial awareness is extremely important in sports like football, in table tennis we have a couple of aids (comparatively)-

1 - it is much easier to have a view/estimate of the table boundaries as you look at the opponent's return and ball trajectory
2 - generally/ideally we hit shots with a still frame

on the other hand, the margin for error is much smaller - so much for advantages

To keep myself aware, I try to keep the net posts and the center white line in the mind - especially when drawn out in a rally. Not sure if its the best way but helps me.

I think more than spatial awareness its important to understand the available angles on the table based on your position. A lot of times we do not know the full extent of what trajectories are possible to draw an opponent out of position

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Butterfly Timo Boll Spirit FL, FH - Tenergy 05, BH - Tenergy 05FX
Buying equipment is like getting into a relationship. One night stands are great but you get the most out of it when you work at it for a long time.

From watching pros it seems they instinctively move themselves to the exact position which mirrors that of their opponent. It's as if they are connected at the belt by a long bungee cord which pivots on the center of the net. The pro players are almost always (in normal situations) at the same cross-angle as their opponent and the same distance from the table. The latter aspect seems to vary a little more than the first based on the style of the player.

 

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Giant Dragon Kris Special : Nittaku Hammond Pro Beta 2.1 black fh : Spinlord Dornenglanz Ox red bh
Member of Charlotte Table Tennis Club, Charlotte, North Carolina, USA
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Some good thoughts there guys!

I feel at times like "the radar" is off when I am missing the table on certain nights, while other times its like I have a laser-guidance system going on which allows me to beam the ball to wherever I want it at whatever pace I want it onto the table! This is my feeling of "spatial awareness".

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I'm always in the dark, but the Dark sheds lights upon everything!! Beauty is only pimple deep! Beauty is in the eye of the pipholder!
S/U 1: Blade: Bty Gergely . FH Black Andro Rasant 2.1 . BH Red National Pogo Ox
S/U 2: Blade: Bty Gergely . FH Black Hexer+ 2.1 . BH Red Tibhar Grass Dtecs Ox
S/U 3: Blade: Bty Gergely . FH Black Hexer+ 2.1 BH Red Dornenglanz Ox
Table tennis directory / Equipment Review Index / Read my Reb Report Blog: click here.

so in particular the general rule is to be at the same distance from the table as your opponent?

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clipper wood - fh m2 max - bh m3 max (5 mar 2013)

The distance from the table depends on what style of play you have or want to impose on a rally. What the pros do very well is to be on the exact opposite side from the opponent.

you can imagine it like this -

Imagine a straight line joining the opponent and the center of the net (basically the point right in the center of the table) and extend this line towards your side of the table.

What the pros do well is to position themselves on this extension all the time - near or far from the table.

For example if you see Zhang Jike vs Ma Long matches, you would find Zhang to play close to the table while Ma is away in backand to backand rallies. This is because he has insane backhand punches - much better than long drives. Even with this, they are on the exact opposite ends of the table.

Hope this makes it clear

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Butterfly Timo Boll Spirit FL, FH - Tenergy 05, BH - Tenergy 05FX
Buying equipment is like getting into a relationship. One night stands are great but you get the most out of it when you work at it for a long time.

Good players also have excellent peripheral vision or awareness so they have a sense of where their opponent is while at the same time getting ready to hit the ball.

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Butterfly Viscaria
Evolution MX-P, FH and BH

Spacial awareness, or at least table tennis specific spacial awareness, can be improved with practice, and hours spent playing, in my opinion.



I believe that the pros, who typically practice about about 6 hours a day, subconsciousness learn to read cues from the opponents, rather than watching the ball all of the time. It is like a professional cricketer, baseball or tennis player knowing where the ball is going, as they know where to look on the opponents body, and through the power of practice, their brains learn how to process the information to create this illusion of players seemingly knowing where the ball is going before it is hit. Practice and repletion help a player play shots and intuitively knowing where the next ball is going to be hit.

As an example, there is Desmond Douglas, regarded as the player with the greatest reactions. When faced with a basic reactions test at a University, which involved touching pads when they lighted up, he finished bottom in his team, even below the manager. His innate reactions were very slow, however his table tennis specific reactions were super fast because during his formative years as a player, he played in a cramped classroom, which forced him to play very close to the table, sharpening his reactions. He played in these conditions for about the first 4 years of his table tennis career. That is how a man with slow innate reactions gained the quickest table tennis specific reactions.*

Nowadays, multiball training is used to coach the next generations of players. The real advantage with multiball is the feeder can always push the player to the outer limits of his reaction time. Over time, this leads to increadible reaction times and spacial awareness the top players have (players often extend the table by half a table width), because players reactions and footwork patterns are always pushed to deal with what the feeder is giving the player.

That is, in my opinion, why top players have the Superior reaction times and spacial awareness that they have.

* Source - Bounce, Matthew Syed