July 21, 2014

Tip of the Week

Overplaying and Underplaying.

Sameer's Tournaments

On Saturday I coached one of my students at the Howard County Open. Sameer, who just turned 13 last week, has played about two years, but mostly just once a week the first year. He's had an interesting run recently, playing in tournaments for three straight weeks. This was after taking over seven months off from tournaments to work on his game as he transitioned to looping nearly everything from both wings.

Two weeks ago he played at the U.S. Open in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He went in rated 1378. In match after match he was nervous, and unable to play well. Occasionally he'd put it together. As I pointed out to him afterwards, there were two Sameers - the 1200 Sameer when he was nervous, and the 1600 one when he wasn't. (When he's nervous, he rushes, stands up straight - which makes all his shots awkward - and smacks balls all over the place.) He beat one player over 1600 and battled with some stronger players, but way too often was too nervous to play his best. He came out rated 1409.

I tell my students not to worry about ratings, but after all the work he'd put in, and all the improvement in practice, it was a major disappointment to play at barely a 1400 level. We both knew he was 200 points better than that. We'd worked on various sports psychology techniques since he'd had this problem before, but after months of league play at our club I'd hoped he was over it. So we went back to working on sports psychology. But overall, as I explained to Sameer and his mom, the solution was to play a bunch of tournaments until he got more used to them, and was able to play more relaxed.

The following weekend he played in the Lily Yip Open in New Jersey. I'd like to say he turned things around, but not really. He started out just as nervous, unable to perform properly, and lost his first two matches to players rated in the 1100s. This was a disaster - two 50-pointers to start things off. (Partly because of their wins over Sameer, the two players would be adjusted to about 1300 and 1400.) But then, with nothing to lose, he started to turn things around. He beat a 1450 player, then a 1500 player. Since they were using older ratings, he was eligible for Under 1400. He made it to the final where he had to play a "ringer" - the guy had already won Under 1600! But Sameer pulled out a close deuce in the fourth match to win Under 1400. It was a good finish, and yet once again there'd been two Sameers - one about 1200, the other about 1600.

This past Saturday he played in the Howard County Open. Playing three consecutive tournaments paid off - he went in determined to do better, and this time only the 1600 Sameer showed up. He had three 1550+ wins, beat several 1400 players, and his worst loss was to a 1660 player - and more importantly, he won Under 1600! The hard work was finally beginning to pay off. To the 1200 Sameer who stayed away this weekend - you're a loser and we don't like you, so get lost!!! (Here's a picture of Sameer with his U1600 $50 prize money, which I obviously want. Here's a picture of him with his U1400 Trophy at the Lily Yip tournament the week before.)

Even better than winning Under 1600 what that while he finally played in tournaments at the level he could play in practice, he showed potential to go beyond that level. When you have good technique, it's just a matter of executing the technique and you control the games and your fate - and soon you realize you can beat even the players you are currently losing to. Sameer may be 1600 now, but it won't be a big jump for him to jump up to 1700 level, then 1800 level, and so on. (Note that I'm referring to level, not rating. If you play 1800 level, and play it in tournaments, then you'll get that 1800 rating, but that's secondary.)

There were some tactical lessons from the tournament. Sameer often relies on mixing in short serves (that he follows with a forehand or backhand loop) and deep serves (that often win the point outright or set up winners). Doing a fast, deep serve under pressure is not easy. So I had him practice the fast serves quite a bit just before the tournament, and while warming up for it.

One of the most important things I kept reminding him before each match and between games was for him not to overplay. (See today's Tip of the Week.) Under pressure he'll often swat at shots rather than play the shots he can make, i.e. nice, strong loops, without trying to rip everything for a winner. Tactically, some of the keys for him was to vary and move his serves around; attack the opponent's forehand and middle; and just control the serves back to force rallies. Perhaps most important for him, he stayed down, breaking that nasty habit of standing up straight while playing that we've battled against for months.

Opportunity for Clubs to Host Camps for Veterans with Disabilities

Here's the info page. USATT has a grant to pay for these camps.

Coaching Articles by Samson Dubina

He's been writing up a storm recently on his Article Page. Here are his more recent coaching articles.

100-Day Countdown to Change in the ITTF's Presidency

Former USATT President Sheri Pittman Cioroslan is doing an article every day during the last 100 days of Adham Sharara's ITTF presidency, counting downwards from 100. Previous ones are linked from the USATT News page, as well as in my past blogs. Fifty-eight down, 42 to go!

  • Day 43: Khalil Al-Mohannadi: “The language of sports is a universal human language and a message of love” 
  • Day 44: Shi Zhihao Is Committed to Making TT More Popular

Ma Long Chop Block

Here's the video (2:26) showing him using the shot in competitions. I have one student who screams bloody murder whenever I do this shot, says nobody else does it! It is a dying shot, but many top players still do this as a variation, as shown here by world Ma Long (currently world #2, formerly world #1 for 30 months, as recently as February this year).

Ball Control Practice with Bouncing and Balancing

Here's the video (1:28) showing various bouncing and balancing drills you can do with a paddle and ball.

Incredible Point at Match Point

Here's the video (1:28, including slow motion replay) as Germany's Timo Boll (world #10, formerly #1) battles to win that last point against Croatia's Andrej Gacina (world #30).

Houston Rockets GM Donated Thousands of Dollars so He Could Whoop Us in Ping-Pong

Here's the story.

Mini-Table Doubles

Here's the video (2:25) - pretty good doubles play!

Chinese National Team Trick Shots

Here's the video (1:07).

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