How to beat a blocker

[@liquidginji3093]

Really liked that video. Since I'm mainly blocking myself, cause I don't have a decent counter-topspin, seeing the attacking methods layed out gives me several clues, what I have to look out for when I'm blocking. Especially the "attacking the crossover" looks incredibly familiar. A tactic a pal of mine likes to use against me, is instead of striking topspin after topspin he eventually uses one of my low speed blocks to play a short drive or touch shot making me run in to reach for the ball. If I don't recover in time, he gets me with his next topspin while I'm still in motion or too close to the table. This probably fits into the last category, but I still wanted to mention it. Don't know how valid this is against better players though.

[@TomLodziak]

The short ball cane work against some blockers, but for a blocker who stays close to the table it is less of an issue. But it's a tactic worth trying.

[@josefjehlik1475]

Hi Mr.Teacher Tom!!!I am 62 and we play region "Domažlice" in west czech.PI like your lessons and also your very clear english.Thank you very much.Josef Jehlik

[@Joygulplay]

The biggest secret is the side spin if you use side spin you can control the blocker because they need to adjust the angle of their paddle on a specific way wich is making it very hard for them and also you can make the ball go wider on the table wich will make them move more.

[@lucaingenhaag5240]

Ading fast sidespin or topsin and sidespin forces your enemy to make mistakes early

[@TomLodziak]

Yes, adding some sidespin is another tactic which can make it harder for some blockers.

[@Franky_1974]

Hi Tom. As always a very good video with helpful tips. Thanks for that. I also like to block and therefore use the speed and the spin for my strokes. I block a lot, but I can attack very well. My reaction is better than ever thanks to your videos. Especially since the tip, to view the opponent after the stroke and not the ball. This gives me more time to prepare accordingly. Thanks a lot for that. 🙏🏻

[@TomLodziak]

Happy to help! Thanks for watching.

[@SmileyDAce]

i came to learn how to beat a blocker. Turns out I'm the blocker among my friends, and I didn't even know.

[@bhishmaaa]

congratulations Tom for 100,000 subs..You are an amazing coach. I have improved my game only by watching you train and consistently practicing.

[@TomLodziak]

Thank you for the kind words and for watching my videos. Hope you continue to improve!

[@bhishmaaa]

@@TomLodziak I sure will and im proud to be following you to improve my skills in this sports. Much love to you 🙏

[@main___name___main___name]

If the blocker is better, he will win. Likewise for the attacker. In general, if you play better than your opponent, you will win.

[@cosmicnugget9112]

kat undmaus isn't that how sports work?

[@dang5874]

The point is that their game is VERY unbalanced

[@aminwazir]

Very good lesson Sir!

[@hshlom]

Crossover Position, the right hip of a right handed player - I like that term. It will help to remember to aim there more often!

[@marcialjr]

You've got great blocking skills.

[@benmcmanus8192]

Looking forward to geting some coaching from you next year Tom till then thanks for the videos

[@TT-Freak]

Good video. I would add to vary length of the balls and vary timing of when the ball is played. Idealy you would want the blocker off the table, cause that is where he doesn't want to be to work with your spin and speed, but the odd one short ball also helps to break his rythm. Blockers usually do not stand that far off the table as you demonstrate here, the good ones at least. Varying the timing can also help to break the blockers rythm, but we certainly agree those two are for the talented players. And when I talk about long balls I mean less than 1-2 inches from the white endline.

[@TomLodziak]

Yes this is a good point. I actually recorded a section on the tactic of varying length, but I cut it, as I thought it made the video too long. But you are absolutely right.

[@leocarmopereira]

Keep bringing the good content Tom!

[@shaileshindapurkar5829]

Very useful 👌 tacticts

[@geanixgeanix7108]

Quite useful. Thanx for the tips...

[@ayaanvaliulla6375]

I used the first one but others were very useful

[@ayaanvaliulla6375]

Keep making these kinds of vids and u can also make some type of tt related fun vids

[@sheldonjames4658]

Very interesting 😊

[@rogerhance5883]

Good video

[@mihai8555]

Great video. I like the tip about attacking down the line. Can you make a video to discuss playing against blockers with anti-top and short pimples?

[@ToTemat]

Blooks give a lot of points when they are made with the head and chases the opponent, which he attacks himself

[@johna6968]

The choppers give me more concern.

