A lesson with Crystal Huang: two left feet

This is the third entry in my continuing series about learning table tennis technique with Crystal Huang, a professional table tennis coach. These video clips were taken at the LATTA last weekend. (Previous entries can be accessed here: #2 too many degrees of freedom and #1 structural reform.)

Have you ever had the experience of attending an aerobics class at the local gym but came away discouraged, feeling utterly unable to follow the moves? If you understand what I'm referring to, you might empathize with me. If not, I envy your natural talent.

The video here will demonstrate that I am a particularly embarrassing example of two left feet. Since footwork is paramount in table tennis, this is a very big developmental challenge: a potential showstopper. In fact, it will become apparent that I can't even figure out a simple two point five step move even when it is repeatedly demonstrated right in front of me. Thank goodness for computer software, only when I viewed it frame by frame did the proverbial lightbulb go off in my head.

The specific challenge here is to move in correctly when the ball is played short to the forehand. Generally speaking, we have about 1/3 of a second to respond appropriately. Proper footwork is essential to getting in close enough to execute a decent flip, smash or push stroke over the table. Possessing a good stroke is useless without the necessary accompanying footwork. Rather like being all ready to ski without an appropriate vehicle to get you up the slippery snow-covered roads to that mountain that looks so good in the distance. Not sure that's the best analogy but, in table tennis, speedy footwork is needed to deliver us in about 2/10ths of a second close to where the ball bounces while retaining good body balance. And proper balance is needed to support good stroke execution and facilitate recovery.

Because this is all about movement, let's go to the video directly. We begin with the following drill:

Here the instructor stands at the top right corner of the diagram. The ball is blocked randomly to my backhand and forehand. I'm having trouble getting close to the forehand ball, especially when it bounces short near the net.

I have taken the liberty of adding commentary and translation where appropriate so you can follow Crystal Huang's instructional style. (For those who prefer to skip forwards, minutes 8:19-9:26 is where I'm utilizing the footwork in point play.) Also, since the video is a bit long, you might want to click on the "I" icon and set the resolution to 360p for a faster download.

Link: here

As should be clear from the video, my clumsiness resulted from my lack of understanding of how to perform the step, stop, step sequence. That is because I didn't understand what was really happening in real time. For those as translationally challenged as me, let me offer the following frame-by-frame explication. Thank goodness for video editing software.

(A)

(B)

(C)

(D)

(E)

(F)

(G)

(A) is the starting position.

In (B), body weight is shifted to the right.

This unweighs the left foot, which allows it to move towards the right foot, as shown in (C).

You can then stand on the left foot in its new position, and unweigh the right foot. This is shown in (D).

Then it's just a matter of picking up the right foot and placing it in under the table. This is exhibited by the sequence (E) through (G).

Notice the racquet arm does not move until (F) and (G). In other words, you don't backswing first and move later.

At (G), the weight is transferred to the right foot. Next, we need to lean the upper body over for reach when the ball lands short or close to the net. The left foot may go back a bit to counterbalance the torso lean. The free arm is often also used for this purpose.

Finally, one more critical point that may not be immediately apparent to some ping pong students is the fundamental idea to always pause momentarily and re-balance first after moving before hitting the ball. In this case, this would be just after the lean over from (G). That slight pause for balance makes all the difference in the world in making the push or flip stroke crispy (my terminology), i.e. much more effective.

If you need it, here is the video version of the frame sequence:

Link: here

A lesson with Crystal Huang: too many degrees of freedom

This is my second blog entry in this series about learning table tennis technique with Crystal Huang. For the first entry and a description of the motivation and goals of the series, see here.

The human arm is said to have 7 degrees of freedom. At the shoulder, we have 3 of those 7 degrees: up/down (i.e. pitch), left/right (i.e. yaw) and the ability to rotate (aka roll). The wrist is independently capable of pitch, yaw and roll as well. That makes 6. Finally the elbow has a single degree of freedom (pitch). So if you like, there are 7 positional parameters to the system.

