How to Train like a Pro - My experiences training with World #66 Chetan Baboor
"Chet" is a pretty good motorcyclist.
He had a bike for several years back in
India.
He had a bike for several years back in
India.
Training with Chetan: Article #1
We had a shortened session today because Chetan had an appointment. We started out as usual with the counters FH to FH then he looped a little,
then we went BH to BH. We did the fast paced BH to BH and then chetan used his BH only and did a loop 1 hit 1 loop 1 hit 1 pattern at very good
pace but not all out. He was regularly landing nearly 10 in a row. Then he did only BH loops with more pace.
Next he looped his FH from the FH side up the line into my BH. I had to punch down the line. He started out medium speed but quickly went into rip
mode. Most of these shots were full blast. I had some trouble blocking at first because I was self-conscious that Len was watching. But I
concentrated a little more and did better. Some of these shots were rips (drives) and some were very fast topspin loops. I was blocking the loops
right off the end of the table and I asked Chetan for some advice on how to handle this. He reminded me that I have to close the paddle more and
actually "push down" and at the same time "forward". Man this is weird. Push down on the ball? "Yes, down and forward." He further explains that I
have to find the touch that is required by myself. I have to read the spin and I have to adjust. "You just have to feel it" he says. Well, I miss a little
more but after a few minutes I start getting the hang of it. If the ball comes in really straight and fast then I open the paddle, for god's sake loosen
the grip and just ever so slightly meet the ball forward. The total distance travelled is about 1-2 inches, and is done basically completely with wrist. If
the ball is spinny, then I close the blade and actually yes push down and forward at the same time, almost like a mini loop. As my confidence built up
I started going harder. Soon I was cracking the ball back as hard as it came to me. These balls were approaching maximum speed possible. As fast
as a hard flat smash but with spin.
We finished this drill by Chetan doing FH to my BH from his BH side with me blocking cross court 3,4 in a row and then not telling him when I would go
down the line. He put so much pace on the ball that when I went down the line it was usually a winner but he was trying to get there. He succeeded
only a few times. I found it mildly humorous that he would even try. I can't remember many pros capable of this. I've seen Killerspin DVD of Ma Lin
going for a cross-court rip from the BH side and every time Wang Liquin or Waldner would block it down the line it would be a winner. Only Kim Taek
Soo pulls this off regularly. But I guess you have to try, at least in practice.
Chetan then did medium underspin serves and he wanted me to drop it short and then he would drop it short and then he wanted me to do a really
juicy push very deep into his BH so that he could open up and then finish. When he opened up against a good push the ball was ridiculously spinny
and I was having trouble getting it to come down. Also, my pushes were lousy. Again I asked how could I do a good push and he just said that I
have to develop confidence in my push once I'm sure what spin is on it. Well he started to serve with the same amount of underspin (medium) so
that I could get used to it but I was struggling to come up with a high quality push. I'm going to have to work on that further. I know it has to do with
being loose and gripping the ball well but it's a touch shot for sure. Usually I can push o.k. but maybe blocking all those forehands with my BH got my
wrist tight? Oh well. I was actually soaked in sweat (from blocking?) and I asked Len to take over while I rested.
After that we did more of the same multiball as last time. Man, I can't believe how bad I suck at feeding multiball. It seemed I was missing the
table more than he was. It's definitely not an easy thing. He did 2 boxes and stopped. He was already late for his appointment.
Well, my blocks were actually better tonight than the first day, and in fact Chetan said that my block had improved. I need to work on multi-ball
feeding and pushing.
I wonder if I will be the first person in the USATT who goes in the garage alone to practice multiball...not actually doing the multiball but just
feeding it?
Final Thoughts: I asked Chetan if he plans to practice looping more off the bounce and he said he would next time. I looked at his equipment: it is a
Stiga WRB Clipper blade with Sriver EL Max on the backhand. On the Forehand.....(drum roll)........its SRIVER!!! Just plane, good, old
fashioned Sriver (Red, Max). Just like Cheng back in the day.
I love how these pros have no gimmicks. Lupelescu uses Mark V GPS max on both sides, and Chetan uses basically Sriver and Sriver EL. Both of
these men use normal blades.
Lastly, Chetan has been running and lifting weights on the days in between these sessions. He will run and lift weights tomorrow. We will hit again
on Saturday. I'm not sure how he lifts weights. We can assume it's low weight, high repetition stuff. But I asked him how does he run. He says it all
depends. Sometimes he does sprints and other types of normal soccer drills. On other days he goes for distance. "How far," I ask. "About 4 miles."
We had a shortened session today because Chetan had an appointment. We started out as usual with the counters FH to FH then he looped a little,
then we went BH to BH. We did the fast paced BH to BH and then chetan used his BH only and did a loop 1 hit 1 loop 1 hit 1 pattern at very good
pace but not all out. He was regularly landing nearly 10 in a row. Then he did only BH loops with more pace.
Next he looped his FH from the FH side up the line into my BH. I had to punch down the line. He started out medium speed but quickly went into rip
mode. Most of these shots were full blast. I had some trouble blocking at first because I was self-conscious that Len was watching. But I
concentrated a little more and did better. Some of these shots were rips (drives) and some were very fast topspin loops. I was blocking the loops
right off the end of the table and I asked Chetan for some advice on how to handle this. He reminded me that I have to close the paddle more and
actually "push down" and at the same time "forward". Man this is weird. Push down on the ball? "Yes, down and forward." He further explains that I
have to find the touch that is required by myself. I have to read the spin and I have to adjust. "You just have to feel it" he says. Well, I miss a little
more but after a few minutes I start getting the hang of it. If the ball comes in really straight and fast then I open the paddle, for god's sake loosen
the grip and just ever so slightly meet the ball forward. The total distance travelled is about 1-2 inches, and is done basically completely with wrist. If
the ball is spinny, then I close the blade and actually yes push down and forward at the same time, almost like a mini loop. As my confidence built up
I started going harder. Soon I was cracking the ball back as hard as it came to me. These balls were approaching maximum speed possible. As fast
as a hard flat smash but with spin.
