NextLevel wrote:
Ben Larcombe just reviewed it and thinks that it is directed at the "stuck" intermediate player as things like grip are not explained.
Perhaps.
Here's my review. Bear in mind where I'm coming from, and of course, with that bear in mind that I have no real idea what an advanced player needs to hear or see in a DVD. Samson has FAR more experience (duh) than I do in TT and in instructing TT (great players are often lousy instructors, but Samson has been TEACHING TT for quite awhile as I understand it, too).
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As I've said a few times, I'm new to table tennis. I've played maybe 20 hours in my life before the last few weeks [This review is from December, though January and February have been busy so I haven't played much more since then]. I've played tennis (mostly as a kid), and I play golf, teach golf, and train instructors in golf as well, so I'm fairly critical of the teaching methods of others. Teaching well is difficult.
I'm also attending [now past tense of course] the January 10th Samson Dubina clinic on spin (using it, reacting to it, and returning and serving with it) in Pittsburgh, so by all means even if anything I say below seems overall negative, that's not damning in and of itself. My mind simply tends to be very critical - I tend to focus on the things that need improving (in my own teaching and life as well) because that's the stuff that needs work. The good stuff I almost accept as "standard." It's served me well, and it's a little bit "just the way I am." So again, though it may seem negative, please read this with that in mind.
I wrote those two paragraphs before I started viewing the DVDs.
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First a little bug: the home screen has a "Play All" option or a "Sections" ("scenes") option. If you choose the latter, "Introduction" is followed by "Footwork" but really that misses out on the "Strokes" section.
Now, in order…
StrokesThe strokes section crams six strokes (forehand and backhand loops against backspin and topspin as well as blocks) into 11:30. It makes NO use of high-speed footage (even an iPhone 5S could have been used to produce 120 FPS video at a really good resolution). The entire section - covering seems like a fairly important and foundational topic - is way too short to be of much use.
Lots of details are left by the wayside. For example, I know the answer, but Samson doesn't tell the viewer WHY they would want to open the bat up more for a ball hit with backspin, and his word choices could be better: he'll say "move the bat from here to here" and demonstrate, but could have been more specific more often. He doesn't talk about the grip at all, either.
Also, at 10:30 when talking about the backhand block, he seems to confuse what you should do when you are blocking the ball off the table (long) versus blocking into the net. For example, he says that you should close the bat more, take it earlier off the bounce, or press down with your racket and body as you hit the ball. That would be good advice if you were blocking the ball long/out, but Samson says that's what you should do if you are blocking into the net. If you are blocking the ball out, he tells you to open the bat angle up more, take it higher off the bounce, or go forward more. Pretty sure that's backward.
Again, this entire section feels rushed. In a DVD that lasts 2.5 hours, I'd expect this section to be perhaps 30 minutes, not 11. Either omit this section entirely if the DVD is aimed at an intermediate or advanced player, or spend more time on it. As it stands, this section is pretty much what you can expect from the rest of the DVD: Samson doesn't have a clear target audience in mind. Is he trying to reach beginners? Intermediate? Advanced players? Who knows…
FootworkSamson says that pros practice side-to-side footwork 2-3 hours a day? I have a hard time believing that. Seems to me it would be something you check in on now and then, but not something you necessarily practice that much. I'm left to assume that he means they practice hitting shots while having to move side to side, not that they literally work on only the footwork that much. It's not clear, though. I'm not sure this DVD was scripted, or small errors like this (where things could be made clearer) would have been caught, I would think.
Again, the lack of planning or scripting and the weak wording seems to short-change the viewer a little. We're told at about 25 seconds to "move your feet first, then start your swing" but we aren't told HOW to move our feet. A demonstration follows at just after 0:30. THEN we're told how to do this, but we were't told what to look for before, rendering the previous 35 seconds less effective. Fortunately he demonstrates it again, but without helpful graphics or things which specifically call out what he's doing, which would assist the viewer. You have to almost create your own slow-speed video by going frame by frame if you can, as watching a guy step sideways three times at full speed is not super helpful.
There's no mention made yet of staying on the balls of your feet, or how much to bend your knees or at the waist. I'm only 1:30 into a 10:30 section though. In and out footwork follows. Then the crossover. They're fine, though nothing is ever said about how to stay on the balls of your feet, knee bend, etc.
There is a nice section on the things that can go wrong - getting lazy, etc. More parts like that are coming, I hope.
ServesThis chapter is nearly 27 minutes, which seems odd to me since "Strokes" only got 11 minutes.
Samson starts by talking about 10 ways to improve your serve. First is to suit your serve to your game. As I write this I'm 0:45 in, and I find it odd that he's talking about this now before demonstrating or teaching anything about actually serving the ball.
Second is to use the same equipment as at a tournament. Ooooookay. Third is to miss your serve now and then by pushing yourself with extreme spin or placement - don't just hit the middle "safe" spot of the table every time: try to serve long, short, low… push yourself and be okay with missing now and then. I won't list the rest because you should buy the DVD if you want to hear them, but they are all things I feel would have been better after I learned HOW to serve.
The unusual sequencing continues when Samson starts talking about actually serving. He talks about tactics - focus on spin, placement, height of toss, etc. before he talks about basic stuff like how you grip the paddle (is it different than your normal shakehand? It should be from everything I've read.), where you stand, etc. I'm over 7:00 into the video.
