OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Despair? Don't even go there!

You mentioned footwork and I know it's always been one of your key focuses. I hadn't seen it before, but once you get your feet into the 'right' position the rest can follow naturally.

I'm sure others will jump on this bandwagon and offer their sage advice.

And, please, keep taping your games as a record of your progress. I will endeavor to do the same! Promise.

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Weapon 1: Andro Kinetic Supreme Hinoki/Zylon OFF-; Andro Hexer HDs (FH 2.1/BH 1.9)
Weapon 2: Ross Leidy 'Smokey'; Friendship 729-5s
Club1: Daylesford - since 2010
Club2: Ballarat - since 2011
Blog: A Naked Bear

Malleus,
You are off to a good start. You crouch which helps. Sideways movement is one thing to work on. Your right foot seems glued alot of times when you could have made a step to get better position. Get out of the habit of starting your serve "below" table height. The better you get, the more you will be called on it.
Have fun.

Firstly, a good start to your comp career. I'm guessing you were somewhat nervous but you did well. For someone with little experience you are quite consistent.

I think Oskar and hookshot have identified the most pressing problems. Your neutral position should see your feet parallel with the table but you tend to have your right foot forward. The only time your right foot should be forward is when playing very short balls. When you play your FH you should, for now at least, be somewhat side on (say around 45%) with your left foot forward. This will allow your to get some body turn (hips, shoulders etc) happening which will eventually allow you to get some power in your FH. Currently your FH is all arm and you are right that you don't loop.

Your index finger is wandering a little too high up your bat.

Do a lot of side to side footwork. This will help you get those wide balls to your FH.

Long-term you should be looking to be more pro-active in a rally. Currently you are really just chiseling and it is hard to get too far this way. If you can get your attack going that will be a step in the right direction.

Otherwise, keep up the good work and enjoy the season.

Thank you for the encouragement and advice! It will be really helpful to work on these things and hopefully post a video later on with improvements in these areas.

_________________
Blade: Andro Kinetic Supreme Zylon/Kiso Hinoki OFF-
FH: Hexer HD 1.7 mm sponge
BH: CTT National Pogo OX
Style: FH counterhitter, BH disruptor

Is it possible to give a summary of the night's play? How did your team go?

_________________

Weapon 1: Andro Kinetic Supreme Hinoki/Zylon OFF-; Andro Hexer HDs (FH 2.1/BH 1.9)
Weapon 2: Ross Leidy 'Smokey'; Friendship 729-5s
Club1: Daylesford - since 2010
Club2: Ballarat - since 2011
Blog: A Naked Bear

Certainly Oskar!
The man I played with in the video has played A2 before in a more metro club but I'm guessing he has had a break. I thought I would be soundly thrashed and was quite pleased to be up 2-1 after the third set and I enjoyed his frustration against my serves and the pips! Of course in the last few games he dominated. Against J he won 4 sets straight.

The 14 year old lost 2 sets against J and 1 against me. We won 2 sets in the doubles out of 7. So we were soundly beaten and didn't win a game but against opponents that were probably some of the best in our division, I am guessing.

It was a great night and I am pleased to have done as well as we did. In no way am I discouraged by losing to such worthy opponents. I am pleased they have given me so much to work on!

_________________
Blade: Andro Kinetic Supreme Zylon/Kiso Hinoki OFF-
FH: Hexer HD 1.7 mm sponge
BH: CTT National Pogo OX
Style: FH counterhitter, BH disruptor

Here is a short training video against the robot I did a few weeks ago to show that I am not totally clueless when it comes to footwork and in general my left foot is forward in this one; has anyone got any tips on how to make robot training come into the real world more? I tend to freeze up in the comp. Just knowing this will help I suppose, then doing a similar drill against human, then trying to integrate it in a non comp game? Part of my flat stance in the comp was seeing the success with the pips and trying to bring them in more; the flat stance goes along more with BH blocking play.

_________________
Blade: Andro Kinetic Supreme Zylon/Kiso Hinoki OFF-
FH: Hexer HD 1.7 mm sponge
BH: CTT National Pogo OX
Style: FH counterhitter, BH disruptor

Suggestion, slow the rep rate down when learning.
Your elbow looks like it is locked on most loops.
You stop your swing just after contact, no follow through.
Do not "fold" your bat over after contact. Keep the bat angle the same through the whole swing.

I'm hoping someone will give you a 'thorough' analysis of your technique and style against the robot. What I see is a much more determined player than the one in competition. You do look fairly relaxed against the robot, which would suggest that nerves had a part to play in your competitive play. I know from experience that when you're relaxed (and really eager), you are more focused and more aggressive. Having watched the comp. video again, I suspect that at times you lost focus, i.e. your mind (and, therefore, your body) wasn't 100% in the game. I could be wrong, but nerves can do that. Luckily, as you play more and more, and become aware of any potential loss of concentration, you'll get on top of it. And keep in mind that every player suffers these nerves from time to time.

From the robot training, maybe because of the extra pressure of filming yourself, you do seem stiffer than how I've seen you play in our informal games and drills. A few deep breaths and shaking your limbs might help. Also, even though your feet are positioned better and your forehand technique is more sound, you have to refine the action a little more. I suspect there's too much inconsistency in the sum total of your strokes, i.e. sometimes your follow-through is over your head and sometimes it moves across your body. Remember our little visualisation - The Praetorian Guard!

As you said, these videos will give us some clues as to what we need to focus on.

