One of the most common questions table tennis players have is what am I doing wrong? We all know David can't be coaching 100 plus different members as much as he would like too. So this area will be a polite spot for David to offer a few tips on what he sees happening at the club on a wide member view.
By David Kent
Coach's Corner,
April 2007
Continuing our
discussion (my talk) about the loop and loop-drive, we need some
practical guidelines. It is very important to realize that the
loop is just another tool in our arsenal. Sometimes the loop
will win points outright, especially against unprepared
opponents, but we cannot count on that. A good rule-of-thumb, as
always, is to expect your opponent to return your shot --
always. This way you will be preparing for your next shot
(strategically and/or tactically), and will never be surprised
to see the ball returning.
Since the loop requires
a great deal of effort, you will have to commit yourself to a
high level of athleticism. Most of the energy of the shot is
going into generating spin rather than speed, so to get any
power/speed you need to work harder with this style, getting
into position and generating very high racquet-speed. If you
watch a good looper you will see that the energy comes from the
feet, ankles, knees, back/upper-body, shoulders, elbow, and
wrist -- quite a workout. All of the motions are additive
(discounting Einstein's special relativity calculations), so if
you are neglecting some of these parts the sum total ends up
smaller/weaker than you need for this stroke. Also important to,
usually, be transferring your weight forward during the stroke
to help generate more ball speed. This also helps us to not
completely miss the ball with this stroke, which is mostly
across the flight of the ball, since this makes a little more of
our stroke go forward along the flight of the ball. So, racquet
speed is the name of the game. Older style loops relied on a
pretty long backswing, starting with the racquet head down
somewhere near the ankle, but the more modern loop has a much
shorter backswing since the game is now even faster and
defenders can usually handle this stroke, so we need to be able
to quickly get back to our "ready position" for the next shot.
Defending the loop from
close to the table pretty much depends on the block shot with a
closed (tilted forward) racquet and with little added power,
since the looper supplies the defender with all the power s/he
need. Back from the table many different defenses are possible,
but from close to the table it is very difficult to get
consistency with any other shot than the block. Since this
return is so quick, the looper has only a little time to prepare
for his next loop.
The forehand loop
requires effort from lots of parts of the body, but the elbow
motion is crucial. You start with a relatively straight elbow,
and finish with a relatively bent elbow. This generates
maximally efficient and consistent topspin with all the forehand
shots, including the loop.
So... to learn this
shot requires lots of practice and feedback to correct parts of
the stroke. Without a coach, or other reliable source of
feedback, you need to judge your own stroke. Did it generate a
lot of topspin?... watch the flight of the ball and its bounce
or continued forward motion, even if it goes into the net or
onto the floor and see if it is still spinning. Did most of your
motion go into generating spin instead of speed?... listen to
the sound of ball contact with the rubber, with a loud "thock"
sound implying a too solid hit, and a "whoosh" sound indicating
only a grazing hit (what we want). With a good loop, as long as
the ball goes over the net it will tend to dive down onto the
opponent's side of the table, and then kick deep.
When learning this
shot, it helps to try to hit the loop as often as possible to
learn the feel of it, but during a game or match this may not be
the best shot selection for every situation. A high return may
be better handled with a "kill" shot or top-spin drive, or
perhaps a placement shot, or even a drop shot, instead of a
loop.
So the standard joke
about a "looper" not having to be too smart, just "see ball, hit
loop", refers to the fact that a loop will overpower whatever
spin your opponent puts on the ball so you don't have to read
the opponent's spin too carefully. You do have to differentiate
between a loop against top-spin and a loop against chop
(back-spin), since you need to generate more lift against the
chop, while the top-spin from your opponent gives you the lift
for free.
The backhand loop seems
to be harder to learn and does require a lot of wrist motion
from the shake-hands grip player, but the ideas are all the
same.
Try it out, get
feedback, and have fun.
David Kent
Club Coach
Coach's Corner March 2007
The modern sponge-oriented game of table tennis is mostly
oriented around the "loop". "What is it? How do I do it? How do I
defend against it? How do I set up for it?" These questions are all
at the center of the modern game.
What is a loop? ... basically a shot that emphasizes very heavy
top-spin over almost everything else, including speed or power. The
original loop shot was developed as an antidote to the successes of
the defensive players, and depends on relatively modern
sponge-backed inverted-pips rubbers. Since spin is foremost, we need
a large surface area contact between the ball and the racquet
surface so that the ball can be grabbed by the rubber -- pretty much
impossible with a hard-bat racquet. With sponge, the ball can sink
into the racquet face, cupped by the rubber surface. Modern rubbers
are also pretty grabby or even sticky. Then, the swing has to be
across the path of the ball to generate the spin. Historically, the
loop was what we now call a slow-loop, very spiny and relatively
slow speed, arcing pretty high over the net like a rainbow's arc or
"loop". With the heavy top-spin, the ball dives down into the table
and kicks very low and deep/fast off the bounce, still with LOTS of
spin. This presented new problems for the defenders, and now the
attacking style is dominant in modern table tennis.
