OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Hi all,

I recently got lucky that a fellow clubmate got a video setup and he has recorded a few of my games in our local league. My setup right now is Tibhar Stratus Powerwood + Yasaka Rakza 7(F) + Donic Barracuda(B). I like looping backspin and I can do loops both forehand and backhand. I know that my footwork is bang average, serve receive is bang average and serves are also bang average. I'm not sure I can improve beyond this without professional help, so I've decided to do the EJ thing and hoping to get myself over to the "darkside" with anti spin on the backhand.

So since I decided to change my backhand rubber, I've decided to change my forehand to a chinese rubber as well, so I've decided to buy this setup - Yasaka Sweden Classic - Friendship Battle II(F) - Yasaka Antipower(1.5mm B). Would the switch from Rakza 7 to Friendship Battle II suit me or is it too much of a change? These are few of my games, I know they are not very good but I'd be pleased if people can rate my game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Swu5FNcjF_g
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtFk3WHUZOs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jd1Ox5g3WSY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_T2aaLvR-w&t=636s

I'm the Indian guy BTW.

Personally I feel you should focus on technique rather than any equipment change.

Do you have a coach?

If you cant afford lessons I would recommend to use the online resources.

ttedge.com is my favorite.

If you join as a paid member you can send short clips of your strokes and get feedback from a world class Pro coach.

For example, as you mentioned, your footwork is a weakness.

Look at my video on how I get those feet moving.

https://youtu.be/aq5QFT8J-h8

Here is a video about a well respected table tennis school that uses this idea in some drills.

https://youtu.be/hZo9Qr-GHUQ

Have fun.

in my opinion - you have a good all-round game, but you don't use your legs to generate power.

If you don't do this, and you don't move correctly, a Chinese rubber will compound these issues, not fix them. As maurice101 suggested - coaching, either in person, or online, would probably be money better spent.

Adding power from the ground also impacts greatly on having good footwork. If you just rotate on the forehand without pushing from the ground you will find it more difficult to move to the next shot. The feeling is that the feet are stuck to the ground. The same applies to the backhand. Squat and rise up allows the body to come down a little at the end of the stroke allowing you to flow into next stroke. Try a little bounce between backhands against easy multi ball to get the idea.

Seems around 1400 level (USATT). Don't know if switching to Battle II from Rakza 7 would help, but they are very different rubbers. Mind you, I have difficulty telling one sheet from another at the best of times... I agree, coaching would be better than changing equipment.

Iskandar

Thanks for taking time out to respond. I've seen people talking about generating power from the ground, but I've never really understood it. I'll properly research on how to do that online, I cant afford a coach. I neither have the time nor the money.

Power from the ground is a pretty easy concept. You rotate your hips and back-swing your elbow for the forehand. To start the forward swing you push off the ground with your right shoe before any forward swing of the bat. For the backhand you squat and push of with your feet to rise up as the bat goes back. (some players add some hip rotation either way to this movement)
For more speed you make this movement faster rather than tightening up the arm.
Try this and it will add maybe 20% more power to your shots and also enable you to be more relaxed in the arm to generate even more racket head speed.

Nice videos.

In my opinion, you hit the ball successfully by using backhand and forehand pushes mostly. Forehand/backhand drive is not confident.

You will get improved a lot more than what you expect if you pay for some coach courses. It is worth it much much more than new equipment for sure.

Coaching is most effective at the early stage of learning table tennis. It won't be so effective when you have played for a while and have developed lots of bad habits.

If you don't want to spend too much on coaches, I think even 1 or 2 hours (which is cheaper than your racket) works better than nothing. You do shadow practice of forehand drive and backhand drive and and ask coach to correct your stroke. Once you get your stroke correctly, take a video. Then you can do shadow practice every day at home and take more videos and review them. In this way, you don't need to ask the questions like "what is power from ground", "what is weight transfer", "How body rotates", "How not to over swing arm" etc. It is very hard to understand all of them correctly by merely online wording communication.