the hardest thing for you now is putting those forhand drives into your game

I think the nitpickers should look at Gary's resume.  Ultimately, as adults who missed the boat as kids, the goal is not to get perfect form, but to get effective shots that come naturally during matches.  The degree to which these two overlap is not as great as some would lead you to believe at the levels most of us play.

I think it would be better if the coach looped back the balls.  If he can then PB's push was bad and if he can't then PB's push was good.

The problem I have with playing with a robot is that the robot doesn't 'grade' my returns like a person does.  In the video the coach didn't 'grade' PB's pushes either.

From tabletenniscoaching.com (another older coach, just so people can get a more realistic perspective on coaching):

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

 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...

 

I'm not working on becoming a looper. As for my mobility, it's hard to have good footwork with a tear in my right meniskus. It reduces mobility as it hurts like hell when doing certain movements. I can't "twist" my right leg and I can't do larger steps without pain, so I work around the movements that I can't do.

My coach is not working on changing my game to a "correct" game as I've been playing "wrong" for 25+ years.. 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.. I wouldn't want to be just skin and bones  .  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. I'm not ever going to get into looping rallies.  The goal of the coaching is to block every ball back until the opponent produces a attackable ball that I will then put away. I reached a 2309 rating in 2011 and never dropped below 2100 in 5 years just by blocking and pushing without any attack at all. The problem is that people who would play it safe started beating me as I wasn't able to attack at all. The goal of taking the coaching was to prevent opponents from playing it safe if I'm able to put away their weak balls. What some people here think is that coaching has to be the same for every player but styles and goals vary greatly. I DO indeeed get lots of weak balls from my opponents as they have problems with my blocks and pushes, so, that's why we practice those.

Those who think that it's unlikely that in matches I won't receive easy balls like in the training session have never played me before. My pips game is nasty and it produces weak balls from my opponents.

I don't know if changing your game to add FH attacks will get you to a higher rating than 2300, but much respect to you for trying.  Most people would probably be satisfied as a state champion and 2300 player. 

The problem that I started running into when I reached 2300 in 2011 was that players realized that I had no attack and no forehand at all. My stance used to be extreme backhand oriented and it would prevent me from successfully playing any forehand. Cory Eider and also Raghu Nadmichettu were the first ones to exploit my offensive weakness by lobbing to me and I was certain that many more players would follow, trying to exploit my inability to attack. That's why I ended up getting coaching and it was clear that my rating and level would drop once I give up my backhand oriented stance BUT in the long run, it would benefit my game to go to a more neutral stance and being able to attack more. Right now, I dropped to mid 2100's but  I'm very close to getting back to where I used to be. Last tournament,  I had 2:1 game leads against 2333, 2309, 2270, 2238 and 2232 but lost those matches, even after leading in the 5th in some of those matches. I'm usually dominating anyone in the 2100's except for certain flat hitters who still give me trouble. Against loopers, I hardly ever lose to anyone below 2200 rating right now. I've gone sometimes weeks without losing a match at any of the clubs that I play.. 

When I became Florida State Champion in 2010, I probably attacked less than 10 times.. in the entire tournament (9 wins and no losses)

 

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.

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..

 

I figured

I am by no means a fan of Pushblocker and as I have stated before, I find it very unaesthetic but I can't argue with its effectiveness. Admins should keep an eye on that ByeByeAbout wannabe trying-to-be-polite-but-not-really guy with his wannabe "regards rick".

Rick is the world's best athlete.  That's how he rolls, so forgive him for his impatience with us lesser mortals.

It has little to do with the PB style.  It's about Byebyeabout claiming to have expertise related to training TT players when he does not and refusing to accept the limitations of his experiences and other people's abilities.  Note that I cited coaches with experience who do things differently from the recommendations of people who were criticizing Gary Fraiman (and these coaches were similar to Fraiman), who has good experience that was being ignored by some of them.  You can't coach adults with established styles and physical limitations the way you coach kids.  And an older coach can't play against players who are closer to his level the way he did when he was younger.  That's why multiball is such a great tool.