When you perform an arm stroke, the number of parameters in the system multiplies. For example, we now have acceleration of the various parts of arm to take into account. Then factor in timing, and the position of the torso, center of gravity and feet placement. Add to that subtleties of ball contact and feel, and adjustment for the speed and spin of the incoming ball and where you intend to place the return, and you can see how sometimes it's difficult it is to reproduce a stroke even when we have it demonstrated for us up close and live. Anyway, that's my excuse for being a poor learner.

In the following video, I'm trying to learn a new forehand push stroke. The idea is to be able to receive the underspin (or sidespin) ball with the forehand side of the racquet, control and send it to different positions on the table reliably. I already have a forehand push I've been using for years, it's just not a good one.

The day before the video was recorded last weekend, I had about 15 minutes of instruction on the new stroke. Unfortunately, I confess I didn't truly "grok" or properly understand how the stroke should be executed. Even having the correct stroke demonstrated to me didn't trigger how it should feel. I was still not executing it well.

As this video clip shows, Crystal (after shaking her head) ended up coming around to my side of the table and moving my arm for me. This reduces the number of degrees of freedom of the arm to zero. And only then did I really understand what the stroke should feel like.

The video also contains captioning that I've added of Crystal's instructions during the session. This might be of interest to other table tennis students.

The video clip ends with me using the new forehand push to return service to different parts of the table. And then playing out the point.

Link: here

A lesson with Crystal Huang: structural reform

This is the first of a long series of posts about improving my table tennis. This is not about beautiful technique. There are plenty of videos on youtube for that. It's about my struggle and probably quixotic quest for better technique. More precisely, it's about structural reform. In other words, engineering out already-learned but ultimately flawed and limited strokes. Undo, then redo. The goal is to override muscle memory and replace with better programming.

Structural reform is a term I hear a lot nowadays: especially, with respect to the current eurozone crisis. Old habits die hard but countries have to change their ways. Growth, if possible, is the preferred way out. If not, austerity to shrink the economy is the only option left. Seems like it's either grow or wither away and lose maybe decades.

The same seems to be true in table tennis. We have a few tenths of a second (usually around 1/3 of a second) to react to the incoming ball and do something about it. Therefore, a lot is dependent on muscle memory. Human muscle memory is reliable and responses can be deployed almost without conscious thought. This is all and good given proper training and conditioning.

Unfortunately, some amateurs such as myself, without someone to nip flaws in the bud so to speak, spent years hitting balls incorrectly. This not only looks bad but also limits performance. After improving muscle memory through repetition, the amateur improves until he/she plateaus, unable to break through to the next level no matter how often they practice.

The next logical step then is to employ a professional coach who can highlight weaknesses and point the student in the right direction. A good coach can both demonstrate proper technique and explain why and how to execute the proper stroke. Unfortunately, the amateur has spent considerable time "grooving" his strokes and that subconscious muscle memory that enabled him/her to respond in 1/3 second is now a huge barrier to change. Reprogramming muscle memory is incredibly difficult.

The amateur then rues not employing a proper coach from the first day he/she picked up a paddle. Short of being reborn and learning proper technique under close supervision as a child, the amateur faces a long and frustratingly difficult road in overcoming his initial self-learning or natural programming. Watching videos of world champions with beautiful technique doesn't really help. The gap is too large. Even seeing what seems like humanly possible proper technique up close and live, subtleties escape the observer and attempted replication results in just a pale and unreliable facsimile of what he/she just saw.

The amateur may be missing crucial knowledge. But even possessing the correct knowledge doesn't seem to help as much as he/she thought. Low level programming seems unavailable or strangely elusive to conscious thought processes.

On this beautifully sunny past weekend in Los Angeles, I decided to spend 15 hours indoors at the LATTA to take lessons with Crystal Huang, a professional who went to the Beijing Olympics on the USA national team. Retired from competition, she is a coach. (I've blogged about the club before here.)

I decided to get more serious about structural reform, so I recorded a lot of video over a weekend. Just merely taping a coaching session doesn't really do much. So I started editing the videos into clips to remind myself of what to do (as well as what to not do). It became a labor intensive process because I found myself adding captioning as an aid to understanding. So I thought I might as well share. Perhaps some of these may be of use to others, spark a change or two, or at the very least make the reader feel thankful their game doesn't include my huge set of flaws.

