OOAK Table Tennis Forum

I've improved my gameplay and footwork a lot in the 7 months I've been playing. Last rating on tournament in Sept was 403 , but now I beat under 900 players consistently and take an occasional/rare match from 1200-1300 from my club on a good day (I play everyday) . I play a defensive style and mostly chop mid distance (3-6 ft) away from the table.
Now I tend to cheat and watch the body angle of how my opponent is going to hit the shot. This has worked well for me playing under 1100 players. It gives me a second or maybe even two to get to the backhand or forehand side . Now that I Get to play some 1200-1500 players, this tactic does not work well anymore as they can play the opposite side of where they are angled to hit their shot with wrist action/blade angle. Im consistenly being "faked out" of where they're going to hit the ball. They watch where I position myself and hit to opposite side the last second .

Any suggestions ?

I try to watch the angle of the ball as it comes off their racket but I lose a second and it takes a couple of seconds with my reaction time to get to the spot I want to be. Also hard to keep track of the ball , spin , Blade angle and direction of stroke argh!

Much easier for me to see the body and how its faced and all I have to worry is if their hitting it forehand or backhand and can start moving accordingly. IT's a bad habit but can robot drills help? I have a playing partner ( level 1100) but he's an SP/LP player . We can try multi ball training (never done it) but not sure what or how to help with this specific purpose. IF there's a video out there, that would be most helpful

Thanks.

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Blade 1 Ross Leidy Rapscallion/Custom: Victas VS>401: Tibhar Grass D.Tecs LP 1.2mm
Blade 2 Fiber Andro Def Blade : Xiom Vega Europe : Tibhar Grass D.tecs LP 1.2 sponge
Blade 3 Fiber Andro Def Blade : Adidas R6: Spinlord Dornenglaz OX
Experimental Blade : Victas Koji Matushista Def : TSP Curl P1r LP .6 sponge : Giant Dragon Submarine Chop



My Blog
viewtopic.php?f=58&t=25085

Good question. I'm wondering this myself.

Speaking as a retriever, when I first play someone new, it helps from the very beginning if they have an "orthodox" game of some sort, or if I have encountered their pattern of play before. It means I can almost immediately anticipate what shot they are going to play. If they are unorthodox, then it takes a bit of time to register their patterns.

Now how I anticipate is a mixture of what their body is doing and what they have previously done in a similar position. On the whole I have found it mostly easier to anticipate where a shot is going to go from a forehand rather than a backhand shot.

I too used to commit to my response too early, giving the opponent time to change their shot if they have time and are good enough. Somehow, I have stopped telegraphing my response as early. You need to not start moving until you are sure that they have committed to their shot.

There has been debate about whether some elite players have super fast reflexes. They don't, just super fast and accurate anticipation.

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Retriever (sometimes golden, but often leaden)
Moderator, Inverted Retriever Technique sub-forum - http://ooakforum.com/viewforum.php?f=74

There are some keyfactors that you can watch:

1) Feet / Hip: The more parallel the feet are placed to each other the more you can suppose that the ball is played cross
If the right foot is (far) behind the left is likely that the ball is played down the line (right-handed player)
2) Shoulder: Same like 1). If the shoulders are parallel to the table cross is likely. If left shoulder is closer to the table the ball down the line is easier to play.
3) Wrist: You have to watch the wrist. This makes it very difficult because you can influence a lot with your wrist.


But it is not only about watching the opponent.
Try to have in mind that the cross ball is easier than the ball down the line. With your placement you can influence the angle the other one can play. If you play in wide forehand it is likely that the ball is played cross because it is easier. Same with backhand. If you play in middle your opponent does not have those wide angles but can place the ball on the whole table which makes it more difficult.


Player's behaviour:
Most players have some habits that you can identify during a match. A lot of like to play cross because it is easier. Watching myself playing I notice that I play 70-80% topspins cross and only 20-30% on the body or down the line.

These are a few things you can keep an eye on.

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Werner Schlager Academy - Table Tennis School in Vienna, Austria:
http://www.wernerschlageracademy.com/table-tennis-school.html

Coach at WSA and modern defender.
Racket:
BTY T05 (2,1mm) - BTY Joo Se Hyuk, straight - TSP Curl P4 (1,5)

I tried this a few times. Kept watching the feet, hip, shoulder and wrist. Didnt help me much 'cuz I kept losing track of the ball and missing it.

_________________
Blade 1 Ross Leidy Rapscallion/Custom: Victas VS>401: Tibhar Grass D.Tecs LP 1.2mm
Blade 2 Fiber Andro Def Blade : Xiom Vega Europe : Tibhar Grass D.tecs LP 1.2 sponge
Blade 3 Fiber Andro Def Blade : Adidas R6: Spinlord Dornenglaz OX
Experimental Blade : Victas Koji Matushista Def : TSP Curl P1r LP .6 sponge : Giant Dragon Submarine Chop



My Blog
viewtopic.php?f=58&t=25085

One of my former trainers was Joo Se Hyuk's long-time college roommate in South Korea, and they played on the same university team that won the Korean collegiate nationals. I have asked him this question myself, and he said in addition to watching your opponent's stance, the most important thing is to watch your opponent's racket angle at contact (not the ball's angle coming off as it will be too late). Hope this helps.

Racket Angle! That seems easy enough to keep track of. I'll try that. Its hard to keep track of more than 1 thing at a time as it is, feet, hip, shoulder , wrist etc. So Body angle is just what I had been following. Will make a conscious effort to see how I do looking at racket angle and see how much I can "guess" right.

Thanks.

_________________
Blade 1 Ross Leidy Rapscallion/Custom: Victas VS>401: Tibhar Grass D.Tecs LP 1.2mm
Blade 2 Fiber Andro Def Blade : Xiom Vega Europe : Tibhar Grass D.tecs LP 1.2 sponge
Blade 3 Fiber Andro Def Blade : Adidas R6: Spinlord Dornenglaz OX
Experimental Blade : Victas Koji Matushista Def : TSP Curl P1r LP .6 sponge : Giant Dragon Submarine Chop



My Blog
viewtopic.php?f=58&t=25085

Sure consider body language but at the end of the day you have to watch the ball right on to your blade. As per my call sign "See the Ball, Be the Ball"

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Setup 1: Blade: TSP Trinity Carbon | Joola Golden Tango black 1.8mm FH & Tibhar Grass D.TecS acid green OX BH
Setup 2: Setup 2: Blade: TSP Trinity Carbon | Joola Golden Tango PS black 2.00mm FH & Tibhar Grass D.TecS red OX BH
Setup 3: Blade: TSP Trinity Carbon | Joola Golden Tango black 1.8mm FH & Spinlord Gigant anti-spin red BH
See the ball, be the ball...

Ant that the truth

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Retriever (sometimes golden, but often leaden)
Moderator, Inverted Retriever Technique sub-forum - http://ooakforum.com/viewforum.php?f=74

Depending on where the opponent is in relation to the ball and table there's only X amount of places it can go. The idea is to put your shot in a place that can with a reasnoble degree of certainly force him to let you hit the following ball you already had planed and maybe even the next ball after that. Doesn't always go to plan but that's what you try and achieve. If your doing well in that way you don't need to watch anything.

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Donic defplay senso
Haifu whale soft (grips-euro)
Nittaku pimplemini 1.0mm