Der_Echte practice/match vids

[Der Echte]

I make this topic in the vids for routine stuff, so I do not polute the directory with too many topics. Some of the forum members may get a laugh or two. Some may ignore it. (Good call) Some may give me words on stuff I already know and have yet to fix, or even good insight on what I need to do or maintain. I do not post these to boast. What is there to boast about with my level compared to to other forum members' levels. I am certainly mid-bottom on the rating chart match performance wise. I just like the sport, like to share and hope to get better.

Here is a match with a Korean friend I discovered recently. Too bad I go to Iraq real soon, I could use his help to train. I gave him an ALL + J-Pen blade and good ole 729 Super. I play crappy against him the few times we played - it is what it is and I need to find a way to time hits against topspin drives - soon. I won in 5 and do not have the 1st or 5th games on youtube. (I won both of those, so here is the rest of the garbage) I don't know about you all, but I simply despise nets from defensive shots. On offensive shots, I feel the guy hitting thenet should accept the point for the risk he took going on offnese. Net hits on offensive shots tend to go out more often than defensive ones.

http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rN9OSpZzDGc

http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOyGiepWQQU

http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIMoBxBw7W0

[alfie]

You seem much improved Der especially with your FH opening loop it's more consistant and your not blasting every one,before you used to try to hit the low balls as hard as the higer ones.You also look a lot more balanced between your BH and FH whereas you used to always favour your BH much more.
          With the consistancy getting better with the FH I would now use it more than you do i.e. ANY balls that go off the end of the table on the FH side should get looped,never push a long ball with the FH.Also maybe get closer to the table when serving and develop some FH pendelum serves,much better though mate cheers for posting them

[Silver]

I noticed this a long time ago, but didn't think it was worth mentioning at the time.

Did you notice that you have an extremely FH orientated grip? It also looks like your grip is very far down the handle.  I know a couple of people who grip like this and the majority of them have some issues with keeping a constant angle from shot to shot (poor consistency). Have you had any problems like this?

I could be wrong though - It just looks like it on your video. I notice you tend to pinch between thumb and finger for your backhand, which seems to be fine.


I do have one comment regarding your play though:
Do a forehand block on the forehand side, instead of moving across to do a bh block (~2.40, game4)

[Der Echte]

I noticed this a long time ago, but didn't think it was worth mentioning at the time.

Did you notice that you have an extremely FH orientated grip? It also looks like your grip is very far down the handle.  I know a couple of people who grip like this and the majority of them have some issues with keeping a constant angle from shot to shot (poor consistency). Have you had any problems like this?

I could be wrong though - It just looks like it on your video. I notice you tend to pinch between thumb and finger for your backhand, which seems to be fine.


I do have one comment regarding your play though:
Do a forehand block on the forehand side, instead of moving across to do a bh block (~2.40, game4) :geek: All you guys say what you've a mind to at any time.

I break all the rules with grips, surely, that is the wrong answer. I hold the paddle in the neutral stance with a relative neutral grip. When I backswing to do FH, I shift the grip to an extreme FH and I feel it allows me full use of the wrist. I have looked at a lot of my sucessful FH loops and pause it a lot to check out footwork and body position. I see my wrist bend back like someone broke my wrist. Now about gripping it so close to the handle, I have noticed this too and I do not like that, it gives me less power. I used to be able to grip it near the bottom with the flare keeping the blade in my hand. I don't know about the consistancy thing. I feel my inconsistancy comes from my horrible position (constantly choosing a position to far behind the ball) and my tendency to lean down, instead of bend the knees a little more, which makes me comically off balance. Moving to the ball on my FH side with the wrong foot doesn't help either. (at least on the ones to my wide FH. I should make the first step with the left foot and use a crossover footwork. I RARELY do this and it pisses me off to no end. No one to feed me hits to work on that.) My ready position and my position after hitting shots has always been so BH rady dominant it is rediculous. I have been trying to be concious of that and have at least fixed the ready postion, but not the position on continuing the attack. A further 1000 hits will not be enough for this dense head to fix but a portion of that.