The slow loop used to be the only loop weapon, and it is still
important against a chop style of defense. The slow loop has little
forward momentum, but LOTS of spin. Against a chop/backspin
defensive shot, the "looper" has to generate some lift on the ball
in order to overcome the backspin and clear the net, so the swing is
pretty vertical in reference to the floor or table surface, which
results in dragging the ball upward. The next very important point
is that the racquet face has to be VERY "closed" (tilted top
forward) compared to the path of the approaching ball. This results
in barely brushing the front of the incoming ball, generating spin
without much forward speed.
But there are other, newer, loop strokes. The loop-drive is the
modern choice against an incoming top-spin shot. Since your opponent
is giving you the "lift" with his top-spin, your stroke can be much
more forward and powerful. This is really a cross between an old
loop and a topspin drive. Since there are very few chop-style
defenders at the international level, the loop-drive has become the
predominant type of loop. The next type of loop is the sidespin
loop. This, obviously, replaces some of the topspin with varying
amounts of side spin.
All of the loops have you swinging across the flight of the ball
with a very closed racquet face. This means that, if you are doing
it right, you will sometimes completely miss the ball with your
stroke, or even hit the ball with the leading edge of the paddle.
While you are learning, if you don't make both of these mistakes
frequently, you aren't doing it right. The most common error is to
not have the racquet face closed (top tipped forward) enough. This
error means you "hit" the ball instead of just brushing it or
grazing it with your paddle. This may be better noticed by listening
to the sound of the hit. If loud, you have hit it firmly (not a
loop). If soft, you just grazed the ball (great). Most
otherwise pretty strong attacking players have a hard time learning
this shot because their body won't let them come so close to totally
missing the ball -- it feels wrong. But it does work, although it
initially feels impossible. The modern rubbers are what make it even
possible. And a very fast racquet speed is indispensable, since most
of the swing energy is used to generate spin, not speed.
It seems easier to learn your first loop against a topspin or
flat hit shot, but if you learn the feel of the shot against chop (a
slow loop), you will really better understand the feel of a real
loop.
There is a lot more to the loop, but you do have to learn by
doing. More next month....
David Kent
Club Coach
The most recent questions have
been about equipment, especially paddles. So we'll cover some basic
information.
First, lets talk about balls.
Balls come in 1-star (*), 2-star (**), 3-star (***), and 3-star-Premium
(Nittaku). All of these typically meet the ITTF Standards, but the
higher number of stars indicates better quality control, so the company
charges more for them. In other words, some 1-star balls are as good as
the 3-star balls, but only some. And the 3-star Premium balls have the
best quality control - the stronger players seem to prefer these. Pretty
good players won't notice much difference from the 3-star balls, as they
all meet the basic requirement of bounce height and weight range, while
perhaps differing in perfection of roundness, or durability.
Next, lets cover paddles, and
then rubber. A common misconception is that a thicker paddle is better
-- not necessarily true. Thickness will naturally have an effect on
weight and stiffness, but the materials used (woods, etc.) and
manufacturing process are much more important. The important
characteristics are weight, liveliness, stiffness, size of "sweet-spot",
and size and shape of the face. Weight is an individual factor in that
you'll find a weight or weight range that feels good for your physique
and playing style. A heavier paddle is like a heavier baseball-bat, in
American baseball. A paddle's liveliness is indicated by "Offensive"
(fast, or "Off+", "Off", and "Off-", meaning more to less fast),
"All-Around" (medium fast, or "AR+", "AR", and "AR-", meaning faster to
slower), and "Defensive" (slow, or "Def+", "Def", and "Def-", meaning
slow to slower). The faster, livelier, paddles enable speedier shots,
but also less control. Many international level players use medium fast
paddles, because consistency is more important to them than raw power.
Stiffness has an effect on how long the ball stays in contact with the
rubber, and thereby the "feel" of the shot. Stiffness also has an effect
on the size of the "sweet-spot", that area of the face that is the
liveliest. A "sweet-spot" extending nearly to the edge of the paddle
will give you more consistency. A larger hitting surface (size and/or
geometry of the face) will mean fewer miss-hits, but slower racquet
speed (due to increased wind resistance), so most attacking players are
happy with normal sized racquet faces, while defensive players may tend
toward the larger faces of the defensive-speed racquets.
