Then I trained the high throw He Zhi Wen service again. I'm starting to like it a lot a lot. It's freaking hard to read since the ball is falling fast, and furthermore you can change placements so easily, including adjusting between short balls and long fast balls. Besides, it has really really heavy spin on it. I'm still trying to control the type of spin I'm putting on it ( I just whip my wrist, without caring what spin I put) and increase consistency. It's like a wild beast, hard to tame! I'm still making a lot of service errors from it. But that's part of the price of learning it. Oh, and also I like it b'cos it's so cool! 开球时感觉很潇洒！LOL.... It's becoming one of my best, if not the best serve I have now.
Also today, I was able to train some slow loops against extreme downspin. So far I wasn't able to train it as nobody in eca could offer me a strong enough backspin serve/chop. Tay has one extreme downspin serve now, although still lacking variations and deception, is still pretty strong as ppl tend to chop long giving him an opportunity to attack. But then I now have the power to attack these serves IF they are long. muahaha. The only problem is my footwork is now causing me trouble. Playing in eca has made me a bit lazy with my footwork. It's correct but it's getting slower. I tend to forget to return to ready position after every stroke(including after serve!!! I'm getting overconfident that ppl will give me low quality returns of my serve) and sometimes I'm just lazy and like to underestimate other people's returning capability. Tay gave me a few surprising returns of my 暴冲 topspins(which are very fast, almost like a smash) today. When I was lazing around, the ball suddenly went the other way. Tomorrow when I play I'll have to make sure to keep in mind to always return to ready position.
Sometimes when playing against weaker opponents, do not be lax. Or else, you'll develop the habit of being lax when you face very strong opponents, which you don't want. Instead handicap yourself in other ways that'll enable to learn even further. For example, using a stroke you're trying to learn or you're not good at. Refrain from using your best strokes to deal with everything. That'll make you a better player in general.
Tomorrow's aims: Attack ALL long balls. With good placement and spin. For chiquita flips/backhand I have to learn to go straight with the same amount of power. Learn to push properly with the backhand and forehand, it's still lacking spin. The no-spin push and heavy spin push is really hard to learn. I still can't really control my pushes. And never ever play without first warming up....
I'm very very satisfied with my improvement these few months of analysing youtube videos in slow motion and reading forum posts and articles. The thing I'm really proud of is that I did it without a coach! Most importantly, it provides me with much valuable experience on how to learn. I still remember one eca player called William told me last year that my serves were my weakness. Then later during the year, I tried to practise Ma Lin's ghost serve for almost 3 months without any success. I still remember how many ppl laughed at my attempts initially. But in the end I succeeded and learnt so many things about how to produce heavy spin in the process, which I applied not only in my serves but also in other strokes like the topspin. People still laugh at me for practising serves alone in eca. But I learnt how to ignore their comments now. In the end, I learnt the importance of perseverance and discipline.
Since I'm leaving eca(and Malaysia) quite soon, I'm starting to hope that uni life will still provide me with enough time for other activities I have passion in.
I have a feeling that one day if I reread all these posts, I'll have to laugh at myself for being so crazy about table tennis.
I have a feeling that one day if I reread all these posts, I'll have to laugh at myself for being so crazy about table tennis.