We finished this drill by Chetan doing FH to my BH from his BH side with me blocking cross court 3,4 in a row and then not telling him when I would go
down the line. He put so much pace on the ball that when I went down the line it was usually a winner but he was trying to get there. He succeeded
only a few times. I found it mildly humorous that he would even try. I can't remember many pros capable of this. I've seen Killerspin DVD of Ma Lin
going for a cross-court rip from the BH side and every time Wang Liquin or Waldner would block it down the line it would be a winner. Only Kim Taek
Soo pulls this off regularly. But I guess you have to try, at least in practice.
Chetan then did medium underspin serves and he wanted me to drop it short and then he would drop it short and then he wanted me to do a really
juicy push very deep into his BH so that he could open up and then finish. When he opened up against a good push the ball was ridiculously spinny
and I was having trouble getting it to come down. Also, my pushes were lousy. Again I asked how could I do a good push and he just said that I
have to develop confidence in my push once I'm sure what spin is on it. Well he started to serve with the same amount of underspin (medium) so
that I could get used to it but I was struggling to come up with a high quality push. I'm going to have to work on that further. I know it has to do with
being loose and gripping the ball well but it's a touch shot for sure. Usually I can push o.k. but maybe blocking all those forehands with my BH got my
wrist tight? Oh well. I was actually soaked in sweat (from blocking?) and I asked Len to take over while I rested.
After that we did more of the same multiball as last time. Man, I can't believe how bad I suck at feeding multiball. It seemed I was missing the
table more than he was. It's definitely not an easy thing. He did 2 boxes and stopped. He was already late for his appointment.
Well, my blocks were actually better tonight than the first day, and in fact Chetan said that my block had improved. I need to work on multi-ball
feeding and pushing.
I wonder if I will be the first person in the USATT who goes in the garage alone to practice multiball...not actually doing the multiball but just
feeding it?
Final Thoughts: I asked Chetan if he plans to practice looping more off the bounce and he said he would next time. I looked at his equipment: it is a
Stiga WRB Clipper blade with Sriver EL Max on the backhand. On the Forehand.....(drum roll)........its SRIVER!!! Just plane, good, old
fashioned Sriver (Red, Max). Just like Cheng back in the day.
I love how these pros have no gimmicks. Lupelescu uses Mark V GPS max on both sides, and Chetan uses basically Sriver and Sriver EL. Both of
these men use normal blades.
Lastly, Chetan has been running and lifting weights on the days in between these sessions. He will run and lift weights tomorrow. We will hit again
on Saturday. I'm not sure how he lifts weights. We can assume it's low weight, high repetition stuff. But I asked him how does he run. He says it all
depends. Sometimes he does sprints and other types of normal soccer drills. On other days he goes for distance. "How far," I ask. "About 4 miles."
Training with Chetan - Article #2
It starts getting more complex now, and yet I can't explain it as much. I'll try.
Chetan was tired today from lifting weights yesterday and not getting enough sleep.
Start off with the basics as before, once he's warm he wants a new footwork drill. He loops into my forehand, I block wide to his forehand, then to his
middle, again wide to his forehand, and then down the line to his backhand.then it repeats. After that he wants me to block anywhere, he'll keep it to
my forehand. I was having fun with the creativity, I'd give him 4 in a row to his BH, then swing him wide to his FH. Or I'd give him2 to the FH and then
down to the BH. It's kind of like having a fish on a string, you try to shake it loose but it doesn't come off the line. This is the best aspect of his
game, I think. His footwork and consistency is great.
I ask him if he wants to do rips off the bounce. He frowns, says that it's not necessary. It is more important to make good contact and good strokes.
he says he can "always step it up later." O.k. whatever.
Now he wants me to loop to him. I don't feel up to this but I am forced. I too am tired from playing 4 hours at ASU last night. With people watching,
he blocks to my FH and I have to do one cross court and one up the line to his BH. At first I'm trying to hit too hard, then I forget about who is
watching and just do it. I'm conscious of putting some good wrist into every loop so that he'll have some spin. I think I did o.k. all things considered.
Then he did a variation, about every fourth loop or so he'd counterloop it off the bounce away from me for a winner. So I'd loop FH, BH, FH and
then he'd instead of blocking that 3rd loop to his FH he'd do a FH counterloop up the line off the bounce for a winner. Or he'd wait one more stroke
and do it with his BH cross court for a winner, off the bounce. I just stared at it.
I was down for the count, and Matt, Len's talented 1900-level son, came in to do some serves for him. Matt has some good serves, and he spent a
lot of time serving to Chetan as Chetan explored various types of returns. He mostly flipped or looped or ripped everything. Later, at lunch, he was
explaining that the main thing in returning is to recognize simultaneously type of spin and depth, in the next moment you have to recognize quantity
of spin and adjust racket angle, and finally it's execution. It's that "fine line" that he keeps talking about, between hitting too hard or too soft. In this
drill, he appeared much more human, as he did in fact miss and he was always muttering something to himself after such misses.
Then he was serving to matt, encouraging matt to flip or drop or push, where ever, and he would attack or counter. His serves look, well, quite plain
actually. They don't appear to be as high level as the rest of his game. Danny Seemiller wrote that a server "should serve violently." Well, I think
Chetan forgot to read that book. Chetan serves without any noticeable wrist snap or effort. There doesn't even appear to be any racket speed.
And while matt assured me that there was good spin and good variation on the serves, I can tell it wasn't as much spin as, for example, what Ashu
puts. I could, however, see that these serves were extremely short and low. Try to visualize Fan's serves for a comparison. But even fan has more
"umphhh" in his service motion than Chetan.
We discussed this a little. Chetan said something interesting, he said "you build your serves around your game, not the other way around." O.k.,
this is the opposite of Ashu's theory (sorry Ashu if I'm making assumptions). This guy's strength is his ability to attack slow loops or underspin shots.