On my BH during the backswing, I naturally do a similar grip as Kreanga does. Loose grip on paddle early, thumb slides to the bottom middle of the rubber or top of the handle, extreme bent wrist, big swing and arm/wrist snap.

I ought to get lucky enough to land a training partner and simply train with neutral grips. Just won't happen anytime soon.

About blocking with the BH, even on balls to my wide FH... My DNA must be really F'd up to keep doing this out of reflex. Doctor must have dropped me straight on the side of my head when I was born. I have no other explaination. I simply need a partner to hit a bunch of drives to my wide FH to get that muscle memory/mental drill down. If I block using Hookshot's Seemiller grip, I would certainly block with FH on wide FHs.

Guys, I must look real silly doing all that stuff. Must be LMAO-ROTF stuff. I must look extra silly/cowardly/overcautious to initiate attacks playing the frictionless player. I will eventually get a situation where I can train even half-ass and fix a lot of this and also get way more consistant on the FH.

Quattro has helped me land a lot more FH shots, but that only applys to when I get positioning, footwork, balance, and body mechanics right.

[Silver]

After mucking around with footwork for a while, I felt that the sidestep lead foot step->back foot drag works better for me. I only crossover if I need to cover a fair bit of court - I tend to overstep and jam the ball into my elbow if I crossover step when the ball isn't far away enough.

[Der Echte]

Silver, you are right. The balls closer to me on the FH side, I can try to move my right foot, slide the other over and loop. Sometimes, when out of time, I hit on the move and try to bounce back to where I was. That doesn't work too well when I lean to far back trying to do the loop. On the extreme wide FH, that is the one I should crossover and I hardly ever step off correctly on those.

[Silver]

I suspect that some of your problems could be solved (in the long run!) by crouching down a bit more by bending your knees. There are a couple of tall people at my club who have similar footwork issues.

If you haven't already, go over to Greg's (DTop/DTopSpirit) website

http://www.gregsttpages.com/

and have a look at his latest free video - a guy named Alex Swanson. He's really bending his knees!

[Skippy]

I suspect that some of your problems could be solved (in the long run!) by crouching down a bit more by bending your knees. There are a couple of tall people at my club who have similar footwork issues.

If you haven't already, go over to Greg's (DTop/DTopSpirit) website

http://www.gregsttpages.com/

and have a look at his latest free video - a guy named Alex Swanson. He's really bending his knees!

I struggle mightily with this as well.  I hit a couple shots and begin standing straight up and down as the point goes along.  It really does hurt my movement as I begin popping up.  Also when you are lower to the table the ball appears to be moving slower.

[priior]

i started bending my knees about 3-4 months ago.. and it really hurts the legs muscles! ive done a lot of mountain biking and have super big quads, but turns out squatting and playing takes more than just quads!

the first few months will be brutal, but eventually the pain goes away and the crouches position because more comfortable...

der_echte: then ur position is lower, u cover more horizontal area, so you dont have to cross over for wide FH, 2 small hops suffice

skippy: that's my issue now, since my muscles are more comfortable upright.. i tend to slowly raise my stance thruought the point instead of staying low.. it;s hard to have the mental rigor to stay low!

[alfie]

you have a lot more time than you think when playing TT because once your in a rally the stokes are not big strokes,the only time you need a bigger stroke is on an opening loop which is normally against a push when your at the table,the rest of the time your normally playing against topspin.Always move first then do your stroke trust me you almost always have time

[Der Echte]

Thanx for the tips on the crouching and knee bending, it sure is important. I simply need practice on a myriad of stuff to help up my game. The crouching, I could do at home a bit. Despite all the body language I show in my vids, I thoroughly enjoy TT and my matches.

