OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Next year I can finally play International Veteran Tournaments and what better way to debut than in the world championships? So I registered for the championships in Bordeaux and starting this thread to track my progress and hopefully get some feedback from the forum.

A bit about me: I'm playing modern defensive style in Norway 1st division (2nd league in Norway). Here is a highlights video for my team from the first league round this season.



My main improvement last season was figuring out what was causing poor consistency in the backhand chop. Last summer at a training session a good Polish defender gave me some tips. Seeing his consistent and effortless chops I asked about chopping technique and specifically how he used the wrist. The answer was he didn't use it! Or more exactly he wasn't using it actively. The wrist was relaxed and any motion was just as a whip effect at the end of the chop. This may be obvious to some but I haven't seen it mentioned much. Previously I had been cocking the wrist at the beginning of the chop leading to inconsistency as the bat wasn't moving straight in one plane. I had to hit the ball at exactly the right time in the chop. Too early or too late and the bat angle would be wrong. By not actively using the wrist the same angle is maintained throughout the chop and the time period when the ball can be hit and still land on the table is longer.

Just this change made the chop a lot more consistent, but its still lacking in quality to trouble better players. It should land deeper on the table and with more speed and spin. I need to rotate the upper body more at the beginning of the chop. Pulling the non playing arm backwards helps. By doing this the bat starts further back allowing more time to accelerate before hitting the ball. It also leads to a more forward stroke resulting in greater speed and depth on the table. When focusing on this during the warm-up it becomes automatic for the rest of the session.

Other areas I'm working on:

Forehand Chop:
Inspired a bit by Daniel Kleinert ("The Chopper" on youtube) I'm twiddling more often and chopping with pimples on the forehand. This works great on spinny topspins that otherwise would require a perfectly timed, Joo Sae Huyk like chop with inverted.

When chopping with inverted remember to start the shot higher so that there is enough time to accelerate the bat and also adjust the timing of when the ball is hit depending on spin.

Forehand Topspin
Rotation, rotation, rotation! I've been trying and failing to rotate the upper body more when topspinning. Often when focused on this I forget footwork and my game is worse off. Any advice on how to work on this would be appreciated.

Backhand Topspin
Start using it. The rare times I do opponents are surprised. Using it more should improve consistency.

Serve
Need to work on fast long serves as a variation, currently can't consistently place it near the end-line. Several opponents are standing close to the table anticipating short or half long serve.

Also need to work on footwork after the serve. I often get a push return that I could have attacked with forehand if I had been in a better position. Get into ready position as part of the serve footwork.

Serve return
Too passive sometimes not putting enough pressure on opponent. Particularly when facing serves I'm not used too I need to be braver and use a full motion.

In general relax more in matches. My best matches last season was done when not caring too much about the result.

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Blade: Victas Yuto Muramatsu
Forehand: Tenergy 05 2.1
Backhand: Curl P1-R 1mm

New league match coming up tonight and my main racket just broke. That should teach me to stop overdoing the hook loops. Hooked straight into the legs of a folded up table near the wall and the handle broke clean off. Here is the result (warning graphic content): https://imgur.com/ri1zY3S

Continued the session with my backup Victas Muramatsu. But it has a slight crack and feels more flexible than it should, the sound is also different. For today's match I've glued up my old VKMO blade. It feels heavier than the Muramatsu though.

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Blade: Victas Yuto Muramatsu
Forehand: Tenergy 05 2.1
Backhand: Curl P1-R 1mm

Wednesdays match was disappointing. We lost 2-8 in a match that was 50-50. Can't really blame the blade change, but the VMKO feels head heavy and I'm thinking of getting a lighter blade like the Stiga Defensive Pro to replace my broken Yuto Muramutsu

One of my main issues this match was low quality chops on high spin slow loops to my backhand. Not sure how to deal with those.

Here are some highlights from the match

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Blade: Victas Yuto Muramatsu
Forehand: Tenergy 05 2.1
Backhand: Curl P1-R 1mm