PLAYING CHOPPERS

PLAYING CHOPPERS

By Larry Hodges, USATT Certified National Coach

There is nothing more infuriating than losing to a patient chopper who lets you beat yourself with your own errors. Losing to a chopper is like four-putting in golf; you may have made some good drives to get to the green, but all you remember are the misses at the end. Rather than four-putting forever, let’s learn how to beat the chopper. 

A chopper is weakest in the middle, but you have more table (and so more margin for error) by going diagonally to a corner. Going for a winner down the line often catches the chopper by surprise. A chopper who is not particularly fast is vulnerable at the corners; a chopper with inverted on both sides is more vulnerable in the middle. Keep these "basics" in mind when playing any of the following styles. There are three general ways of playing a chopper. Informally they are called European style, Asian style, and Chiseling.

European Style

The goal here is to bring the chopper in close to the table, and then attack hard, especially at the chopper’s middle. The chopper is too close to the table to make the return, and so misses. When using this technique, you should mostly serve short to bring the chopper in, and try to follow with a strong attack. Sometimes, however, fake the attack, and push short instead - the chopper, in his haste to back up for the expected attack, will have trouble with this ball, and will often have to make a last-second lunge to return it. Even if he makes the return (often a weak one), he will be left jammed over the table and vulnerable to the next ball, which you can promptly loop for a winner. If the chopper stays closer to the table to guard against this drop shot, then you attack. The chopper has absolutely no way of answering this ... in theory.

During a rally, if the chopper makes a good return from away from the table, push short again, and start over. The object in a rally is to catch the chopper too far away from the table or moving backward so that you can drop the ball short, force him to rush in, and attack when he is jammed up against the table. Alternatively, you can push a few balls, keeping the chopper close to the table, and then attack when you think he’s not expecting it.

Asian Style

The goal here is to control the spin and pace of the rally. This method is especially good against a long-pipped chopper, but takes regular practice against a chopper to learn to do effectively. Pips-out players are especially good at this style, but many good inverted players also play this way. This style doesn’t work well against an all-inverted chopper who chops very heavy. Let’s assume you are playing a long-pipped chopper.

Here the aim is to get the chopper off the table, and then attack relatively softly over and over, into the long pips side, but not with full spin. The chopper can only return whatever spin you give him because of the long pips, and so their returns are not particularly heavy, making your continuous soft attack easy. After topspinning a few balls, you find one you like and loop or smash a winner.

Depending on what you are more comfortable with, you can topspin many balls in a row before going for a winner, or only a few - be unpredictable. Some players just topspin over and over, not going for a winner unless they get a very easy one. You should try to vary your spin, sometimes looping very dead, sometimes spinny. However, beware of varying spin returns when you vary your own spin. For example, when you give heavy topspin, expect heavy chop, and so either lift the ball more on next shot, or push and start over. Don’t fall into the trap of spinning heavily over and over – a chopper loves it, and all you’ll get are heavy chop returns, which can be very difficult to loop consistently.

You can mix in pushing, but too much pushing will throw your own timing off. By topspinning over and over to the long pips side (but not with full spin), you can build up a rhythm that a chopper will have difficulty breaking.

Try to get down to almost eye level with the ball by bending your knees. This will help your consistency by making the lifting easier and will get your eyes closer to the ball so you see it better.

Chiseling

I am not fond of this style. This basically means pushing with the chopper until the chopper either misses, pops up an easy one, or gets impatient and attacks too much. At the higher levels, chiseling is rare, but at the lower and medium levels, it is more common. Since I’m a strong believer that the game has to be FUN (it is a game!), I don’t like this way of winning. Unless you’re a chopper yourself (in which case SOMEONE’s got to push, and it might as well be you), I’d rather see a player lose by attacking in some way. You may lose now, but you’ll learn how to play a chopper better in future matches.

by   http://www.masatenisi.org/english/kesmeci.htm

Modern Defense - techniques and tactics 2

Modern Defense - techniques and tactics  

Written by Kees   

Friday, 29 February 2008

CLASSIC & MODERN DEFENCE – BASIC TECHNIQUES AND TACTICS. 

