Should I change my stroke

Kevin Fang Asked 12 years ago

Hi Alois (Pingskills),

I've recently played a tournament, and I have a lot of comments about my stroke being too long. I would say they're about Wang Liqin's length, maybe a bit slower.

Because I'm tall and big, 6foot+ and 190+ pounds, should I go for a shorter stroke, such as Timo Boll's or Maze's? I'm not trying to replicate them, but if I focused more on spin and control, would I get further? I find myself lacking accuracy, but most importantly, an automatic stroke that I can use, which is basically like the same stroke for slow spinny loops and strong loop kills. For me it's more different, and I find myself playing two different strokes for slow loops and loop kills, which results in inaccuracy. For example, I can use the stroke fine when someone is fishing me, but not when I am playing close to the table and I get switch from a BH - BH rally etc.

I want to change my stroke, should I shorten it and concentrate more on spin? I like to kill the ball a lot, but I think it will really affect my performance in tournaments. Sure, it'll make me play better in rallies, but I think this will affect my short game a lot.

Thanks, I hope you can answer my question!

Alois Rosario Answered 12 years ago

Hi Kevin,

If you are finding problems with accuracy then you should make the stroke simpler and smaller.  As you get better with it then you can lengthen it again if you want to.  Learning control of any stroke is very important.

Get the start and finish positions correct for the stroke.  This is crucial.