He serves not to get the outright ace. He wants the opponent to attempt a flip, or to push, or even a slow loop. And he takes it from there. I have to
admit that not many people will be able to attack Chetan's serves very strongly, because they are so very short and so low. There is a medium
amount of spin, looks like various types of side under or pure under. I tell you what, I'd rather try to copy Chetan's serves than Ashu's. Chetan's
looks like they are much easier to do.
Chetan was exploring an alternative serve. He fooled around with backhand serves, and even tomahawk. He said he was looking for a special
serve, something that would be used just once, to get the point when you absolutely must have a point. I guess he wants to have an "ace in the
hole" when necessary. He stressed that it can only be used once, twice maximum.
Then we did where I serve short underspin, he pushes or flips, I attack and he counter attacks. Then he did more serves and I had to push or flip or
loop anywhere. He would put the first counterattack to my BH. He gave me the same serve every time so that I could make stronger returns. We
played little fake "games" this way. He would start the score at 4-8, my lead. We alternate serves like a real game. In this manner, we quickly get to
deuce, or to the end of the game. This is a new spin on "spotting someone points." I like it. The old way, someone would spot me 5 or 10 or even
15 points. (that was back in NJ, w/ 21 pt games. There hasn't been any need for anyone to spot me points in AZ) Then we'd play a game. It might
take some time to get to deuce. With Chetan's method, by starting halfway through the game we get to duece quicker and that is the important part
isn't it? If I win, then he started lower, like 4-7, 4-6, etc. If I lost, he started me higher, like 4-9.
I want to finish by saying a few words about the amount of concentration that Chetan is capable of. There could be fireworks going around the
room, he doesn't see it. He doesn't here people talking. He doesn't seem to laugh or joke very much. In fact, he almost looks annoyed when
people start talking to him during a drill. He is THAT serious. Me, I'm just the opposite. I hear every word said. Heck, I'm usually the one doing the
talking! But when Chetan sees a ball in motion, he's like a priest in the church. When the ball is moving, it's time to concentrate. Even the most
insignificant drill done with the most insignificant person in the middle of a garage in the middle of the desert- it doesn't matter. He is so very
serious. He exudes concentration. So much so that I noticed it and I felt compelled to write about it.
We are training right now on concrete, and he has said that he wants to train on different surfaces. He said that his matches will be on taraflex,
and that the ball is bouncing too high and too fast in the garage. I said "but the garage will develop better reflexes" and he agreed. But still he
wants to train on a variety of surfaces. Looks like the phoenix club may yet get to see him. They play on wood.
He's taking the day off tomorrow to rest and to stretch. He apparently spends hours stretching, and said that he occasionally practices yoga.
It starts getting more complex now, and yet I can't explain it as much. I'll try.
Chetan was tired today from lifting weights yesterday and not getting enough sleep.
Start off with the basics as before, once he's warm he wants a new footwork drill. He loops into my forehand, I block wide to his forehand, then to his
middle, again wide to his forehand, and then down the line to his backhand.then it repeats. After that he wants me to block anywhere, he'll keep it to
my forehand. I was having fun with the creativity, I'd give him 4 in a row to his BH, then swing him wide to his FH. Or I'd give him2 to the FH and then
down to the BH. It's kind of like having a fish on a string, you try to shake it loose but it doesn't come off the line. This is the best aspect of his
game, I think. His footwork and consistency is great.
I ask him if he wants to do rips off the bounce. He frowns, says that it's not necessary. It is more important to make good contact and good strokes.
he says he can "always step it up later." O.k. whatever.
Now he wants me to loop to him. I don't feel up to this but I am forced. I too am tired from playing 4 hours at ASU last night. With people watching,
he blocks to my FH and I have to do one cross court and one up the line to his BH. At first I'm trying to hit too hard, then I forget about who is
watching and just do it. I'm conscious of putting some good wrist into every loop so that he'll have some spin. I think I did o.k. all things considered.
Then he did a variation, about every fourth loop or so he'd counterloop it off the bounce away from me for a winner. So I'd loop FH, BH, FH and
then he'd instead of blocking that 3rd loop to his FH he'd do a FH counterloop up the line off the bounce for a winner. Or he'd wait one more stroke
and do it with his BH cross court for a winner, off the bounce. I just stared at it.
I was down for the count, and Matt, Len's talented 1900-level son, came in to do some serves for him. Matt has some good serves, and he spent a
lot of time serving to Chetan as Chetan explored various types of returns. He mostly flipped or looped or ripped everything. Later, at lunch, he was
explaining that the main thing in returning is to recognize simultaneously type of spin and depth, in the next moment you have to recognize quantity
of spin and adjust racket angle, and finally it's execution. It's that "fine line" that he keeps talking about, between hitting too hard or too soft. In this
drill, he appeared much more human, as he did in fact miss and he was always muttering something to himself after such misses.
Then he was serving to matt, encouraging matt to flip or drop or push, where ever, and he would attack or counter. His serves look, well, quite plain
actually. They don't appear to be as high level as the rest of his game. Danny Seemiller wrote that a server "should serve violently." Well, I think
Chetan forgot to read that book. Chetan serves without any noticeable wrist snap or effort. There doesn't even appear to be any racket speed.
And while matt assured me that there was good spin and good variation on the serves, I can tell it wasn't as much spin as, for example, what Ashu
puts. I could, however, see that these serves were extremely short and low. Try to visualize Fan's serves for a comparison. But even fan has more
"umphhh" in his service motion than Chetan.
We discussed this a little. Chetan said something interesting, he said "you build your serves around your game, not the other way around." O.k.,
this is the opposite of Ashu's theory (sorry Ashu if I'm making assumptions). This guy's strength is his ability to attack slow loops or underspin shots.
He serves not to get the outright ace. He wants the opponent to attempt a flip, or to push, or even a slow loop. And he takes it from there. I have to
admit that not many people will be able to attack Chetan's serves very strongly, because they are so very short and so low. There is a medium
amount of spin, looks like various types of side under or pure under. I tell you what, I'd rather try to copy Chetan's serves than Ashu's. Chetan's
looks like they are much easier to do.
