Daily Table Tennis Chit Chat

[latej]

I had an interesting EJ experience recently - I have been really liking my Franziska with T05/T64FX and finding a real nice balance of control and feel with speed. Then, as often happens, I found myself picking up an older but unused Avalox BT777 - with the caveat that it weighed in at 100gms. I put some of my lighter rubbers on it (D05/C1) and it came in at 194gms. It was amazing - feel, spin, balance etc but ultimately just a bit too heavy for me. So, I purchased a new one from Germany at 88gms and put a sheet of T05 on FH to compare to my Franziska - wow, what a disappointment. It was so much harder and stiffer feeling than the other one and my Franziska (despite being similar at 1265hz) It was just not great to play with. I have felt weight differences impacting blades before, but never lie this - I can only assume that the other one (10 years old but unplayed) had aged well.

In a way, I had a similar experience. I realized I can feel the differences between rubbers, and I think I even have certain understanding of why, and can somehow describe. But this is not like that with blades. There I only feel the differences, but can't describe well, and much less understand ;-)

On a side note, I wish we could speak about anything here, in dedicated threads. Perhaps these threads should be visible only for the members. But the other stuff belongs to us, TT is just a hobby for us. I don't want to discuss the other stuff elsewhere on the internet. It would be nice to be able to discuss it here. I believe we would learn not to insult each other. My opinion...

 

[dingyibvs]

In a way, I had a similar experience. I realized I can feel the differences between rubbers, and I think I even have certain understanding of why, and can somehow describe. But this is not like that with blades. There I only feel the differences, but can't describe well, and much less understand ;-)

On a side note, I wish we could speak about anything here, in dedicated threads. Perhaps these threads should be visible only for the members. But the other stuff belongs to us, TT is just a hobby for us. I don't want to discuss the other stuff elsewhere on the internet. It would be nice to be able to discuss it here. I believe we would learn not to insult each other. My opinion...

Many boards have an off-topic sub-board, but my experience is that without heavy moderation they usually become a cesspool of insults, oftentimes involving politics, in our current turbulent world.

As for blades, finding a blade that suits you is really important IMO, more so than rubbers. Switching between rubbers is relatively easy, but switching between blades is a real pain for me. The harder you strike the ball the more the characteristic of the blade takes over, and the more difference you feel.

On the topic of EJ'ing, I recently watched a video of Fang Bo talking about the pros' choice of blades, like why he chose his blade and why Ma Long chose his. He mentioned how Ma Long chose his blade because his shots are not very fast but it's very spinny, so he chose a blade that accentuates that. He had similar reasoning for his own choice, how his blade accentuated his positives. That made me think about how differently we amateurs choose our setups. We don't typically choose setups that amplify our strengths, but those that hide our weaknesses instead.

It's kind of interesting really. I, for example, seem to prefer to pair the D09c on my BH as opposed to all the CNT members with their H3's on their W968s because I like the speed it offers which helps cover for my difficulty in generating speed with the W968 on my BH side. They (ML, WCQ, LJK, etc.) presumably chose H3 to accentuate the W968's arc and spin, and the Viscaria variant users (FZD, LGY, LSD, etc.) use D09c's to accentuate its speed.

 

[Wrighty67]

In a way, I had a similar experience. I realized I can feel the differences between rubbers, and I think I even have certain understanding of why, and can somehow describe. But this is not like that with blades. There I only feel the differences, but can't describe well, and much less understand ;-)

On a side note, I wish we could speak about anything here, in dedicated threads. Perhaps these threads should be visible only for the members. But the other stuff belongs to us, TT is just a hobby for us. I don't want to discuss the other stuff elsewhere on the internet. It would be nice to be able to discuss it here. I believe we would learn not to insult each other. My opinion...

Interesting point re the rubbers and blades - thanks.

Regards the non TT stuff, our record would seem to indicate that we can't avoid things becoming personal. I have seen more and more threads lately deteriorate into a war of words that becomes personal and unpleasant. I think the variety of first languages not being English, added to the online nature / written vs spoken word makes this a very difficult thing to achieve given we don't have existing relationships or know each other. However, it's a fair point.