[Skippy]

Your ball striking is actually very strong.  If you get in position to advantageously strike the ball every single shot you won't lose alot.  I thought your last three videos looked quite a bit better in your play.  Keep it up bro!

[Skippy]

Oh and Silver,

Great suggestion on watching that video of Alex Swanson.  He's perfect for me to watch, and learn alot about body positioning, and court movement.  He's a terrific player but not so unbelievable that I am not able to watch, learn, and emmulate.  He sure has a nice backhand.  Have you played him before?  You can tell when you watch him that he is very focused on positioning himself advantageously, and his overall movements around the court are spectacular as well.

[alfie]

if you want to watch someone constantly crouching watch WLQ he gets lower than anyone,his legs really wide and great balance.
       The guy Swanson must be 6ft 7 minimum

[Der Echte]

I still got to keep bent down beyond the first serve, but I am getting more points from long hits off of long, no-spin serves. Weplayed these matches at an Army base rec center here. The table is usually jammed between a piller, some couches and an air hockey table, leaving zero room to play, except for rec players. We were able to get permission to move the table over to the floor where girls practice ballet lessons. It has a real slick wood floor, but you can't expect much from that place, it's a rec center after all and at least we were lucky enough to get some kind of room. It still sucked a lot as I almost broke my left ankle several times hitting it against the couch frame on FH step arounds.

Well, here are the vids...

http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duzFbIkPLwQ

http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVzEqnKsQO4

http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRo98jEddes

http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9K0WGNJlq4A

http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztVvIe6q0mo

[Der Echte]

New set of vids. Might be my last knock around before I go away for 15 months (leave day after Christmas) I have gotton more consistant with my footwork to the wide FH, but my partner is also returning a lot of the shots where before, they were winners or point ending shots, so he makes me do 2nd and 3rd attacks, like in the rally at :10 in Game 3. Mike is mid 1600s USATT, (a few hundred points higher than my current ate up rating that recently fell off a cliff) although he doesn't look to be offensively overwhelming. Don't let that fool anyone. This Texas partner wins by keeping it on the table more than the opponent and has a consistant FH loop and a mean fast BH drive that finishes points with decisiveness. I hope these vids intimadte Speedplay and give him something to think about for when we meet and play. Anyway, that will be a long way off and Speedplay will be way better of a player by then, perhaps way better than myself. He will certainly progress faster than I, because of his situation allowing him coaching, leading, good match comps, and training. I don't know what will be more interesting: the matches or the tall tales after the matches. I am getting better about a horizontal blade face on serves, but still need it to be flatter and I feel like I am moving to the ball better, especially in game 3.

http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RPcvZGcHDc

http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xghD8bS9qvI

http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cI8TMj6Da_U

http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rquVIThmPok

http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjj1xgzo2lQ

Some noteable moments...

Game 1 3:38 rally
Game 2 2:22, 5:15
Game 3 :55, 1:01, 1:20, 2:10
Game 4 :37, 1:20
Game 5 3:03

[alfie]

Der
    That's the best I have seen you play,much much better consistancy on the opening loops with your FH and you seemed like you were taking the ball a bit earlier and not backing up quite as much as in the past,the 3rd game was a HUGE improvement well done mate keep it up

[pingpongrob]

William, if you really want a huge improvement, you have to be prepared to change your style and lose a lot of matches.

The first step is to correct the grip on the blade, once corrected you will be more consistent and also learn many new strokes.
The second point that always come to mind (and I'm also guilty of this) is intensity and focus. I know with day to day hectic lifestyles we lead, that sometimes it very hard to put 100% in, but we must try.

Keep up the good work, and you will find, like most things in life, that you will improve.

[priior]

put a bench behind you, about 4 feet away from the table.. and dont back up beyond that point! once the bad habits set in.. very hard to get rid of them. (grip, stepping back while hitting..)

