arms and elbows

Originally posted by Pot Noodle I was wodering what should you when you do get jammed. what type of shot is the best to play ? And also is there a good drill for this kind of situation?

Its about being FIRST
If the  opponent is taking the tactical initiative, then immediately you are under pressure being cramped up, stretching, off balance as the case may be.

IMO the best answer is to take the initiative yourself, trying to aim at his elbow, then into the space that he leaves. The general aim is to get the opponent to take a step to one side or the other. In TT that's the equivalent of a judoka preparing to throw his man.

If you have this problem a lot perhaps your style is a little too passive and you need to try and get control more.
I gave this advice to a clubmate recently. He tried it, but reported that he lost even worse. So I watched the next time. It turned out that his attempts to get the advantage were too over the top, leading to too many errors. For the third match I told him just   to go for small advantages and then attack more strongly when it felt right. This was much better. In conversation afterward he confessed he always thought of 'Tactics' as involving dramatic shots, rather than a gradual buildup, and as he was not all that confident with his big shots this led to him just getting it back.
Now thankfully he is going to try to be positive but in a lower key.

I seem to have run on a bit!
Hope it helps somebody

Cheers guys this sounds like sound advice . You were spot on on in your posts actually I tend to alternate beween too passive and then try and overcompensate with over agression. I must admit in matches i rarley go for the body and instantly go for where the player is not, often too agressively, resulting in an error. I guess i need to pick my shots more and deal the medicine back to the oppenent

glad it hit the spot.
I'll just add:
Its really key to not give the point away while striving for the initiative. So its useful to build up a litlle arsenal of 'moves' to surprise the opp.
eg on push or flip return with soft hands and eye on opps balance break the wrist for last minute change of direction. This is something that is thought to be, for the super talents, but it can be rehearsed in practice by anybody. You'll find practice partner will learn to cope, but in match it will come into its own against strangers.



Edited by pingpongpaddy - 03 July 2010 at 00:25

I think we have to put a video clip up Hatman....  I only say this because we, through deliberate conversation, talk about this stuff, you know as well as I, that after the first three strokes of a rally, we become equal, yet in a session I can often take serious contol, not through better technique, but through early control of a given rally, coming back to9 the service and return obviously, my advantage is that I am a little better then you on this, it was the same with Baal, in rallies, we matched, but I was often ontop, right from the start, he was chasing the point.

Edited by wiggy63 - 03 July 2010 at 01:15

I told him just  to go for small advantages and then attack more strongly when it felt right.

Great advice.