Chetan was exploring an alternative serve. He fooled around with backhand serves, and even tomahawk. He said he was looking for a special
serve, something that would be used just once, to get the point when you absolutely must have a point. I guess he wants to have an "ace in the
hole" when necessary. He stressed that it can only be used once, twice maximum.
Then we did where I serve short underspin, he pushes or flips, I attack and he counter attacks. Then he did more serves and I had to push or flip or
loop anywhere. He would put the first counterattack to my BH. He gave me the same serve every time so that I could make stronger returns. We
played little fake "games" this way. He would start the score at 4-8, my lead. We alternate serves like a real game. In this manner, we quickly get to
deuce, or to the end of the game. This is a new spin on "spotting someone points." I like it. The old way, someone would spot me 5 or 10 or even
15 points. (that was back in NJ, w/ 21 pt games. There hasn't been any need for anyone to spot me points in AZ) Then we'd play a game. It might
take some time to get to deuce. With Chetan's method, by starting halfway through the game we get to duece quicker and that is the important part
isn't it? If I win, then he started lower, like 4-7, 4-6, etc. If I lost, he started me higher, like 4-9.
I want to finish by saying a few words about the amount of concentration that Chetan is capable of. There could be fireworks going around the
room, he doesn't see it. He doesn't here people talking. He doesn't seem to laugh or joke very much. In fact, he almost looks annoyed when
people start talking to him during a drill. He is THAT serious. Me, I'm just the opposite. I hear every word said. Heck, I'm usually the one doing the
talking! But when Chetan sees a ball in motion, he's like a priest in the church. When the ball is moving, it's time to concentrate. Even the most
insignificant drill done with the most insignificant person in the middle of a garage in the middle of the desert- it doesn't matter. He is so very
serious. He exudes concentration. So much so that I noticed it and I felt compelled to write about it.
We are training right now on concrete, and he has said that he wants to train on different surfaces. He said that his matches will be on taraflex,
and that the ball is bouncing too high and too fast in the garage. I said "but the garage will develop better reflexes" and he agreed. But still he
wants to train on a variety of surfaces. Looks like the phoenix club may yet get to see him. They play on wood.
He's taking the day off tomorrow to rest and to stretch. He apparently spends hours stretching, and said that he occasionally practices yoga.
Training with Chetan - Article #3
ah, just when i thought it was gonna get repetitive and there'd be nothing else to write..... we went down to ASU basketball gym, we got to play for
the first time on a wooden floor with a whole lot of room.
Chetan says the characteristics of TT change in a large room. I said that scientists have proven that there is no difference in the bounce on a ball
due to different floor surfaces. He said it has more to do with the volume of airspace in the room. Ahhhhhhh, so there is something to this argument.
Basically a small room exerts more pressure on the ball so the ball flies truer, it actually bounces more predictably, and less high. In a large room
the volume of air is so great that the ball travels "more freely" and in fact can "float." The bounce and travel can be irregular. In addition, such
rooms often have large AC systems that can add currents that further change the flight of the ball. I've never really noticed this stuff at lower levels.
I mean, I've noticed bad performances... But trying to counterloop with him here, as opposed to in Len's garage, I found out that there is a
difference. Suddenly, I can't counterloop very well anymore. Neither did Chetan. Until he adjusted. I still haven't. And Chetan said
flat out that the Taraflex is slower than the concrete.
We did a lot of pushing and drop shots, drop against drop, drop against long push, etc. as we tried to get our touch. We did looping into my block.
At one point, I couldn't block anything! And Chetan was missing a lot of loops! What the heck was going on? "let me see that ball" he says and he
spins it on the table, after initially spinning perfectly, it starts to slow down and wobble like those old weblos toys. "It's an egg" he says and he
crushes it. We get another ball, test it. "It's not good either, but it's not bad." We get another ball. "This one is good." Suddenly, I'm blocking
better again. Psychological?
And so our whole first 1/2 session was like that, continuing with all the drills that we have already done but fighting against new conditions. We also
did some bigger counterlooping than was possible in the gym. Chetan likes to counterloop very high which actually makes it even harder to
handle. His ball sails over the net 3 feet or even more and then dips onto the end of the table, sometimes bouncing near my head. Counterlooping
like this is a lot harder than just picking up low rips from 7 feet back. Footwork is everything. I'm pretty much doomed. We also did some side spin
stuff. He also did some lobbing to my smash. I lobbed to him a little and he did some weird sidespin kills and stuff.
Today he did more new stuff. He did the underspin serves w/ his BH short and I pushed deep and he did BH rip to my BH and then rip down the line.
And we did same thing but now I push anywhere, etc. Just like before.
But now he started with his forehand serves, and man they were heavy. Heavy as hell. Now he was serving with more emphasis. I was pushing
everything into the net. "You have to dig it" he says with his accent. I dig, he rips. I get hit in the stomach with the ball. "You have to get back
faster." Sure. But, no one is watching, I eventually get into my zen little state where I fool myself into believing I can do it and I just relax and will
myself to do it but I don't force myself to do it and if none of this makes any sense to anyone I completely understand. Point is, I start doing it. It
took about a good 15 mintues though. Chetan was very patient. And he never seems to get tired of ripping.
By now I'm starting to get the hang of pushing these things with some directional control. And just when I think I've got it he goes back to a medium
spin serve and I just about hit the ceiling with my return. "You have to watch the spin." O.k.......
Now he's serving medium again, I push deep to his forehand, he rips it and...in the net? Again...in the net. Again....in the net. What's going on?
"I'm not putting any spin." How is he ripping with no spin? "I only use my legs to lift, nothing else, and hit at the top of the bounce." So, he can loop
at that speed with or without spin?
Apparently he can, because now he's ripping at the same speed, even the same trajectory looks similar but one has spin and another one doesn't.
