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Hey everyone!

I took a 6 month break from playing table tennis, but am slowly working my way back into the game. My break almost lasted until the end of 2016 like I said it would, but I didn't quite make it. Oh well. Anyways, every forum seems seems to have one epic thread, and it looks like this is the one:

This shot is not all that great, but my friend/coach's reaction was pretty funny so I thought I'd share it here.


I probably won't be as active across the forums as I used to be, but I'll be keeping an eye on this thread and some of the stuff on OOAK. Hope everyone is doing well!
 
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Hey everyone!

I took a 6 month break from playing table tennis, but am slowly working my way back into the game. My break almost lasted until the end of 2016 like I said it would, but I didn't quite make it. Oh well. Anyways, every forum seems seems to have one epic thread, and it looks like this is the one:

This shot is not all that great, but my friend/coach's reaction was pretty funny so I thought I'd share it here.

I probably won't be as active across the forums as I used to be, but I'll be keeping an eye on this thread and some of the stuff on OOAK. Hope everyone is doing well!
Great to hear from you, Ringer. Glad you caught the bug again and hope all is well. Is the lady still keeping you busy?
 
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I'm looking at Shuki rolling that ball all over the place on his racket and I know I can do it, but it will be a pain to learn.


It's funny, some players throw the ball at their racket to test the spin of their rubber or whatever. I can't throw the ball at my racket or I lose control completely, can't even spin the ball if I do that. Even when serving, you see players hit the ball out of their hand or toss the ball into their racket to start a fh-fh warm up. I can't do that either since I had never served illegally, I just can't and don't want to spend the time practicing.

The reason I do that rotating the ball back and fourth thing, is for feeling. Seemiller senior, had told me that players to that to get feeling of the ball before they start playing. He told me if he doesn't do something like that a bit before his first serve, he can't brush it well because he doesn't have any feeling yet. That's what started getting me to do it. (That and the fact that I have no table or anything to practice with at home)
 
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Ilia, Christmas may or may not be too late. Dec 17 might be my last shot unless my new job sends me to NYC for business (or to cause trouble)

Is Dec 17th still on? I may have missed a post confirming/cancelling it.

Unclear if i can attend.
 
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It's funny, some players throw the ball at their racket to test the spin of their rubber or whatever. I can't throw the ball at my racket or I lose control completely, can't even spin the ball if I do that. Even when serving, you see players hit the ball out of their hand or toss the ball into their racket to start a fh-fh warm up. I can't do that either since I had never served illegally, I just can't and don't want to spend the time practicing.

The reason I do that rotating the ball back and fourth thing, is for feeling. Seemiller senior, had told me that players to that to get feeling of the ball before they start playing. He told me if he doesn't do something like that a bit before his first serve, he can't brush it well because he doesn't have any feeling yet. That's what started getting me to do it. (That and the fact that I have no table or anything to practice with at home)

I do similar things, Shuki. My apartment often has balls all over the floor when I enter that zone, though I haven't entered it in a while. The drill in the video above has become my new obsession. I am trying to do the one you do and it is not easy for me to turn the paddle but I am getting there very slowly. Will probably take a few months. But I have the pancake one down pat. It is helping me understand my rubber control and speed/spin much better.
 
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Got a question regarding the different tenergy rubbers. Ignoring the FX versions, the Butterfly website says that the 05, 80, and 64 have all the same sponge with a hardness of 36° (wich seems pretty soft to me) and differ only in ther topsheet/pip structure. However I've read and heard multiple times that one is significantly softer than the other. Is that simply due to the topsheet or are the details on the butterfly website not accurate?
 
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Got a question regarding the different tenergy rubbers. Ignoring the FX versions, the Butterfly website says that the 05, 80, and 64 have all the same sponge with a hardness of 36° (wich seems pretty soft to me) and differ only in ther topsheet/pip structure. However I've read and heard multiple times that one is significantly softer than the other. Is that simply due to the topsheet or are the details on the butterfly website not accurate?

Pimple structure on the topsheet is different. So thin long pimple will have less restriction against the ball that's digging in. Making them feel softer


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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I do similar things, Shuki. My apartment often has balls all over the floor when I enter that zone, though I haven't entered it in a while. The drill in the video above has become my new obsession. I am trying to do the one you do and it is not easy for me to turn the paddle but I am getting there very slowly. Will probably take a few months. But I have the pancake one down pat. It is helping me understand my rubber control and speed/spin much better.

My grip helps too. Easy wrist movement and soft touch. Try without your fingers wrapped around the handle at all and it would be much easier.

You've gotten much more difficult control tricks down so this should be easy for you. I saw your Freitas bouncing on the edge of a table. THAT takes actual practice

I can also do the ball bounce on the end of my racket for quite a while. But I hold it penhold for that
 
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I think my busy table tennis week is over. Played on Monday (1H with coach), Tuesday (2H30 at the club), 45mns run on Thursday (totally out of form), Friday (1h with coach), and this morning (2h30 at the club)...

