Swedish training

Dieter Verhofstadt Asked 9 years ago

Extended question from the Q&A app:

When doing "Swedish training" (*), is it important to focus on the consistency of getting the ball on the table or on the consistency of doing the stroke correctly. What I've noticed, especially on the backhand counter hit, is that I'm so focused on getting the ball back and reach the 100 hit milestone, that the stroke actually becomes cramped and almost disfunctionally slow and high. When I start focusing on the stroke however, the pace becomes higher, the arch becomes lower and me and my partner will make an error sooner, never reaching the 100 mark.

Should we lower the bar on the numbers, or should we keep it there and gradually improve on the stroke? I think I know the answer while stating the question.

Swedish training is doing a pure stroke drill, trying to reach 100 but subtract 10 from your count each time you miss. For looping and blocking we maintain a 50/5 metric.

Alois Rosario Answered 9 years ago

Hi Dieter,

Sorry I missed this before the show. I like the Swedish training idea. I will use it this week.

I think with this drill the importance is on consistency but by doing the stroke correctly hopefully you will gain more consistency. You can think about still playing the stroke correctly but slowing the stroke down. This can be difficult too but important so that you really start to feel the correct movement of the stroke and the way that the arm moves.

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Dieter Verhofstadt Posted 9 years ago

I'm glad you liked it. We have it occasionally in our coached sessions but most players think it is boring. I often do it in the free sessions with another player. As said we end up focusing on the number more than the stroke and I will change it. Intriguingly, the guy has a much better record of looping in a controlled fashion when doing Swedish than when we drill looping without any wrapping game like that. Somehow the focus on getting high numbers removes his uncontrollable urge to power the loops, ending up with a counterhit alike stroke.

Thanks