OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Thanks. There's a bunch more coming. NL has turned up the heat, so we need to deliver on time! There's a couple of interesting LTT videos in the pipeline.

The backswing on your serve isn't dynamic enough. Look at the power Laj is generating on this backswing above. Or Ma Long here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48dEzZkLg38 It's great that Ma Long is using a whip on this serve and not a circular motion as it helps me to sell my point about the power of straight whip patterns

_________________
Get your 3 wishes here today!
ttEDGE.com Professional online coaching

ETTS video still under construction. If you were 1200 and showed me that serve, I'd think it was pretty good. But a for a player of your level and talent, I know you can do better.

_________________
Get your 3 wishes here today!
ttEDGE.com Professional online coaching

The confusion continues! In LTT42 you show that on a pivot the stroke is over by the time the left foot touches the ground. At the same time in LTT29 the left foot gets planted by the end of the backswing and the ball hitting the table on your side. I am talking about a rightie. What is the proper way? I suspect that LTT42 is, but I am confused.

_________________
Tactics Enthusiast

I think that it is finally time to tell the truth. There is a conspiracy among professional players that does their best to prevent amateurs from learning this technique. To do so, they use a variety of footwork patterns both in training and matchplay so that we don't know which one to use and practice. They also create coaching videos with all those techniques to deceive us further more!

_________________
Tactics Enthusiast

The footwork players use in training isn't the same as they use in a match. I can assure you it's not a conspiracy though. They just don't know what they are doing. It's a mistake to confuse a player's playing level with their understanding of technique.

_________________
Get your 3 wishes here today!
ttEDGE.com Professional online coaching

DTT3 and LTT67 are now available on ttEDGE.com

_________________
Get your 3 wishes here today!
ttEDGE.com Professional online coaching

It is always nice to know that I am not alone.

_________________
Tactics Enthusiast

Do you want me to share some evidence of this based on cross footwork? I saw a top Canadian player once teach and execute totally different things on cross footwork. Execution was perfect - could have been you or CNT player doing it. The explanation was well, you have to see it to believe it.

_________________
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

I remember the example you showed me. It happens all the time and I often see it live.

Imagine you had to teach an alien how to walk. What would you do? You'd examine your own walking style and try to break it down. You could easily get it wrong even though you are a proficient walker with 30+ years of experience and training. Your walking experience doesn't make you knowledgeable or a great walking coach.

Players practice the wrong footwork because they are following precedents and/or they have too much time to make the shot. They don't necessarily understand optimal footwork patterns when pressed for time. They may be able to make optimal footwork patterns when pressed for time, but that doesn't mean they understand them.

Over the next few months, we are going to talk a lot about footwork. It will be some of the most interesting ttEDGE content to date.

_________________
Get your 3 wishes here today!
ttEDGE.com Professional online coaching

Looks like I have to embrace my destiny and finally turn into a BH-oriented player

_________________
Tactics Enthusiast

You will be a better player for it. Ask Dima or Zhang Jike or Wang Hao.

_________________
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

I kind of enjoy the style. The only issue I see with it is that it will take longer time to develop because creating two consistent shots takes more time than creating one + some footwork. I suspect that making my BH opening work well in matches will take a year at least. Forehand already works, I just need to learn how to pivot properly so that I can make strong shot instead of what I have now.

_________________
Tactics Enthusiast

I don't think it will take longer. Because after you perfect the pivot footwork you still have to learn to move back to cover a down the line block. Last August I spent a couple weeks with Brett doing roughly 10,000 pivots a day. Ever since I pivot a lot. Last Thursday for the first time ever in a match, I pivoted, hit the fh, my opponent blocked it down the line, and somehow I found myself standing right there in position early. I was so surprised to be there that I panicked and shanked the ball off to the side.

So it might take you more than a year to learn to do more than clap when someone blocks your fh, and that's after perfecting the pivot itself. Plus you can use a strong backhand in all kinds of situations, whereas the pivot-cross footwork only fits into one kind of point.

_________________
Smile in the mirror. Do that every morning and you'll start to see a big difference in your life.

Yoko Ono

LTT 67 says it is harder to time a backhand when the ball travels further, ie when you have more time. That's counterintuitive, do you have a theory why that should be?

And in general if in match play it's best to hit fhs when your opponent is far back, is it even good to practice using the backhand? Do you think occasional players can separare the drill situation from match play well enough to use the drill for bh inprovement but react differently in matches? In general should we practice things we don't want to do in matches? Like if your partner is working 3rd ball and you have to push 100 receives in a row long to their fh, how do you make your brain understand that is required for the drill, but not appropriate outside the drill?

_________________
Smile in the mirror. Do that every morning and you'll start to see a big difference in your life.

Yoko Ono

It's really more that the backhand stroke requires you to do more to move into position and get power with good timing so it is hard to make last second adjustments to the stroke and get reasonable power. The body is in the way so you can't fix your swing timing from the shoulder as easily. It was one of the reasons my backhand fell into disuse on third ball when I became more two winged. I just started favoring the consistency of the forehand to make a more consistent opening but lost the practice to make my backhand work and a few other things. And I later realized that I couldn't finish the point with my forehand on certain kinds of balls so I needed to be more restrained.

There are some swings that expand the backhand stroke zone worth learning if you have the time or inclination - the Schlager/Wang Hao/Karakasevic/Kreanga swings. If you like those then go for it. And even then those have their limits vs a forehand too in terms of power generation and timing adjustments.

_________________
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