Starting Out in Table Tennis

Encore une très bonne vidéo cela ma permis de prendre 28 points je passe à 528

j'ai une question, j'ai un robot TIBHAR JUNIOR tout simple auquel je n'avais pas précisé au départ comme je l'avais mis de côté c'était juste pour apprendre le revers j'ai donc passé des heures à m'entraîner à faire de la régule, maintenant j'arrive sauf que quand je suis à la table avec un adversaire c'est totalement différent j'arrive à faire l’échauffement du revers sans problème depuis peu c'est venue comme ça pour qui pourquoi je ne sais pas mais dès que le match commence  je n'arrive plus j'avais donc laissé tomber mon robot mis de côté. Quel conseil pourriez-vous me donner en matière de robot pour apprendre les bons gestes le placement....merci encore pour vos vidéos cela m'aide beaucoup à hello

Still a very good video that allowed me to take 28 points I go to 528

I have a question, I have a robot TIBHAR JUNIOR very simple which I did not specify at the beginning as I had put aside it was just to learn the backhand so I spent hours to me to train to regulate, now I come except that when I'm at the table with an opponent it's totally different I get to warm up the backhand without a problem recently it came like that for whom why I do not know but as soon as the match starts I can not do it so I dropped my robot put aside. What advice could you give me in terms of robot to learn the right gestures placement .... thanks again for your videos this helps me a lot to hello

Hi Alain,

I think the robot is good to start with but you do need to train against another player to get the real feel of the stroke.  You get variations of spin and placement that you need to learn to deal with.

Salut Alain,

Je pense que le robot est bon pour commencer mais il faut s'entraîner contre un autre joueur pour avoir la sensation réelle du coup. Vous obtenez des variations de spin et de placement que vous devez apprendre à gérer.

Ball tracking and my 'ah ha!' moment.

I've been playing for just on a year and other than footwork I found truly tracking the ball to be the biggest challenge. I used to think I was doing it but realised I was only tracking the ball until it bounced on my side and the I changed my focus to where I wanted to hit the ball, i.e. corner/edge/opponent's elbow, etc. That meant getting a good contact relied on incredibly complex brain calculations and extraordinary good luck.

I spent months trying to change this habit but really struggled, until I actually analysed why.  I realised I was thinking like a marksman or a hunter - the ball was my projectile (the bat my gun or bow) and I was focusing on where the ball needed to go - the 'target'.  For most ball sports though, this is wrong. The ball is not the projectile.  The ball is the target and the golf club, tennis racket, cricket bat, and even the foot (in soccer) is the projectile (or 'weapon').  As a competitive squash player and a golfer I should have known this, but I'd never really thought about it before. So, thinking of the bat as the projectile or weapon and ball as the target means I now understand that I need to focus entirely on the ball so I hit my target.

With this in mind my daughter and I devised a new practice drill and it has made a big difference. I have her hit balls to me and instead of using a bat to return them, I catch the ball.  This means there is no reason or need to think about where the ball is going after it comes to me (no incorrect target) but rather, in order to successfully catch the ball, I must closely track it all the way into my hand - think Karate Kid and catching flies with chopsticks :).  The backhand is a bit trickier so I simply aim to stop the ball with the back of my playing hand.  That way I maintain a similar movement to a normal BH stroke.

As a result of the change in thinking and the drill, my tracking has improved significantly.  I still find myself reverting to old habits sometimes but I now have a quick way to correct.

And speaking of footwork .. I know we weren't, but I did mention it :) . here's another idea for those struggling with their footwork. I have terrible footwork and it is holding me back.  I found training it to be somehow awkward or 'forced', until one day I was practising TT in the front room and my daughter put some funky (and loud) music on in the room next door.  Suddenly, footwork became dancing and, well, dancing to music is easy, natural.  Right?  I recall I used to listen to dance-style music when trying to improve my snow skiing technique and realised this was the same.  Rhythm is the key and music makes you want to move.  Now footwork training is not only more more effective, it is more enjoyable and seems like less effort too.  I've improved quickly.  Now all I need to do is convince my opponents to play music during our games ....

P.S.  Yes, love the new format guys.  Nice!

Nice when you have those ah ha moments...

Yep.  Just a shame they sometimes takes so long to arrive ... :)

As long as you get there...

Great blog with all useful information. Really love the backround information on both of your early years in this wonderful sport. Would love some follow up info on what came next in your respective careers in the game.  

Thank you both!

Thanks Paul.

Follow up... OH that might take a book... and be pretty boring...