Definitely saw an improvement reading the spin on serves in all your matches. There were some misreads, but I felt like there were a lot less. I'm going to focus my comments on you vs Joseph because he's the closest to your level. You did well to swing more forward. I saw a little bit of "watching if the ball lands after you hit" which slowed you down a bit. when the ball leaves your paddle, switch you focus to the opponent and start resetting for the next ball. Assume it'll come back. I'm definitely guilty of this some times! 28:00 - you did a double hop forward. it's good that you're moving your feet but you still ended up square, which cost you push quality. A step forward with your right will let you get to the ball faster so you can push off the bounce. You do this multiple times during game 1 so I assume you're a little tentative and still getting a feel for the opponent so that's understandable. Rule of thumb is that if the second bounce is over the table, you need to step with right foot forward (applies to your FH and BH receives). 28:45 - this is what I mean by hitting through the ball. Forward and down, lots of power. For high balls close to the net, with enough speed, spin won't matter as much. This seemed like the catalyst that let to transition from tentative into playing more relaxed. Sure, you missed the point right after but your movements became sharper and your confidence went up. It was just what you needed. Led to a great rally at 29:00 29:21 - nice serve & 3rd ball combo. notice the good patience and forward stroke on your BH! 29:27 - vs. the high spin loop from Joseph. Your FH stroke went from down to up (instead of back to front) and your paddle angle wasn't set (it looked like you rotated it from open to closed during the stroke). 29:56 - nice push. good spin and was kept low. But look at your balance after you pushed, your body rocked back slightly because your stance couldn't stabilize the forward-back force. Compare to 30:03. The push was high, but look at how stable you were during and after the push and how that made your reset and next movement so much smoother. 30:22 - good rally 30:32 - careful not to get stuck doing BHs and let him pull you to the FH side of the table. If you can, prioritize staying on the BH side of the table (because you reach is shorter on BH and the timing needs to be faster). BHs are hit in front of you and FHs are hit to your side so you have that much more time to react and move to balls on the FH side of the table. 31:05 - nice finisher. Good restraint, touch, and spin. 31:20 - nice block. Soft touch with a small, forward motion. Minimal backswing. very good control. 31:25 - swung a little too early leading to adequate brush but not enough forward. same thing happened to Joseph at 31:31. He pulled up with a very open paddle but couldn't borrow power from your serve and didn't generate it himself so it went into the net. Compare to his BH (3rd ball) at 32:12 (great rally btw) and receive at 32:22. 32:49 - Look for the signs of mega-spin loops. For Joseph, his paddle starts unusually low and ends high. The paddle is very open and the sound of ball on paddle is very quiet. Sometimes you can hear a "tssk" sound from the friction. For the timing and type of shot you chose, it might help to imagine you're "pressing" the ball back down onto the table. Like knotwilg (i think it was him?) said: paddle has to be almost flat/horizontal as well. After you missed the point, you did a practice motion and there was still too much upward motion and the paddle was too open. that motion is good fine returning a "normal" topspin but not quite right for Joseph's mega topspin. 32:56 & 34:50 - nice BH. good patience and forward motion. so casual and dismissive 👍 33:09 - same footwork issue mentioned before. Game 4 - Joseph dialed in his mega spin loops. we'll work on countering high spin if we meet up. 34:16 - nice FH! the rage! Ben smash! 34:35 - good soft touch on the bh block vs his smash. good change of pace and placement lead to his error. 35:21 - floppy wrist! 36:10 - good placement on that last push It looked like you were a little frustrated during game 5. Don't forget: you have a timeout and can take a moment between points to re-center yourself! Regardless, exciting match vs Joseph!
