Improving Fast: These Are the Keys
1
Practice more. Many amateur experts advanced through multi-ball practice. It is very effective for improving individual techniques, and effectively helps you find the striking rhythm while moving. If you cannot do multi-ball, at least practice more. Practicing serves for 15 minutes before a match can quickly help you find the feel of brushing the ball and raise serve spin quality.
We usually jump into matches at the drop of a hat, lacking practice time. So our feel is never at its best, and there are many inexplicable errors.
2
Relax your mindset. Not only the body should relax, to avoid injury, but the mindset too. Relaxed, our striking rhythm is more composed. Especially in matches, reminding yourself to relax from time to time lets you better receive the opponent’s serve and produce higher ball quality.
3
A former national team veteran said: a true expert’s relaxation in movement first shows in the grip. The wrist and arm are practically in a state of muscle weakness, but at the instant of firing, they can suddenly tighten. From stillness, relaxed, to acceleration takes only an instant. Only this way can you produce accelerating power, and the return quality is high. If you always try to force power, gripping the arm and wrist tightly before even striking, the result is the opposite — much effort, little reward.
4
Deliberate defense. Form some of your own deliberate defensive patterns. Sometimes, when there is no good attacking chance, place the ball where the opponent struggles to produce high quality, and then defend effectively, even adding power off the borrowed pace.
You could say every amateur expert must master this step. The stronger your deliberate defense, the better your attacking rhythm, because you clearly know you can score on defense too, so you will not panic, and your striking rhythm is more reasonable.
(A more effortless inner blade with explosive speed: the Yinhe Heima-tuned.)
5
Analyze your own scoring methods. Some players’ main scoring comes not from their own active attack, but from how they cause the opponent’s errors. After analyzing how you score, keep strengthening that advantage. Otherwise, you play blindly, hit-or-miss, sometimes attacking too much, sometimes too conservatively, failing to stick to your main style.
6
Suitable equipment — the key is highlighting your control over it. Only when you fully command the bat in your hand can you bring out all your technique. Over the long run, only then can technique progress. Maybe what you need is just a faithful, linear Zhang Jike ALC, yet you choose the springy, explosive but error-prone Super Zhang Jike. Those all-around amateur god-bats deserve more attention, like the Carbon 45, Lin Gaoyuan ALC and Jun Mizutani ZLC.
7
Change to fresh rubber often. Rather than fretting over which gear suits you better, sometimes it is better to save some money and switch to fresh rubber. When rubber is brand-new, the friction and control it provides are far better than old rubber, and attacking becomes more grounded. Naturally results improve. Old rubber easily drops balls, spin decreases, and the error rate rises. Boll’s habit of changing to fresh rubber every training session is every amateur player’s dream.
8
Play in your imagination. This benefits beginner and intermediate players greatly. Imagine how you serve, how you attack, how you move and create arcs in a rally. Over time, progress comes much faster.
9
Keep up your frequency of going to unfamiliar venues. For example, at least once every two weeks, meet some different opponents. Besides stimulating your excitement, it also raises your on-the-fly adjustment ability. These help your real match ability a lot.
10
Sleep enough. This is no longer just a middle-aged uncle’s problem; many young people do not sleep enough either. The facts prove most people’s competitive state is much better playing on weekends. After sleeping enough, that reaction speed and striking state really are different. If you feel your bat’s power has dropped, sometimes it is just you who is out of fuel. Sleep first, then talk.