Twilight zone, getting better against weaker players
Training and Drills
Lorenzo Coopman Asked 11 years ago
First of all, I understand that getting better at any sports takes time.
I have been playing for some months now (I try to play at least 6h a week) But now I'm getting into some trouble, the experienced players in the club don't have any interest playing against me (I'm still very inconsistent and I'm kind of old for a beginner, 36, so they don't expect much of me) and the new and less motivated players are struggling with my strokes. How can I get still a decent training with less strong opponents?
Alois Rosario Answered 11 years ago
Hi Lorenzo,
This is a common problems in clubs. I think one of the things to do is when hitting with weaker players, put the ball into one position for them and let them know where the ball is coming. Then they can control the ball better for you to different areas of the table that you want to work on.
This will give them good control training and give you better hitting against more difficult balls. I used to do a lot of my training in this way when I was playing. Find out what strengths they have and utilise that strength.
You can see drills that you can do during training in our Free Downloads of Training Drills.
Thoughts on this question
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Lorenzo Coopman Posted 11 years ago
Okay, I'll try that. I hope I can keep my focus this way. I noticed (when playing more novice then me- players, I just forget about moving and resort to a very static play depending on my big (but not so accurate) forehand or on my topspin backhand which most players I may play against - cannot control with their weaker backhand .
And that frustrates me even more, because if the coach/trainer sees that kind of play, I'll get the double whammy - the coach gets biased in a circular reasoning "ahh the player doesn't improve, lazy *ss he is, why should I spend time trying to improve this old one, lets give 'em some long pimps and glue 'em to the table. " (That last I made up but I guess you get the point.)
Alois Rosario from PingSkills Posted 11 years ago
Hi Lorenzo,
I think it is important to make sure you are still keeping good leg position and balance when you are playing lower level players. This is one of the challenges. This is part of maintaining focus.
You can even set yourself a goal of not hitting any strong shots against a player and only winning points by out placing them with accurate hitting.