Next time, we'll look at how Crystal tries to point out and correct my many flaws. This time, I'd like to show how even the warm-up (before the lesson truly begins) can be very revealing.

This first video is of my forehand block. Crystal is gently topspinning (or looping) the ball to my forehand. The rate is almost exactly 1 ball per second. I know precisely which quadrant the balls will fall in. In fact, I only have to worry about blocking that ball diagonally back to her forehand (she is a lefty). I block the ball back 33 times consecutively in the following clip but, as you can see, I still manage to screw things up.

Link: here

The fundamental problem is I'm not constantly moving to track the ball. I'm reacting too late (ball is about to arrive), and having to move off-balance and attempt to correct and rebalance in record time. By block #34, I've lost track of my center of gravity and clearly it looks rather ugly.

Slow motion of block #15 is rather revealing and will make the problem clear. See captions in the clip below.

Link: here

Tellingly, because I had to lunge I was unable to block the ball back to her forehand corner. Instead, notice the ball went to the middle of the table. You may not have noticed that she smoothly moved across and still looped the ball to my corner so I could continue.

Here's what went wrong.

(a)	(b)	(c)

In (a), the ball is looped. I haven't yet noticed the ball will end up out of reach. (I should have observed the angle of the paddle and reacted by shuffling to the right. In fact, it's critical I do so.)

In (b), 0.26 seconds later, the ball is landing on my side. Too late, I realize it's out of reach. I've wasted 0.26 seconds without moving my feet.

In another 1/10th of a second, I lunge with my arm as the ball arrives. Although I get to the ball and return it, it's just a mere band-aid. Actually, the situation is quite dire.

As a result of the lunge, I'm way off balance as shown in (c). Instead of sensibly moving sideways to the right earlier, now I've created an unnecessarily enormous backlog of work for the next 0.6 seconds.

I have to land away from the table, regain balance, push off again and hop back towards the centerline, rebalance myself and hope I get there before the ball arrives again. Despite the leisurely 1 second interval between balls, I barely got back in time.

And of course, my mistake is actually deadly in practice. Had the drill been not just to my forehand, the ball could have been looped to my backhand corner. In that case, there is no way in hell I could have gotten back in time of course.

A keen observer will notice there are other systemic problems that I haven't mentioned. For example, notice I automatically drop my arm after each block. This is another very bad habit that will cost valuable tenths of a second.

bad sneakers, do it again

Imagine, if you will, my car smoothly eating up the miles in the desert on I-10. I'm on my way home from Los Angeles.

A mere press of the window lift away, it's over 110F (43C) but inside, it's deliciously cool and quiet. As the sun reddens behind me, I settle into the cooled seat which will be my home for the next six and a half hours. Relax, connect up the iPhone, in seconds I'm down in the world of Steely Dan's sophisticated mix of jazz and melancholy.

As the doubtlessly well-informed reader that you are, you already know I'm listening to them from the title of this blog entry. I reflect on what has been a good visit.

Five names that I can hardly stand to hear
Including yours and mine, and one more chimp who isn't here
...

That's how the song Bad Sneakers begins. For a moment, I think back to New Jersey days. Those Butterfly 808 table tennis shoes pictured above look brand new but are over 12 years old. Having languished in a dark box for all that time, they are essentially new, unused after I ordered them back in the late 1990s.

I figured it's about time these "sneakers" emerged into the light again. Since I've restarted table tennis, I've stuck to my marathon running shoes for cushioning and comfort. I've been re-purposing my Newton Sir Isaac neutral guidance trainer (see picture at the bottom of my prior entry A Half Marathon). You may be surprised to know these Butterflys (538g) are heavier (and offer less protection) than my Newton neutral racers (500g).

(Out of all the sports I dabble in, my bicycle racing shoes are by far the lightest, at around 320g. Yup, one Butterfly shoe is nearly two bicycle shoes.)

