Fred's Been Practicing

[JKC]

Following a few quiet weeks from me (I have been watching quietly and occasionally commenting). I am making my return the forums (with a bang - you decide).


Fred's latest vid - discuss.

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[Tinykin]

Awesome.

[JKC]

That pretty much sums up my opinion of how he is playing at the moment too.

[Barry White]

Magic, just make Fred aware of his free arm, there is little or no movement.

[Wiggy63]

Magic, just make Fred aware of his free arm, there is little or no movement.

Nothing wrong with that, unless you've swallowed a coaching manual, IMO, 'static free arm' players are harder to read.

[Belisar]

I agree with Barry. It has the potential to leave you a bit unbalanced, does not help any upper body rotation and in Fred's case gets a bit close to his playing arm at times - maybe I have swallowed a coaching manual as well.

To be fair it can be hard to comment when you see a few minutes of action. I think you need to see the players for a while to coach properly as everyone is different and I am not one for producing robotic players who all look the same.

Looks like Fred is hitting a lot harder and has improved an awful lot since the last time we saw him. Nice one - looking good.

[JKC]

I do encourage him to hold it higher, but he doesn't tend to use it to help his body rotation at all (in fact it goes the wrong way quite often). I do think he uses it to help with his balance though. When he gets tall enough to crouch a little more I think the freearm will be less of a problem as he will be less prone to leaning back after a shot.

[Wiggy63]

I agree with Barry. It has the potential to leave you a bit unbalanced, does not help any upper body rotation and in Fred's case gets a bit close to his playing arm at times - maybe I have swallowed a coaching manual as well.

I agree there is the potential for balance problems, a slack free arm managed to get Schlager to the world singles title though, Klampar was similarly very low on free arm use, and the danger can IMO be to overcoach players. The free arm can be a giveaway as to a players intentions.

[KieranNCFC]

Very good for his age. Dont know what his matchplay is like, its fine doing rallys and stuff but make him play games and make him choose what shot to do in what situation.

Looking good though, some superb winning smashes in the first 20 seconds.

Are those pink shoes JKC?

[Chopfloat]

Excellent Fred's looking good, James.
I hope he's not using Wiggy's concoction as a booster! Marmite's good for kids!

[Barry White]

Nothing wrong with that, unless you've swallowed a coaching manual, IMO, 'static free arm' players are harder to read.

The reason I said that to make him aware of his free arm, was for balance. Darrens best shots in a match are when he moves in the opposite direction to where he is playing the ball. I do feel that you are risking people voicing their comments, with this type of answer Andy.

[Wiggy63]

The reason I said that to make him aware of his free arm, was for balance. Darrens best shots in a match are when he moves in the opposite direction to where he is playing the ball. I do feel that you are risking people voicing their comments, with this type of answer Andy.

Why? do we all have to conform to some kind of single thought process? Whilst I agree with you that using the free arm is an aid to balance, players use it to more and lesser degrees, and I think you'll find that my comments were accompanied by 'IMO' meaning that its my own opinion, not something that you or anyone else has to agree with. IMO some of the hardest players to play against give little away with their free arm, because they have found a natural level of balance, conserative use when compared to the heavily coached technique of 'both arms at 90 degrees' rammed down kids throats in the 70's and 80's. Voice your comments please, that's what I thought this place was for....

Back to Fred, I think he uses his arm to balance himself in a natural way, and at no point looks off balance. he's got alot of growing to do too, so it may be beneficial to let his technique develop naturally as he grows, without over grooving when he is small.

[Dave Robson]

I think the word that hasnt been mentioned (as always) is balance - not in the "balanced" way but in the mix and use of the free arm within the stroke use and choice. In other words get the balance between the use of the free arm being under and over used.

The lack of use or non use of the free arm will create problems later in my opinion, which is not the case here so not a worry.

Thats my opinion voiced

[JKC]

Very good for his age. Dont know what his matchplay is like, its fine doing rallys and stuff but make him play games and make him choose what shot to do in what situation.

Looking good though, some superb winning smashes in the first 20 seconds.

Are those pink shoes JKC?

Those are my new silver Dawei shoes and they have the best grip of any shoes I have ever had. They also have excellent grip in the snow which is very useful today.

I haven't smeared Freddie's bat with marmite, we always use this-



He does have a new bat though, which really seems to have given him an extra bit of control on his more powerful shots.

I think one problem Fred has with the free arm is that he stands so close to the table that if he used it in the 'textbook' way he would be hitting the table with it constantly or would have to stand further away - not something I want to encourage at this stage.

[Belisar]

I think one problem Fred has with the free arm is that he stands so close to the table that if he used it in the 'textbook' way he would be hitting the table with it constantly or would have to stand further away - not something I want to encourage at this stage.

Fair point this. Also the one where if he were taller he would more naturally lean forwards (which in turn may help his arm) is worthy of note.

I would simply look to set as many "good" habits as I can at the moment (and what constitutes a good habit is going to be open to individual judgements).

As he progresses it could be harder to get him to make adjustments to his free arm as that could upset other areas of his game. For me it is not something that will make or break him as a player, I just see more pluses than minuses.

I for one am happy that different people have different views on how to coach and get the best out of people. Nice to see a few views and reasons.

I do have a question though - what blade is he using ? Does he have a smaller handle or is he using a normal one ?

[JKC]

He is using a Galaxy K-4 which started of life with a standard sized flared handle, but was lovingly sanded down to a more appropriate size for his hand by me. He has 2 sheets of 1.8mm Inspirit Quattro UL 35deg and it all adds up to a nice light bat with reasonable speed, good control and feeling.

[Barry White]

I have posted on another forum. Credit where credits due, amazing Freddie. Wiggy loves an argument. We cant all be perfect!

[Wiggy63]

I have posted on another forum. Credit where credits due, amazing Freddie. Wiggy loves an argument. We cant all be perfect!

I like it at last your getting to know me Barry!

[Greenflash]

Wiggy produces contraversy and that is great on forums with different view points. Fred is doing fabulous and the height gain will make the free arm more included.

[Lefty]

I, can't see the vid for some reason! but i think that different styles can only be a good thing, and agree with wiggy that as long as he is'nt losing balance then its not a problem, I don't see why people would be offended by that comment.

Wiggy why have you got this argumentative rep on here? I presume it's just banter because you never came across like that in all the years I knew you.

Back to young Freddie [I presume he's young] the shame is if he ever gets to a level where he is involved with the England set up, his individual style will be beaten out of him, and will end up playing the same way all our junior's do and have for sometime now. Will they ever learn that other than a few exceptions it's not working??

Mark