How can I practice power shots?

Strokes and Technique

Mudit Kapoor
Mudit Kapoor Asked 13 years ago

Hi Alois,

Can you please request Simon to answer this question?. Hi Simon, I am avid follower of your game and I really appreciate your strategy of an all round attacker. I have noticed that the most distinguishing part of your game is the power shots/finishers executed by you to score winners.

My problem is that after hitting a loop on an underspin I get a high ball as a block. Although it sounds silly but I really miss hitting most of those balls as some go out of the table and others land on the net. Can you please let me know  the dynamics with slow motion on how to practice hitting finishers?

All the best for pingskills classic and thanks for your help. 

Best regards,

Mudit

 


Simon Gerada
Simon Gerada Answered 13 years ago

Hi Mudit,

The best advice I can give for producing power shots is to learn how to get in the perfect position for each shot you play. If you can get into a good position then you can play the exact same stroke each time. When talking with my students about this I tell them not to compromise their strokes.

The best way to practice this is by doing some footwork drills. And one last tip, remember that to hit the ball faster you need to have some forward momentum. 


Thoughts on this question


Mudit Kapoor

Mudit Kapoor Posted 13 years ago

Thank you so much. This was very simple and very nicely explained.

Kind regards, Mudit


binod singh

binod singh Posted 12 years ago

Good suggestion thanks

Claus Hamacher

Claus Hamacher Posted 12 years ago

Thank you! Very helpful ecplanation!

Shaji Alavi

Shaji Alavi Posted 12 years ago

Thanks for sharing this Simon. Crispy shots for winner.

Ilia Minkin

Ilia Minkin Posted 9 years ago

I'm a little bit confused by the discussion of leaning to the sides in the second part of the clip. Is it a really good thing or one should always strive to get into a perfect position?


Alois Rosario

Alois Rosario from PingSkills Posted 9 years ago

HI Ilia,

Yes this is an interesting perspective.  By having a wide base it allows you to move a little to the side and still maintain balance.


Ilia Minkin

Ilia Minkin Posted 9 years ago

Alois, Simon concentrated on adjusting to the ball in lateral direction. But if the ball is high, should I adjust it with unbending my legs or lifting my elbow?


Alois Rosario

Alois Rosario from PingSkills Posted 9 years ago

Try lifting your arm a little but also wait for the ball to come to a better height for you.  Keep your legs bent.


Ilia Minkin

Ilia Minkin Posted 9 years ago

Thank you Alois, that is exactly what I'm trying to do. Higher balls seem to be challenging since in the training (footwork, topspin against block) I used to topspin balls that are near or just above the net.


Ilia Minkin

Ilia Minkin Posted 9 years ago

Higher balls still drive me nuts. What is the borderline in height between playing a topspin and a smash? Is it shoulder height or slightly lower? I'm trying to topspin most of the balls, but I often play off the table. I also play with a tacky rubber so I really have to come over the ball on power shots and it exacerbates the situation even more.


Ilia Minkin

Ilia Minkin Posted 9 years ago

A note: what I found awkward is not just the follow-up topspin against backspin. There are some "unorthodox" blockers/lobbers that do the following. Once I make an attack, they fall back by nearly 3 meters off the table and play strokes that are something between a block or lob. It gives me slow, pretty high (near shoulder height when knees bent) balls that seem to be very easy to attack. Then I try to play tight topspins to wide angles to catch them off position, but sometimes it doesn't work and they return everything, so I have to make a powershot. However, as I wrote above, it can be awkward, I miss sometimes that frustrates me a lot...


martinand bernard

martinand bernard Posted 9 years ago

the perfect position the key of all stokes no?


Alois Rosario

Alois Rosario from PingSkills Posted 9 years ago

Hi Ilia,

They can be awkward to play.  Try to make sure you are moving and then don’t try to hit the ball too hard.  Work more on placing the ball well, especially to their weaker defending side.  Eventually you will get a shorter and higher ball that you can put more power into and finish the rally.


Ilia Minkin

Ilia Minkin Posted 9 years ago

Yeah, I will also try to play in the middle as well. 

>the perfect position the key of all stokes no?

That's true, but a ball can be awkward to play even if you're in a good position.


Alois Rosario

Alois Rosario from PingSkills Posted 9 years ago

Position is vital you are right.  Some stroke can feel more awkward than others.  This is usually due to a bit of tension in the body somewhere.


Ilia Minkin

Ilia Minkin Posted 9 years ago

Here is a cool insight that I got recently. In your last ask the coach show you tell a lot about relaxation, so I tried to concentrate on relaxing myself during fast strokes and slow down a little. Surprizingly, I was able to hit faster! Then I realized that in my matches my best and most memorable 5th ball attacks were against balls that were blocked back not too slow -- I had no time to think and I did what my body was supposed to do and things flowed naturally resulting in a beautiful and powerful stroke. But when the ball was coming very slow, I started to consciously think that "Oh, what a great opportunity, I have to kill it!", then, again, consciously I went for an exaggerated stroke with larger swing, resulting in tensed body and ball going in outer space. So it seems that the key is to not disturb my own body and let it do what it was trained for, without messing up with mind.


Alois Rosario

Alois Rosario from PingSkills Posted 9 years ago

Very powerful insight Ilia.  Thanks for sharing that with us.


D K

D K Posted 9 years ago

It is so difficult for me :(
How can i relax during movement?
For me,relaxing means stopping movement

 


Ilia Minkin

Ilia Minkin Posted 9 years ago

D K,

Once you established a more or less decent stroke mechanics that you can execute automatically (and I'm sure you did), you can let your body do the job. You can just think about other aspects of the game during a drill/match: your stance, footwork, tracking the ball or anything else, but not the stroke itself. In this case your body will do what it was taught, and you may be surprised how fluent it could be without interference of your mind...


D K

D K Posted 9 years ago

That is the point-I cannot make my stroke automatically even after three years of training.

For example,when using topspin,I still sometimes need to watch my bat in order to not miss a ball.

I must focus on the mechanics of my stroke,else I will not get the ball on the table.


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