Playing against stronger players

Table Tennis Training and Drills

Last updated 8 years ago

Yap Zhi De

Yap Zhi De Asked 8 years ago

Hi Alois

Does playing with players better than me help to improve my skills, why? They did not teach me anything.


Alois Rosario

Alois Rosario Answered 8 years ago

Hi Yap,

Just by hitting with them you are getting  better quality shot coming at you.  This is a big part of training.  However, you can utilise players of any ability to train with, the better players can provide that higher quality shot that you can't get from some other players.


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Thoughts on this question

Yap Zhi De

Yap Zhi De Posted 8 years ago

Hi Alois

           How about matches, how can I improve my skills by just playing matches with players stronger than me. I also heard about a player's experience in matches, why is that so important and how does our experience help us in a match, it is the skill that helps us, right?


Ilia Minkin

Ilia Minkin Posted 8 years ago

Stronger players are good at tactics, so they can dissect your weaknesses quickly and ruthlessly exploit them. After you see it, you will get a stronger desire to work and fix your weaker sides :)


Yap Zhi De

Yap Zhi De Posted 8 years ago

But what if I already know my weak points, do I still benefit from playing against stronger players? How?


Ilia Minkin

Ilia Minkin Posted 8 years ago

1) They may find something you're not aware of. We never know what we actually don't know.
2) Even if you know your weaknesses, you may not know how to exploit them effectively. Stronger player can show you that. What is more important, you may learn that tactics to use by yourself against different players with the same weak sides!
3) Many people are aware of their weaknesses but do nothing to fix them because opponents at their level cannot exploit them well. If you play regularly with someone who does this regularly, you will be better motivated to work on your weak sides.
4) Often people get motivated when they regularly face someone who is stronger, but at the reachable level. Playing closer games or winning can become a challenge that gives you more motivation to improve.


D K

D K Posted 8 years ago

Illia,please,don't you have any idea how can I solve the situation when no one except PingSkills is willing to help me with looking for my weaknesses and their reasons are "You cannot utilise the tactics that I am able to teach because it would require you to play without long pips" or "it is a secret" or "I cannot advise a defender" etc. ?


Dieter Verhofstadt

Dieter Verhofstadt Posted 8 years ago

A few things that happen to me when playing stronger players:

1) My usual tactics don't seem to work any longer. They pick my serves with which I confuse weaker players. They block my topspins which weaker players push out.

2) Their serves are better and they put me under pressure, while I'm used to put the weaker players under pressure.

So, I need to be more ready for 3rd ball because their returns will be good. And I need to concentrate much more on my own returns. Also, I will have to change tactics faster and more often, so I'll need to think more about variation of spin or placement, and figuring out what exactly isn't working.

DK, you can't rely on other players to fix your own game. You need to discover your weaknesses yourself and talk about them with a coach (live or online).

Last match, I was having lots of trouble with half long backspin serves which looked like tomahawk side spin serves. I'm going to ask some of my peers to throw serves like those to my backhand and replay that part of the match situation which I was struggling with.


D K

D K Posted 8 years ago

Coach always tells me that I should attack it or if it is short then make a short return and attack next ball.
Maybe he hates my hard-headed attempts to play the ball long but in a way that is hardest to return fast.

He always says that my only weakness is that I do not attack everything with both wings and of course the overall level.
He says that my skills that I should use (loops,smashes,flicks) are on the good level and that I just need to be more agressive and give up any backspin balls.

He even said that my loop can be occassionally on par with his own loop.
I do not really believe him,because his loops are rarely blocked at the level where he plays if plays for our team,mine always.
(he plays on much lower level than he is,because we do not have a team in so high league and also he wants to raise our self-conscience by standing by us)

The only ones who would objectively advise me are Alois and Jeff,but I think that I am bothering them a bit.
And after that I am not a premium member so I cannot show them my full matches.


D K

D K Posted 8 years ago

About my weaknesses...I could probably find them.
But it is  hard to overcome them if some of them are caused by my by-glasses-irrepairable sight


Tushar Verma

Tushar Verma Posted 8 years ago

Provoke your opponent to play some complex shots that will help to learn something new.


D K

D K Posted 8 years ago

In my case they will not.
They will force me into smashing or bomb me off.


chris Lee

chris Lee Posted 8 years ago

I asked a similar question: What to learn from playing the best players?

 


Tushar Verma

Tushar Verma Posted 8 years ago

DK its good to smash the ball as it will help you to increase the ball speed and power of your stroke.

It will also help to read your opponent's trick and try them.


D K

D K Posted 8 years ago

Of course I usually smash it.
But I am weak and they use my smashes to create a power for their own attack.



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