This am played first with a friend, he used to be a very good player (eq 1600 points in France so 2300 ? US) but he's not young anymore and doesn't play much. I nearly always win, but its always very fun to play with him because he still has a good touch, good placement, and an allround style that you don't see much anymore. I won 5-2. I knocked with a few beginners as well and played also so games with new faces. I won against a guy about the same level than me after a hard fight 3-2 down from 1-2, and another guy a bit weaker 3-1 easily. Very happy about my level of play today. Service / Receive, 3rd ball attacks, FH and BH, blocks, good tactics, speed, fast reaction... very little to complain about. Some very spectacular rallies and shots.

Just worried about my knees hurting a bit right now after playing so much this week.
 
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So today I played FANTASTIC, and it's mostly thanks to you guys. In the past, I knew my backhand was better than my forehand in quite a few aspects but I never considered myself a backhand dominant player. Once the realization was made that I shouldn't be going for forehands as much as I did in the past, I instantly played better.

Today I played 4 matches, 3 players in total. All of which were around 2000 level +/- 50 . I beat them all three of them 3-0 and then the first I had beaten wanted a rematch and I beat him 3-2. Good day for me.


Also, I asked a high level player why my forehand lacks power, I go down with my right shoulder and turn my body whilst doing what I thought was the right way to perform the stroke. I knew I often leaned back on it but I didn't know why. He told me immediately, that it was a lack of muscle. Not arm muscle, but abdominals. I was exerting enough force forward that it forced me to lean backward and even if I focused on keeping my body forward it was impossible to prevent the backward lean. Interesting concept I never thought of before.
 
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Today I got to play with my friend, who is a leftie that had injured his right elbow in soccer.

We had some intense games. I cant say I am playing at my best as I haven't been playing much since 5 weeks ago, but I still recorded our match. I also bought a new pair of tt shoes just 1 hour before playing with my friend as I did not bring my old pair over.

The match was initially 30 min long, as he takes his time before each of his serves. I have edited the video so you guys can view the whole match in shortened form. Since I am in HK now, the internet speed is super fast... I am simply amazed by the speed. My video is 10 min long, and I think it took 20 min to upload it + process it. If I was back in Aus, this would probably have taken me 6-8 hours lol.

Life is simply faster in HK.

 
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EDIT : I later realized you were just sharing and not asking for analysis .. but anyways I will leave it out there ... I had fun watching and thinking ... :)

Jeff , I saw it right after FZD beat Xu Xin , and I was not even conscious about that when I was thinking that should Jeff change to Shake hand :p ... but I realized later ... anyways ... what I could see ...

The quality of your game and consistency went up noticably as the match went on and you are playing pretty well ...

1. One thing I noticed and I have that problem too , sometimes you are overshooting the ball because of the larger steps you take .... I think it has something to do with you and me having left knee issues and trying to compensate on the lack of our footwork by taking larger steps ... not sure how bad your knees are but thought I would say be conscious of it and may be you can figure out a way to not fall into that trap ... may be NL can help with some practical tips ...

2. You were missing the loop on spinny wide long push to your forehand , may be you ought to practice it more , may be you are late with the footwork or the timing of the forearm snap is off ..

3. Sometimes if the ball is short topspin and high you are not trying to flip it with your backhand , any reason. the backhand flip does not have to be a banana all the time .. it could be a straight topspin flip , I have found that pretty useful , thought I will ask you why you don't do it ...

In general may be try to serve heavier and shorter and try to setup your loops ... because thats the game most probably you will end up with as you keep improving ... going by the trend all around .. but yes I would strongly say , if you are on vacation and have time and good practice partners , practice serves and your footwork . You can do shadow training off the table as well ... I am sure it will help you a lot when you come back to the game ... Good luck and thanks for sharing .... hope what I said helps ... don't treat it as coaching advise but just take it with a pinch of salt as my personal opinion and do what makes sense to you ...
 
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Long pip pro's out there I call for your help. I have recently found out the long pips I was using were medium. Now I've swapped them with some spongeless, discontinued frictionless illegal ones. WOO! What were your favorite long pips from the past which would be illegal now? also sponge or spongeless benefits/weaknesses?
 
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So today I played FANTASTIC, and it's mostly thanks to you guys. In the past, I knew my backhand was better than my forehand in quite a few aspects but I never considered myself a backhand dominant player. Once the realization was made that I shouldn't be going for forehands as much as I did in the past, I instantly played better.

Today I played 4 matches, 3 players in total. All of which were around 2000 level +/- 50 . I beat them all three of them 3-0 and then the first I had beaten wanted a rematch and I beat him 3-2. Good day for me.


Also, I asked a high level player why my forehand lacks power, I go down with my right shoulder and turn my body whilst doing what I thought was the right way to perform the stroke. I knew I often leaned back on it but I didn't know why. He told me immediately, that it was a lack of muscle. Not arm muscle, but abdominals. I was exerting enough force forward that it forced me to lean backward and even if I focused on keeping my body forward it was impossible to prevent the backward lean. Interesting concept I never thought of before.

Not sure the latter explanation makes complete sense but coming from a player who is looking at you, it is likely to be reasonable. You have hit powerful forehands so it is more likely that there is something about your rotation given your bias to be fairly square to the table that doesn't support power.

But the issue with having the right footwork to play a forehand from a backhand stance is a common problem with backhand players at every level. It's why even forehand dominant players who want to transition to two winged looping never really become two-winged. Also why if I was developing a kid, I would teach that footwork very early.
 
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