But, as the saying goes, it's very much horses for courses. Those Butterfly shoes have a very low heel (to protect the ankle) and (by design) a natural rubber sole that balances the ability to slide and make small adjustments with grip. With respect to cushioning (to protect against fatigue), let's just say they work best with a professional (cushioned) floor that the best clubs have.

As long as we're talking numbers here, have you ever wondered why cars report the outside temperature but never the inside?

As you can see, the automatic climate control is set for 74F (23C) but the actual temperature at head level is 32.3C (90F) with 12% humidity (it's the desert).
(Notice the fan is barely running. In other words, the car thinks it has reached the correct temperature.)

Back to the coolness of Steely Dan (and Do it again):

You go back, Jack
Do it again
Wheels turning round and round
You go back, Jack
Do it again
...

There are no quick fixes in table tennis (or life for that matter). Old habits are ingrained into muscle memory and die hard. Once we recognize our technical problems, it takes considerable work (i.e. time), dedication (i.e. make time) and a certain kind of optimistic stubbornness (it will come, it will work out, give it time). Those who promise quick and easy fixes are mere charlatans.

When you know she's no high climber
Then you find your only friend
...

I'm not completely sure what some of the songs mean, but people have said this breakout tune of theirs is about addiction, second chances and the inevitability of fate. I muse, hmm, this is my 2nd time around at table tennis. You could say it's an addiction. But I'm not sure what fate has to do with it...

Perhaps then my occasional weekend trips to Los Angeles are about a leap of faith.

1. Dedication: I have to drive 13 hours round trip.
   I prefer it to flying because of convenience. Flying basically involves nearly 5 hours each way counting time spent getting to the airport, parking, going through security, waiting around, renting a car etc., only actually saving 3 or 4 hours round trip. So far, unless I have been driving all night, I have been able to arrive alert and relaxed enough to take a lesson after a short break.

2. Work: to maintain quality, a lesson lasts only 90 minutes.
   Why? Well, multiball is physically demanding. I go through three shirts (sweat saturated), two bottles of water, a Gatorade and a towel in just 90 minutes. Willing the body to continuously move, move, move to get to a position and hold balance, stop momentarily and get the shot off. It's not about mindless or brute force strength. The coaching is intense: every improperly played ball (never mind the missed ones) gets reviewed and highlighted. Nothing is missed. Correct form is everything. Struggling with yourself on a conscious level is also mentally taxing (not to mention, frustrating, at times).

3. Optimistic stubbornness: that's a few sessions per weekend maybe once every other month or three. (That's pretty far from the ideal of training 3 or 4 mornings a week.) It's a legitimate question to ask whether anything can be learnt and retained in such short bursts. Without constant feedback and application, one tends to revert back to old habits.

At this point, I can report that I am finally starting to see glimpses of the promised land. As I mentioned earlier, give it time, it will come. My body is beginning to react and move differently. Because how you move and maintain balance is everything, it affects all aspects of the game. Tension has been transferred from the shoulders into the forearm. Suddenly I go from looping two or three balls to twenty or thirty in a row. They're not all perfectly minted, mind you. But now and then I feel my center of gravity doing the right thing. And it's definitely not the shoes :)

Fundamental change is possible, and on my long drive through the desert, that thought makes me happy.

For match practice, I also play in LATTA's Saturday afternoon's advanced league. Typically, I take a lesson in the morning at 10:30am. Then break for lunch at noon.

(There is a cheap chinese eatery nearly directly across the road. They also serve protein shakes not on the menu.)

Back to the club at 2pm, it's a round robin group format. You play 5 or 6 matches. Because it's such a large club with several leagues, the level on Saturday afternoon is good, all are hardened and experienced players. Competition is ferocious. No match is easy. As I can easily see myself losing every match, I'm amazed sometimes I even manage to win any. After the round robin phase comes the single elimination phase. It all finishes around 7pm.

For example, last Saturday I played a total of 32 games (including 10 straight with a guy who wanted to learn my style and me, his). By this point, I've put in close to 7 hours. I'm tired and ready to book myself a long massage. Despite some lingering fatigue, the underlying fitness is there. I know I can recover in time for tomorrow morning's 90 minute three shirter.

