Pivot > Loop > Drive

This video was from 2 weeks ago, but I thought it would be great to get some discussion going, and hopefully some advice for myself, or anyone else reading this thread :)

In all things related to the forehand (with the possible exception of some blocks), the first thing you should always do, whether in isolation or in combination with other movements to get into position, is to turn your shoulders.

Hey, first of all, what is your purpose in doing this drill? I don't think this isn't a good combination to use at all when playing a match. Assuming that the opponent receives the serve well and to your backhand, you should play the backhand loop (not forehand), and then rally. It makes no sense whatsoever to pivot and play the forehand, then run to go play another forehand, especially when they can just block it out wide to the forehand. Because you're not a pro, and likely have limited time to practice, you should practice the combinations that are useful in a real match. Of course, if the opponent receives your serve badly and pops it up, then by all means use your forehand lol. 

More rotation and explosiveness is always good, but what I really meant was being "tight." Like you're a little bit on the "flabby" side at the moment :P Practicing keeping your core tight throughout the point is a good way to improve on this, aside from physical training :)

Thanks balldance. I've been thinking a lot about what everyone said while reviewing a lot of my recent videos. It's a long road, but I'm confident I'll be able to improve upon those areas with time (hopefully not too much time)!

Thanks NL. What signs should I look out for to judge whether I'm doing my forward swing too early? I had another look at the video, and I agree that my wrist is still too stiff!

mickd wrote: I had another practice session last week. This time I was focusing on these things. 1. Keeping a wider stance. 2. Hitting the ball on the rise and in front of my body. 3. Smaller backswing. 4. Rotating my shoulders. It was really difficult, especially when thinking about so many things, so a lot of the times I went back to my old ways. I tried to tighten my core too, but I think for most of the shots I forgot. I think I did well relatively well on shortening my swing, and thus taking the ball earlier, but I need to work on my shoulder rotation a little more. My legs are still a little too wobbly. So I'll need to think about how I can go about fixing that too. I probably need to rotate more at the waist and less at the legs.

yes, rotating more at the waist and less at the legs will help. It's actually rotating your whole upper body, sometimes we call it "shoulders", sometimes "hip" or "waist", whatever, it's your whole upper body (including your left arm) that should rotate as one unit. Body rotate should be priority, then arm snap just at contact.

about stiff wrist, I think it's because you cock your wrist a little and lock it in that position, try to loosen it more, imagining you "slap" the ball at contact.

I think that you stay too close to the table, I don't know if it's your intention or you don't have enough space there but backing away from the table (maybe one step) will be better to build your stroke. Taking the ball early on the rise at fast pace is pretty hard.


Edited by balldance - 11/24/2016 at 1:45am

blahness wrote: You're getting jammed because you're trying to power loop close to the table. It doesn't help that you're not very consistent on managing the trajectory of the ball. Slow down on the throttle and just think of "bringing" the ball across to the other table with good feeling and consistency. But it is important that you don't just go back to hand only strokes, you still need to involve some degree of waist rotation and weight transfer. It is quite good that you know how to use your body to generate massive power, but right now, control, timing and recovery/body positioning is way more important.

Maybe it would be good to take the serve out for now. Have your partner feed long backspin down your bh line, you pivot and fh loop wide cross-court, partner tries to get over there and block down your fh line, then free.

I don't agree that you should be opening with a backhand loop. If you can get your fh on the ball and hit a quality shot then do it. All the technique tips are probably good if it means something to you and you can keep that in your mind. But you can also just try to make a lot of spin on a wide angle, and judge your technique solely off the observed quality of your ball. If a strong partner can't get out to it, or gets there but can't block it on the table, then your technique is most likely okay, particularly when they know you are going wide.

Pivoting to loop down the line into a righty's backhand block is probably not good to drill in. If you play a lefty then you might beat them down the line. But if the pattern is going to be Xs vs Hs, you want to be the Xs.

In general I would hate to play a lefty who serves short backspin, and anywhere I push long it gets fh looped.

@NL balldance blahness & benfb