Blocking Advice?

Thanks, Baal. 100% agree.

Ringer84 wrote: I am a TERRIBLE blocker and have no business giving advice on how to block a heavy topspin, but I'll throw this video into the ring: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYnXr3n0RT8 Thoughts?

Larry,

Thanks for the insight.  It always confused me how Wang Hao was able to block Zhang Jike's loop with such an open racket angle, as can be seen at the 1:02 mark of this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUg15ECMARE

But the fact of the matter is that Wang Hao is ACCELERATING at the point of contact, so much so that his block looks more like a counter than a block to me. 

Ringer84 wrote: Larry, Thanks for the insight.  It always confused me how Wang Hao was able to block Zhang Jike's loop with such an open racket angle, as can be seen at the 1:02 mark of this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUg15ECMARE But the fact of the matter is that Wang Hao is ACCELERATING at the point of contact, so much so that his block looks more like a counter than a block to me.

Every time I hear of a player struggling with this I must chime in.  

larrytt wrote: Swiff wrote: Every time I hear of a player struggling with this I must chime in.   A year or so ago I was having a lot of trouble blocking the super heavy topspin that would come from players slow-looping a push.  The ball is SO spinny, it seems impossible to close your racket enough. TIP:  You DO need to close your racket, but maybe not as much as you think.  The reason why players have so much trouble blocking these, I think, is because they move their racket forward when trying to block.  When the ball is that spinny, any movement of the racket will send the ball flying off the table.  When you block, hold your racket very loose and COMPLETELY STILL.  You'll be able to get those ball back much easier.  It takes time to break the habit of moving your racket on every hit, but you'll get it.  It worked for me so well. This might get the ball back, but it won't get it back particularly effectively, except as a change-of-pace. At higher levels, you need to put some pace on your shot. You won't get that by holding the racket completely still and relying on the incoming spin to rebound it out fast enough. That'll work against faster loops, but not against slow, spinny ones. Watch videos of higher-level players, and you'll see how they do move their racket forward as they punch the ball out. There's nothing magical or difficult about it. But if you find this successful for you, then by all means continue and I won't argue with you. (Have you watched a video of yourself to see if you really hold the racket absolutely still?) -Larry Hodges

I think I'm beginning to understand what Larry means with his firmly hit block. If I'm not mistaken Larry is basically saying to block on top of the bounce and point to the direction where you want the ball to go( push slight forward and down meaning not to hold your racket still completely but to guide the ball with your wrist. This is just basic blocking technique. I actually still consider this a passive block and not a agressive firmly hit block or whatever. For me an agressive block is a block where you not only guide ball but really hit through the ball. What I was trying to say that that is risky against very heavy topspin if you can not do the block that I would describe as passive. Swiff is making a valid point also when he says that people make mistakes when moving the racket too much forward> I think what he means is that if you move your racket before the ball is on it's highest point you can not control the topspin so in that case it's better to wait and block on top of the bounce. I agree with Geardaddy on this that Larry might use the wrong terminology.

I did a search on youtube for "table tennis block," and this video came up that shows a block against a  loop. I didn't listen to the long explanation, but went straight to the demo (250 seconds in, link should take you straight there), where it is shown exactly the way I've been describing it. Little backswing, right off the bounce, racket only slightly closed, with a firm forward motion to direct the ball where he wants it to go. 

Edited by larrytt - 05/22/2014 at 9:44pm

I've posted enough on this topic. At this point, players will have to just look at the videos and try these things out on their own. If something different works for you, then by all means do it, and please post a video. (I might comment on that.)

Edited by larrytt - 05/21/2014 at 12:14pm

larrytt wrote: I've posted enough on this topic. At this point, players will have to just look at the videos and try these things out on their own. If something different works for you, then by all means do it, and please post a video. (I might comment on that.) -Larry Hodges

APW46 wrote: I have to say, being a child of the 38mm ball, I am guilty ( along with many other older players) of treating heavy topspin with too much respect out of habit, especially when under pressure. The top kids who have only ever known 40mm rip through heavy loop like they are shelling peas, its quite disconcerting.

Hehe, I know what you mean. Sometimes I feel like stopping them and telling them "don't you know that you can't do that"!

I still argue that if your feet are in the right place your hands will kind of naturally play the ball on blocks since you will subconsciously get the right angle.  Too much thinking is bad.

APW46 wrote: The trouble with advice on this subject is related the the standard and potential of the player. In lower levels, and with a player who is not potentially going to get much higher, the best advice is to cover the ball with a closed bat face and early contact and little forward movement, Its not fashionable and correct for higher level modern TT, but correct for that standard of play if you are looking for results and consistency. Some coaches get obsessed with what is correct at the high levels, neglecting what is possible at the lower levels.

Edited by JacekGM - 05/22/2014 at 10:16pm

It is all subject to the quality/depth/placement and amount of spin on the incoming loop, and for the right ball, the aggressive block has to be correct, but at match point down against a player who has thrown up a carrott, I know what I do. At match point up its the other option. 

larrytt wrote: I did a search on youtube for "table tennis block," and this video came up that shows a block against a  loop. I didn't listen to the long explanation, but went straight to the demo (250 seconds in, link should take you straight there), where it is shown exactly the way I've been describing it. Little backswing, right off the bounce, racket only slightly closed, with a firm forward motion to direct the ball where he wants it to go.  Here's Wang Hao blocking. (Link should take you 57 seconds in where he starts to demo it.) Note how his racket moves forward as he blocks.  Here's Kenta Matsudaira blocking. He may be the best blocker in the world right now. Again, note how his racket moves forward when he blocks. Yes, these are world-class players, but that's why I put up the first video, since that was more of  Here's Yan An (on left) blocking against Ma Long. At the start (first three rallies) he's mostly just blocking (though he counter-topspins a few). On the ones he blocks note how the racket moves forward.  There are many more videos - these are just some of the first that came up. Yes, these are world-class players, but blocking is a pretty basic shot, done pretty much the same at all levels, except of course at the world-class level they block a little harder. But as the first demo shows, this is standard at all levels.  <span style="line-height: 1.4;">Can someone find a video of a top player blocking against a spinny loop (not just a fast one) while drilling or in a match where they don't move their racket forward, and it's not just an occasional change-of-pace block? Sure, players can do this and keep the ball in play that way if that's all you want to do, but is this really what you want to do if you aspire to reach a decent level? </span> -Larry Hodges

I can't open Wang Hao, Kenta and Yan An videos. I am the only one?


Edited by Makelele - 05/22/2014 at 6:45pm