He's totally controlling it. I have no chance of blocking these. Sometimes I get lucky and block it and he rips it OFF THE BOUNCE cross court for a
winner. So he's finally ripping off the bounce. It's a beautiful sight to see. He does it with a lot of body, fully thrusting into the stroke his arm
covering a lot of space over the table but he's quick as a cat to get back into position. I'm encouraged to try and block those rips I'm lunging and
fumbling to get there I only block a few and he re-rips those down the other line off the bounce and I'm staring. So it's true what he said the other
day- he can always step it up.
We play games this way, except he's always the one serving. Same as before he starts at 4-6 and I get more or less points depending on outcome.
He's doing a variety of serves, then opening up and finishing. He opens sometimes with spin, sometimes with no spin. Now I'm afraid of his
forehand and I'd actually rather go to his backhand. His backhand has only one kind of spin, wicked side-top but at least it's the same every time. I
don't trust his forehand. It's evil.
I'm experiencing some pain. My left glute is killing me and I have no idea how to stretch it. "Upper or lower" he says. Lower. He shows me a magical
stretch I want to share with you.
Stand at the table, 3 inches from the end line. Pick up your left foot and hold it in your right hand, your left knee pointing to the left, your shin
bone is horizontal with the floor. Now lean in just a bit and place this left leg from the knee down to the foot on the end line of the table. Now bend
at the hips, careful not to curve your back. Try and touch your head to the table. Ahhhh, feels good doesn't it?
ah, just when i thought it was gonna get repetitive and there'd be nothing else to write..... we went down to ASU basketball gym, we got to play for
the first time on a wooden floor with a whole lot of room.
Chetan says the characteristics of TT change in a large room. I said that scientists have proven that there is no difference in the bounce on a ball
due to different floor surfaces. He said it has more to do with the volume of airspace in the room. Ahhhhhhh, so there is something to this argument.
Basically a small room exerts more pressure on the ball so the ball flies truer, it actually bounces more predictably, and less high. In a large room
the volume of air is so great that the ball travels "more freely" and in fact can "float." The bounce and travel can be irregular. In addition, such
rooms often have large AC systems that can add currents that further change the flight of the ball. I've never really noticed this stuff at lower levels.
I mean, I've noticed bad performances... But trying to counterloop with him here, as opposed to in Len's garage, I found out that there is a
difference. Suddenly, I can't counterloop very well anymore. Neither did Chetan. Until he adjusted. I still haven't. And Chetan said
flat out that the Taraflex is slower than the concrete.
We did a lot of pushing and drop shots, drop against drop, drop against long push, etc. as we tried to get our touch. We did looping into my block.
At one point, I couldn't block anything! And Chetan was missing a lot of loops! What the heck was going on? "let me see that ball" he says and he
spins it on the table, after initially spinning perfectly, it starts to slow down and wobble like those old weblos toys. "It's an egg" he says and he
crushes it. We get another ball, test it. "It's not good either, but it's not bad." We get another ball. "This one is good." Suddenly, I'm blocking
better again. Psychological?
And so our whole first 1/2 session was like that, continuing with all the drills that we have already done but fighting against new conditions. We also
did some bigger counterlooping than was possible in the gym. Chetan likes to counterloop very high which actually makes it even harder to
handle. His ball sails over the net 3 feet or even more and then dips onto the end of the table, sometimes bouncing near my head. Counterlooping
like this is a lot harder than just picking up low rips from 7 feet back. Footwork is everything. I'm pretty much doomed. We also did some side spin
stuff. He also did some lobbing to my smash. I lobbed to him a little and he did some weird sidespin kills and stuff.
Today he did more new stuff. He did the underspin serves w/ his BH short and I pushed deep and he did BH rip to my BH and then rip down the line.
And we did same thing but now I push anywhere, etc. Just like before.
But now he started with his forehand serves, and man they were heavy. Heavy as hell. Now he was serving with more emphasis. I was pushing
everything into the net. "You have to dig it" he says with his accent. I dig, he rips. I get hit in the stomach with the ball. "You have to get back
faster." Sure. But, no one is watching, I eventually get into my zen little state where I fool myself into believing I can do it and I just relax and will
myself to do it but I don't force myself to do it and if none of this makes any sense to anyone I completely understand. Point is, I start doing it. It
took about a good 15 mintues though. Chetan was very patient. And he never seems to get tired of ripping.
By now I'm starting to get the hang of pushing these things with some directional control. And just when I think I've got it he goes back to a medium
spin serve and I just about hit the ceiling with my return. "You have to watch the spin." O.k.......
Now he's serving medium again, I push deep to his forehand, he rips it and...in the net? Again...in the net. Again....in the net. What's going on?
"I'm not putting any spin." How is he ripping with no spin? "I only use my legs to lift, nothing else, and hit at the top of the bounce." So, he can loop
at that speed with or without spin?
Apparently he can, because now he's ripping at the same speed, even the same trajectory looks similar but one has spin and another one doesn't.
He's totally controlling it. I have no chance of blocking these. Sometimes I get lucky and block it and he rips it OFF THE BOUNCE cross court for a
winner. So he's finally ripping off the bounce. It's a beautiful sight to see. He does it with a lot of body, fully thrusting into the stroke his arm
covering a lot of space over the table but he's quick as a cat to get back into position. I'm encouraged to try and block those rips I'm lunging and
fumbling to get there I only block a few and he re-rips those down the other line off the bounce and I'm staring. So it's true what he said the other
day- he can always step it up.
We play games this way, except he's always the one serving. Same as before he starts at 4-6 and I get more or less points depending on outcome.
He's doing a variety of serves, then opening up and finishing. He opens sometimes with spin, sometimes with no spin. Now I'm afraid of his
forehand and I'd actually rather go to his backhand. His backhand has only one kind of spin, wicked side-top but at least it's the same every time. I
don't trust his forehand. It's evil.
