Drills from a coaching session with my coach

Here's a video of some drills that I'm practicing with my coach Gary Fraiman..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XosEBdBU05w



I've been working on combining some offense with my long pips blocking game and have been working for almost 2 years now with coach Gary Fraiman. This is a little video from my progress.

Edited by Pushblocker - 04/06/2014 at 11:26pm

pushblocker

The Good

Nice pushing and blocking. Nice tight to the body flat fh hits.  Some nice easy bh kills....you look very natural doing those.   Nice twiddling. Nice shirt


The Bad

Your "coach" reaching into the basket for a single ball...every time....too much wasted motion. 
You taking 1-3 steps to get a single ball to practice serve...and you do it time after time.   Thats the single biggest waste of time I have ever seen.   Either pick up 10-15 balls and put them all into your left pocket and serve each one....thereby negating the need to walk 20 steps...not to mention the rythm you get by serving in a consecutive uninterrupted fashion.  .....OR  move the silly basket close to your left hand so that you need only reach down a couple of inches to retrieve a ball.  I almost had a f-k-n heart attack watching you walk close to a mile to serve about 20 balls.   You and your "coach" manage to throw the whole idea of being ergomically smart out the window by wasting 10% of the session on wasted motion.

Your stance scores a 2/10.  Crouch about 3 inches to at least look like a table tennis player.

You look like the man from Glad yet I didn't see you smile.  Every day above ground is a gift.  Most people smile when they receive a gift.  Don't post any more video unless you're smiling at least once.

You're sliding too much.  Get new shoes or wet the floor and dry it down for more grip.

Lose 25 lbs.

The Ugly

Your fh follow through.  Again...waaay too much follow through robbing yourself of valuable recovery time.   Think about saluting an officer on the follow through.....not once do you salute.  You also turn your elbow inside out....again...salute the officer.   If i was coaching you i would never let you hit another fh ball and would force you to quit table tennis forever...unless you saluted the officer. 

Surely i digress.

thanks for posting.

regards
rick




Edited by ByeByeAbout - 04/07/2014 at 12:10am

Egghead wrote: ByeByeAbout wrote: .... The Bad Your "coach" reaching into the basket for a single ball...every time....too much wasted motion.  You taking 1-3 steps to get a single ball to practice serve...and you do it time after time.   Thats the single biggest waste of time I have ever seen.   Either pick up 10-15 balls and put them all into your left pocket and serve each one....thereby negating the need to walk 20 steps...not to mention the rythm you get by serving in a consecutive uninterrupted fashion.  .....OR  move the silly basket close to your left hand so that you need only reach down a couple of inches to retrieve a ball.  I almost had a fkn heart attack watching you walk close to a mile to serve about 20 balls.   You and your "coach" manage to throw the whole idea of being ergomically smart out the window by wasting 10% of the session on wasted motion. Your stance scores a 2/10.  Crouch about 3 inches to at least look like a table tennis player. I didn't see you smile.   Don't post any more video unless you're smiling at least once. .... Beside his coach's "reaching single ball" method (my coach gets 3~4 balls in hand), his coach drops the ball on the table before he hits as well. My coach just hit the balls right away. Don't know does it matter?

hi egghead..

from vancouver?   nice.   yes, of course it matters...hitting straight without the bounce simulates a real shot....going bouncy bounce first is robbing the receiver (the paying customer)...of the reality that he will be facing at the tables

i have seen over 20 superb coaches...over the last 10 yrs...you know the real ones from china..and they don't do any of these silly things that im mentioning....

regards
rick

Good stuff, pushblocker.

Jorg Rosskopf and Me

At the about.com forum, Jim Butler quotes German coach and former star Jorg Rosskopf as saying, "When I play with the German Team I only practice playing the first ball against them.  After this I just let the ball go." This was because he's older and so not as fast as before, and so can't rally as fast as he used to. This is exactly what I sometimes do with the top juniors at my club. I don't play at the level I used to, but my serve and receive is still very strong, and so often I let them practice against just that, and don't continue the rally.

------------------------

Folks, it doesn't get much better than Rosskopf.  The key here is that the coach is experienced enough to impart things that help PB and is also experienced with pips.  There isn't one and only one correct way to coach if things/results are measured by effectiveness.

