please-help-me-develop-a-game-plan-and-practice-for-it
shonuff asked 3 years ago
Hi guys – I am a developing player and really want to improve my game by developing a game plan that supports my style. I took up pong more seriously about 16 months ago and have been training hard with coaches, but I feel like I dont really know what I am doing during matches. I seem to play very well against higher rated players in practice, but I get absolutely destroyed by them in matches – and I think a lot of has to do with the fact that I have no plan whereas the opponent clearly does. can you help me develop a game plan and practice plan to support it?
My strengths are:
1. Very spinny serves – tomohawk and punch style side top/side underspin serve from forehand, and fairly well disguised top/under/no spin backhand serve
2. Strong forehand with pretty good control. I feel like I can loop basically anything off the table on my forehand.
3. Solid forehand block
4. Best when I play close to the table or mid distance (3 feet or less from table edge)
5. Pretty good at playing balls to my opponents elbow
Weaknesses:
1. Not so great at pushing or fine touch shots
2. backhand is a weakness. Ive been working on it and am improving, but it still needs a lot of development.
3. Serves long to my backhand are a struggle
4. I hesitate to open up – whether serving or
5. Mobility is ok, but I am not quick enough to do a step around loop for balls on my backhand side (I am a bigger human)
Any suggestions you might have would be appreciated!
Thank you!
Tom Academy Coach answered 3 years ago
Hey!
Ok firstly I think it’s great that you want to develop a game plan and this is the most important first step to improving.
I would say form what you listed above you want to really try to serve well to set up your forehand attack and get that into play as much as possible. Of course then it means you can put the opponent under pressure and stay at a close or mid distance where you are comfortable.
I think for this to really work well you need to also have a good return game and short play, so this enables you to keep the opponent’s attacks out and gives you more chance to attack first. So that would be a good are to work on, also along with having a solid backhand block so you can at least feel comfortable being consistent on the backhand side.
Of course that also helps your movement if you feel comfortable on the backhand to control the ball at least because then you don’t need to run around to play your forehand all the time. So my main suggestion for your game plan is to really work around the serve game and forehand loops. With these 2 elements you can really start to have a goal of serving to set yourself up in a position to play a positive forehand as much as possible. As you said your movement isn’t maybe the best then I feel to be very efficient in this game style then working on the backhand as you said you have will be important. Not to have a strong attack there but just to be sold and consistent enough to stay in the rallies on that side.
I hope this helps and any questions, just let me know! 🙂
shonuffThanks, Tom! I appreciate the feedback. Can you give me some tips on how to serve to set up my forehand? I can do a wide variety of serves, but once opponents realize that I am weaker on backhand they do whatever they can to return serve there.
I do realize the obvious answer here is I have to develop my backhand so its not something that is to be preyed on, but I just wanted to know if there are particular types of serves that are more likely to be returned to my forehand.
Thanks again!
Hey, no worries at all. Yes it’s important to develop the backhand but as you said you still need to be able to serve to get the best chance of a return in the forehand. So serves short into the forehand corner of the opponents are always good because the natural angle is easier then to play across court and into your forehand, and it narrows the angle and makes it harder to play to the backhand. What’s very effective as well is a tomahawk type serve, or a jab type serve both of these are great because the spin naturally takes the ball over to the forehand side. Of course its possible that good players can return into the backhand but it makes it more difficult. So if you can do these type of serves short into the middle or forehand you’ll get more of the returns you want.
Lastly I would say its always good to have a long fast surprise serve to get a weak return and then step in and attack with the forehand. Hope that makes sense and you can put that into action!
