OOAK Table Tennis Forum

My goal is to make my backhand great again. I have been found guilty of pushing too many balls that I would have attacked 3 or 4 years ago (for obvious reasons IMO, but no one cares).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fjD7uL1c58

The first 6 minutes are me practicing a backhand flick against heavy backspin, which is the spin that I am often scare to flick against and usually push. Any recommendations?

Also, what kind of ball is too short to flick against? When is the short push clearly preferable?

I am beginning to feel better about my serves in general again. They aren't all the way back (not enough practice) but I am focusing more on spin rather than length and not serving as much backspin! And the length is paradoxically getting better.

Is my technique so bad it deserves no comment?

When I coach some adult who has been playing for ten or twenty years and can't spin the ball? I tell them to switch to short pips.

I've stopped telling people what to do or not do with their body. They can never change it. I'm not feeding them multiball every day for five years, they aren't kids, it isn't happening.

I try to demo, or else use what you did with me, asking them to hit the ball somewhere exaggerated. If they are looping into the net I might ask them to hit the back wall. Or the ceiling if they are pushing into the net. If they push my sidrspin serve off the left side if the table (my left) I ask them to hit it off the right side. Their brains will figure out what to do much better and faster if given nothing to think avout except the desired response if the ball. Russ having a guy loop over boxes is the same idea.

I am not a paid coach and I have no responsibilty, so my situation is completely different from NL's and yours. I don't have to pretend to own some knowledge that can be transmitted apart from thousands if hours of hard slog. In fact I also occasionally say what Brian Pace told me at the end of my first ever TT lesson. Hit 10,000 of them at home, and if there's still a problem come see me again.

My goal is to make my backhand great again. I have been found guilty of pushing too many balls that I would have attacked 3 or 4 years ago (for obvious reasons IMO, but no one cares).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fjD7uL1c58

The first 6 minutes are me practicing a backhand flick against heavy backspin, which is the spin that I am often scare to flick against and usually push. Any recommendations?

Also, what kind of ball is too short to flick against? When is the short push clearly preferable?

I am beginning to feel better about my serves in general again. They aren't all the way back (not enough practice) but I am focusing more on spin rather than length and not serving as much backspin! And the length is paradoxically getting better.

(Story taken from Zen in the Martial Arts, by Joe Hyams)

I was having tea with Master Han in his office when the mailman arrived with a letter from the master’s family in Korea.

Knowing he had been eagerly anticipating the letter, I paused in our conversation, expecting him to tear open the envelope and hastily scan the contents. Instead, he put the letter aside, turned to me, and continued our conversation.

The following day I remarked on his self-control, saying that I would have read the letter at once.

“I did what I would have done had I been alone,” he said. “I put the letter aside until I had conquered haste. Then when I set my hand on it, I opened it as though it were something precious.”

I puzzled over this comment a moment, knowing he meant it to be a lesson for me. Finally I said I didn’t understand what such patience led to.

“It leads to this,” he said. “Those who are patient in the trivial things in life and control themselves will one day have the same mastery in great and important things.”

I think for an adult learner the decision to loop all half long serves is extremely liberating. For me it was one of the best things I ever done to reorganize my game. The most important implication is that I don't need to waste my time practicing flicks, I can devote all my resources to perfecting the "long" game and it will be enough for me.

I think for an adult learner the decision to loop all half long serves is extremely liberating. For me it was one of the best things I ever done to reorganize my game. The most important implication is that I don't need to waste my time practicing flicks, I can devote all my resources to perfecting the "long" game and it will be enough for me.

And what if they serve short no spin or pure side/topspin?