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

All this tacky rubber stuff makes me think - I've always felt that "Red is for forehand, black is for backhand" growing up, and TTDaily thinks so, too according to the profile thingy...
Is this something Euro vs China? Did the Chinese switch to black for FH at some point?

red for FH was the original european style, and that of forehand rubbers for 1 sided penholders back then.
So with the main guys doing it, it become a thread.

with Chinese rubbers coming out, black was able to come out more tacky than red, so chinese slowly adapted black as forehand and then also became a trend

(this post has no anti anything)

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

On a side note, I wish we could speak about anything here, in dedicated threads. Perhaps these threads should be visible only for the members. But the other stuff belongs to us, TT is just a hobby for us. I don't want to discuss the other stuff elsewhere on the internet. It would be nice to be able to discuss it here. I believe we would learn not to insult each other. My opinion...

there is space for it
called General Off Topic Discussion
ie the what song you are listening to right now that was started by Dan himself.
wanna see some admin go lock that thread

 

[Wrighty67]

Many boards have an off-topic sub-board, but my experience is that without heavy moderation they usually become a cesspool of insults, oftentimes involving politics, in our current turbulent world.

As for blades, finding a blade that suits you is really important IMO, more so than rubbers. Switching between rubbers is relatively easy, but switching between blades is a real pain for me. The harder you strike the ball the more the characteristic of the blade takes over, and the more difference you feel.

On the topic of EJ'ing, I recently watched a video of Fang Bo talking about the pros' choice of blades, like why he chose his blade and why Ma Long chose his. He mentioned how Ma Long chose his blade because his shots are not very fast but it's very spinny, so he chose a blade that accentuates that. He had similar reasoning for his own choice, how his blade accentuated his positives. That made me think about how differently we amateurs choose our setups. We don't typically choose setups that amplify our strengths, but those that hide our weaknesses instead.

It's kind of interesting really. I, for example, seem to prefer to pair the D09c on my BH as opposed to all the CNT members with their H3's on their W968s because I like the speed it offers which helps cover for my difficulty in generating speed with the W968 on my BH side. They (ML, WCQ, LJK, etc.) presumably chose H3 to accentuate the W968's arc and spin, and the Viscaria variant users (FZD, LGY, LSD, etc.) use D09c's to accentuate its speed.

I think that makes sense regards blade choice - I tend to lean towards softer feel and better hold (for want of a better word) and so whilst I love the crispness of outer blades like my Viscaria, I play better with softer and more forgiving blades like the Franziska. Rubbers is harder for me to lock down - I have loved hybrid harder rubbers like D09c on my FH but ultimately don't feel I am good enough to get the best out of them. Moving back to T05 has really demonstrated that to me as I get so much more spin and speed with my strokes, more of the time (and the slower blade limits my control losses) I do however tend to a slower, softer rubber on my BH to help me alleviate my lack of power on this wing..

 

[dingyibvs]

I think that makes sense regards blade choice - I tend to lean towards softer feel and better hold (for want of a better word) and so whilst I love the crispness of outer blades like my Viscaria, I play better with softer and more forgiving blades like the Franziska. Rubbers is harder for me to lock down - I have loved hybrid harder rubbers like D09c on my FH but ultimately don't feel I am good enough to get the best out of them. Moving back to T05 has really demonstrated that to me as I get so much more spin and speed with my strokes, more of the time (and the slower blade limits my control losses) I do however tend to a slower, softer rubber on my BH to help me alleviate my lack of power on this wing..

If you have an older sheet of D09c you want to play around with, you can try boosting with 2 layers of FTL. It softens it up significantly and to me plays a lot more like T05. The "click" is harder to activate than T05, but heck a lot easier than before boosting, and it's still got pretty good touch in the short game and still has better spin than T05.

 

[Gozo Aruna]

same crazy on how Uncle Gozo is European worshiper

I am ESN kind of guy. Now, I sure darn can't play like em'CNT fellers can I. No way Jose! No can do!
Those Euro players are easier to emulate. At lease there is some chance, no matter how remote. With Asian style... I give up.