OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Hey guys, I am Wasif from Bangladesh (this will be an introductory post and fairly long). I started playing Table Tennis back in 2009 when I was admitted to a new school in grade 3. (I'm 17). Until the 6th grade, I played fairly well compared to my peers as my dad taught me some basics. However, this got even better when a person from my dad's office taught me the forehand topspin. Nevertheless, I was desperate to join a club from grade 6. But there were no clubs in our city, at least I thought so due to the severe lack of information. Finally, after desperately searching for a place to play, I stumbled upon a phone number on a facebook page. I called and asked if it was Bangladesh Table Tennis Federation, but the guy was a semi serious player. However, he gave me the no. of my first coach (no clubs like other countries here) and that is how I got into the world of competitive Table Tennis.

I played with my coach for two days a week. He was (is) a top 8 player who even played the Japan WC in 2014 I think, not sure. Due to the lack of support for our players, coaching fee is very low compared to the Western world. It is about 120$ for 8 sessions (a month). Anyways, training went well but both myself and my coach were lazy more often than not, while some sessions were realy good, some where just moderate multiball. I did learn the basics pretty well(or atleast I thought so) and I played with normal rubber until I was in grade 8/9. Then my coach said that I had a sense for chopping (which I do slightly), and I switched to long pips. I chopped in practice really well. But in matches I didn't know what the hell I was supposed to do. Neither did my coach know. The general impression is you use long pimples to make the ball for forehand, sounds pretty fine and dandy until you ask how you do that. Anyways, I continued playing half-assedly. In class 10, there was a school tournament and our team became the Runners-Up. It was my first Table Tennis achievement. Although I was just the third man. My two teammates Fahim and Niloy, they were better than me despite not having any formal training. After that I tried getting serious again, and then continued half-assedly. Important to note that there was only one long pimple player who reached our Nationals final match before. Long pimples are thus seen as a sign of a weak normal backhand. This is also something I want to change. This should suffice as an introductory post.

Note: After a few posts stating my history, I will jump into my present state and videos.

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Aspiring modern defender

I joined a newly formed club (has one table) in class 10 as I couldn't tolerate the irregularity of my coach anymore. I went there and so how much full of holes my strokes were. My smash was better than even the pro players there, because my coach had taught me to smash low balls with multiball. However, my topspin was BAD. I just used my arm haphazardly and there was no power from the ground, a full advanced topspin stroke. Still, it was hardly fixed and I again continued playing with some more heart, but still not enough. I quit the club after a month as it was too far, but I made two Table Tennis friends my age whom I still talk to.

I went back to my first coach again, and the irregular training continued. After a while, he shifted to Papua New Guinea. There he introduced me to a new coach, the current National Champion of Bangladesh. My first coach shifted back after a month, but I did not look back. With the new coach, I had a lot more heart, but my strokes were suffering. My main concern was now the backhand chop. I had switched to sponge from ox, and I had trouble keeping the ball low. My coach told me to close the angle of the bat. I practised practised practised, but the problem persisted. Due to so much practice, my chops were a bit more consistent, but they were still a bit high and less spinny. Later I found out through emrat and another long pips player, that you have to take the ball lower. I took it around chest/belly height then. After adjusting, my chops' spin and heught were near perfect.
I went to grade 11 in June. To a new school. I even played another inter school tournament now. There were other good players, ones whom I lost to before. My friends from the club, Masiat and Hasib, and also my ex teammates Fahim and Niloy. Besides, there was also another good player named Eusha, and he was favoured to win the tournament, he was more popular but Masiat was a better player.

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Aspiring modern defender

We lost in the first round in the teams event. I was the best player in my school and my teammates were fairly inexperienced. We lost 3-2, I won both. However, it was almost a breeze until the group finals of the tournament. There I matched up against Eusha, the tournament favourite. I had lost to him 2-0 before in another tournament (from a 9-5 lead in the 1st set). I won 3-1. However, it was a very muddy match. In the previous round, he had beaten my friend Hasib from the club 3-1 in a very exciting match (both are loopers). In my match however, he got nervous and barely looped. This gave me the opportunity to pick hit and loop myself.
The match is partially shown here
https://youtu.be/yP3LlxapNxI

After this, I was up against Niloy in the semi, who lost 3-0 against Masiat. I beat Niloy 3-0 and I played the best in that match (no video sadly). This shows I at least improved compared to the time I played against him. In the other semi, Masiat beat Eusha 3-2 in an exciting math. In the final I was up against Masiat, he had a beautiful forehand loop, but much like Eusha, he got nervous and barely looped, and I won 3-0. It was so surprising, he always used to beat me whenever I went to the club (almost a 70-30 ratio). Like this, I won my first inter school toournament during the end of 2017 (around dec). However, this was definitely not the way to play, as I barely looked like a modern defender, which I aspire to be.

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Aspiring modern defender

So after the tourney in December, the National Coach of our country said that he liked my control with the pips and invited me to train with him. So I took the offer, and now I train with two coaches. Fast forward three months, now I think my technique is much better than before, especially the forehand. Here are a few videos of me doing single ball as this thread seems very superficial without videos.
http://youtu.be/KcZaCc9NH0M
http://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=yout ... QTxJMHyrjE
Do give me feedback on my strokes guys!

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Aspiring modern defender