I'm looking for some commentary on practicing alone with half the table set to vertical.
I've been doing this more and it seems to be helping me a lot, so I'm guessing that there is some wisdom about what to do (and not do).
But, since I've not seen anything about it on your site, I'm starting to wonder if it's missing for a reason - e.g., it teaches you bad habits or is considered worthless.
thanks!
Hmmm, I haven't written anything about using the playback mode to practice by yourself, have I? Time to rectify that!
I don't consider that practicing on your own using the playback feature of a table tennis table is worthless, but you do have to be careful about how you use this mode to avoid picking up any bad habits. Another thing to consider is that the higher your standard, the less benefit you will get from using the table as a backboard.
Let's look at the basics of using the playback mode first, then we can take a look at how best to use this feature, and what not to do when practicing by yourself.
Table Tennis Playback Mode - How It Works
The playback feature works by having one half of the table in the vertical position, acting as a backboard. In some models, the two halves of the table are permanently attached together, so the vertical half of the table is right next to the net. However, there are also many brands of table where the two halves are separate, so the vertical table could be positioned further away from the net, or more to one side of the net, or even at an angle to the horizontal half. I'll explain why this can be useful in a moment.When you hit the ball against the vertical half of the table, the direction on the ball will be reversed, using the basic physics principle of "angle of incidence = angle of reflection". That means if you hit the ball so that it is traveling upwards at an angle towards the backboard, it will bounce off the backboard at the same angle, continuing to go up, but now coming towards you. Conversely, if you hit the ball so that it is going down when it hits the back board, it will bounce off at the same angle in a downwards direction, but towards you. The same principle applies in terms of horizontal travel of the ball.
This basic rule can be modified by the type of spin you put on the ball, which will "bite" when it hits the vertical table, and affect the way the ball bounces. If you put topspin on the ball, the ball will bite and bounce further upwards compared to the normal angle of reflection. The more topspin you put, the higher the ball will rise compared to the angle of reflection after hitting the backboard. So in this case, it is entirely possible to hit a heavy topspin ball in a slightly downward direction, but have the ball go up after hitting the backboard! Also, because the directio of spin on the ball is unchanged (although it will be less due to the effects of friction), what was topspin when you hit the ball away from you, is now backspin as the ball is coming to you.
This is reversed when using backspin instead of topspin. Backspin on the ball will make the ball bounce lower when compared to the normal angle of reflection. The more backspin, the lower the ball will go. So again, it is possible to hit the ball in an upwards direction, but have the ball bounce off the backboard in a downwards direction, if enough backspin is put on the ball. And again, what was originally backspin on the ball as it traveled away from you, is now a little less topspin as the ball comes back to you.
Sidespin on the ball will make the ball kick to the left or right when it hits the backboard, depending on which type of sidespin you have used. If you hit the ball at a horizontal angle to the backboard, you can make the ball bounce off at an angle which is less than the expected angle of reflection, or even more than the expected angle of reflection, depending on which sidespin you use. The ball will also tend to kick sideways when it hits the horizontal table, due to the sidespin that is still on the ball.
Table Tennis Playback - Practical Considerations
Having explained all that, how does this affect you when you use the playback feature of the table? I'll start by assuming that you are using a playback table where the vertical half is right up against the net.Firstly, if you are using cheaper basement bats that don't put a lot of spin on the ball, then you won't have too many problems to worry about. You can play almost all of your strokes as if you were playing an opponent, and if you would have hit the other side of the table in a real game, the ball will bounce back from the back board and land on the table as well. The main thing to keep in mind is that what little spin you do put on the ball, will be reversed when it comes back to you, which is the equivalent of you playing a topspin stroke that your opponent chops, or a backspin stroke that your opponent topspins.
The real problems with using playback mode start when you are able to put enough spin on the ball to make it deviate significantly from the expected angle of reflection. This will occur when you have a racket that can grip the ball fairly well. Some of the problems you will encounter are:
- If you put topspin on the ball, the ball will kick upwards from the backboard, so if you hit the ball with too much speed (such as in a strong forehand loop or drive), the ball will bounce up and miss the horizontal table completely. This makes it hard to practice several loops or drives in a row. If you then try to change the angle you hit the ball at in order to make the ball bounce back onto your side of the table, you are probably hitting the ball far too short if it was a real game. This is not good practice for actual matches.
