Bad Match Habits Video

Just a few things I noticed (and I'm guilty of these when playing games as well).

1.) A lot of times when receiving service your bat is below the table - you are then rushed to bring your bat up and forward for a good push.
2.) 80% of your shots are too predictable. Always cross court, always the same three shots. Block, push, flat hit. Don't see many loops or top spins.
3.) Your loops seem to be way off and you look like you have a tendency to try to just smack the ball. Regardless of the spin. He will do a bad chop, leaving it up high. I think a SLOWER brushing motion at 45 deg will get this safely back into the table. All I hear is the *THWACK* sound of your bat - sounds like you're trying to smash it.
4.) When you do a fast serve to his BH you spend way too long getting into position then seem genuinely suprised when he BH punches it into your body. Generally if you serve long and fast it comes back long and fast.

I guess the overall theme is that you need to add more spin to your game and vary your placement.
You also need to spend less time admiring your serves/pushes/shots and more time preparing for the next one.

Perhaps our style is just different - but your strokes (no offense) just look a little weird to me. During your BH block/topspin practice I noticed that you simply just lift the ball back a lot instead of using the top sheet to grip and brush the ball back (to generate some nasty spin).
Also during your FH loop practice it looks like you start off with a loop(?) but then just keep on looping with a mostly upward motion. Typically if I open with a loop the next hit is a smash (if it's high) or top spin (if it's low) [also depends on how far from the table the other guy is].

I'd say you'd benefit a lot if you just slowed down your stroke entirely and focus on developing more touch and perfecting your mechanics. Really hard to get the right technique down when you're trying to kill the ball!

icontek wrote: good points about the "posing" or admiring shots. ..must..get..back..to...ready...position... ..so i can move again!

Well we can all tell you to do it till the cows come home, but not giving advice on how to do it can leave one stumped. Visualization helps me work on some physical motions. Be careful though. When you do this right, your body is inclined to actually try the motion so make sure when your visualizing a loop kill that nobody is nearby.

On top of what xander7803 said, it reminded me of something that a few people I play with do. I keep telling them stop "posing." They attempt to kill the ball, I return it, and they're stuck still in that killshot position and then I usually get the point. Then there are the people who don't move laterally.

My thoughts-

ohhgourami wrote: I could probably count the amount of actual bh loops you did in that video and I think there is less than 10.  Your bh is a counter with only light topspin, mostly topspin you are borrowing for the other player.  I see no wrist movement so there must not be much spin. Also one thing about your stance, I see that some times you have your left foot behind you.  Unless your fh is quick, compact, and you plan to play a bh oriented game, this is not the way you want your foot positioning.  Parallel to the table at most, if not with your left foot in front as if you were hitting fh.

yes well said, just be suare to the direction of the opposite person, your backhand will improve by doing these drills, great work

Insightful stuff lex!

I'm on my phone so this will be quick and I'll add more later.

Peter actually has a strong FH loop and drive; it looks weak bc I am forcing him to move and giving him junk balls. But you are right that he has a strong backhand.

Link to non match backhand added to OP.

Hookshot wrote: Loop underspin, Return of service Third ball attack. Problem is he HAS NO LOOP. The real answer is to get coaching to learn to loop. Return of service needs a loop for long serves and a good push for short serves. Unless the 2nd ball is a sitter, you need a loop to make a third ball. If the 2nd ball is low, a flat hit will not work. To return a short, low serve, you need a proper push. (or flip) Pushing after the top of the arc is giving the other guy the opportunity for a forth ball attack.

Yes, agree it is time for him to get a coach to teach him how to do a proper loop.  I think it is most likely the reason why he is pushing so much is his lack of a loop.  If you have a strong consistent loop, you would probably always use it.

In complete honesty after watching only the first rally i found a few key points already discussed;

1) You need to work on stance and consolidate your serve receiving  position.
2) Lear some discernible technic for both fh and bh. Its not me being mean but you put in the perfect amount of energy and you are really engaged, but you are let down by slack technic.
3)Learn a decent serve. After watching rally one, you seem to serve a no spin, high, and at times inconsistent serve. Watch some of the pingskills vids, they have a lot of really good serves and they go through them from scratch.

My comments may sound a bit harsh, but they are the table tennis fundamentals. If you can watch some of the youtube vids of timo boll or maybe ma long, you will notice clear technic in every single shot, as well as you will notice how they move around in the court.

Good luck man

icontek wrote: Thank you for all the great feedback and encouragement! It's good to get some additional perspective. Tuesday, when I film some stuff for my next "Intermediate TT" installment, I'll see if I can't get one of my buds to film me doing a few looopdrills and implement the following. 1) Widening my stance 2) Moving to the ball BEFORE the stroke 3) dropping my right foot back for FH 4) Balancing my backswing from ready position to followthrough 5) Keeping my stroke plane more consistent and elbow down a bit   God that's a lot to work on.[ But if I get 1 and 2 in place, 3-4-5 will be much easier!

Like I said, do some fitness training for your legs and fix your stroke mechanics and every thing else will fall into place!!!

3-4 are mistakes caused by not having 1 and 2!

I recommend using a new gripping method.  Yours seem to have low potential for looping, and well everything in general (unless you start playing like Schlager).  Possibly the reason why you can only smack and bump the ball.  Like Hookshot said, you have no fh loop, at least not in game.  You also don't have a bh loop either, its a bump.

Table tennis is a funny game as we work on some things and neglet others, but you still can have many options for any particular shot and learning more options is the fun part but selecting the right shot in a game dosn't always happen as we revert back to what we know.

watched a little more and I think you should shorten the follow through on the smashes and focus on control. You'll get power from just the relaxation of the arm.

Your legs should be more engaged in the ready position. It seems you are just using them to prop your body up. The legs should be ready to sort of spring up, like with a little tension in the legs. Then you can use your legs more actively to get into position for a forehand, then make the forehand using your legs, waist,  torso, arm. 

There were a couple of good rallies in there, but for the most part both of you seemed very passive like you were afraid to attack.  Far too many pushes.