7:35, forehand pendulum, finally! How to grip, where to stand, etc. This should have started this section IMO! These sections are good, though they again could have benefitted from closeups shot at high speed. There is some pseudo-high-speed footage (slow-mo) here, but it's from the far corner of the table and appears to be just 30 FPS video slowed down.
Pendulum, reverse pendulum, hook, backhand, tomahawk and reverse, and windshield wiper and reverse serves are demonstrated.
Side-by-side pseudo-slow-mo are used (for example, to show the difference between backspin and topspin), but they're only useful when Samson gets out of rhythm so that you can watch the left one, and then look to the right to watch the right one. When they're done simultaneously, as the first one seems to always be done, you can't really look at either because you're busy reading the titles at the bottom to see which is which.
This section was good. It showed me enough of the basics to let me try them out on my own. I still feel like the order was backward, but… best section so far.
Serve ReturnGood stuff on flips and things. Small thing: when talking about returning sidespin serves, he demonstrates "adding to the spin" backward. The ball is spinning one way, and he moves the racket the other way, basically demonstrating the "canceling the spin" he just demonstrated.
Match StrategyThis section is 40 minutes long. I am not sure how we get 11 minutes on strokes but 40 minutes on match strategy. What good is strategy if you don't even have good strokes? Is this DVD for intermediate players - players who have the basic strokes down, and need more emphasis on strategy? If so, why have "strokes" at all, and particularly at such a basic level? If it's for beginners, how is 11 minutes only justified? What is the audience?
This section starts with some basic ways to win (vary spin, location, etc.). Then includes a section on different types of rubber. I knew all of this stuff, but it seemed well done.
The hard-core strategy stuff that followed, honestly, bored me a bit. It's not what I need right now. I'm sure an Intermediate player would make good use of this section. I'll probably revisit it - and take lots of notes - when I get better. It sounds like, from having listened to parts as I fast forwarded through most, that it is quite good.
Mental Game13 minutes or so. Yes, this section is also longer than the "strokes" section…
I've never done much with this in golf, largely because I feel as though I've never had to. I feel I do well under pressure. I don't get "too high or too low" as they say. I don't have a problem being beat by a better opponent, I expect myself to try my best and give it my all. I can be hard on myself, but that simply drives me to improve - I never actually get down on myself.
I typed that all before watching this section as a way of saying I don't expect to get much from it, but others who struggle more with their mental game may find it far more valuable than I will.
"Table tennis is 50% physical and 50% mental." No, sorry, I don't buy this crap. It's BS. A good mental game provides a small edge over other players. It's worth a point here or there. It's not going to be responsible for half of your ability to beat someone. Give me a break.
I think even Samson realizes this is BS: the first "mental game" tip is a technique tip - to mind your placement and keep your feet active.
Some other mental game tips? "Practice." I'm not kidding.
Shortly after "Practice," at about 7:00 in, I fast forwarded through the rest. It's beyond what I care about now as a beginner, and I doubt very much I'll ever go back and view it. I don't need to be told to "relax." Even in fast forwarding I could tell he says "relax" several times.
As I have said in golf, you could have the mental game of Jack Nicklaus, but if you've got the physical game of a guy who doesn't break 100, you're not playing let alone winning against a 9-handicapper let alone playing on the PGA Tour.
Physical TrainingOnly 2:30, but I skipped it entirely. I'm not looking to be a pro. I work out, run, etc. but I'm not going to do TT-specific stuff.
Drills~11:00 or so. Falkenberg is the second drill shown. The other drills are good. I like them and have considered how I could either work with a training partner on them or program a robot to do them.
Final ThoughtsTen final thoughts. I couldn't care for the first - it's religious. It just feels out of place. The others are good, but this section might have been better as one of the first.
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This DVD could have been better with three things.
1) Scripting. I felt like things were just "winged" a bit. He may have had notes down to say "Pendulum, Reverse Pendulum, Tomahawk, Reverse Tomahawk, etc." to cover the order in which he wanted to discuss serves, for example, but he didn't script things like "you want to swing from here to here" which were unclear.
2) Planning and technological integration. Plan the ORDER of things. Don't tell me to push myself on placement and speed of serves before you show me how to hit serves. Integrate actual high-speed video. Don't show a backspin and a topspin serve side by side so I can't really see either of them.
3) Know the audience. I'm no sure what his audience was. Some of the stuff was really basic, but not thorough enough to really benefit beginners much. Other parts were more advanced, but beyond what a beginner to early intermediate player needs to hear. In trying to go after a broad audience, Samson may have failed to reach any audience.
As it stands, for $60, I'm not sure how the TT market feels about things like this. In golf, if you could get two or three things out of the DVD, it may justify the cost. In disc golf, if it's not $3, it's too much, so $60 is often WAY too much for them. I'm not sure where TT people fall.
I think it was fine for $60. Not great, not a flop or a failure. Just kind of "in the middle" somewhere. I give it a C+.
P.S. The production value was reasonably good. Nice graphics. The video was shot entirely in Samson's basement (I believe), so the location could have been better, but that's a nit-pick.
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