OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Probably because you haven't practiced a particular stroke or technique long enough for it to be ingrained. I don't know if it's possible to put a number to the number of hours needed because it will vary by the individual. As an example, about 2 years ago, I had a tendency or instinct to back up from the table whenever any opponent looped. I decided I was not going to let anyone make me back off from the table and that I was going to practice blocking them down. It was hard at first but eventually I got there. Now I get players rated 3-400 points higher than me complimenting me on my blocking ability. One time, I even had one guy (around my level) tell me after a match (I lost) that he stopped looping to me because he couldn't get past my block. Bastard beat me with chopping!

Gman,

Are you a lefty? I remember a lefty from the MD/VA area around the 1500-1700 level with a nasty topspin blocking game. If you were going to try to loop through him with anything less than 1900 level power and 2000+ level recovery, you were going to have a greater than 60% chance of losing.

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I'm a righty. I'm trying to think of who you're thinking of but I'm drawing a blank. No one like that at NoVATTC. I know of two junior lefties but they're not blockers. That person play at MDTTC?

He is an older guy (Sam). I remember playing him at the Teams in 2013 as well as at Rockville earlier that year. I beat him largely pushing the first time and then tried to use my improved loops to go through him and struggled even more but pulled it out in 5. He beat one of my teammates who looped, but then lost 3 straight to the hitter on my team as the hitter gave him no topspin to work with on his blocks.

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"We don't rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our training" - Archilochus

Ah yes, I know Sam. I think he's from Waynesboro, VA. Yeah, pretty good blocker. I beat him earlier this year primarily using blocking and he also had trouble with some of my serves.

That is another problem I need to fix. I keep telling myself to try to loop anything that comes off the end of the table but it's not ingrained yet. Sigh....

Looping everything that comes off the table is a good way to play but it is not smart. A better way to play since you have a good block is to do what you already do but pick and choose the appropriate balls to loop. The whole point of looping early is fear of the first attack coating you the point and od your defence is good enough, you should make better choices about when to initiate offense.

If you were a junior, my advice would be different as it would if you had a bad pus or a bad block but I would yell you to develop a better push before trying to loop everything. Use the push to enable you to be choosier. Being able to move into position to loop every ball requires hoof anticipation and physical fitness and you only build those as an adult by not being in danger with the block.

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"We don't rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our training" - Archilochus

ETTS12 is out. It's about elbow position which is one of the most important and least most talked about topics in table tennis. Everywhere you go, players are reaching out for balls and overhitting in rallies, especially when blocking heavy topspin balls.

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Probably something i don't think about as much as i should. If playing a good aggressive player, get in early, if a defender, retriever or generally not a potent offense, be a bit more patient and choosy. I do think though that sometimes when you hold back attacking it can then be hard to attack when you should. I can get stuck in a rut and start playing their game that's hard to get out of.

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On power loops, possibly, but your slow and consistent topspin game should not suffer because of your approach to the point. If you know how to consistently open slowly off backspin, with power as your variation, then you don't feel as pressured to open as you know you can make it if you have to. The quality of opponent and what they do to your openers is then the key. Slow, heavy topspin is your best friend at the lower levels. It's unfortunate that many adults want to play fast (and I was one of them) rather than build this shot out before adding the power option.

If you realize that good spin bothers the opponent, then your goal will be getting more and more spin, not more and more pace. Over time, you will be able to get more of both, or switch between a focus on both but if you have a choice between high speed and low spin and high spin and low speed, regardless of height of your shot, always choose the latter. High spinny balls cause the most errors among lower rated players and I have gotten players as high as USATT 2200+ to block or smash my high slow topspins off the table.

In the end, its just practice. As your loop gets better, it will all make sense. How you prefer to win points is important as some people prefer to lose looping, even if pushing will do better. That is a valid way to approach things as well.

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"We don't rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our training" - Archilochus

Thanks, Brett. I have been trying to work on that for a while now, however inconsistently. It's just hard to break all the bad habits built up from years of getting away without moving and having to deal with pain from doing so. I didn't appreciate fully the level of precision in elbow positioning that was possible until you just pointed it out, even though I have mentally being trying to adopt it. IT's going to be a new major focus in all my drills. I thought I was being precise but probably not precise enough. But it brings back the reason why footwork/movement is so critical.

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"We don't rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our training" - Archilochus

Is this an elbow problem or a feet problem? I lolliblock off the end when balls come at my body and I tuck my elbow in and raise my hand, trying to get the bat face to meet the ball. The random drill in ETTS12 used balls to the center FH and BH where you and William didn't have to move much. But in match play it seems like keeping your elbow stable depends on moving your body so that the ball comes to where your elbow is holding the bat. Am I wrong about this?

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It's clearly both, but restricting the upper arm to keep the shot form similar makes it easier to know the kind of movement required as the shots will feel similar. I did something similar with my shoulder for a long time hence my blocking and forehand technique before I became better. Helps you understand my regression and reaching better. Now I coach, I appreciate a lot of this much better because I can see the students who use their upper arms spraying the ball all over the place and the ones who restrict it tend to move their right foot almost all the time to get to the ball and do their stroke.

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"We don't rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our training" - Archilochus

I have always played my backhand counter with my elbow close to my body and with the racket tip slightly up. I tried to change this for the first time yesterday. When I made a conscious effort to get the elbow out farther laterally and the racket tip to the side, I was amazed by how much longer I can wait for the ball before striking it.

One problem I am having, however, is that after I hit a FH topspin I tend to drop my elbow down too close to my body when I recover (almost attached to my hip).

Ringer,

When I rebuilt my forehand, it took me a month at least to rebuild my backhand as well to get everything to work together. I noticed that my elbow being too close to my body was why most of my shots (both backhand and forehand) tended to go to the opponent's backhand in matches. Rebuilding everything gave me more options and better insights into how elbow positioning, foot positioning and grip can constrain options. But yes, fixing your BH technique usually means fixing your FH technique as well if you want to achieve golden point compliance.

_________________
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