I'm experiencing some pain. My left glute is killing me and I have no idea how to stretch it. "Upper or lower" he says. Lower. He shows me a magical
stretch I want to share with you.
Stand at the table, 3 inches from the end line. Pick up your left foot and hold it in your right hand, your left knee pointing to the left, your shin
bone is horizontal with the floor. Now lean in just a bit and place this left leg from the knee down to the foot on the end line of the table. Now bend
at the hips, careful not to curve your back. Try and touch your head to the table. Ahhhh, feels good doesn't it?
Training with Chetan - Article #4
Everything began as normal. We're back in the garage and there is an adjustment process that takes place. We talked about it after the session
over dinner. Basically, what I do when I play is learn a stroke, repeat it until muscle memory takes over, then try to recreate that stroke in games
and drills. If any variable changes, such as the ball or the table or the altitude or the humidity or the rubber's glue effect or my cat ran away &
hasn't come home yet- I'm going to miss. What Chetan does is that he opens up for the shot and then looks very carefully at the ball. It is this
period of looking that is completely nonexistent in my game. Don't get me wrong, I "think" I'm looking but I'm really not. I'm not concentrating very
hard on the ball. I'm concentrating more on the stroke, or on the spin on the ball, or where is the opponent, and where do I want my shot to go,
what's the score, do I really need this point or not, will I have to buy a new cat, do I look skinny in this outfit? O.k....you get the point.
It is after the initial opening of his arm/body that Chetan adjusts by bending knees more or standing slightly higher, by moving in or moving out,
adjusting blade angle, etc. He's doing this at the same time as all the rest of the stuff. Even he requires time to do this. But it doesn't take 5 days
as it takes me. He says he can generally adjust to new conditions in an hour, depending on how extreme is the conditions.
The next half of the practice session goes pretty much exactly as the others.
I did something new today. He wants me to serve short then he's going to push out and he wants me to open up and he's going to attack back. In
a forehand stance I serve and he pushes out to my wide forehand and I'm really pressed to even get to the ball. I realize that my serving stance
needs work. He instructs me to come out of that stance into a more midcourt position, so that I can better get to the return. Maybe this seems
obvious to most of you. But I've never really had to deal with this quality of returns before. Not on a regular basis. The important thing here is for
us to examine not only the quality of our serve but of how well does our serve "serve" our purpose? We want to make sure that our footwork after
the serve sets us up for what we wish to do next.
We bring out the robot. It's a Newgy. Instead of setting it up smack in the middle of the table as usual, he sets it up on the far right corner (as you
are looking across the net) and sets it to serve reverse sidespin fingerbreakers. Fully 1/2 of the robot was hanging off the edge of the table, so
that the "head" was located very close to the right endline. The ball shoots down at the table on the robot side, bounces onto the other side, and
just barely misses the endline on the second bounce. This is to simulate a righty person doing backhand serves, or a righty person doing curled in
serves (like Samsonov, Schlager, etc) Interestingly, the robot doesn't give every ball exactly the same and Chetan says this is a good thing.
Though the robot is set at straight sidespin, some balls will have just a hair more top than others, or just a hair more under. Some will just barely
miss the endline and some will bounce just inside the endline. He practices flipping, dropshotting, and looping to all places.
I have to talk about his footwork because this was so cool. Most of us get into our "serve return" position and then after seeing the ball we either
lunge for the ball or take one step at most. Chetan takes 3. Yep. THREE.
Now mind you it does depend on where the serve is going. In this case the newgy was scattering balls around his forehand side. (we had to play
with the robot settings to get it to do this b/c of where we had located the robot). His first step is actually a very suttle "hop" the purpose of which
he says is actually to facilitate movement in the next direction. What???? I have no idea. When you weigh as much as I do, you don't waste
movement. His next step is to get him in position for the stroke. The third step is to step in simultaneously as he is looping the ball. This is one of
the reasons why his loop is so fluid. He steps in on every shot. He says that if you don't, your body gets twisted and your arm goes up and you
become off balance. By stepping in, the energy transfer goes into the ball and you stay in balance. And so there he was, looking like a chipmunk
on crack, taking 3 quick steps to complete each stroke. Doing this over and over to a fairly good speed on the robot. After each shot he barely
had enough time to get back into service position before the next ball shot out, and then it was 3 more steps to dispose of that one. He easily
completed 15 minutes in this fashion. 15 doesn't sound like a lot but I certainly wouldn't want to do it. But I guess I have to if I ever want to improve.
After this put the robot back in the middle of the table, reversed the spin on the head, and did the same drill with the head spraying balls all over.
He finished the evening by putting the robot on as much speed as it could go and shooting topspin balls over the net. He had the oscillator on and
turned up the frequency and he was counterlooping all of the shots. The robot actually makes very good speed and spin and it was great to watch
him moving around counterlooping all these balls to everywhere. But I wanted to see just how fast can he go. So I turned up the frequency on the
oscillator. No sooner did one ball leave his paddle then another shot out from the head. It was great fun to watch, and very impressive too.
Tomorrow we go back to ASU (more adjustment). Since the ASU club plays there friday nights, he will play his first matches there tomorrow. I think
he's ready.
Everything began as normal. We're back in the garage and there is an adjustment process that takes place. We talked about it after the session
over dinner. Basically, what I do when I play is learn a stroke, repeat it until muscle memory takes over, then try to recreate that stroke in games
and drills. If any variable changes, such as the ball or the table or the altitude or the humidity or the rubber's glue effect or my cat ran away &
hasn't come home yet- I'm going to miss. What Chetan does is that he opens up for the shot and then looks very carefully at the ball. It is this
period of looking that is completely nonexistent in my game. Don't get me wrong, I "think" I'm looking but I'm really not. I'm not concentrating very
hard on the ball. I'm concentrating more on the stroke, or on the spin on the ball, or where is the opponent, and where do I want my shot to go,
what's the score, do I really need this point or not, will I have to buy a new cat, do I look skinny in this outfit? O.k....you get the point.
