Forehand Improvements
As those of you who read my table tennis blog may be aware, I've done a lot of work in recent months on improving my forehand loop technique. This has paid off in a big way, and now my forehand loop has become a real point winner for me, and I'm very comfortable going to it during a match. All good, right?But My Backhand Had Gone Backwards
Wrong! I've been working so hard on my forehand side, that I neglected my backhand loop, trusting that my natural backhand stroke would be fine. But in the last couple of weeks I've noticed that although my first backhand loop is still OK, I was having problems following up with a second backhand loop when required. I was hitting the edge of my bat a lot, and overshooting the table quite often as well. Even those attacks that I landed didn't have the venom that I used to be able to generate.Finding a Solution
So I decided it was time to even up my training, and I started doing some more backhand work last week. My first session was OK, and I noticed that I was standing too upright when hitting my first backhand. I started to keep low but that didn't seem to fix all my problems with my backhand. But in this week's session I noticed that although I was keeping low, I wasn't actually moving back away from the table after hitting my first backhand opener, with the result being that I was stuck way too close to the table for my follow up.As a defender, I tend to open my backhand attack against my opponent's push, so I'm fairly close to the table. I loop with very heavy spin, so when my opponent then blocks the ball, his returns tend to go higher and deeper instead of low and short. Since I wasn't moving back away from the table, I was getting caught way too close to the bounce of the ball, which meant that I was often rushed and had the ball coming on to me too fast. This was why I was hitting the top edge of my bat and failing to generate any power - I was cramped and rushed at the same time!
Once I noticed this habit, I started to move backwards after hitting my opening backhand, into my preferred looping position of 3-4 feet behind the endline. The difference was immediate and obvious - I had more time to play the ball, and more time to recover between strokes. This extra time allowed me to take the larger swing that I prefer, and my timing and power returned.
Why Did I Have Problems Only on the Backhand Side?
Although I was happy that my backhand was back, I was curious about why my forehand wasn't having the same problem - why would I move back into position on my forehand side, but not my backhand? I believe the answer is that on my forehand side I rotate my hips during the stroke, so that my right foot finishes in front of my left. Because this stance is wrong for hitting good forehands, I would immediately rotate back into my normal position by jumping and rotating my body, and if I was too close to the table at the time, I would naturally jump back further to get to the correct depth. Whereas on the backhand side, my feet stay square, so there is no need to jump to rotate my feet back into position, so consequently I wasn't moving backwards at all!Conclusion
So if you are having problems hitting two strong attacks in a row, do a quick check to see if you are forgetting to move back into your preferred ready position and correct depth from the table. Getting stuck too close to the table will force you to rush to hit the ball, and cramp you for space as well, since the ball will be too close to you to hit with real power and spin.This learning experience also highlights the value of having a personal coach or a training partner who knows your game well. If I had a coach of my own he would have found it relatively easy to spot that I was staying close to the table after hitting my first backhand, since he would have been able to view me from the side, where it would have been obvious. Although I eventually worked out what was going wrong with my backhand, I wasted 3-4 weeks in first noticing that I had a problem, then figuring out what the solution was.