[@guohongtay27]

Especially chopper that can chop with one side inverted rubber and another side pip rubber

[@nousername1475]

@@guohongtay27 I once encountered a player who had half rubber half pimples on the same side like seriously how cancer can table tennis get.

[@wagyu2733]

When u block by chopping down back hand oops

[@charless3108]

@@nousername1475 wait till people start putting 4 types of rubbers on the same side, with each type of rubber taking up a quarter of the side

[@ALandarion]

Wont these tactics work against any player and not just against a blocker? The only useful idea here seems to attack more often down the line, everything else sounds like - "you just have to play better - more spin, more speed and vary placement" - then you will win, thanks Sherlock on that :D The main issues with the blocker is that he can do all this stuff easier and with less effort than the top-spinner (except may be for the heavy top spins, but he don't really need those) - the blocker will vary the speed and placement for you much easier than you can do it for him. And he will make less mistakes. Some of the ideas that work against blockeds at my super low level: 1. Add more chops/pushes, and don't attack his pushes when not ready - a blocker rarely attacks himself, so if his first push is very spinny - the second one may be not. Also doing a no-spin push may cause him to make a mistake and raise the ball a little bit for an easier attack. 2. Drop-shots make blockers do a lot of work and they hate doing a lot of work)) 3. Long fast serves with no spin or backspin - something that they can't just block or push back. 4. Depending on the level and the angles that the blocker does - you can sometimes just go far away from the table and make some slow topsins, and even lobs at them, forcing them to work more on those balls.

[@TomLodziak]

Yes, these tactics are generally good for any opponent, but they work particularly well against a blocker. The tactics you describe may work against a very low-level blocker, but I don't think they will give much difficultly to a higher level blocker. Against the better blockers, you do need to attack as described in the video.

[@coverattempts]

Love the video without echoing sound

[@wagyu2733]

Blocking was chopping is just so potent, especially when u can get a back spin chop smash

[@jasper8368]

Well my school coach is a blocker on the backhand and attacker on the forehand... What should I do?

[@mehtashamik]

Hi Tom, loved your videos. Very helpful for my 7 yr old son. Will you please show how to hit back hand smash/ fast shot.

[@TomLodziak]

I have a video on aggressive BH attack coming next year. It's a good one!

[@azriazhar6288]

I am blocker...but i don't being 'unpredictable' helps since i block based on my instinct and not predicting where the player hits... Side spin definitely helps beating me

[@aldopalacios3357]

Thank for the very good video, Tom. I've got a friend who plays with a wasted old couple of rubbers. He's a very good blocker and does not want to change his rubbers, because spin shots don't affect him. What should I do to beat him. Thanks Tom!!

[@TomLodziak]

So if his rubbers are dead and not effected about spin, you should try and beat him through good quality ball placement and varying the speed of your attacks.

[@rationalttanalysis]

Tom pls stand with hk

[@hokage6353]

With Bribar if you click bat making up do they glue the runners on for you because I’m gonna buy a bundle and I’m unsure if they make the bat for me or I need to glue it on my own

[@TomLodziak]

Yes, they will glue the rubbers on and put some tape around the edge to make a nice finish.

[@hokage6353]

Thank you

[@ghoshneh]

A good blocker is good at blocking at left-centre--right direction with any speed/spin. However, he tends to be more weak at maintaining his blockings at short-long positions! So, the best strategy that always works for me against a good blocker is to alternate between playing short and long randomly (one short, two long, three shorts, one long etc). This way, you would make his "stable" position less stable since he is only used to left-centre-right blocking.

[@TomLodziak]

Yes, this is a good tactic which can work against some blockers.

[@idrivearttabletennis]

I tend to want to block, so how do I rate this video? (you're just making it hard for me - LOL). But seriously, it is a very good lesson - thank you!

[@TomLodziak]

Ha! Well, you now know what other attackers are trying to do to you, so you can work out a strategy to stop them from doing it.

[@idrivearttabletennis]

@@TomLodziak yep (at least I know what I should try to be doing - LOL). I "invite" players to play to my forehand by standing in such a way that it looks like the way to get a ball by me. But I do have a good forehand cross-court smash/kill shot that works well against right-handed players (I am left-handed).

[@thetruth4654]

As an attacker, i love to block it messes up the rythme of the opponent and quite often i get a good offensive shot when the ball comes back to me

[@georg7906]

Interesting video, but what's with the potato video quality?