Edited by NextLevel - 04/07/2014 at 2:29am

ByeByeAbout's critique is horribly expressed, and yet I agree with much of the substance. I also don't understand why the coach is simply lobbing balls for you on either FH or BH to hit? These aren't the balls an opponent (a decent one, anyway) will give you. 

Adding tools to any game takes quite a time and when you play such a bespoke game as PB it will take a while to get the balance right but there are good signs you are making progress. It may not be pretty but  it works which is all that counts. Hopefully you can keep working hard. Kudos for trying to better yourself PB.

Is the twiddling to hit a BH inverted topspin also new? 

Pushblocker wrote: LUCKYLOOP wrote: Pushblocker wrote: Here's a video of some drills that I'm practicing with my coach Gary Fraiman.. I've been working on combining some offense with my long pips blocking game and have been working for almost 2 years now with coach Gary Fraiman. This is a little video from my progress. Your coach has good credentials. How much training per week ? Ideally 3 times per week with match play reinforcement afterward, but life/family issues do take precedence !     Once a week.. I have a job, a wife and 2 little kids.. I only pay tt once or twice a week. No time for more than that...

You are doing great with so little playing time, playing at your level ! I understand your training program and your game, that is why I haven't made any comments about it. I have watched a lot of your videos to understand what your doing.

With that amount of playing time, you are not even reaching your highest playing level/consistency, based on your current level of skills. Most adults with normal life commitments don't !   

Pondus wrote: Warning: Off Topic Questions Coming (Sorry). PB - How do you glue your pips on without them getting tons of bubbles and such? I tried gluing on some pips without a glue sheet... holy snickerdoodles - not easy. Any tips would be appreciated. Okay - back on topic.

I use a glue that is no longer available.(but I still have a little bit left). Regular water glue really sucks for ox pips. I use Yasaka Mizunori. It's water based glue but it stays sticky and only needs to be applied to the blade. Once it's dry, it's very sticky and you can even remove and re-attach a rubber without re-gluing.  With other glues, I do get bubbles and have to re-glue frequently. Too bad that Mizunori is no longer available.. Probably because it sucked when used with spoinged rubbers.. It's only great for ox pips..

Edited by Pushblocker - 04/07/2014 at 9:45am

Pushblocker wrote: LUCKYLOOP wrote: Pushblocker wrote: Here's a video of some drills that I'm practicing with my coach Gary Fraiman.. I've been working on combining some offense with my long pips blocking game and have been working for almost 2 years now with coach Gary Fraiman. This is a little video from my progress. Your coach has good credentials. How much training per week ? Ideally 3 times per week with match play reinforcement afterward, but life/family issues do take precedence !        "As for losing 25 lbs.. I'm 5'11" 188 lbs, size 33.. Losing 25 lbs, I would be at 163 lbs and size 30" fair enough.  lose 20lbs then. "My follow through is really irrelevant as my game is set up to push until my opponents will give me attackable balls and when I attack I do so to put the ball away." the fact that you have convinced yourself of this doesnt make it true....recovery time is *always* important in table tennis....regardless of level, style, tactics.....you make it sound as if there is no chance that someone will return your "put away"...so you permit yourself to not recover as fast as you should.    maybe you just have issues with authority figures and don't want to salute the officer? regards rick

Pushblocker wrote: ByeByeAbout wrote: Pushblocker wrote: LUCKYLOOP wrote: Pushblocker wrote: Here's a video of some drills that I'm practicing with my coach Gary Fraiman.. I've been working on combining some offense with my long pips blocking game and have been working for almost 2 years now with coach Gary Fraiman. This is a little video from my progress. Your coach has good credentials. How much training per week ? Ideally 3 times per week with match play reinforcement afterward, but life/family issues do take precedence !        "As for losing 25 lbs.. I'm 5'11" 188 lbs, size 33.. Losing 25 lbs, I would be at 163 lbs and size 30" fair enough.  lose 20lbs then. "My follow through is really irrelevant as my game is set up to push until my opponents will give me attackable balls and when I attack I do so to put the ball away." the fact that you have convinced yourself of this doesnt make it true....recovery time is *always* important in table tennis....regardless of level, style, tactics.....you make it sound as if there is no chance that someone will return your "put away"...so you permit yourself to not recover as fast as you should.    maybe you just have issues with authority figures and don't want to salute the officer? regards rick   "You talk a lot like you are some kind of expert."