It is after the initial opening of his arm/body that Chetan adjusts by bending knees more or standing slightly higher, by moving in or moving out,
adjusting blade angle, etc. He's doing this at the same time as all the rest of the stuff. Even he requires time to do this. But it doesn't take 5 days
as it takes me. He says he can generally adjust to new conditions in an hour, depending on how extreme is the conditions.
The next half of the practice session goes pretty much exactly as the others.
I did something new today. He wants me to serve short then he's going to push out and he wants me to open up and he's going to attack back. In
a forehand stance I serve and he pushes out to my wide forehand and I'm really pressed to even get to the ball. I realize that my serving stance
needs work. He instructs me to come out of that stance into a more midcourt position, so that I can better get to the return. Maybe this seems
obvious to most of you. But I've never really had to deal with this quality of returns before. Not on a regular basis. The important thing here is for
us to examine not only the quality of our serve but of how well does our serve "serve" our purpose? We want to make sure that our footwork after
the serve sets us up for what we wish to do next.
We bring out the robot. It's a Newgy. Instead of setting it up smack in the middle of the table as usual, he sets it up on the far right corner (as you
are looking across the net) and sets it to serve reverse sidespin fingerbreakers. Fully 1/2 of the robot was hanging off the edge of the table, so
that the "head" was located very close to the right endline. The ball shoots down at the table on the robot side, bounces onto the other side, and
just barely misses the endline on the second bounce. This is to simulate a righty person doing backhand serves, or a righty person doing curled in
serves (like Samsonov, Schlager, etc) Interestingly, the robot doesn't give every ball exactly the same and Chetan says this is a good thing.
Though the robot is set at straight sidespin, some balls will have just a hair more top than others, or just a hair more under. Some will just barely
miss the endline and some will bounce just inside the endline. He practices flipping, dropshotting, and looping to all places.
I have to talk about his footwork because this was so cool. Most of us get into our "serve return" position and then after seeing the ball we either
lunge for the ball or take one step at most. Chetan takes 3. Yep. THREE.
Now mind you it does depend on where the serve is going. In this case the newgy was scattering balls around his forehand side. (we had to play
with the robot settings to get it to do this b/c of where we had located the robot). His first step is actually a very suttle "hop" the purpose of which
he says is actually to facilitate movement in the next direction. What???? I have no idea. When you weigh as much as I do, you don't waste
movement. His next step is to get him in position for the stroke. The third step is to step in simultaneously as he is looping the ball. This is one of
the reasons why his loop is so fluid. He steps in on every shot. He says that if you don't, your body gets twisted and your arm goes up and you
become off balance. By stepping in, the energy transfer goes into the ball and you stay in balance. And so there he was, looking like a chipmunk
on crack, taking 3 quick steps to complete each stroke. Doing this over and over to a fairly good speed on the robot. After each shot he barely
had enough time to get back into service position before the next ball shot out, and then it was 3 more steps to dispose of that one. He easily
completed 15 minutes in this fashion. 15 doesn't sound like a lot but I certainly wouldn't want to do it. But I guess I have to if I ever want to improve.
After this put the robot back in the middle of the table, reversed the spin on the head, and did the same drill with the head spraying balls all over.
He finished the evening by putting the robot on as much speed as it could go and shooting topspin balls over the net. He had the oscillator on and
turned up the frequency and he was counterlooping all of the shots. The robot actually makes very good speed and spin and it was great to watch
him moving around counterlooping all these balls to everywhere. But I wanted to see just how fast can he go. So I turned up the frequency on the
oscillator. No sooner did one ball leave his paddle then another shot out from the head. It was great fun to watch, and very impressive too.
Tomorrow we go back to ASU (more adjustment). Since the ASU club plays there friday nights, he will play his first matches there tomorrow. I think
he's ready.
Training with Chetan - Article #5
I've written pretty much all that can be written in terms of how he trains. Now it's just a matter of doing it. Has anyone on this forum copied some of
his drills? I've set up the robot twice in the last month to practice serve return the way he does. Amazingly, it's helped. I have typically been
ridiculously weak against backhand serves. Now I'm much stronger against them. But I'm supposed to be doing that twice a week, not twice a
month.
O.k., let me get the paris stuff over with first. Chetan arrived in paris and of course his main concern was getting his game up to speed. He
received a lot of training and help from Andrew Bagalley (sp?) of the English Table Tennis team, as well as his own Indian team members of course.
With only 3 days to go, they mostly just played matches. Lots of matches. As you know, Chetan did make it out of his round robin. I asked how
good were those players. Chetan just said that he didn't have to do anything special to win. But then he had to face world #41 Tasaki, the #1
player on the Japanese team.
Tasaki was a penholder who used pips. The pips were apparently glued. Chetan said that Tasaki has the hardest flat kills of any penholder, even
faster than any of the top chinese. He said that Tasaki's equipment is super-fast, a thick and heavy blade, and he hits the ball like a rocket. I
asked him how do these flat hits compare to Liu Gouliang and Chetan said that although LG has a much better game, Taskaki hits harder. (he
mentioned that LG has a very advanced technical game, with emphasis on serves and serve returns, as well as strategy, etc. Tasaki just comes
out to bang. )
Chetan said that Tasaki is basically an inconsistent player, and is prone to going on hot and cold streaks. He plays mostly forehand hits and flips.
