OOAK Table Tennis Forum

I have been lurking the forum for a while in terms of picking my equipment but I am very new to playing table tennis, I have been playing 5x/wk for 3 weeks trying to be a chopper because of a cartoon that made it look really cool. Drives, loops, backhand chop are all coming along fairly easily but I've really been struggling with my FH chop. Aside from addressing blatant errors in form, my specific question is how do I FH chop more like Joo Sae-Hyuk? It may seem dumb but I really want my chops to look like his from an aesthetic standpoint, even if it is to my detriment. My stroke is the opposite of what I want it to be, Its too short, stilted, not flowing, too horizontal. I notice he hits the ball way more vertically than i do on his FH chops, and when I try to do that, the ball just goes down or into the net. Is it because I'm using a very thin sponged tackiness chop while he is using a tenergy 64? I do wish I got my rubber in a thicker sponge as brushing chops always land in the net requiring me to really push hard horizontally on all my FH chops which I feel is affecting my consistency. Aesthetically, I am not a fan of other modern defender's chopping style that has more of a short, stilted, and linear chopping motion, especially chops that have a more horizontal motion rather than vertical. I would to make my chops as vertical as possible. Hopefully what im asking doesnt sound too ridiculous. Here is a session of me chopping mainly on my forehand but also I take a few chops on my backhand as well.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tz3Ia5fSYPg&t=185s

to be honest, you want to really focus on making sure your fundamental table tennis skills in general are down more than anything if that's how new you are to table tennis
but your chop is actually kinda impressive in a sense not gonna lie haha
not sure how to address your thing too much though sorry
I do want to ask about what you mean by modern choppers having too horizontal or short of a stroke than what you like, can you list who you mean by that? as far as i can tell, all the top men's choppers have a pretty vertical stroke, except for maybe ruwen filus, his can be pretty horiztonal at times, but everyone adjusts their angle as well depending on the situation because they have to change some things depending on how the ball comes to them
nice video

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Blade: Victas Koji Matsushita Offensive FL
FH: Victas VS > 401 2.0
BH: Victas Spectol S1 1.5

Rating: Recreational Player

You want to look like Joo?

The main thing is... you have no legs! Your chops would be the exact same if you were sitting in a chair. The attacker in the video is the same way with his loops. All arm, no body. If you want to look like a 'pro,' then you need to engage your body/legs and actually move!

This is quite difficult to teach through words, and usually requires some dedicated efforts with a coach -- someone there to correct literally each attempt, until you get a grasp of the body mechanics. Becoming a chopper at a decent level is basically committing to a ton of footwork! In and out, specifically. Laterally as well. But in your video, you are chopping from the same distance each time. This would essentially never happen in a real game with a decent opponent. They'd push you out, then pull you in etc. forcing you to move much more if you actually wished to chop.

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SOULSPIN CUSTOM BLADES
Fh: Spinny rubber
Bh: Not so spinny rubber...

By fundamental table tennis skills do you just mean drilling the basic strokes? I can rally at decent speeds but in match play everything tends to break down haha. As far as the other choppers, I see Gionis Panagiotis has this really abbreviated backhand chop where he starts rather low around the neck/clavicle (relative to joo, who starts at head level), and at the end he often doesnt even fully extend his arm, usually ending before he locks out his elbow. I guess I was a bit confused with how i phrased it in my earlier post. The best way I can describe it is that Joo really uses his full body, and loads alot into his chops, stepping in and bouncing out, while Gionis, for example chops in a rather linear fashion, without much of a wind up and explosion?? theres a certain sense of "completeness" in his stroke that I dont really see with other choppers. But Im just speaking generally, they definitely dont always chop like that. Joo tends to do stilted chops as well sometimes and depends on many factors such as how fast the ball is being received. I cant quite put it in to words but I hope this made even a little sense lol

Thank you for the advice, I tried moving a bit more and doing a "reset" after each chop. As well as not bending my wrist so much on contact and starting a bit higher. Im also trying to use more of my body in the chops as well although Im not sure if im doing it correctly? Also I saw a 1.5mm Curl P1r and a tenergy 64 max at my local shop and i couldnt really help myself lol, so those are the rubbers that I am using in the video. Can you recommend any good resources for learning/drilling footwork for defenders? I've watched alot videos on how to perform proper strokes but I havent really gone out of my way to learn footwork yet. And I would really like to be coached but unfortunately I cant afford it right now.