Training for my upcoming tournament
Table Tennis Match Strategy
Last updated 8 years ago
Joe Bailey Asked 9 years ago
Hello Alois and Jeff,
I have a few questions as I have a big tournament coming up in a fortnight (The Southern Tasmanian Open), and I was wondering if you had any tips for preparing for the tournament. I'm very excited and I was wondering if there was a way to put that excitement onto energy on the court. Any tips for training would be greatly appreciated. I will be playing in five events, so if you have any tips on conserving energy over the day, that would be fantastic.
I am playing some old friends whom I haven't played for about a month and a year, respectively, so they're playing styles may have changed, but I am fairly well-matched with them. I will have to be playing well to beat them, so I'm trying to train with my robot. One of them has a deep pendulum serve which goes to my backhand. I generally return it with my antispin (possibly something I need to change because of my technique), but I always leave a big hole for a loop on my forehand side, which wins him lots of third balls. This is where I need your help. I don't have anyone that can do a pendulum serve, and my robot only has topspin and backspin and I want to practise returning it. If you happen to have any ideas, please let me know. Sorry for the offload of information!
Thank you and best regards,
Joe Bailey
Alois Rosario Answered 9 years ago
Hi Joe,
Firstly good luck with the tournament.
I think the excitement can translate to time on the table in training. That is a major factor as to how much you can improve.
With the returning of the serve, I think it is difficult to practice without actually facing serves. Is there anyone you can get to do some serves to you.
As a strategy, think about getting the ball more to their backhand corner on the return. This will mean that there isn’t as much angle to the forehand side available for them. Also try to return the ball deep on the table. Again this will cut down the angles available to them.
On the day of the tournament, it is important to eat regularly. Eat small amounts regularly because you often don’t know when you will be playing next. Also conserve energy by resting between matches rather than running around with friends. Make sure that if you haven’t played a match for an hour or so that you get up and either stretch or have a short hit up.
Let us know how the tournament turns out for you.
Thoughts on this question
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Joe Bailey Posted 9 years ago
Thanks for your advice, Alois. I think it is too close to the tournament to make any radical changes to my game, especially seeing as I have school. This means I'll only have two full days of training. As for the receiving of serve, I do not have anyone to do the pendulum serve to me, except I'll have a roster on Tuesday night, so maybe I can sneak I a bit of practice between games. Also, this may have been because it was late at night, but are there any ways to last for longer matches, because I played a five-setter against an older friend/rival and got completely erratic by the end, so I lost 11-6. I did my normal ball toss and completely missed the ball four times in the final set, for goodness sake! And also, thanks for the eating advice. Are there any suggestions on what to eat, such as bananas?
Thanks very much for your quick reply,
Joe.
Joe Bailey Posted 9 years ago
And I'll let you ow how I go. :)
Joe Bailey Posted 9 years ago
*know.
Typos courtesy of my iPad.
Alois Rosario from PingSkills Posted 9 years ago
Hi Joe,
As far as eating, I used to like eating fruit buns. Nice mixture of foods. Just some healthy snacks during the day and if you do get a bigger break that you know of then eat a more substantial meal.
Joe Bailey Posted 8 years ago
Hi Alois,
First up, I lost to a guy my age from Devonport. I was absolutely thrashed, but I'm not too worried about that. He trains very frequently whereas I don't train as often because of my music and other sports. Secondly, I played a bit of thriller. Austin, who was the one with the pendulum serve, beat me in five sets; 11-9, 12-10, 11-13, 12-14, 5-11. As you can see from those scores, it was very close until the last set. I was two sets up, and had total of 7 match points and let it slip away. Most of his points in the last few sets were from silly errors, especially my pushing. I kept pushing the ball long, which was quite frustrating. I lost to the state champ, Xavier Dixon then, getting 10 points in total, which I was quite happy with. I lost to the first seeds in the doubles, partly because my partner without and pimpled rubber or antispin - the poor guy had no clue what the ball was doing! I lost to the second seed for the resticted singles, but I managed to come away with one win. This win should have been in straight sets, but I got caught in a five-setter. By this stage I was getting worn out and more erratic with my looping, which isn't good for me as an attacker. However, I managed to win the last set 11-9 almost purely from chopping.
So, from that, I've got some things I need to work on:
Consistency - I often lose accuracy rapidly on late nights on roster nights.
Chopping - I need to stay consistent and feel comfortable chopping if I need to chop.
Handling my nerves in five-setters - Results have shown that so far, I have played more five-setters this year, than anyone else in my roster! Controlling five-setters in the last sets is a must. This is what made me lose to Austin!
So, I'd like to thank you for the tips and all your helpful videos, Alois. I found that the fruit buns were very helpful in an energy boost that helped me win the five-setter. You've been very helpful!
Thank you!
Alois Rosario from PingSkills Posted 8 years ago
Hi Joe,
Thanks for the update. Well done on all those results and the experience yo have gained is great.