" when the ball leaves your paddle, switch you focus to the opponent and start resetting for the next ball. Assume it'll come back." This is transformative advice. When I look at my opponent, what do I look for first? Where they are moving? their eyes? their paddle? I notice when I'm playing pips players I tend to look at their paddle a lot, but I don't look at anything else. Thanks for the time-stamps. That floppy wrist is going to be the death of me. It never works. That finisher at 31:05 was something else. I pumped my fist because it felt a lot 'different' for some reason. But different in a good way. I know it was a great shot.
@BenSucksAtPingPong I focus on the angle of their paddle but I take note of their posture, their shoulders, and the direction they're facing with my peripherals... And their swing...
Eric's serves no longer seem to mystify you. In general, your reading spin has improved a lot. I've started wondering about your crouching. It does bring your eyesight in line with the ball trajectory but it might reduce your mobility. The "Z-like" body posture is supposed to allow for quicker movements, keeping your body weight on your toes, and being well placed for a side step. But your extreme crouching might have the opposite effect. As it "stands" it looks more like a sumo wrestler whose objective is to be an unmovable object, than a TT player who wants to be quick to react. Take a look at Ma Long: he's bending forward when receiving but then when the serve is about to come in, he goes upright a little to be moving towards where he expects the ball to come. Or look at your opponent Jun. He's more upright than you but at the same time much more agile. His focus is on being able to move quickly, not to simply be in that crouching position. Just an idea: since the crouching has become part of your muscle memory, you can try being upright more, just for one match. And not stiff upright with straight legs but flexibly upright with a very smooth S-shape. And then measure the effect on your mobility. (Thanks for replacing the tablas with violins, but I realized I might be sensitive to any background music, so never mind.)
They are still mystifing, but at least not as much. He can still send a mean backspin, I can read it as backspin, and still not return it sometimes. Your comment lead me to more than just Ma Long's form. I was watching Major League Table Tennis last night and I was noticing Daniel Gorak's movement too. LOTS of small hops, in fact, I made it a point to never look at the ball - just the players and how they react during the rallies. That might be my weakness - I'm not not moving, or even READY to move. Great comment.
Looking good vs a lot of strong opponents. You held your own well and there were a ton of great rallies.
Nice job!
Definitely saw an improvement reading the spin on serves in all your matches. There were some misreads, but I felt like there were a lot less.
I'm going to focus my comments on you vs Joseph because he's the closest to your level.
You did well to swing more forward.
I saw a little bit of "watching if the ball lands after you hit" which slowed you down a bit. when the ball leaves your paddle, switch you focus to the opponent and start resetting for the next ball. Assume it'll come back. I'm definitely guilty of this some times!
28:00 - you did a double hop forward. it's good that you're moving your feet but you still ended up square, which cost you push quality. A step forward with your right will let you get to the ball faster so you can push off the bounce. You do this multiple times during game 1 so I assume you're a little tentative and still getting a feel for the opponent so that's understandable. Rule of thumb is that if the second bounce is over the table, you need to step with right foot forward (applies to your FH and BH receives).
28:45 - this is what I mean by hitting through the ball. Forward and down, lots of power. For high balls close to the net, with enough speed, spin won't matter as much. This seemed like the catalyst that let to transition from tentative into playing more relaxed. Sure, you missed the point right after but your movements became sharper and your confidence went up. It was just what you needed. Led to a great rally at 29:00
29:21 - nice serve & 3rd ball combo. notice the good patience and forward stroke on your BH!
29:27 - vs. the high spin loop from Joseph. Your FH stroke went from down to up (instead of back to front) and your paddle angle wasn't set (it looked like you rotated it from open to closed during the stroke).
29:56 - nice push. good spin and was kept low. But look at your balance after you pushed, your body rocked back slightly because your stance couldn't stabilize the forward-back force. Compare to 30:03. The push was high, but look at how stable you were during and after the push and how that made your reset and next movement so much smoother.
30:22 - good rally
30:32 - careful not to get stuck doing BHs and let him pull you to the FH side of the table. If you can, prioritize staying on the BH side of the table (because you reach is shorter on BH and the timing needs to be faster). BHs are hit in front of you and FHs are hit to your side so you have that much more time to react and move to balls on the FH side of the table.
