OOAK Table Tennis Forum

I've purchased a camera and tripod, which should arrive shortly. I have another couple of videos to upload today - BH & FH practice with the robot, and a practice match.

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Yasaka Sweden Classic | 802 OX | C8 OX
Check out my blog - LordCope's Latest Learning Log - 10+ years of accumulate mistakes!

OK, here's my practice match against my training partner, Ricky. He plays in division 1 (the top division), his team having been promoted last season. However the gap between division 2 and 1 is large, so while Ricky was on 90%+ last season he's on 20-30% this season. We played 3 games, I lost the first two, but got the third.

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Yasaka Sweden Classic | 802 OX | C8 OX
Check out my blog - LordCope's Latest Learning Log - 10+ years of accumulate mistakes!

OK, and here's my robot practice today:



Observations:

- In the first drill, I seem to dip down to play the BH
- Many of my FH counterhits feature a strange outward motion with the blade, opening the face a little more towards the end of the stroke

I tried hard in the latter two videos to keep my elbow out in front and to the side, and to concentrate on ensuring there was no tension in my wrist, and that I was not gripping the bat too hard.

So: I've posted quite bit so far:

- Practice match with DM
- Chopping practice with PG
- Practice match with RH
- 3 x robot drills

You've got to post video to get proper feedback.... I eagerly anticipate feedback!

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Yasaka Sweden Classic | 802 OX | C8 OX
Check out my blog - LordCope's Latest Learning Log - 10+ years of accumulate mistakes!

Based mostly on your vidz with matches (and this is almost all I know about your game), you have good attacks on both sides (if you twiddle on BH). That is where you win your points. Build your game around FH smash, do everything you can to set up for that. And perhaps BH attacks where you twiddle.
For that you need to be more focused when you serve. You must have a clear idea with every serve what will happend and how that specific serve will lead to a FH attack or any other way to win you the point.
You bend your knees very good, keep that. But you seem to have too much weight on your heels, you need to stand more on your toes. This makes you slow and you often have a bad placement. You should float over the table in order to always be in position for next attack or block.
BH blocks should always be performed in front of your body. If you need to reach out to the ball you have been too lazy or slow .
When you chop your both feet should not be at the same distance from the table. BH chop is more powerful if your left foot is more away from the table. You need to correct this when you do chopping practice. You also need to start your stroke much higher (this requires a different stance). Look at Joo or any other. Or look at Gustaf Ericsson who also chops with DG ox.
It sometimes looks like DG causes more troubles to you than the opponent. I have not read your blog to see what equipment changes you've done so I cannot say more about this. But your equipment should follow your style, not make you adapt very much too it (unless you try to learn a new style).
Keep it up!

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Def-attack's attempts to find balance between defence/attack | Getting better - health and game |
My Youtube

Hey! Thanks for the feedback - you are the first person!



Right. So right now, I have two serves which usually lead to a third ball attack - a BH LP no-spin serve down the line to the BH, which is usually misread, giving a ball to attack (see the first point of my match against DM). And an FH LP slightly sidey spin from my FH corner, which allows me a BH hit with the SP. These both work well against weaker players, but against better players they are much less effective. I'm also a little limited on my serve in that I can't generate much spin with my rubbers. I think a lot of my serves are either just short, to avoid a ball 2 kill, or really just get the ball in play. Definitely needs work.




OK great - I will try to keep that in mind.



Thanks. I've been looking today for good examples. My favorite is Tetyana Bilenko. She has such beautiful form.



Interesting - in what way? I've used DG for quite a while, and it's my favourite so far. I've tried three other OX LPs (955, Sanwei Code, C7) but DG has the best spin reversal, and feels like it has the best control. I've also used 755 with 0.8mm sponge, but found it very bouncy and hard to keep low, especially when pushing. I'm seriously considering FL3 since I admire Tetyana, and think she's a great role model, in terms of chopping and attacking (with BH and FH). I anticipate this needing some serious time to adjust, though.

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Yasaka Sweden Classic | 802 OX | C8 OX
Check out my blog - LordCope's Latest Learning Log - 10+ years of accumulate mistakes!

Lordcope, as you know, both you and me are on a similar path, posting videos to gather advice in an effort to improve. Although our styles are different, I can't help but think that many of the recommendations for me also apply to you.

The main things I noticed with you is that your forehand swing is across your chest rather than finishing high up above your left eyebrow. Might be worth a look at all the same videos from pingskills that have been recommended for me. A really good looking technique I'd love to replicate is Dan from Table Tennis Daily. He does lots of forehands when doing reviews and whether doing counter-hits, loops to topspin or backspin, he always seems to finish in the same spot. This is my aim.

The other thing I noticed is how tense you appear to be. Your left arm pokes out with what appears to be stiff fingers rather than arm tucked in, in a relaxed manner. As with running, it my be worth holding your hand like you are holding an egg. If you stretch out your fingers you can be tense, if you hold a fist you can be tense but its a lot harder to be tense when you hand is held as though holding an egg.

With your backhand, I'm not sure if you are trying to do the stage 1 Jim Clegg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIJ7hGYQqF4 style backhand with a fixed wrist but if not then there appears to be no whip or floppiness to your backhand. Once again appears quite tense.

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Donic Waldner Senso V1,FH Baracuda Big Slam 2.0mm ,BH Victas Triple Regular 2.0mm

Yes, absolutely. That was partly what I was starting to work on in the robot drill video.



That's an interesting observation. I consciously keep my left arm in line with my right, for balance, but it is rather tense.



Thanks - that's very useful - I shall be mindful of that.



Yes, at some stage I was taught that the backhand stroke was hinged about the elbow, with the wrist firm. After watching Brett's videos I'm trying to be more mindful of a whippy wrist.

Thanks very much for the observations!

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Yasaka Sweden Classic | 802 OX | C8 OX
Check out my blog - LordCope's Latest Learning Log - 10+ years of accumulate mistakes!

LordCope is doing a counterhit (and is using short pips I believe), so the mechanics are different. You are looping, Cobalt, so your finish should be at the eyebrow. He is counterhitting, so the finish is often and acceptably lower depending on technique.

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Cobra Kai TT Exponent (Mercy effs up your Game)
One-Loop Man: One Loop... Again????
Lumberjack TT Exponent

"We don't rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our training" - Archilochus

You sometimes misses easy strokes and blocks. I know these are difficult strokes, but they are even more difficult with DG. FL3 will not help you, less spin reversal than Dr Evil. Pogo is a fantastic allround lp to start with for that game, then I Think Talon is more easy and has same reversal. Or perhaps Agenda. Palio is great but faster than DG (not easy). But others here can halp you more than I can in that matter. I have no idea how your blade is, perhaps that is the key?

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Def-attack's attempts to find balance between defence/attack | Getting better - health and game |
My Youtube