OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Hello, I have found that my chops constantly go just a little bit off of the table. I will try to give as much information I can to give everyone a good idea of what I can improve on. I am welcome to all kinds of advice, whether it be equipment or technique, and I would like to thank everyone in advance for their time!

Equipment
Blade: Unknown Friendship Blade
LP: RITC 755 with 61 second high-elasticity sponge .8mm (link: http://www.eacheng.net/61second-High-Elasticity-White-p11690.html)

Grip
I hold the paddle mostly with my thumb and index, the other fingers are loose

Video


Also, I am thinking about changing my LP and getting a Donic Defplay Senso, what do you guys think?

Alway remove 's' from 'https' to embed Youtube video.

As far as chopping - nothing jumps out at me right now - just experiment with angles and speed of your chop to land more. In the past it occasionally helped when I got lower in my stance, watched the ball closer until it made contact, but to be honest, it never was a silver bullet.

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USATT: 1818 | League: 1917

I’m not familiar with your equipment but just looking at your video the ball does seem to be springing off your bat quite powerfully relative to the apparent strength of your stroke. My guess is that the sponge is quite a fast one. Doesn’t mean you can’t adjust to it though.

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2. S&T Black & White / Armstrong SH-I 1.8 / TSP Curl P3 Alpha R OX

It may be that your equipment is a little fast, but I agree this is something you can usually adjust to.

If the ball goes consistantly beyond the table, it's likely to be 1 (or both) of these issues:

1. You're not chopping down fast enough. Your chop stroke must be faster than the rotation of the ball, so that you overcome the spin and can add your own. If you don't, then the topspin is going to grip onto the pimple more, causing the ball to go higher (as well as reducing the amount of backspin).

2. Your chopping too much forward/underneath instead of downwards. It's hard to see from the video, but concentrating on making contact at the back of the balls and stroking downward will really take the pace off the ball, helping you in landing it shorter.

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From a non-chopper:

1) You look too stiff. Your WRIST is too stiff. Try bending the wrist somewhat. (I've seen this advice for looping, maybe it works for chopping as well.. )
2) Try closing the racket angle a bit?
3) Maybe you're taking the ball too early? Step back a little and let it drop. The spin and speed will decay more, the ball trajectory will be steeper. Look at the picture of Joo at the top of the forum and compare.. You're standing almost upright and you've got your neck bent forward to get your head lower.

If I were in your situation I'd be trying variations of the stroke - close the racket, open the racket. Stroke more forward, stroke more downward. Eventually you'll figure out something that will work. You seem to be doing the same stroke again and again and again.

Iskandar

Thanks for posting your video!

Here are my thoughts:

1) The number one rule for chopping, especially with LP, is you need a very relaxed wrist/forearm. This will make a huge difference to how you feel/control the ball, how fast the bat travels relative to the ball, and how the ball comes off the bat, and ultimately to the spin you generate. As Haggisv says, you need a fast action, but although you might feel like your hand is moving fast when it's tense, it isn't really. Think of what you need to do to flick a towel - you wouldn't do that with a stiff forearm - you need it to relax and to hinge the hand around the wrist. The same is so with chopping. My coach calls what you are doing "wooden arm" - don't have a wooden arm!

2) I suspect your equipment may be a bit fast. I'm not familiar with that sponge. And we don't know anything about your blade. That said I am sure you can correct for this, so unless you've only been using this for a very short amount of time, I think you'll get more benefit from persevering. 755 is an excellent introductory LP, and the sponge will be fine, I am sure. You might benefit from a slower/softer blade, but I chop perfectly well with an OFF- blade, so I wouldn't over think it.

3) To my mind the finishing of your blade isn't quite right. It's hard to see (tip: try getting some different angles on the video), but for where you seem to want to be placing the ball, your blade finishes to the side and away. I'd prefer to see the blade continuing in the direction you want the ball to go. This does depend on the speed and spin of the incoming ball, and at a high level you will see choppers seeming to chop to the side, but on the whole, I'd like to see you coming through the ball a bit more.

Note, this might sound like it contradicts what Haggisv is saying about not chopping downwards. It kinda does. To clarify, Haggisv is an excellent LP chopper, so you should certainly take what he says seriously, but my own experience is that I tend to chop downwards more when chopping on my inverted side, and lightly more forwards with LP. But, I use a soft and fast movement, so the ball doesn't fly off. I'm also aiming to keep the ball fairly low over the net, and land deep on the table, and I find that easier to do, with LP, with a slightly less downwards motion. However, try both, record both, and let's see what the effect is.

Take a look at this little video. You'll see that the chopper is very graceful, fluid, relaxed, with soft hands and wrists, and the chop, while fast, is not jerky or stiff, and the bat follows through. Note that sometimes she twiddles, which is a slightly different action, but this is some good technique to watch:

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"When one eye is fixed upon your destination, there is only one eye left with which to find the Way."

Read my blog: "LordCope's Latest Learnings Log": http://ooakforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=58&t=24452

I think the room you're practising in is not big enough. Put the cardboard one meter further. Take the ball a bit later (i.e. let it drop a bit further) and go more through your knees when chopping.

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There's always stuff to improve!

My blog on being a LP defender beyond 2000 USATT and the pips discrimination that comes along with that

I’m not a chopper either. Though i’m Trying to add it in my game to vary it more.

I would echo, what was said before, where the ones that go long, it seems you need to let the ball drop more hit at a lower point. Also you are probably too close.
On the balls into the net it looks like you are stretching to reach the ball on those shots and causing the angle of your paddle to change. Hitting it flatter and making go straight forward Straight to the net.

That’s just me, and listen to the real choppers here.

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"When you have to shoot, shoot. Don't talk."

The root of the slow bat speed is that you get to your chop position and then stop...and then start the motion.

Just wait a bit more before starting your backswing and with a relaxed wrist start your chop motion. You will get much more spin.

This works for every shot in TT I know actually.

I hope CottonEyeJoe is still around to read these tips

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OOAK Table Tennis Shop | Re-Impact Blades | Butterfly Table Tennis bats
Setup1: Re-Impact Smart, Viper OX, Victas VS 401 Setup2: Re-Impact Barath, Dtecs OX, TSP Triple Spin Chop 1.0mm Setup3: Re-Impact Dark Knight, Hellfire OX, 999 Turbo
Recent Articles: Butterfly Tenergy Alternatives | Tenergy Rubbers Compared | Re-Impact User Guide

Yes I am and thanks to everyone for the tips! I have been trying these and my chops are already so much better!

That's what we like to hear!

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OOAK Table Tennis Shop | Re-Impact Blades | Butterfly Table Tennis bats
Setup1: Re-Impact Smart, Viper OX, Victas VS 401 Setup2: Re-Impact Barath, Dtecs OX, TSP Triple Spin Chop 1.0mm Setup3: Re-Impact Dark Knight, Hellfire OX, 999 Turbo
Recent Articles: Butterfly Tenergy Alternatives | Tenergy Rubbers Compared | Re-Impact User Guide

Lol, I don't know if you're still around Joe, but if you ever see this, how's the Defplay? I also notice that you've changed your LP to the Spike P1 from Donic. Do you like your equipment?

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Blade: Victas Koji Matsushita Offensive FL
FH: Yasaka Mark V GPS Max
BH: TSP SuperSpinPips Chop 2 1.9

Rating: Recreational Player