2. The essence of defence. Outline of the style. 

If you want to defend, you must be attacked. Think of yourself as a city; having an impregnable wall is not enough to defeat your enemy – your opponent must be provoked to try and breach it or his weaknesses will not be exposed and you will not be able to exploit them and bring him on his knees. The idea of classic defence is to be besieged in such a way that the enemy attacks in vain and in the end is worn out, either to die in the field or to receive your coup de grâce. The idea of modern defence, however, is to be besieged in such a way that the enemy attacks in vain and while doing so rapidly becomes vulnerable for quickly mounted counter-attacks. Modern defence is generally faster, more deceptive and less safe than classic defence, because it is more provocative – it needs to be, because modern enemies are often so heavily armed (fast frames with fast rubbers generating massive spin) that they will breach your wall if you let them go on blasting at it. 

Whether you are a classic or a modern defender, your wall of defence should be equally perfect. No cracks, no fissures, no flaws. In table tennis this means you have to be able to bring back every ball. Furthermore, as any wall may be broken in time if the enemy is allowed a concentrated attack on it, you have to scatter his force and disrupt his assault – time and again. This means you must deny your opponent the opportunity to fully deploy his topspin and, if he succeeds in deploying it nonetheless, counter it in such a way that he will not have another opportunity to fully deploy it. Impregnability and disruption are the keys to a successful defence. An unsuccessful enemy will weaken and get exhausted; yet you may have to finish him off and this is the only instance in which a classic defender should actually attack. Behind the table this means you will wait for your opponent to miss and use his mistakes to win the point yourself. The more modern you are as a defender, the more you will try to force errors and use them. 

From all this it can be seen why your main tool is backspin. Firstly, because against no-spin and topspin the full force of topspin can be used for the attack; since there is no need to lift the ball, all energy of the stroke can be used for spin and forward speed. But against backspin part of the energy must be used to lift the ball; the result is less forward speed, so the attack is half-smothered. Using backspin means draining the opponent’s energy. Secondly, lifting a backspin ball is even harder (more likely: unsuccessful) when it is dropping after the bounce. This limits the possibilities the attacker has; he will have to hit the ball on the rise. Therefore using backspin cramps his style. Thirdly, using backspin against a topspin ball means (if it is done correctly) you are continuing the spin, instead of trying to stop it and replace it with spin of your own. So, all in all, using backspin means you are not only redirecting and draining your opponent’s energy, you are actually tapping it, turning the force of his attack against him. Nevertheless, a classic defender may still use topspin, but will do so merely for the coup de grâce. A modern defender will use topspin attacks far more frequently, to disrupt his opponent’s play and force him to make errors. 

Now, for a rough outline of the defensive styles it is useful to discern between three zones of defence: you have to return balls from between the net and the middle of the table (first zone of defence), or between the middle of the table and its end or close behind it (second zone of defence), or from (much) further behind the table (third zone of defence). In the first zone you will kill the occasional high ball, but almost always balls in this area will be low and you will push them aggressively, placing them deep to provoke the half-smothered topspin attack (mentioned above) in the second or, preferably, the third zone. At that, a modern defender may decide to go for a flip every once in a while. The third zone is where your strength really lies if you are a classic defender, since away from the table you are able to chop with full force. Here you will almost always chop, because chopping means making full use of your opponent’s attack, continuing his topspin as backspin and if possible adding to it. A ball too high to chop, here, will be a ball to kill. But the modern defender may also decide to loop aggressively in this zone. In the second zone you will again kill a high ball and for the rest either chop-block or chop-push (I will explain this term later on), placing the ball deep in order to provoke a topspin ball in the third zone. For the modern defender, looping is an option. 

From this it will be clear that not only you will have to move to the left and to the right in order to get to the ball, but that you will also move to the table (in) and away from it (out) a lot; in fact, as a classic defender you will move in to move out and as a modern defender you will be all over the place. This determines your basic position behind the table: you should stand at a point from which you can comfortably reach balls in all three zones. Too close to the table means you will have problems going away from it in order to chop; too far away and you will not reach the balls in the first zone. Your basic position as a classic defender is, therefore, about a yard from the table, with your right hip behind the middle line (if you are right-handed; because your reach at the backhand side is somewhat less than at the forehand side). During play you must always be able to reach any ball, so you have to come back to this position after every move you make. It is useful to imagine a rectangle, occupying the court from one small step to your right to one small step to your left and a good step backward; your basic position is in the middle of the front line of this rectangle and, moving around the court, you should try and keep at least one leg inside it at all times. If your defensive style is more modern, your basic position is (for right-handed players) more to the left and closer to the table; this will give you more room to use your forehand attack strokes. 