On Sunday morning, I'm a bit stiff but after warming up, it's time to see if recalcitrant muscle memory can be bent a bit more until it yields. After the lesson, it's noon time and I've made special arrangements to play my 1600 nemesis, Zhu Min Ming (see earlier LATTA entry). I've never even managed to take a single game off her but she is kind enough to offer her number and say practice with me. Her consistency and control game is way ahead of mine and her long pips backhand isn't easy to handle. However, this time there is a titanic struggle with long rallies. No matter how many loops I bang in, she always has an answer. But somehow this time is different. I finally manage to prevail and come out 3-1 ahead.

I'm carrying my fortune cookie from last Sunday.

It's an epochal moment. I know I have passed some test.

(I have a sneaking suspicion she makes sure she is perennially underrated. She is almost at 1900 now and needs to start discounting again.)

At lunch, she calls me and says someone is waiting to play you.

It's like something out of an Indiana Jones movie or kungfu novel. It seems Zhu Min Ming has passed me onto challenge number 2. His name is Duc Loi, and he is over 60. Plays every day. Can chop away from the table. Can stay at the table and work you over with placement. His speciality is attacking with the long pips. He is rated over 2200. I am warned even 2400 players lose to him first time around. Of course, I lose 0-3. Like Zhu Min Ming before, he offers me his card and says call me to play when you are in town. I know he is a benchmark. 過三關 and all that. It's definitely like something out of a movie.

Appendix

One of the advantages of Los Angeles is that it is a big city with large ethnic populations. Population density makes for convenience. You can find everything within a 3 mile radius. The Monterey Park/San Gabriel "ghetto" is one such enclave. And local competition ensure low prices and high quality. It almost fully mitigates against the traffic, lack of green, open space and poor air quality that characterizes the area.

There are 3 table tennis clubs run by high level professionals within a mile or so of each other. I've never been to the others. The LATTA is the largest.

I have also established a routine here. I know where to go for what. I typically book the same hotel or another one. I trade off convenience against an oasis of green and quiet perched up on a hill. Either way, it's just five or ten minutes more.

Saturday morning, I go for dim sum before my 10:30am lesson.

Always at the same place (海寶潮粵海鮮酒家), they're open early. No queuing up. And more importantly, they always have my lotus seed paste buns (蓮蓉包) correctly configured with egg yolk. (I'm very particular about that.) And it's pretty good but not expensive. (Okay, whaddya expect, it's no match for 稻香.) Still, no reason to go anywhere else.

I always go to the same massage place (快樂按摩) straight from the club. I choose them because they have a shower so I can clean up first. $25/hr plus tip is the going rate around here.

I know where to go for cheap food. I have a favorite noodle place, a decent thai place. Even the $12.95 sushi place is unpretentious and the taste is fine. Back in town, they'd make a big deal about it. Here, it's just another place. (Okay, it's not Sushi Say (寿司清) Tsukiji main branch (築地本店) in Tokyo, but this is frickin' Southern California, whaddya expect?)

And for the observant, yes, that sign shows $9.99 for one hour foot massage. Amazing isn't it?

Shenzhen Ping Pong: LATTA

Travel by itself can be cathartic, bringing about a genuine realignment in perspective.

I am just a dreamer, but you are just a dream...

One of the things that can make us better and more accomplished human beings is a sense of passion, and an accompanying desire to succeed. As with life and perhaps so with athletic goals.

It can start with a simple dream, a realizable goal and the determination to make it happen. On one hand, having a concrete goal allow us to set milestones along the way and measure out progress. On the other hand, despite the application of plenty of sweat and fitness, goals can remain tantalizingly out of reach and lead to pent-up feelings of frustration when things aren't working out right.

With respect to catharsis, it has been said that it is the human soul that is purged of its excessive passions. Experiencing these moments could be a good thing.