Finally, let's look at the
rubbers. Thickness (of the sponge layer) is given in millimeters. The
over-all thickness of the rubber cannot exceed 4 mm, including the
sponge and the pimpled-rubber covering (which can be smooth side out, or
pimpled side out). Thickness and firmness of the sponge layer determines
the surface area contact with the ball during your hit. The more the
ball sinks in, the greater the area of contact, therefore more grip or
friction on the ball, enabling more spin on the ball. Obviously, no
sponge (or hard-bat) will give minimal grip, while thicker sponge will
give more grip. Smooth surface enables the most grip, while pimples-out
gives less. Also, the type of rubber surface (degree of "stickiness")
will affect the friction between the ball and the racquet. So rubbers
are described by their "speed" (or bounce), and "spin". The modern
rubber/sponge combinations can give these qualities independently. More
speed coupled with more spin generally gives you less control. So,
again, most international-level players highly value control and
consistency, so, many avoid the fastest/spiniest rubbers.
Many developing players think
fast and spiny means better. A faster and spinier rubber will tend to
make your good shots better, but will definitely make your bad shots
worse. Most developing players lose many more points by bad shots (bad
form, or bad shot-selection) than by lack of power or spin. Faster
improvement will happen with improved strokes, not with "monster"
racquets.
However, inferior racquets can
hold you back due to inability to generate either spin or power. Many
very cheap recreational paddles are quickly outgrown as your skills
develop, but the other extreme can hold you back as well. I generally
suggest trying out new rubber/sponge/paddle combinations before
purchasing, if you can. I generally have a wide range of loaner paddles
available for use at the club for you to try out. A "coach", after
observing your game, can recommend specific paddle/rubber combinations
for you dependent on your playing level. Without a personal coach, I
would tend to recommend an all-round plus, or offensive minus, paddle
coupled with medium fast (around 90 out of a hundred) and medium spiny
(around 90 out of a hundred) rubber, with from 1.5mm to 2.0mm sponge, as
a good starting point. More specific recommendations would depend on
your style and skill level.
David Kent -- Club Coach
"How to serve?" and "how to
return serves?" are very common questions, or at least problems.
Writing out the
complete rules for a legal serve is not as useful as showing you
how to do it. The ideas involved in useful serves include both
tactics and strategy. You have to ask yourself what is the goal
of this serve (during a particular match).
If you are a very
strong player playing against another very strong player, your
goal is to not give your opponent a serve that is easily
attacked... so a very short and low serve (that will bounce
twice on the opponent's end) with backspin or no-spin usually is
hard to attack, since the table itself is in the way of an
aggressive swing. The idea is to get the point flowing in a way
that fits your style of play. You should plan ahead. The mental
question is "what do I expect to get back from my chosen serve?"
If you are an intermediate player that likes to hit drives and
counter-drives, then it is useful to serve deep and fast,
expecting a deep and fast return which is ideal for
counter-hitting.
If you are a little bit
better than a beginner, then you have to focus on not hitting
terrible serves. The common beginners' problem is making the
ball bounce too high on the serve (and throughout the point as
well). If you hit the serve when the ball is still high above
the table, you have to hit down to make a legal serve, and then
the ball will bounce high over the net, leaving your opponent
with an easy set-up (although s/he may mess it up anyway). The
fix for this is when you throw the ball up for the serve you
have to wait for the ball to drop to only an inch or two higher
than the table surface before you hit it.
And "how to return
serves?", involves the same ideas. You want the point to develop
in a way that fits your style or strengths. If you are bad at
handling short push shots, then don't "push" (short underspin or
back-spin) yourself, because your opponent will frequently
return a push with a push, and so on. Try to take advantage of
your opponent's weaknesses, and try to utilize your strengths.
If your opponent uses tricky spins, it is most effective to
angle the face of your paddle to counteract that spin. This
means tipping the paddle forward against top-spin, and tipping
the paddle back against back-spin. Handling side-spin seems
harder to do, but it is no more difficult than handling
back-spin. Again tip the face of the paddle to one side or the
other depending on which kind of side-spin you are responding
to. A simple idea is to aim sideways in the direction that the
server's paddle started from. Try it. If this still doesn't make
sense to you, ask me to help with some practice. Remember, don't
try to handle side-spin by swinging the paddle sideways
(although this will work if you are able to judge it perfectly).
Instead learn to handle your opponent's spins by angling the
paddle in the appropriate direction. This will greatly improve
your consistency.
Watch and learn from
lots of different players' serves. This is one facet of the game
where you can profitably get quite creative. And it is always
useful to have and use a number of different serves to keep your
opponent guessing.
Have fun. -- David Kent, club coach