********************************************************

http://www.pipfacts.info/content/view/66/87/

Modern Defense - techniques and tactics 1

Modern Defense - techniques and tactics

1. Introduction. 

Defending away from the table, made famous by masters of the art such as Ding Song, feared for his supreme staying-power and his ferocious attacks, or willow-waisted Tong Ling, who seemed to win her matches lightly dancing an intricate ballet, is the most spectacular as well as the most demanding style in table tennis. The classic defender mainly chops from about two paces or more behind the table, coming in fast regularly to push short returns or attack weak ones; the modern defender alternates even more between defending and attacking. A defender has, therefore, to be able to move very quickly from side to side, covering a considerable distance since six feet behind the table balls tend to travel fast out of reach, and at that he has to be able to move quickly in and out. Moreover, at the end of every rush he has to be able to poise himself perfectly and then flawlessly chop, push, block, loop or smash. Not only fleet feet and a great sense of balance are absolutely necessary assets in this style, but the defender must be able to execute each and every attacking stroke as well as all defensive techniques. After three years of ardent practice an attacker will be more or less completely skilled, but at that point the defender’s education will have just begun. Defence, be it classic or modern, is the high-school of table tennis and if you wish to attend its classes you should be aware that you will have to do so for a considerable time and spend a lot of effort. 

You might well ask if all this labour is worth it. As a defender will you eventually be more than a match for attackers?
 

Theoretically, yes. Backspin as a means to defeat your opponent is superior to topspin. Firstly, because topspin is produced by swinging upward, against gravity, using groups of muscles which are normally less strong than the groups of muscles used to hack downward, assisted by gravity, in order to produce backspin (try to fell a tree hacking head-high; then try felling it knee-high; and see what you like best). Secondly, because topspin can be used against the player producing it, for it can be actively blocked and redirected; but against backspin, using inverted rubber, one can either push or try to counter by producing at least as much topspin, so your opponent will have to give up the initiative or spend more energy than you did to try and gain it. Thirdly, your opponent cannot really afford to return heavy backspin balls when they are dropping; this severely limits his reaction-time and therefore cramps his style, whereas the defender prefers to take the ball when it is dropping and therefore has all the time in the world to play his game. 

In practice, however, the advantage of the defender over the attacker is not as clear-cut. The defender will chop mostly well away from the table and as a result the ball will travel farther than a ball hit by an attacker who is typically standing close to the table. The defender’s ball will, therefore, in general lose speed and spin more than the ball hit by the attacker. The loss of speed is not much of a problem; the loss of spin is. Moreover, the introduction of the 40 mm ball, which loses spin and speed faster than the 38 mm ball, has been to the advantage of the attacker in this respect. It is still possible to deliver more chop than an attacker can handle, though, if the defender stays somewhat closer to the table than Ding Song used to do in his glorious days. Modern defensive styles as adopted by e.g. South-Korean female player Park Mi Young or Svetlana Ganina from Russia display this change in basic position. Seemingly a disadvantage, it has been turned into a gain, because attacking from this shorter distance is easier. As a result, the modern defender now may be more dangerous than ever before. 

How is it then, you might ask again, that there are so few defenders among the world’s top-players? 

There are two answers to this question. The first answer is that the number of defenders amongst top-players actually is disproportional high: 3 in the top 15 of men, 7 in the top 40 of women, if I counted right. That is 1 in 3 and 1 in 6 respectively, whereas I would estimate the rate of defenders to attackers in the total population of table tennis players to be more like 1 in 20 or 30. The second answer is that one probably would find even more defenders at the top, if more young players would choose to adopt this style. However, defensive styles are unpopular because it takes quite a long time to master them – much longer than attacking styles. Ours is an era of impatience; success has to come quickly or people will turn away to find other opportunities. Typically, it will take more than a year to make an accomplished defender out of an accomplished attacker. Most players who set out at this course quit after about three months; this is known as “the defender’s dip” and is caused by the grim fact that stepping up from attack to defence will initially mean you lose most matches you would have won before. You will start to win some after half a year of backbreaking training and again half a year further on you may be almost back on the level of competition you were used to. 

After that, however, you will start to shine. And defenders generally outlast attackers, so you may shine for a long, long time. Becoming a defender, then, will be far from easy and the choice should not be made light-heartedly. But if you are willing to dedicate yourself completely to the sheer beauty of this style, you will reach the apex of table tennis. 

****************************************************
Modern Defense - techniques and tactics