Your Coach(es) Best Tips

NextLevel wrote: jrscatman wrote: TT newbie wrote: My coach once said: "The ball is very light, so why the hell you´re spending this amount of energy of arms, shoulder and legs? Focus on the contact of racket against the ball, this is important." So just tap the ball back and forth?  Yes!  Big backswings with poor timing end up leading to taps - so why tap with a big backswing when you can tap with a small backswing and make good contact and more power with less energy?

hookumsnivy wrote: I think what the coach was saying is to focus more on contact.  Power is useless unless you can make the right contact.  So start by learning to contact the ball correctly before you start trying to add power.  If you don't contact the ball correctly, adding power is likely going to cause problem.  I don't think he was suggesting to just tap the ball. If you don't get a feel for the right contact first, then when you are swinging with your legs and hips you won't have instant feedback on whether you hit the ball correctly which makes adjustments difficult. I think this is more important for beginners and if I had to guess was suggested because the player was hitting the ball hard but missing A LOT.  There are a few players at my club that just hit the ball harder (if it comes back, even harder) and their consistency suffers.  Gain consistency first (through good contact) before adding power.

jrscatman wrote: NextLevel wrote: jrscatman wrote: TT newbie wrote: My coach once said: "The ball is very light, so why the hell you´re spending this amount of energy of arms, shoulder and legs? Focus on the contact of racket against the ball, this is important." So just tap the ball back and forth?  Yes!  Big backswings with poor timing end up leading to taps - so why tap with a big backswing when you can tap with a small backswing and make good contact and more power with less energy? Ok, I agree with poor timing you'll end up with poor shots. However, if you want to play the game properly you really need to swing using power from your legs and core muscles. So I would disagree with this tip.

Hookumsnivy explained it, but in any case, we can agree to disagree.  A hitter doesn't always generate power from the legs and core muscles.  A hitter mostly generates power by timing the ball properly - taking it at the highest point and going through it.  Even a looper - most of the pros have done significant muscle building and working out so that their strokes can be relatively short and time the ball and still generate loads of power.  Those of us who haven't done that muscle building try to do what we think is emulating the pros (hitting the ball hard) when we should be focusing on timing the ball properly and then trying to hit the ball hard.  Many semi-pros/pros who learned the game in childhood never appreciate this because they didn't have to go through the pain of getting better as adults after having no game as children.  They put in lots of hours around higher level players and learned this by osmosis.

Actually, let me withdraw my objection to the tip. I guess we should all practice what works for us. I am a firm believer in generating the swing the legs and body. So when I first read the tip, it occurred to me, if you focus on contact first - people will tend to hit using just the arm - in my opinion this not a good thing to do. However, as Nextlevel pointed out on numerous occasions - he has mobility issues due to bad knees - so that might not be possible to do.  TT newbie also had specific issues and his/her coach was able to help with this tip. So while I may not agree with it, doesn't mean it might not work for others.

NextLevel wrote: My knee issues have nothing to do with the fact that the most important aspect of a stroke from an input perspective is the quality of contact made with the ball.

"Of course he'll look good when you loop the ball straight into his paddle."

One advice that I really like is "Play because it's fun and not for the results". 

cheondo wrote: Keep your racket up at all times. I didn't realize dropping the racket was such a key to me losing so many points.

W0LovePP wrote: cheondo wrote: Keep your racket up at all times. I didn't realize dropping the racket was such a key to me losing so many points.   Please elaborate on "keeping it up". Does "up" mean that the racket is vertical, or to keep the whole racket above the table, not beneath the table.   Thanks.

Pretty sure that means above the table.

cheondo wrote: Keep your racket up at all times. I didn't realize dropping the racket was such a key to me losing so many points.

step back...

vvk1 wrote: Stand closer to the table :-)

vvk1 wrote: Stand closer to the table :-)

hookumsnivy wrote: suds79 wrote: vvk1 wrote: Stand closer to the table :-) Think it just depends on style. I play SP penhold and use a TPB. For this I would always say close to the table easily. My training partner is a duel inverted two winged looper. For him obviously playing off to get into his type of points is key. Generally I think playing off the table is for the young & athletic. If you can do it? Great. If you're not all that athletic, I think playing off the table just makes it easier for the opponent. Have to know where you are fitness wise. There's a difference between playing off the table, and just being a few steps back.  For instance, I play cpen with rpb, but I'm always right up at the table almost like a SP penhold player w/ TPB.  That's too close, but 5-10 feet back would be too far (considering the extra baggage I carry).  If I just move back 2 feet, I'll have more time without giving up too large of an angle.

"You will become strong when you will feel your racket as a prolongation of your arm and for this you have to train yourself a lot"