31:05 - nice finisher. Good restraint, touch, and spin.
31:20 - nice block. Soft touch with a small, forward motion. Minimal backswing. very good control.
31:25 - swung a little too early leading to adequate brush but not enough forward. same thing happened to Joseph at 31:31. He pulled up with a very open paddle but couldn't borrow power from your serve and didn't generate it himself so it went into the net. Compare to his BH (3rd ball) at 32:12 (great rally btw) and receive at 32:22.
32:49 - Look for the signs of mega-spin loops. For Joseph, his paddle starts unusually low and ends high. The paddle is very open and the sound of ball on paddle is very quiet. Sometimes you can hear a "tssk" sound from the friction. For the timing and type of shot you chose, it might help to imagine you're "pressing" the ball back down onto the table. Like knotwilg (i think it was him?) said: paddle has to be almost flat/horizontal as well. After you missed the point, you did a practice motion and there was still too much upward motion and the paddle was too open. that motion is good fine returning a "normal" topspin but not quite right for Joseph's mega topspin.
32:56 & 34:50 - nice BH. good patience and forward motion. so casual and dismissive 👍
33:09 - same footwork issue mentioned before.
Game 4 - Joseph dialed in his mega spin loops. we'll work on countering high spin if we meet up.
34:16 - nice FH! the rage! Ben smash!
34:35 - good soft touch on the bh block vs his smash. good change of pace and placement lead to his error.
35:21 - floppy wrist!
36:10 - good placement on that last push
It looked like you were a little frustrated during game 5. Don't forget: you have a timeout and can take a moment between points to re-center yourself!
Regardless, exciting match vs Joseph!
" when the ball leaves your paddle, switch you focus to the opponent and start resetting for the next ball. Assume it'll come back."
This is transformative advice. When I look at my opponent, what do I look for first? Where they are moving? their eyes? their paddle? I notice when I'm playing pips players I tend to look at their paddle a lot, but I don't look at anything else.
Thanks for the time-stamps.
That floppy wrist is going to be the death of me. It never works.
That finisher at 31:05 was something else. I pumped my fist because it felt a lot 'different' for some reason. But different in a good way. I know it was a great shot.
@BenSucksAtPingPong I focus on the angle of their paddle but I take note of their posture, their shoulders, and the direction they're facing with my peripherals... And their swing...
Eric's serves no longer seem to mystify you. In general, your reading spin has improved a lot.
I've started wondering about your crouching. It does bring your eyesight in line with the ball trajectory but it might reduce your mobility. The "Z-like" body posture is supposed to allow for quicker movements, keeping your body weight on your toes, and being well placed for a side step. But your extreme crouching might have the opposite effect. As it "stands" it looks more like a sumo wrestler whose objective is to be an unmovable object, than a TT player who wants to be quick to react.
Take a look at Ma Long: he's bending forward when receiving but then when the serve is about to come in, he goes upright a little to be moving towards where he expects the ball to come. Or look at your opponent Jun. He's more upright than you but at the same time much more agile. His focus is on being able to move quickly, not to simply be in that crouching position.
Just an idea: since the crouching has become part of your muscle memory, you can try being upright more, just for one match. And not stiff upright with straight legs but flexibly upright with a very smooth S-shape. And then measure the effect on your mobility.
(Thanks for replacing the tablas with violins, but I realized I might be sensitive to any background music, so never mind.)
They are still mystifing, but at least not as much. He can still send a mean backspin, I can read it as backspin, and still not return it sometimes.
Your comment lead me to more than just Ma Long's form. I was watching Major League Table Tennis last night and I was noticing Daniel Gorak's movement too. LOTS of small hops, in fact, I made it a point to never look at the ball - just the players and how they react during the rallies.
That might be my weakness - I'm not not moving, or even READY to move. Great comment.