Yes, because pushblocker wrote that he has no interest in looping and relooping.  His goal is to end the shot with his first stroke.  At the point he wrote that, you should have reasonably ended your criticism, but then you started to needle him as if it was an excuse.  Going past your center is part of a kill stroke.

Sometimes, we all have to accept that there are players out there who are better than we are and who will bring back any ball we loop at them.  But if we know the quality of player we intend to give trouble, that simplifies our goals.

My coach had known my game long before he started coaching me. He knew that my blocking game against loop is solid at 2300 level. He even saw me in person when I played one of his studends at the time at the NA Team tournament a few years back when I beat his mid 2200 level student 3:0 in a challenge match (not part of the event).  It wouldn't be wise to give up that part of my game as I would have to start from scratch if I would want a technically sound game.  This would require me to get down to about 1300 - 1400 rating level and develop my game from there. However, that wasn't what either of us wanted to do. We decided to work on my extreme backhand oriented stance to be able to hit some forehands if needed.. My problem was not to beat offensive players as I would have most offensive players under 2250 for breakfast. My problem were those players who would refuse to attack and would play it safe. Once someebody would play it safe, I would have big trouble against them. That's why it was necessary to incorporate a put away attack into my game.. If someone would play high or with little spin, the goal is to punish them for doing so. If they know that I can attack and I can put away their returns if they return it safe and with little spin, they are forced to take more risks and that works in my favor. Often, 1 or 2 successful attacks will keep the opponent from playing it safe.. The moment I get them to attack hard instead of playing it safe, my chances of winning go up significantly. In recent matches, my attacks worked really well but I still miss some critical shots as my confidence is not where it should be but right now, NOBODY under around 2400 rating has a easy time with me except for flat hitters. I used to have big trouble with defenders as I wasn't able to attack.. Now, some choppers that used to beat me 3:0 every time now make 4 to 5 points per game against me. If the opponent plays safe or defensive, my game is 300% better than it used to be.. Of course, the change in my stance has cost me some rating points as my blocking is not as good as it used to be but I have added so many weapons to my game that I can prevent opponents from just playing it safe as I will attack and score if they play it too safe. As I'm only taking coaching once a week, progress is not as fast as it would be if I could play more but I think that I've made great progress. Many players who were playing it safe against me and used to beat me, now have no more chance against me.  I'm certain that my playing level right now is well above my current rating. I also had some high rated players selectively default to me as they didn't want to play me and lose the points.. (i.e. Roberto Renta who has never beaten me and slectively defaulted to me  in a tournament).. Would they have played me, I would've won and would be over 2200 right now but I couldn't force them to play me... Anyways, I'm confident in my current playing level and I'm feeling that the hard work is finally paying off.. It's not reflected in my rating yet as I'm still 150 points below my highest rating but I'm confident that I'll be over 2200 by the end of the year..

Considering that I'm 43 years old and have a tear in my inner right meniscus, I'm not doing too bad..

SOME sheets of Talon exceed 2mm like some of the old DTecS did but most of them are exactly at 2.00 mm.. I do have digital calipers and I measured a few.. Their thickness varied between 1.99 and 2.03 mm with most of them being almost exactly at 2.00 mm but some of them were a little too thick and theoretically  illegal. They are by far the longest pips on the market as the base sheet is very thin. This however is the reason why the sheets only last a few months each before it loses pips.. Aspect ratio seems fine as they are pretty wide. Pips density seems to be within the ITTF limits.. It's only the length that on some of them might be 0.01 to 0.03 mm too thick on SOME sheets.. Seems more like a QC issue. Chinese made rubbers are known to be somewhat inconsistent between sheets.. Most of them however seem to be within the 2mm limit.

I would have said nothing if that was just a knock-about with one of your mates, but for a paid coach there seems to be a lot of randomness about it, drills for the sake of drilling. I can't even see the value in serve/return/3rd ball. You don't do 3rd ball attack as such, and when your 3rd ball is a push what's the point in training for it specifically? It doesn't look like that guy knows what he's doing.

