I trained on the Newgy Robo-Pong 2040 table tennis robot with Coach Roger Dickson. He had me do several different drills. They started out somewhat basic and then he had me do more challenging ones that really got me moving and focused on the ball and my footwork.
First, I did a forehand drill where I started with a block up close to the table and then moved back from the table to hit a full stroke following through. I did that several times, first slow then with the ball frequency turned up. Then I switched to my backhand side and did the same thing.
Next Roger had me combine those two drills to make a more complicated drill. I had to do a forehand block up close to the table, then move back from the table and hit a full stroke, then move back up to the table to hit a backhand block and then back away from the table to hit a backhand full stroke.
Next I did a drill similar to the last one, but this time it was more like a square. I started again with the forehand block, then moved back to hit a forehand full stroke, then I hit a backhand full stroke and then moved up again close to the table to hit a backhand block.
Then he made it even more challenging by adding placement aim to the last drill to help me practice aiming at certain sides of the table. As I was hitting, he called out which side of the table for me to focus on hitting it.
Wheww! What a workout!
Jena Newgarden
This week I played table tennis some with my dad (Joe Newgarden) and trained with Roger Dickson. My dad likes to hit with a lot of spin when he is playing and he also likes to slam the ball to me knowing that I am not able to hit them back yet. The ping-pong ball even hit me a few times so eventually I learned to just step aside if I knew I wasn’t going to be able to hit the ball back. I think he just likes to show off. Every time I play with him, he emphasizes over and over to make sure I keep my legs bent, stay on my toes and keep my left arm up for balance. I think it is starting to sink in.
I worked on my serves some more with Roger and I think I am getting a little better. We also just hit back and forth to work on my strokes and leg movement. I am starting to feel more comfortable with hitting my backhand and forehand when the ball is clearly coming to either my backhand or forehand side but when the ball comes straight to me, I feel like there is a right and wrong way to hit it. I mean depending on whether I am standing more to the left or the right I feel like I need to use the appropriate stroke. I get all flustered and usually end up hitting it all crazy and missing. So Roger told me to just hit it with whichever I feel more comfortable with instead of thinking there is a right and wrong. For me, that is my backhand. More to come next week…
This week I started training with Roger Dickson, the head table tennis coach at the Newgy Table Tennis Center. I will be training with him a couple times a week now. This week we worked on my serves. He started by having me throw the ball up with my left hand and catch it in my right hand. We went over all the rules of serving such as how far to throw the ball up and not holding the ball over the table. When I see other people serve, it doesn’t look that difficult but when I actually have to do, it is a lot more challenging.
Roger had me learn to serve first with my forehand and with an underspin. At first, it didn’t even make over the net to the other side of the table. After many times, it finally made it over but just barely. It did have some spin to it so if I were really playing, my opponent would have probably had a difficult time hitting it back.
Every time I would go to serve, I had to stop and think about it- how high to throw the ball up, making sure it was straight in front of me and at what moment to hit the ball with my paddle. It just doesn’t come natural to me yet, but Roger said it would over time.
Then we worked on my backhand serves. I pretty much had the same issues with them as I did with my forehand serves. Practice, practice. More to come next week…
Today I trained and played table tennis with my dad, Joe Newgarden. This was the first time in a VERY long time that we have played table tennis together. I know he is so excited that I have finally started playing table tennis.
We hit the ball around on the table some and also practiced on the Newgy Robo-Pong 2040 table tennis robot. We started out by just playing on the ping-pong table first so he could get a feel for how I am doing so far. I think I am doing pretty well for a beginner, other than the fact that I feel like I am completely blind sometimes when I miss a ball that goes right by me and I swing my paddle and miss it. I’m still having trouble with my footwork and being able to move to the far side of the table to hit a ball instead of just leaning in to hit it. I think my dad forgot sometimes that I am a beginner and hit some balls with underspin to me. I was able to hit some of them back but most didn’t make it back over the net. We also worked on getting me comfortable with hitting my backhand and forehand appropriately depending on which side of the table the ball comes to.
Then I practiced some on the Newgy Robo-Pong 2040. My dad had me practice my strokes and make sure I had the proper form. He is very big on keeping my left arm up for balance and my knees bent. He kept reminding me of that. I did some simple drills of just forehand and then just backhand and then he made it a little more challenging and made the Robo-Pong oscillate to two different positions on my forehand side. One of them was very close to the edge of the table so that helped me work on my footwork to get over there to those balls. I am pretty exhausted now. More to come next week…
So I’m on week 2 of my table tennis training. I had a really busy week and am still getting over a bad cold so I was only able to play table tennis one day this week. I played with Liliana, one of the members of the Newgy Table Tennis Training Center. We had a lot of fun playing and I feel like I got a great workout. After just hitting the ball around for awhile we realized I was playing mostly with my backhand, even on shots that clearly should’ve been hit with my forehand. I guess I just feel more comfortable with my backhand so far. So we decided to work on my forehand and alternating between the two. I had to really make a conscious effort to hit the ball with my forehand. After a little bit, I started to feel more comfortable with it. That is something I will definitely be working on now.
Also, I noticed that when we were practicing alternating between my backhand and forehand strokes that I wasn’t moving my legs enough. I think I was leaning into the shots more and that made me end up missing some of them because I couldn’t get close enough to the ball. It’s just so much to think about at once – getting my stroke right, keeping my eye on the ball and moving my legs the right way. Table tennis truly is a sport that benefits your coordination.
Serving. Now that takes coordination. I just can’t do it very well. That is something that I am going to be practicing this coming week. After talking to other people that play table tennis, they all say that is one of the most challenging aspects of learning the sport of table tennis. More to come next week…