Overcome fear of defending
Strokes
LeangHeng IT Asked 13 years ago
Hi coach,
My name Phil and I really like playing table tennis. But whenever I play competition, I feel afraid and lose balance when my opponent raise hand to strike (if I can see that my opponent is defending, I have no fear at all, but find ways to attack)!!! How can I overcome this?
Phil
Alois Rosario Answered 12 years ago
Hi Phil,
In training practice your blocking a little more. Once you feel comfortable with blocking you will not panic as much when you see your opponent has an attacking shot. Because you are more relaxed, you will be able to react faster as well. It is a bit of a positive cycle.
Recommended Video
Strawberry Flick
The strawberry flick is the opposite of the banana flick and involves utilising the wrist to get the ball spinning with topspin and sidespin. Used in conjunction with the banana flick it can be very deceptive. The banana flick is a more reliable stroke and that's why you see more top players using it over the strawberry flick.
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LeangHeng IT Posted 13 years ago
Hi Alois, thank you for your useful suggestion.
May I ask another question? I have one main problem with my foot work. For me, I can reach two steps to the right to hit the ball, but I feel very difficult to step back to the left for good position (preparing for second hit). I feel I lose balance completely!
I hope I can make change to this problem!!!
Satya Prakash Posted 11 years ago
First time I faced a big problem in a competition. The competition was for going to getting a coach in org. Those who will get selected in top 30 will go to coach and he will make it to top 15 based on potential.
I lost badly in my first ever competition I had on TT. I lost in first round by a player I could have defeated. I became nervous when I start loosing few points. Another thing and that is more important is that I realized that I never made a habit of defending. Defending correctly is important I realized after much thinking after a month or two.
Manfred Rolfsmeier Posted 9 years ago
True true. Being alert and staying calm and relaxed really is a challenge. That reminds me of Koki Niwa. I love his style bedause it often looks as if he doesn´t care at all ;-)
Abhishek Joseph Posted 8 years ago
Great video, fear has always messed my performance.
Marv Anderson Posted 8 years ago
This is one area where a robot is really helpful, as they can feed balls much faster than any multi-ball server. I just a few minutes today, I got much more comfortable blocking fast topspin shots.
David Mr Posted 8 years ago
Keep up the good work!!
kathy mckelvey Posted 8 years ago
Thank's great video!!
James Finch Posted 8 years ago
when I am playing against an aggressive player I find it very hard to block all their spins as well as spinning and attacking back... I also tend to just change my bat angle for a backspin instead of top spinning back... any tips?
Barry Cornforth Posted 8 years ago
I had trouble getting a backhand spin serve deep to my left,i used to stand back from the table which made it harder to return,now i get closer to the table and take it early which i find much better