I have a few suggestions for you:

When you use a coach, you yourself should have a pretty good idea of what to drill before the session. You run it by him just to see what he says, and don't follow his lead blindly especially when your game is so unconventional. If it feels pingpong-ish, it probably is so stop and re-think. There should be a method to your drill no matter what style.

Drill very simple and try to keep your individual strokes identical from one to the next. Crooked or not, that's not the point.

 

Are you his spokesperson? Let the man speak for himself.

Anybody training for 2 years will get something out of it, that's not an argument.

 

PB DADDY.

 

If anyone read the write-up of PB's (FRIENDLY) visit to LATTA to play a nice (whoop-em !!!) match vs RR where RR did pretty much whatever he wanted to vs PB... We would all understand RR's position of being able to "talk the talk" as he puts it. NO ONE should be able to dispute RR's point of view to comment about PB and PB himself will freely admit it and the need to learn a FH game, which it looks like he is developing as part of CNN breaking news.

 

TT forums are where we share and talk about stuff we are interested in and stuff we are proud of. As much as us 2X inverted attacking types can diss PB's game... getting to a max of 2300 and a consistent 2200ish level is no joke, a level many of us will never achieve, no matter what we do.

 

Rick doesn't look like he is detached form the sport and he exudes a spirit of rebellion that RR, myself, and many others possess. Putting aside Rick's previous posts that got people out of kilt, it seems Rick truly loves TT and knows more than a lick about the sport.

 

Shyt, all of you all have given me so many "popcorn" moments that I have eaten through my entire inventory of popcorn and need to travel to replenish my supplies.

 

Thanks for watching out...

 

The need to use the elbow as a pivot using little to no shoulder is important for control. The use of shoulder make the stroke longer and taking more time. You do not need the extra length for power. The momentum started by going forward combined with the arm hit hinging on elbow is enough. This is almost exactly what we do for a BH smash close to table (move in, little to no backswing, hinge on elbow, use lower arm and wrist to finish). The result of a smash with this shorter arm still results in a pretty fast ball, fast enough to win point as the attack is a surprise or the opponent knows they gave up an easy one and are retreating to save their life.

 

Doing this also allows one to stay on balance, doesn't take a lot of time to get into action, has a LOT of control, is fast enough, is decisive, is pretty easy to execute, and usually wins the point.

 

I wouldn't ape any LP player attacking a loose ball with FH that comes high using that technique. Similar for a ball that is lower. Yeah, it would be great to have already been in a neutral or FH ready position to use more rotation and get more leg behind it, but simply stepping forward and hitting with lower arm (just like you would to do a FH counter-drive over the table) is plenty fast (not a smash, but if opponent is not accustomed or ready to receive the attack it will be successful) and controllable.

 

http://cluster1.cafe.daum.net/_c21_/bbs_list?grpid=173yS&fldid=LEDP" rel="nofollow - http://cluster1.cafe.daum.net/_c21_/bbs_list?grpid=173yS&fldid=LEDP

It is better to bounce and hit it - as it simulates the real game situation where the ball bounces on the table and then the player hits it. 

But if you want to do rapid fire drills like Zhang Ji Ke and Xu Xin - you probably have to go directly to racquet.

 

In training, I go for higher percantage rather than harder hits. I do swing more in a game situation but I want to miss as few as possible in training.

I thought I read it all, but no… you had to come up with that gem. How can anyone post like you and think of themselves as tactful and filled with mutual respect, is beyond me.

Her we go another another BS.

What level of your expert coach and player? 

==I struggle with this every day for fear of offending anyone.==

You posted and criticized the coach here as not good with lots of flaw compared to

CNT coach. I would say another 3-500 coaches not good either when you use that scale to weight.

But I really like to see your level of coaching? Could u prove something valid instead of just claiming what skill u have?