OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Yes, the reverse is very complex from the coordination point of view. It is basically impossible to do right without the full body motion, which is very hard to reconcile with hitting the ball with one's hand.

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Tactics Enthusiast

Took a set against an opponent who I'll probably never be able to do it to again. He's one of the top few players at my local club. Though he's also the type to give everyone a good game. Like even beginners feel they play well when they play against him. They (like me) just never win haha. He plays aggressive against the other top players, but usually plays a little more passive against the middle bunch like me.

Many things went well. He hasn't played much for 3 weeks and I was down 1-6 but he let me come back. I think he let his guard down Though I had like 3 nets to aid in that process. I also played well enough in the last 2 points to take it at 9-9.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hApSJ2-xuc

mickd, I wish my backhand was as consistent as yours

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Tactics Enthusiast

Thanks! Though it's normally extremely inconsistent haha. I think that was part of the reason I played well that set, too. My backhand was a lot more consistent than it usually is... by a lot.

I think two major factors have influenced my BH for the better this year. First was the BH discussion about diving and shoving. I dive a lot more in practice, but knowing about it and knowing that it was okay allowed me to concentrate on playing it consistently and not worrying about constantly trying to change it. The second was changing to H3. I've been using H3 on my FH forever, but only started doing so this year on my BH. It has helped improve my BH a lot. H3 just feels natural to me. I lack power with it, but I'll learn to play more powerful BHs with time and practice. There were actually some more powerful BHs in the other sets, ones that even surprised me. But those are a lot less consistent for me at the moment.

Seriously nice bh, and really good serves. And when those two things are working you will win a lot of games.

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

Yoko Ono

Brave Sir Mickd posting videos of matches...if only others would. You know who you are.

Also very good stuff all around from your play. You get a ton of value from the dead serve here. Lets you do the famous forehand practice. The backhand is also really solid - I wish I could return long serves that well with my backhand. I'm always looking for a forehand.

The last point was really nice. You did everything there you've been working on + attacked his counter from your opener flick.

How do you guys change a bad habit. One of mine is when a easy ball pops up in a rally the blood goes to my brain and I tighten up and overhit and loose consistency. Again and again
How can I change this?

@mick, very well played, especially taking the last two points on his serve with well-constructed rallies!

You are not as bad at matchplay as you suggested

a) Practice that situation until it gets boring
b) Stop.serving no-spin so you don't get "easy" pop-ups and miss them

I have the same problem and chose option b. Try getting someone to drill pushing no spin serves so you can smash them, it's impossible.

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

Yoko Ono

Move into position. Shorten the stroke and add spin with a small snap from the forearm/wrist. The most important thing when you get a supposedly easy ball of any kind is to get into position so you can reduce timing errors. That takes care of most of the issues. Controlling the placement takes care of most of the rest. Hitting the ball hard tends to make both placement and movement impossibly difficult.

As for getting excited, everyone has a different approach to TT. I see TT matchplay as an opportunity to deploy techniques worked upon in practice not as a chance to just hit the ball because you have the opportunity. I had a student who got excited when he got easy balls and tried to hit them as hard as possible. I was unable to cure him of it. What you need to do is to know what the right way to hit the ball is when the situation you described comes up. Then when the chance comes, you execute the technique and accept the results. Sometimes I execute my technique and get a beautiful shot. Sometimes I do something similar and get my ball to come down 10 feet off the table. When that happens I try to figure out what about the play I misread. No point acting as if the mistake happened by magic if you know your technique inside out. It is when you don't you think that the misses and the makes are about having good and bad days.

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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

Well played but since everyone has said the good stuff I will have a different focus.

You probably have the cleanest and most straightforward lefty game. I have ever seen. And that is not a good thing. I think in general that you need to develop more aggressive plays, placements,footwork and serves and take more advantage of your athleticism. Your opponent is a good player no doubt but I got the impression that you were willing to work hard for every point and weren't trying to make him move per se. You are a lefty so people should be scared of the angles you can create with your Backhand and forehand and serves. You have a lot of untapped potential in there. I suspect that is partly. because like me you are so used to drilling for rallies. You have to do some drilling for devastation as well. Even if you make your training partner defend only half the table.

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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

Technique-wise, LTT47. Mentally-wise, you probably will get less excited with practice, as BRS said. One way is to try visualizing the situation before the match. Imagine how you serve a side-top ball, your opponent pops it up and you hit a perfect forehand with a ton of sidespin curving away from him. Visualizing is very powerful, I think there are some great LTT videos on it, just apply the technique to your situation.

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Tactics Enthusiast

"Easy balls" I tend to hit with more spin and less speed. I figure if they come back I can hit another. Staying ahead in the point is super important. One thing I've learned about that top spin serve that got pushed up into 'easy mode' - it's got a lot more backspin than I want. Really have to use the body to lift it up and over. The spin is already there, just help it along.

I shall also add, I think there were more forehands to be had there. Just needed to take a little step to your left and attack.

I'm not tired yet so let's get into it...
@0:16 you serve, get ready and then jump again - why? only to have the ball come back to your backhand, then he counters it to your forehand.
@0:39 the second shot was a forehand. Pivoting a little would have bought you the time.
@0:51 same as @0:39. Second shot was a forehand.

You had a lot of great points after that, near the end you had one where you did pivot even.

The bouncing to the forehand after the serve probably needs to just go away. Jamming you on the backhand would be highly successful, as happened at 0:16.
I would have liked to have seen more forehand loops against backspin, just didn't happen this game. I'm starting to think your backhand is stronger against backspin and this is why your jumping to the middle of the table to cover up the forehand.

Great game Mick!

I like the all the shots and it's good to see someone able to implement the things they've been training.

For the serve, rock back onto your left straight leg on the ball toss before stamping onto the right. Here's an example, though it's the opposite because he's right handed. Watch what he does with his back leg. He puts it back, straightens it and put all of his weight onto it. Then he stamps straight down on to the front foot.

Your friend that you beat in the game does the right thing with his legs on the serve.

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