[alfie]

never noticed the grip until it was pointed out,choking up on the blade will help a lot.Yes Priior the constant backing up is a BIG problem and a habit some people have,I have a doubles partner that constantly backs up when recieving serve and it doesn't matter how many times I tell him he still does it

[speedplay]

If Der_Echte backs up, it must be because he uses his Lp, right? In previous videos of him, I've never seen him back of, but many beginners with Lp think that they need to back far away to be effective. Or maybe its simple so that they want to stay far back and chop, chop, chop?

What I think you need to work on to improve is, get a strong short game that you can trust, then learn to evaluate the situation before you attack. You do have a strong attack when you attack the right balls, but misses a lot due to trying to attack everything. I've also noticed that a lot of you spin seems to come from your wrist, try to use some more arm/waist, at least that did increase my consistency a lot.

Keep up the good work!

[alfie]

If Der_Echte backs up, it must be because he uses his Lp, right? In previous videos of him, I've never seen him back of, quote]

   you can't have watched many vids then he backed up a lot more previously than in these recent vids

[pingpongrob]

Dont worry about the backing up, It gives more time to take the stroke, As you get more profiecient you will find that you have ample time to take the ball earlier.

[Der Echte]

I don't worry about backing up some, if that is the "sweet spot" for where the ball happens to be at the height (low height) that I like it. (unless it is a high push, which I try to step in and kill) I get fits when I constantly misjudge (especially topspin) balls and make my position way too far back, especially when i was already in a good position to loop. I also hate it when I compound that by leaning too much with the waist and finish the shot off balance and have to take a few small steps to the rear to recover. That takes entirely too much time. I don't mind hitting on the run, as long as I have the correct foot planted or get mid air to land correctly and get back in the position to handle a return. I have always sucked at that and in the last match, it worked out way better. I stepped up to hit a lot more balls that I previously would somehow move back and I attacked a lot more long serves. (I have had some matches with Mike where I attacked a long serve maybe thre times the whole match - and he was serving long nearly every time.) If I can get a training partner or two there and the place isn't filled constantly with 15 rec players trying to get on the table, then I can get way better. Probably will not progress as much as Speedplay though. he is set to train and improve in his situation.

[Der Echte]

BTW, this last match, I was using the Galaxy N2 / Quattro FH / Venus BH outfit, not my LP outfit.

[speedplay]

Yeah, I'm likely to improve heps :o  My forehand has become so consistent since I switched to JUIC 999 Elite Nano.

Sorry for bugging in on your tread with this, Der_Echte,

<a href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=100310484112244115" target="_blank" class="aeva_link bbc_link new_win">http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=100310484112244115</a>

but I didn't think my short video deserved a tread of its own. I'll create another tread as soon as I've been able to record and upload a longer video.

[priior]

speedplay!! awesome!


you're all over that table.. ur quickness on your feet  makes me jealous :) (or u can get the ankle height socks)

[speedplay]

speedplay!! awesome!


you're all over that table.. ur quickness on your feet  makes me jealous ;)  I'm known to move around a lot when I play. About the bandanna, you know that I like to look like a left over from the 80's but mostly it's to keep the sweet from my eyes. About the rolled up sleeve... Don't know why, but I can't focus on playing unless I have it rolled up.

der_echte: i have another crucial advice for you.. don't pull ur socks fully.. let them hang down a bit.. like nonchalantly.. u win some style points! ;)

 ;)

[alfie]

good movement in the vid speedplay,BH chops a bit high but seemed the guy was not upto attacking that much.You move well around the court and seem a good candidate to be an attacking chopper

[speedplay]

Thats pretty much the style I'm aiming at. How ever, that video was shot right before I switched style and raised my level by a lot. I'm now playing more like I'm supposed to do with the frictionless LP I use. I'm staying close to the table blocking everything back right of the bounce, unless its high enough to attack.

So now I'm one of those dreaded Neubauer blockers with out any skill who only relies on the rubber  Once the ban kicks in, I will have to readjust to the chopping game again.