_________________

Weapon 1: Andro Kinetic Supreme Hinoki/Zylon OFF-; Andro Hexer HDs (FH 2.1/BH 1.9)
Weapon 2: Ross Leidy 'Smokey'; Friendship 729-5s
Club1: Daylesford - since 2010
Club2: Ballarat - since 2011
Blog: A Naked Bear

The problem with not getting some good coaching early on is that you can spend a lot of time doing the wrong thing. I don't want to make you feel bad or dampen your enthusiasm but there are a lot of things that needs fixing here. Here are some:

- your grip. watch that your index finger doesn't wander up the bat.

- your weight is always backwards (probably on your heels - it was difficult to see). You should have your weight forward on your toes (gorilla-like) with your heels off the ground.

- your weight should be transferring from your right leg to your left but currently there is virtually no weight going forward. hard to get any power like this.

- your swing is all wrong. I won't go into detail but you are starting behind your back and come up like a Hitler salute. Impossible to get power this way.

- as hookshot observed 'you stop your swing just after contact, no follow through' and when you do follow through it is frequently under your eyes/chin. You should follow through to above your left-eye and not swing under your eyes at all.

- you are covering too little ground when you move. You want to be skipping across. Your feet need to come together and skip apart as you move (if you know what I mean) and on your toes.


I really do recommend that you get at least a few sessions with a good coach. I'm not sure if he will coach you but Alois from Pingskills lives in Bacchus Marsh which is near you. You could ask him (contact him via the pingskills website). He is a fantastic coach and a great guy - it would be money well spent. Otherwise feel free to PM me if you want an opinion on a prospective coach. There are some good ones out there but there are also a few so-so ones.

these clips might help:

Hi Malleus, the main thing is to have fun, once you have accomplished a season you will know where you are
you are getting lots of good advice
so Ill just add som crafty hints
1. when serving from the left the ball dosn't have to go to thier left (mix it up ) to get bad returns
2. when serving from the right you sometimes never let the ball drop so watch that, try and vary the placement but be careful as most better players won't serve from the right side as it leaves the backhand vulnrable
3. Use the pimple side to roll, serve and defend, not just push

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Ok, Carbonman, I get it. I suck, and majorly. Luckily many others suck worse than me so I am able to win a few games. Up until your last analysis of the hastily made and put up video I was really getting a lot from the comments. Have you ever put a video up for comments?

I understand that from your perspective I look like a middle aged jumping around Hitler clown when I was trying to emulate an aggressive looping and sidestepping style that is clearly way beyond me. I regret posting that video now.

I suppose I am concerned that others may be dissuaded from posting videos (as I am now) if the criticism is too strong and especially if it is loaded with an unnecessary reference to Hitler.

_________________
Blade: Andro Kinetic Supreme Zylon/Kiso Hinoki OFF-
FH: Hexer HD 1.7 mm sponge
BH: CTT National Pogo OX
Style: FH counterhitter, BH disruptor

Malleus I apologise for offending you - it was certainly not my intention. Every post I have previously posted re-your game has been overtly positive and the intent of my last post was simply to help (I even suggested an excellent coach that lived nearby you). There was absolutely no intent to ridicule and the reference to a Hitler salute was for descriptive purposes only. Believe me when I say that I think your application to training and keenness to improve is very impressive. I have been coaching for a long time and I always love it when players are so self-motivated - it makes coaching fun.

Text only can be an ambiguous medium and unless I have evidence otherwise I tend to just give people the benefit of the doubt that their intentions are positive. Anyway, I again apologise and will refrain from commenting on your blog in future.

Thanks Carbonman. I was probably a little sensitive, and I recognise that all your other posts were quite positive and encouraging. I understand a lot of people are concieted about their own abilities and prefer to make equipment changes etc instead of developing their game through regular disciplined practice. Yes, I have been guilty of that too. I would love to have more time to get regular coaching and will see if I can make that time in the future, but with a full time job, 2 young kids and other issues it is difficult. That's why I need maximum efficiency, because of the lack of time.

Anyway I will abandon attempts to loop for now and work on good consistent counterhits and blocking, concentrating on positioning and work on improving my fitness and footwork and increasingly bringing these things into competition games.

_________________
Blade: Andro Kinetic Supreme Zylon/Kiso Hinoki OFF-
FH: Hexer HD 1.7 mm sponge
BH: CTT National Pogo OX
Style: FH counterhitter, BH disruptor

Victory at last!

Last week we lost all games for the second time, although I finally felt like I was making ground and was close to winning one.

On the weekend I finally got to have a good drill session with Oskar where we drilled and played for many hours late into the night to the point of exhaustion. This boosted my confidence as I felt more prepared.

Tonight however we faced a weaker team and won all 5 games! The first was a straight 4 in a row bamboozling her with my pips which got our team pumping, then my teammate won 4-1, the doubles went hard to the line but we prevailed 4-3, my teammate crushed the next one 4-0 and then I faced the other player, who clearly had more experience against long pips. She had me down 2-0 but by then I had worked out her weakness and just kept hammering her backhand. I started to do some real chops with the backhand and competent counterhits and just kept mentally strong and focused. I proceeded to win the next 4 sets and won the game.

I felt tonight was a great breakthrough in my mental game and I look forward to more challenges in the next ones.

_________________
Blade: Andro Kinetic Supreme Zylon/Kiso Hinoki OFF-
FH: Hexer HD 1.7 mm sponge
BH: CTT National Pogo OX
Style: FH counterhitter, BH disruptor