His serves are safe but not spectacular. [note: chetan's serves are also safe but not spectacular] Chetan's strategy was to get ahead in points,
because he felt that Tasaki is not as good under pressure as he would be if he were ahead. But I guess that strategy didn't work. :)
Tasaki was seemingly flat killing all of his serves, even ones that most other players would roll or push. Chetan did one serve in particular that
should have been safe, it was a heavy underspin ball that sat 1/2 inch above the net. It got killed. Chetan said that he quickly learned that there
were only a few serves that he could do that wouldn't get killed. One was a very short underspin to Tasaki's backhand. Tasaki was often forced
to do a weak flip, which is something that Chetan loves to play against. Chetan is, I believe, NOT a power looper, but rather someone who likes to
work off of other's pace, and also a great counterlooper. So he loves it when you give him a weak flip, he can Tee-Off on that. The problem was
that there was so much pressure to keep the serve low, because otherwise there would be a sound and a blur and then you had to go pick up the
ball. The other problem was styles. If chetan had to face a World #40 looper, he would have done much better. But the flat dead fast balls coming
off this pips-out maniac were very difficult for Chetan to handle. I'd love to see what Kong would do against Tasaki. Kong owns Johnny Huang, so
probably he would easily beat Tasaki. But I'd still love to see what exactly he does, how he serves, etc.
The other serve that Chetan used was a very low slightly light side spin slightly light underspin ball that was a finger breaker to Tasaki's deep
backhand. By the time the ball reaches the opponent, the spins have worn off and it is now pretty much low and dead. Invariably Tasaki would step
around his backhand to take a forehand, but with pips there isn't much you can do with these dead things. Tasaki would be forced to roll it and
again that plays perfectly into Chetan's game. The problem is, that serve is hard to do. The distance and the height have to be just right.
Chetan found himself ahead twice in the match, once it was 9-5. Serving at 9-5 he went for the short underspin. As expected Tasaki stepped
around for the flip and Chetan, anticipating, was ready for the counter rip. But maybe he stepped too fast, Tasaki saw it, and tasaki did a weird kind
of side-spin thing to drop it side-spinny and short. Chetan did not get to it in time. On the next serve Chetan went for the fingerbreaker, but served
too high and paid the price. Tasaki then got a net/edge to pull ahead, and finally he served and followed cleanly to win that game.
I wish I could have some video of this match for purely educational reasons. I don't think I learn as much from a match like, for example, Boll vs.
Yike where there are ridiculous things happening that I'll never be able to copy. Not that I can copy Chetan either, but, you know what I mean.
I've written pretty much all that can be written in terms of how he trains. Now it's just a matter of doing it. Has anyone on this forum copied some of
his drills? I've set up the robot twice in the last month to practice serve return the way he does. Amazingly, it's helped. I have typically been
ridiculously weak against backhand serves. Now I'm much stronger against them. But I'm supposed to be doing that twice a week, not twice a
month.
O.k., let me get the paris stuff over with first. Chetan arrived in paris and of course his main concern was getting his game up to speed. He
received a lot of training and help from Andrew Bagalley (sp?) of the English Table Tennis team, as well as his own Indian team members of course.
With only 3 days to go, they mostly just played matches. Lots of matches. As you know, Chetan did make it out of his round robin. I asked how
good were those players. Chetan just said that he didn't have to do anything special to win. But then he had to face world #41 Tasaki, the #1
player on the Japanese team.
Tasaki was a penholder who used pips. The pips were apparently glued. Chetan said that Tasaki has the hardest flat kills of any penholder, even
faster than any of the top chinese. He said that Tasaki's equipment is super-fast, a thick and heavy blade, and he hits the ball like a rocket. I
asked him how do these flat hits compare to Liu Gouliang and Chetan said that although LG has a much better game, Taskaki hits harder. (he
mentioned that LG has a very advanced technical game, with emphasis on serves and serve returns, as well as strategy, etc. Tasaki just comes
out to bang. )
Chetan said that Tasaki is basically an inconsistent player, and is prone to going on hot and cold streaks. He plays mostly forehand hits and flips.
His serves are safe but not spectacular. [note: chetan's serves are also safe but not spectacular] Chetan's strategy was to get ahead in points,
because he felt that Tasaki is not as good under pressure as he would be if he were ahead. But I guess that strategy didn't work. :)
Tasaki was seemingly flat killing all of his serves, even ones that most other players would roll or push. Chetan did one serve in particular that
should have been safe, it was a heavy underspin ball that sat 1/2 inch above the net. It got killed. Chetan said that he quickly learned that there
were only a few serves that he could do that wouldn't get killed. One was a very short underspin to Tasaki's backhand. Tasaki was often forced
to do a weak flip, which is something that Chetan loves to play against. Chetan is, I believe, NOT a power looper, but rather someone who likes to
work off of other's pace, and also a great counterlooper. So he loves it when you give him a weak flip, he can Tee-Off on that. The problem was
that there was so much pressure to keep the serve low, because otherwise there would be a sound and a blur and then you had to go pick up the
ball. The other problem was styles. If chetan had to face a World #40 looper, he would have done much better. But the flat dead fast balls coming
off this pips-out maniac were very difficult for Chetan to handle. I'd love to see what Kong would do against Tasaki. Kong owns Johnny Huang, so
probably he would easily beat Tasaki. But I'd still love to see what exactly he does, how he serves, etc.
The other serve that Chetan used was a very low slightly light side spin slightly light underspin ball that was a finger breaker to Tasaki's deep
backhand. By the time the ball reaches the opponent, the spins have worn off and it is now pretty much low and dead. Invariably Tasaki would step
around his backhand to take a forehand, but with pips there isn't much you can do with these dead things. Tasaki would be forced to roll it and
again that plays perfectly into Chetan's game. The problem is, that serve is hard to do. The distance and the height have to be just right.
Chetan found himself ahead twice in the match, once it was 9-5. Serving at 9-5 he went for the short underspin. As expected Tasaki stepped
around for the flip and Chetan, anticipating, was ready for the counter rip. But maybe he stepped too fast, Tasaki saw it, and tasaki did a weird kind
of side-spin thing to drop it side-spinny and short. Chetan did not get to it in time. On the next serve Chetan went for the fingerbreaker, but served
too high and paid the price. Tasaki then got a net/edge to pull ahead, and finally he served and followed cleanly to win that game.
I wish I could have some video of this match for purely educational reasons. I don't think I learn as much from a match like, for example, Boll vs.
Yike where there are ridiculous things happening that I'll never be able to copy. Not that I can copy Chetan either, but, you know what I mean.
