Take it easy or go hard?

Sean Morrissy Asked 13 years ago

Hey guys,

I've been training daily with my coach for about a month now and I'm getting quite consistent at my drives, topspins and pushes. At least in training when I know where the ball is going to go and it comes at a similar height/spin/placemet every time. 

However, I've just started playing games against the players at my club and I'm finding I'm not playing as well as I feel I should. 

I'm finding I hit a lot of balls back softer than I can in training, partly because the ball can appear anywhere, partly because just before I hit the ball, my brain says: better take it easy and at least get it on the table. 

So at this point, what's the best way to proceed?

Do I:

A) Hit the ball a little softer, knowing that while I'm less likely to win a point, I'll be improving my consistency. 

Or...

B) Hit it hard like I usually would in training and accept that I'm going to stuff more shots up, but potentially hit more winners and gradually improve this way.

Thanks in advance!

Sean

Alois Rosario Answered 13 years ago

Hi Sean,

Firstly, lets talk about expectations.  When we start to train hard we think that results should come.  This is not always the case immediately.  I remmeber when we first started training under Mr Zhou for up to 6 hours a day, my results went down rather than up.  One of the thinkgs that happens is that because we are training harder we expect better results from ourselves.  This in turn puts more pressure on us when we are playing matches, which usually leads to worse results.  Worse results, leads to frustrations and even worse results.

Depending on the improtance of the competiton, I would think about implementing what you have practiced.  this is the way ot eventually get better at the game.

If it is consistency that you are working on then hit the ball softer and work on your consistency, but if you are working on your strokes and trying to make them stronger, then that is what you should implement in the matches.