Hi Russell,
Just had a look at the games, looks like Ben has a lot of potential as is doing a lot of things well already! From the first match a few things which will help him progress I feel:
Making sure to be realxed and loose on his serves and allowing the ball to drop a bit lower before contacting, this will help him control the serves and keep them tighter to the net which is sometimes just as important as getting a lot of spin and stops the opponents getting in an attack early.
Ben’s backhand looks very nice and I just think working on recovery after a backhand and playing a forehand from the middle or wide after a good backhand, sometimes this switch caught him out a forced mistakes.
With his forehand technically trying to use the forearm a bit more and not so much shouldler, this will help him recover quicker and play a more relaxed forehand and also help with getting more spin. Sometimes if he uses to much shoulder the shot tends to finish across his body sideways slightly which makes recovery hard.
Trying to hold his ground at the table, when he did this it was difficult for his opponents and he can use the angles better. Sometimes he says a nice shot but ends up drifting back a bit from the table and then it’s tough to get back in and it gives the opponents more time. Just working on his topspin shots in training and moving side to side but staying fairly close to the table.
I would say from these videos these are the main key things to focus on for now as you don’t want to overload him at the age with too many things at once.
But loads of potential and he’s playing the right way, trying to be positive, lots of good stuff in there and with some work in those areas I think he can make a big jump forward!
Let us know if you have any other questions or need more advice on anything leading up to the nationals, we’d also love to know how he gets on as well at the event!
Cheers, Tom
