Wtf is wrong with my form?

Ive been USATT 2000-2100 for about a year now and I honestly hate my form, well at least I think theres something wrong with it. I can't figure it out and it drives me crazy. I feel like I really need to go see a high level coach and have them yell at me or something. I'm a two winged looper, here are some videos of me playing with a couple other friends of mine. 

Edited by evilelf2407 - 12/24/2011 at 4:17pm

Hi,

Thanks guys, just the kind of stuff im looking for. I do sort of a pretty short stroke for how tall I am, something I always figured but could never figure out why. 

The most obviously "off" about your form is that you don't drop your shoulder for your FH shots.  You do a great job of adjusting your body's height by bending/straightening the legs and back to adjust for the height of the ball, so it looks especially off when your two shoulders are always pretty level(i.e. as the only none-professional looking part of your form).  Now, dropping the shoulders by itself doesn't do anything, it's actually a sign that you're engaging your oblique muscles in your stroke.  Check out Timo's FH drive and note how he drops his shoulder, also note how it's not actually his shoulder dropping, it's his whole FH side of the body dropping but you only see it clearly on the shoulder:

Edited by dingyibvs - 12/24/2011 at 5:08pm

Your serves are nothing, you are going through the motions and just putting the ball into play with no structure to a follow on stroke. You are actually about as good as you can be for your standard, there is no 'problem' and it certainly can't be fixed by any answer from a TT forum. Honest answer from me, If you want some advice you can PM me, and I give it freely.

You may have a habit of going backwards, so just remember don't go back unless forced, If you see your best forehand shots in the vid were always at the table

My opinion is that you aren't bending down enough, and you're not going forward in your stroke enough. Your back is basically straight while you are looping, and if you look at pros play, their backs are a bit arched when they loop. It also doesn't seem like you are using your stomach muscles enough to turn when you are looping - and try to go more forward in your strokes.

What everyone is trying to say is that you're not committing enough to your shots. You have a very stable game that awards you a prestigious 2000+ rating, but you are not exploding into your shots. I believe this is the answer to your form question. If you want to become better, worry less about winning and start adding more power and bombs into your shots. And don't forget about placement.

Avoid to move backward after your serve or return serve. It looks like you systematically want to engage mid-distance FH loop rally. An experimented oponent would force you to play short on your BH diagonal. Or he will start looping on your BH first and prevent you from settling your FH to FH system. Your BH is quite decent but you use it as an opening rally tool. Same BH down the line will not come back. Vary your ball placement. Work on your short returns. Distance is the key word to improve your game. You shall work on mastering the switch in between the short and the long game. All that said, you play well and have a very light footwork for a tall guy.

smackman wrote: You may have a habit of going backwards, so just remember don't go back unless forced, If you see your best forehand shots in the vid were always at the table

To add to this you are looping while moving backwards. that looses a lot of power on your shots.

evilelf2407 wrote: Ive been USATT 2000-2100 for about a year now and I honestly hate my form, well at least I think theres something wrong with it. I can't figure it out and it drives me crazy. I feel like I really need to go see a high level coach and have them yell at me or something. I'm a two winged looper, here are some videos of me playing with a couple other friends of mine.  Yell at me, tell me what im doing wrong because it is driving me crazy. I know something is "off" but I can't figure it out.  http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL506B819240408F88&feature=viewall I'm in the light blue shirt! I'll take alllllll and any suggestions and try to work on them, then I will try to post a new video in a couple weeks and see if I have picked up on it. I'll post some videos of myself doing multiball as well, which may also help with picking apart my stroke(s).

You form is pretty good actually.

Looks great to me, but then again, I've only been playing with proper equipment since New year's.  I probably wouldn't even rate 1000 USATT.


Edited by RankAmateur - 02/20/2012 at 2:42pm