It's a good seven hour drive from Tucson to the Los Angeles Table Tennis Association (LATTA), a straight shot on Interstate 10 heading west all the way out to the Pacific ocean. I took the opportunity to use up a furlough day. Loaded the car up with a couple of boxes of water and gatorade. Throw in my gym bag and an extra bag full of ping pong clothing. I'm gonna focus on eat, sleep and play ping pong, nothing else I need to bring along. Plug the iPod into the car stereo. Turn up the volume. Set the cruise control and satnav. Relax. Seven hours each way is a lot of time for the brain to unwind and reorganize.

The LATTA is the largest table tennis club in LA with professional coaches. Like many marginal sports, at first glance, the facility is nothing much to look at. One could easily pass by and not notice it. Simple signage leads to a warehouse facility.

Hmm, I guess I can do better than that. Here is a photo at sunset when people are actually present at the club.

Inside, we have high ceilings, quality table tennis tables, barriered areas, and a professional (red) rubber floor.

I have to say the lighting is not quite as good as it might be, perhaps I'm spoiled at my ping pong palace with indirect lighting. Also, most courts there are not individually barriered. But the last point/feature about the floor is important to me. Playing on concrete is simply really tough on joints. And concrete and other surfaces (even wood) can be slippery unless kept very clean. But putting aside facilities, the single most important fact is simply there are lots of good players who frequent the club. And that's why I'm here.

Catharsis

Anyway back to the theme of this blog entry, this rather unassuming but friendly and generous lady is Zhu Min Ming, originally from Guangzhou. She told me she is rated around 1600. She beat me 2-0 first day I arrived. I figured perhaps I was a little tired after a seven hour drive plus taking two hours of coaching.

Well, by last day, when I thought I was pretty grooved in, although I had my moments, she beat me 2-0 again deservedly.

And when she told me I was playing 1700 level, maybe at most 1800, it was definitely a cathartic moment. To learn to win one has first to learn to handle one's weaknesses. To learn to handle one's weaknesses one first has to learn how to lose.

( I'm sure I'll eventually get used to her close-to-the-table game with smooth rubber on one side and semi-long pips on the other.)

Equipment

I also got the opportunity to meet Hideo (from Orange County) in person. He came on Saturday to play the Round Robin at LATTA.

Hideo frequents the same online ping pong forum as me and was kind enough to mail me one of his modified paddles to test last month. (See below.)

Despite its compact appearance, the grip is similar to my thumbgrip-modified SuperCPen in feel (see here). However, due to the wood used in the construction of the handle, it's significantly heavier and slower than my modified SuperCPen.

Coaching

And now to the main purpose of my LATTA sojourn, although one can theoretically get coaching from any professional, I've always wanted to get coaching from a top-level penholder who understands the reverse penhold backhand.

Crystal Huang (rated 2460), who runs the LATTA, is a former member of the US Table Tennis team; in fact, she represented the USA at the Beijing Olympics in 2008. Since she is an expert penholder, I've been taking lessons on the penhold style from her.

Given I'm in the progress of overhauling my game completely (from my previous one-sided traditional penhold technique), I'm kinda retooling from scratch, and therefore need to learn to lose not just all the old bad habits, but need to learn to lose by bravely adopting the weaker but theoretically better strokes in matches - at the cost of losing matches I could have won using unfortunately well grooved-in but theoretically inferior strokes. In other words, accept short-term total humiliation with the prospect (possibly unrealized and unguaranteed) of better things to come. I admit this has been hard. That is why creating the necessary conditions for catharsis is required in order to break that logjam. Thank you Zhu Min Ming!

As the beginning of this post states, I'm just a dreamer and you are just a dream... Forever dreaming only if I could work out how to move, stay balanced and hit a decent forehand... Well, dreaming is free but lessons are not. Onto the videos...

Video Clips

[Seems strange, I lost my earlier edits to this post.]

As I've mentioned in earlier posts on the topic, my forehand is one of those strokes I've had fundamental problems with but have always wanted to fix. On the one hand, my forehand loop is powerful (for my level) and wins me many points. On the other hand, it needs to be abandoned totally and radically restructured if I am to make any progress. The following warm-up with Crystal Huang illustrates many of the problems I have with the stroke.

Link here

More sample video clips to follow...