OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Hellow to all !!!

Havent been here for a Long Long time.

Just wanna ask the experts here about being a defensive player I am new to this type of style.
My main concern is this...

What to do if a player is putting the ball short after doing a counter chop. I tried watching Joo and other professional defensive players but at their level its hard to compare its so different from what is happening in my game.

what happens
1. top spin
2. counter chop
3. short ball return (because my opponent cant handle the tremendous under spin)
4. normal chop (pimple)
5. top spin
6. counter chop
repeat 3 and so forth

any additional advice would be greatly appreciated thanks

Assuming the normal chop = a push, you can push that ball to a place where the attacker has to move and will not be able to make a full powered shot. You can attack that resulting ball of the attacker with a loop drive, because there will not be much spin on the ball. You can also start the defensive rally again like you already described.

thank you for your reply I am having a hard time trying to adopt a defensive play and I just found out that I don't suit for joo's style of play he's very tall 5'11 and im just 5'6 and I have been trying to imitate his moves...

My problem so far is if I try to move far to chop an incoming VERY fast (and some players on the rise do make a very fast topspin) topspin I would not get near the table in time if he makes a drop shop on the rally.

and if I don't go far enough its hard to block chop a fast coming topspin

Your height isn't important to play a defensive game. Joo is 1m80 heigh, I'm 1m74. Just look at Chen Weixing or Jang Song Man... Hardly lenghty guys!

It's all about anticipation: if you chop a good ball back and you know he's going to drop shot it, then start running to the table before his drop shot even found place. The thing is that you need to learnt he spin on your chop and know how far your opponent will go in keeping attacking you chopped balls.

I think the problem you describe cannot be played by many players.
If you chop away from the table and the ball is with some backspin many players have problems to push the ball back short. But what to do if your opponent pushes the ball back after a chop.

Because you are new to the defensive style you should practise to forward-backward-movements that you get confident when moving.
Easy exercises for this:
1)
1x BH chop
1x FH push

2)
1x FH chop
1x BH push

3)
1x BH chop
1x BH push

4)
1x FH chop
1x FH push

You can combine this exercises, e.g. play 1+2 or 3+4
When you get safe with this movement, you can make the exercises irregular, e.g. your partner plays 1 or 2 topspins, then push.

To go on, you can try to attack the push with topspin. This is a good exercise for many balls practise, e.g. BH chop, then FH topspin against push.

In my opinion a defensive player has two possibilities to play on a push: push back or to attack with topspin.
And these easy exercises can help you to get familiar with the movements and possibilities of a defensive player.

_________________
Werner Schlager Academy - Table Tennis School in Vienna, Austria:
http://www.wernerschlageracademy.com/table-tennis-school.html

Coach at WSA and modern defender.
Racket:
BTY T05 (2,1mm) - BTY Joo Se Hyuk, straight - TSP Curl P4 (1,5)

Good advice, Fab. My coach encourages me to topspin pushes as often as possible but if they're just too short - or you're caught out of position - play a controlled, well-directed push instead. Just make sure you get back into a good position - most good players will be able to loop your push because it will inevitably be quite long.

_________________
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That's the point when pushing ... you must have a good placement, otherwise it is too easy.
In most cases a long push with good placement is better than a short one

_________________
Werner Schlager Academy - Table Tennis School in Vienna, Austria:
http://www.wernerschlageracademy.com/table-tennis-school.html

Coach at WSA and modern defender.
Racket:
BTY T05 (2,1mm) - BTY Joo Se Hyuk, straight - TSP Curl P4 (1,5)

I had a coach tell me something about this push just last week. When running up to the table to push after chopping, I was trying to load up the ball heavy, using my wrist. Problem was, push was not going deep and too slow. He told me push fast and deep and don't worry about the spin. Don't use my wrist, just use forearm/arm.

Makes sense to me now. A fast, little spin ball deep will be harder to handle than a spinny poorly placed ball.

_________________
Kim Kyung Ah + Skyline TG 3 Neo + 799 1.2mm

_________________
Werner Schlager Academy - Table Tennis School in Vienna, Austria:
http://www.wernerschlageracademy.com/table-tennis-school.html

Coach at WSA and modern defender.
Racket:
BTY T05 (2,1mm) - BTY Joo Se Hyuk, straight - TSP Curl P4 (1,5)

How about the idea of taking a step or two up and towards center after I chop, so I'm not very far away, almost as the final part of the chopping stroke?

I was trying that yesterday, and when they'd push to my backhand, I got right up on it and attacked hard and fast with the pips to wherever they would need to move the most that I could safely hit it to. It was a little more work, but I wasn't needing to lunge up to get the ball, and a push changed the rally to where I became the attacker, and they were forced to defend. The key to it was to move quickly after the chop so that by the time they hit the ball I was ready for the next one.

_________________
--- Push/Chop or Attack ---
USATT 1684 left, Lost it all by playing sick and hurt.
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