[@TomLodziak]

Hmm... I think I used the wrong export setting. That's annoying!

[@selinacalters2061]

3:50 Can’t they easily just turn the racket downwards

[@RobertoCostas]

In that case, pointing with the tip of the bat upwards is better.

[@RaviShankar-jm1qw]

Let me try it against my blocker opponent ;)

[@futsojiy4614]

I am a blocker myself, or at least half of a blocker. I dont think these tactics are really useful against me or any other blocker who knows exactly what he is doing. Yes, you can vary the attacking positions, but a blocker does not simply block the ball backs to your middle!! You are also varying his blocking position and angle too! For the middle attack, I dont know how others are coping with this, but i myself will have a very decent and spinny chop block for that without moving much, and I am sure every good blocker has his own way for this. Changing the pace, this is by far the most useful tips, but this is not useful when I get better, for spinny slow top spins loops, usually I simply move and play a counterattack to the middle of my opponents and usually either this will directly wins the point or give me a win on the follow up. Developing your attacking plan, uhmm, i mean, who doesnt do that, even the blocker tries to anticipate your next placement and pace and form a defensive or counterattack plan.

[@anjoooo]

What advice would you give instead of what Tom had described in the video?

[@futsojiy4614]

@@anjoooo I will say sudden attack works the best, a blocker is a blocker because he wants to use the reaction force from you to get the ball onto your side, therefore, the major plan is to playing topspin with decent speed but with not much force all over the table so that he can only block or counterattack with a speed less than his best, wait for a good chance and committed to attack a few balls, if he manage to block back, just go back to step one and try again. The top priority should be putting everything back to the table instead of smashing right away. The downside of this tactic is if you are not good in continuous stroke then this plan just did not work for you, and if the blocker makes a good block for your sudden attack, then you are just going to lose this point sooner or later. The pros of this strategy is you take the initiative of when to trade off and you avoid playing his strength.

[@futsojiy4614]

ultimately whos the better who wins, blocker is not a style which at some point will hit the ceiling for improvement, there are plenty of pro players in the world who is basically just an advanced blocker, like the barkingmoto

[@TomLodziak]

For me it becomes a battle of ball placement when playing blockers. If the placement of my attacks are good, then the blocker has to react to me and the balls DO tend to come more centrally, making it easier to attack again. But if my ball placement is weak, then the blocker can put me under pressure with his ball placement, making it harder for me to keep attacking. An attacker with very good ball placement will beat a blocker 9 times out of 10.

[@futsojiy4614]

@@TomLodziak I agree this is a ball placement game, but I disagree that a blocker make a block to center is easier for attackers to attack, especially when he is intended to do that. I know one very good blocker who does this and he blocks every ball to the center of the table but with topspin and very close to baseline. This is super hard to penetrate him as there is no angle for you to take advantage of him, and he lengthens the distance between you and him, weakening the speed and spin. When he is defending at one and a half step behind the table in this style it is very annoying for anyone to play against him. I would also note that a good blocker does play counterattack fairly often and is not just blocking all the time , but most likely he is not going to take the initiative to attack.

[@xrai.]

My writing teacher said if I beat him in pingpong or table tennis he'll give me an A in his class

[@TomLodziak]

Ha! I hope you win!

[@xrai.]

Thanks Tom :)

[@tomsawyer2112]

Not convinced at all by this video, because a blocker stays close to the table, to keep short tight angles, no matter how you try to vary directions, he does not have to move much, side to side, he does not even need to move his feet... The ball will come back very fast, it doesn't give you much time to prepare the next shot. once a blocker moves back from the table, he is lost, because the angle of directions become large. How do you force him to move back ? To play the ball deep ...

[@TomLodziak]

Of course you can play the ball deep, but a good blocker will just adjust to this and take one step back. Variation is key - placement, spin and speed. Or if you have the opportunity, hitting the ball very hard!

[@rationalttanalysis]

If u can block drinkhall’s attack,no one can win u

[@andrewmccauley6262]

What's with your obsession with beta blockers?

[@jimbracchitta4758]

Third

[@Wisstihrwas]

simply said: change rythm!

[@alexegus71]

👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻😬😬😬

[@liambacon8595]

Moisture

[@rameshkumarramasamy901]

1st comment

[@jrk1666]

oh sang eun disliked