Mar 06, 2020

More successful with long pimples: 4 tips and 1 exercise!

Small change, big effect:

If you want to play really successfully with long pimples or an antitop, you should act as variably as possible. In the following, we will explain to you what options there are for playing variably and how you can also implement this in training.

1 . The tempo change: faster vs. slower

There are many players who are good at a shot technique, but who always execute it at the same pace and may always play the ball in the same spot. Here we would like to emphasize that simply holding the ball can also be a hitting technique.
No matter how well you master this technique, your opponent will find your game predictable after a while due to the uniformity and will be able to adapt well to it. You will eventually lack the means to step up a gear. You're not exhausting your potential. Deliberately play the same technique a little faster and then a little slower. You will notice massive differences.
The important thing is that you do it really consciously and focus on the tempo and rhythm change.
The variability will cause your opponent to produce significantly more easy errors. It will take significantly longer for him to feel like he's adjusted to your gaming system. This works up to the highest divisions. The difference in speed doesn't have to mean that you work in extremes and play the ball at 100 percent and then just very slowly at 5 percent. Small differences are enough to bring about a change in rhythm, for example 60 and 70 percent. Irrespective of this, it is extremely difficult anyway to play a ball with 100 percent certainty with pimples.

2 . The point of contact with the ball: earlier vs. later

Of all the tips mentioned, this one has the greatest impact. If you implement this tip, your game will become much more dangerous and less predictable for your opponent. Plus, your dangerous game will look effortless and easy to outsiders like this:

After bouncing on your half of the table, take the ball a little earlier and a little later. In the early variant, this can happen almost volley (dropkick). You have already massively changed your playing rhythm and can also do this with loose and safe shots. Many players believe that in order to play more dangerously, they have to play a shot incredibly hard. This leads to a significantly higher error rate. If you just take the ball a little earlier, the ball will get to the other half of the table faster. With the big difference that now a loose and safe shot is absolutely sufficient. In addition, if you accept the ball early, you have the opportunity to play the ball at more extreme angles.

3 . The horizontal placement: longer vs. shorter

You can achieve similar results if you let balls drain a little longer and sometimes a little shorter or half-length. Your opponent often makes the mistake of not taking the necessary step forward on the half-length ball.

4 . The vertical placement: left to right

Don't just play to one point, but sometimes parallel, sometimes diagonally, sometimes in the middle or on your opponent's elbows. Many players have problems in the middle of the table or in the elbows, because they have to decide whether they should play the incoming ball with their forehand side or with their backhand side. In combination with the variants of playing faster vs. slower or taking the ball earlier vs. later, the change of placement is a real game changer that makes your game system much more effective. And all of this is basically possible if you don't learn any new techniques at all, but if you simply use the existing ones more profitably.

In the adult sector, structural training such as a course is only offered in a few clubs. Therefore, I would like to present the first, simple exercise approaches that you can use for yourself even if no training partner wants to take part. However, structured training helps if you only do it for 15 minutes at the beginning of the training, for example. And for that, a few players can usually be won over.
An interesting side note: Many a player gets terribly upset about his performance game after game and at the same time smiles at club colleagues who go to a course, who want to practice structured exercises or who simply do service training to improve themselves. Something is going wrong here and you shouldn't be discouraged by the behavior of such a club-mate, but try to develop yourself and your game.

We would like to emphasize that it is important to focus when practicing the stroke technique. Only do one hitting technique in a training session. But train them very consciously and intensively. Trying everything at once would not lead to success.

But now to the exercise:

Step 1: Have your training partner play the ball over and over again in a given area of the table. For example, if you play a pimple on the backhand, then let the ball be returned to the middle of the backhand side, for example.
First of all, you choose one of the main areas explained above that you would like to train: For example, you can play the ball a little faster and a little slower with the technique of your choice.
Step 1: If this works well, your opponent can play the balls over a larger area (e.g. over your entire backhand half).
Step 1: If you manage to do this well, you can try to mix different of the recommended tactical variants. For example, you play the ball a little faster or slower and then a little earlier or later in the next rally.

However, you should only do the third step if you are sure that 1 + 2 works well. We often find that everything is done at once and not much distinction is made between shots. We want to raise your awareness so that you only focus on one stroke technique in a training session. From practice: Even if your training partner is not willing to train this in a structured and patient manner, you can simply plan to implement this advice in a training game. You should make it clear to yourself at the beginning that the end result of the game doesn't matter for the time being. As a rule, you will make more mistakes at the beginning of new impulses and changes in your game. However, your game will become more successful in the long run.

We wish you every success on your way to making your game more varied and more successful. Liven up your game with new impulses! Your motivation, your fun and last but not least your results will thank you. In the end we only have one thing to say: even if the content of the article doesn't apply to you, you can pass on the tips to your club colleagues who play with long pimples or antitop. They will thank you very much.

Did the tips help you? We'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments!

(The article was created on behalf of the Association of German Table Tennis Coaches)

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Greetings from the Sauer & Tröger team