of course im an expert and just might be the best coach on earth....

 but feel free to ignore everything i say.   after all...it's much easier to ignore good advice than to correct a stroke or to lose some weight. 

it's nice to have a 'yes man' as a "coach" though isn't it?   sure beat's having to actually work at improving.

did you really think that by posting that video everyone was just going to say:  "well done, you're looking excellent there...keep up the great work"?


regards
rick






Edited by ByeByeAbout - 04/07/2014 at 10:43am

Pushblocker wrote: ByeByeAbout wrote: of course im an expert and just might be the best coach on earth....  but feel free to ignore everything i say.   after all...it's much easier to ignore good advice than to correct a stroke or to lose some weight.  it's nice to have a 'yes man' as a "coach" though isn't it?   sure beat's having to actually work at improving. regards rick Well, I checked British Columbia ratings and the only person with a first name who could call himself "Rick" with a decent rating is Richard HO and I doubt that this is you..

pb

what was your goal when you posted the video....that we all just go?

good luck with that.

regards
rick

Pushblocker wrote: ByeByeAbout wrote: Pushblocker wrote: ByeByeAbout wrote: of course im an expert and just might be the best coach on earth....  but feel free to ignore everything i say.   after all...it's much easier to ignore good advice than to correct a stroke or to lose some weight.  it's nice to have a 'yes man' as a "coach" though isn't it?   sure beat's having to actually work at improving. regards rick Well, I checked British Columbia ratings and the only person with a first name who could call himself "Rick" with a decent rating is Richard HO and I doubt that this is you.. pb what was your goal when you posted the video....that we all just go? good luck with that. regards rick So, with other words, you have nothing to back up your so called expertise    I figured

my expertise lies in the fact that i have technically perfect form for every shot imaginable using both shakehand, penhold and rph and being able to perform all these strokes with both the left and right hands.

i also don't waste people's time (and therefore money)...

again though,  you carry on with your "coach" and post some more videos in another two yrs and i will let you know how you're progressing.

regards
rick

Pushblocker wrote: ByeByeAbout wrote: Pushblocker wrote: ByeByeAbout wrote: Pushblocker wrote: ByeByeAbout wrote: of course im an expert and just might be the best coach on earth....  but feel free to ignore everything i say.   after all...it's much easier to ignore good advice than to correct a stroke or to lose some weight.  it's nice to have a 'yes man' as a "coach" though isn't it?   sure beat's having to actually work at improving. regards rick Well, I checked British Columbia ratings and the only person with a first name who could call himself "Rick" with a decent rating is Richard HO and I doubt that this is you.. pb what was your goal when you posted the video....that we all just go? good luck with that. regards rick So, with other words, you have nothing to back up your so called expertise    I figured my expertise lies in the fact that i have technically perfect form for every shot imaginable using both shakehand, penhold and rph and being able to perform all these strokes with both the left and right hands. i also don't waste people's time (and therefore money)... again though,  you carry on with your "coach" and post some more videos in another two yrs and i will let you know how you're progressing. regards rick So, do you really think that a 43 year old who has played TT for about 30 years and has a distinct technique and style, is supposed to be coached to play exactly like a 15 year old would be coached?? If you think so, you have no idea about coaching.

You're making it more than it ought to be...and getting caught up  with irrelevant considerations....

nothing you say will change the fact that your fh follow through is a waste of time....this is an objective fact....  i merely pointed out that by recovering quicker...by virtue of less follow through that you would then be ready a lot sooner for the next ball....

if you're saying that a quicker recovery time isn't important to you then feel free to talk to any "coach" you have respect for....and they will say the same thing that i am saying since we're just talking about fundamentals here.....it's not like it's an advanced topic

regards
rick


Edited by ByeByeAbout - 04/07/2014 at 11:13am