Self analysis of weaknesses in table tennis - Comparison to elite model 2

Authors Avatar

Self analysis of attacking weakness 1

Backhand Topspin (Loop)

Part C

Part 1 – cause of the weakness

  • State what you still do well; When completing the skill of the backhand topspin, I feel the parts of the skill in which I still do well and accomplish, is that I can bring my bat from a low position to a high position, during the preparation phase, doing this will allow me to create the spin and power needed in order to beat the opponent when the shot has been completed successfully.
  • State what your weakness is; During the completion of the shot of the backhand topspin I have identified the weakness of miss timing of the shot this is one of the greater weaknesses for the shot as it means the accuracy and the consistency of the shot will be very weak as the I do not hit the ball at the top of the bounce meaning that when the ball has been returned and I have hit the ball before the top of the bounce it means that the ball will likely go straight into the net, and if I hit the ball too late then it will also go straight into the net. Most of the time when I take the shot I tend to hit the ball too early and therefore hit the ball into the net, causing me to lack confidence within the shot and choose not to play it therefore meaning no improvement is made throughout me playing.

  • State what the possible causes for this weakness and theory behind it; A possible cause for me to have the above weakness is that I have poor judgement of the ball, therefore meaning that I cannot judge the top of the bounce properly and therefore causing me to take the shot too early or too late. Also I find it hard to transfer the skill from practice into a match or a game situation. As I learn the skill when training using the method of multi ball, and can pick up the shot and continuously play it correctly, this is because the ball is being played at the same pace over and over again and therefore I pick up on this and so my judgement improves for the ball at this pace, but when I get into a match or game situation the ball is returned at a higher speed and so the judgement will be different therefore causing me to try and judge the ball at higher speeds, but I fail to do this as im used to the ball coming at a lower speed, so transferring from a training situation to a game situation is a possible cause for the weakness, as well as poor judgement of the ball. Another possible cause for the weakness is the table in which that we play on, some the ball bounce differs on different tables, so if we played on a butterfly table will have a much more better bounce than that of an unbranded table, this is because the unbranded table may kill the bounce so therefore affecting the bounce differently causing me to judge the ball differently and therefore finding it hard to judge the top of the bounce and hit the correct shot.
  • State which one is best suited to you and why; The best possible cause which is best suited to me is the transfer of training into a gaming situation, this is because during training I can pick up the shot and consistently hit the ball over the net, but when I get into a gaming situation it falls to pieces and the ball rarely goes over the net, and when it does it has low accuracy and low power. This is due to the high speed range of the game, but training is the same pace, rather than in a gaming situation the speed of the ball differs throughout therefore I have the judge different speed of ball, which I don’t feel trained enough to do.
  • Part 2 – Correcting the weakness
  • Talk about ways you can correct weakness; Ways in which I can correct the weaknesses with my backhand topspin is via getting a new coach, this is because my current coach may not be good enough or knowledgeable enough to help or make me progress onto the next stage, therefore meaning that I have hit a learning plateau and to improve on it I must find a new coach. I then could also create game situations which are mainly backhand based therefore it would allow me to be able to learn when to use the backhand topspin when I’m actually in a gaming situation. This would allow me to be able to recognise using past experiences when the shot has to be played. I can then also train using one table in particular therefore get used to using this table, this would bring the disadvantage of not being used to other tables when I enter into a tournament etc.
  • Give a training programme and actually ways you would correct the weakness; Given the weakness in which I have when playing the forehand topspin shot I feel that the actual way in which I can improve on it is via getting a new coach, this is because they lack to training me in gaming situations therefore when it comes to an actual game, I struggle to transfer the shot in which I pick up in training, and usually lacks any consistency and any conviction. Therefore making me less confident in playing the shot in a future reference.

Training Programme

   

Reasons for choice within the training programme

Multi-Ball improving consistency of the shot; The Reason I chose this is because if there is a large amount of balls which are being returned to the same place over and over again, then my consistency will definitely improve due to me playing the shot over and over again.

One on One with coach, improving judgement of the bounce on the ball; The reason behind me choosing this one on one coaching, is because the coach will have the quality to change the shot up each time, therefore challenging me to keep making different judgements of the bounce of the ball, therefore making me improve a lot more within this area.

Irregular Practice, where the other player, would play a rally, then in a certain amount of shots change the rally up, this is also like creating game play situations; Reasons behind me choosing this is because, when I practice I’m used the ball coming to the same place over and over again, but if I practice using this irregular practice then I will be more aware in a game for when the opponent is to play it to my backhand, therefore allowing me more time to play the backhand topspin as I have more ability to predict when they will play it into my backhand.

Up to 11 only using backhand shots; This will therefore help to improve within the technique of counter hitting with the backhand topspin, it will also help me to become more aggressive with the backhand as I will be trying to hit faster than what the opponent is doing.

Playing an actual match up to 11, but when ever a ball comes to the backhand a topspin shot must be attempted; This will then help me with my game mentality as when I play a game I sometimes refuse the play the backhand topspin because I have disbelief in using it, but if I was to use this practice I will see how much it has improved and start using it again because I will start to believe init again.

Playing a actual game up to 11; Will allow me to improve on playing within game play situations

Self analysis of Defensive weakness 1

Forehand Block

Join now!

State What you still do well; The shot of the forehand block I still feel there are certain parts of the procedure in which I still do well such as judging the bounce allowing me to be able to get some of the shots on to the table.

State What Your Weakness Is; The Weakness of the forehand block is that I do not guide the ball over to the other side of the table, therefore the shot lacks any control, meaning that when the opponent plays a shot which requires a block I would usually miss ...

This is a preview of the whole essay