MHTT World Champs Buildup Diary: Day 9

Sunday was my rest day, Monday I went to New York so today it was back to serious business. First thing I'm still noticing in training is that I'm just not light enough on my feet. It became particularly obvious in the multiball, especially in the 3 point forehand drill that currently I just can't cover the space back to the starting forehand at a very good quality level. I need to keep doing multiball to get lighter on my feet and hopefully it should improve within 1-2 weeks and I will be able to push some harder drills out.

I had a good training session with Lily Yip in the morning. In terms of technique I'm a lot happier with how my forehand stroke is developing. I've managed to make the stroke more linear, take the backswing out from behind my body and add more torque from my waist so I'm adding in a lot more rotation and follow through in my swing. The results have shown more clearly recently!

In terms of things that need working on, re-watching my multiball videos, I still need to get my bat higher when playing backhand against topspin. In my three point drill (top) you can see that my preparation for backhand always starts with my bat dropping below the table and it was obvious again in a later drill. I need to be starting the stroke higher and driving through the ball more when I'm countering.

I need to be more persistent with my morning workouts, today I thought I would leave it until after my training session. As it turned out I did multiball until I dropped to the ground so I didn't have much determination to get up and do physical training.

Fundraising has been going reasonably well, I'm half way to my target but time is running out. Greatly appreciating the support received so far.

www.gofundme.com/mhtabletennis