Daily Table Tennis Chit Chat

[Jirrex]

View attachment 11678

Merry EJ Time !

EDIT: I just noticed the spin pancake is much easier with new rubbers

Those Stiga Allround classic rackets are the ones for the club with the Friendship FX Super Soft rubbers? If so, did you already try one?

 

[Boogar]

Those Stiga Allround classic rackets are the ones for the club with the Friendship FX Super Soft rubbers? If so, did you already try one?

No those aren't the friendship ones. That will take some more time, as the club has strict rules how this is handled.
ANd I think we will buy only rubbers and use the old blades we alrdy have.

 

[Der_Echte]

Maybe they changed the design because of you? Hahaha. I would reglue the handle and keep that one if I was you.


Sent from The Subterranean Workshop by Telepathy

I reglued the handle and mailed it off today.

Sent from my SM-T350 using Tapatalk

 

[Shuki]

Really interested in those rubber warmers by donic. anyone know where to find something similar, or a location to buy it already?

 

[JeffM]

ugh, sorry to hear si-hing ... speedy and healthy recovery!

Thank you for sharing!

I may not have time to compile my best points from the few videos of my matches

Thanks for the detailed analysis and your compliments, OSP, as always!
It is ok, I understand it takes some time to produce, so no pressure at all I made the video so I can re-watch it in the future, as well as sharing with you guys.

Hope you had a lovely time with your family.

Great points Jeff !

Thanks ttmonster! Glad you liked it

 

[NextLevel]

Played at TTCL, which I think must stand for Table Tennis Club of Louisville. I didn't get any footage. Decent part-time club with good tables. I was invited by this guy here, who plays modern defense with Tenergy on Forehand and Feint Long on Backhand.

Played matches with people at his club at all levels - even played matches with some orange balls. Got pushed by my host a couple of times, especially as the day wore on and I started moving worse - his pips hits and forehand are getting much sharper as is his backhand serve. Also played a penholder who played with a tricky mix of spins. Tomorrow, I will visit the SITTA (Southern Indiana TTA) which is less than 30 mins away as well.

 

[Shuki]

Played at TTCL, which I think must stand for Table Tennis Club of Louisville. I didn't get any footage. Decent part-time club with good tables. I was invited by this guy here, who plays modern defense with Tenergy on Forehand and Feint Long on Backhand.

Played matches with people at his club at all levels - even played matches with some orange balls. Got pushed by my host a couple of times, especially as the day wore on and I started moving worse - his pips hits and forehand are getting much sharper as is his backhand serve. Also played a penholder who played with a tricky mix of spins. Tomorrow, I will visit the SITTA (Southern Indiana TTA) which is less than 30 mins away as well.

frustrating to watch this lp style let alone play. with so many highballs I'd start to get pissed off at my misses.

I did notice you make contact on your forehand serves much higher in matches than when you do just practicing them outside games.

the more I watch your games, the more I want to play you. I thrive off blocking and countering spin, and you put almost what looks like mr. clifford Copley's level of spin on the ball. I'm stupidly confident we'd have a good match, even though theres a huge skill gap.

 

[NextLevel]

frustrating to watch this lp style let alone play. with so many highballs I'd start to get pissed off at my misses.

I did notice you make contact on your forehand serves much higher in matches than when you do just practicing them outside games.

the more I watch your games, the more I want to play you. I thrive off blocking and countering spin, and you put almost what looks like mr. clifford Copley's level of spin on the ball. I'm stupidly confident we'd have a good match, even though theres a huge skill gap.

Feint Long is a spinny LP. I'm used to playing more slippery beasts, especially in OX. I should adjust to the high ball with practice but there is more backspin on that ball than I would infer from my prior stroke, so I had to accept that - it wasn't the classical case of the prior spin being determined by my spin, I had to read and accept his stroke almost like medium or short pips. He was rated 1580 or so at time of the match and was really underrated. So I had to figure out what he couldn't do because trying to overwhelm him with power was definitely not working.

Yeah, I try to put lots of spin on the ball, but I initially broke USATT 2000 as a allround player who mostly counterhit topspin. Would struggle to do it as well today as I did back then, but let's just say that my game is not yet one size fits all - there is a lot of looking at what the opponent is giving me to figure out what to take.

As for the forehand serves, it's part of the match strategy here. He wasn't struggling with the height or the spin so there was no point. If he is going to push a higher ball, then encourage him to do so rather than bend my knees to loop.

 

[chuckjordan2]

@NL, if you pass through Richmond Va (near I95 & I64) on Saturday, there is the Richmond club to play at Saturday afternoon (1:30pm-5:00pm). Not sure if your travels go through this area.

Anyway, be safe in your travels as the area you are traveling through is having a Winter storm.

 

[pgpg]

Feint Long is a spinny LP. I'm used to playing more slippery beasts, especially in OX. I should adjust to the high ball with practice but there is more backspin on that ball than I would infer from my prior stroke, so I had to accept that - it wasn't the classical case of the prior spin being determined by my spin, I had to read and accept his stroke almost like medium or short pips. He was rated 1580 or so at time of the match and was really underrated. So I had to figure out what he couldn't do because trying to overwhelm him with power was definitely not working.

Yeah, I try to put lots of spin on the ball, but I initially broke USATT 2000 as a allround player who mostly counterhit topspin. Would struggle to do it as well today as I did back then, but let's just say that my game is not yet one size fits all - there is a lot of looking at what the opponent is giving me to figure out what to take.

As for the forehand serves, it's part of the match strategy here. He wasn't struggling with the height or the spin so there was no point. If he is going to push a higher ball, then encourage him to do so rather than bend my knees to loop.

I kind of play like him, style-wise , planning to try grippy pips too. 1580 is definitely low, but looks like his current rating of 1825 is closer to reality.

 

[suds79]

Probably late to the party on this one but I'm calling BS on a relatively new youtube channel. EmRatThich

If you guys like to occasionally surf table tennis related things on youtube, you've probably seen this one.

It wasn't until this video, where I simply thought, okay lets get serious.

"How to Loop"

In the past I've thought "This guy seems to know at least something about table tennis." But after this one, I think I've had my fill. Every video increasingly becomes more & more a theme of China does it right. Everywhere else in the world does it wrong. He essentially says he's seen as much about 20 seconds into the video... Nevermind the fact that there are 1.3 billion people in that country as a sample size to select from. ... But that's a different topic.

I simply asked for some footage of the person playing or the coaching they have been receiving simply as a means to justify them as a legitimate table tennis source and wouldn't you know it? Crickets in reply. SMH.

 

[NextLevel]

I kind of play like him, style-wise , planning to try grippy pips too. 1580 is definitely low, but looks like his current rating of 1825 is closer to reality.

I tend to play mostly Grass DTecs users so things like FL2 and FL3 which do not rely as much in reversal are more confusing.

I wouldn't be surprised if he played even with me in a year. Would need to fix some things but with the game he showed me yesterday, I would not be entirely surprised.

 

[SchemeSC]

Probably late to the party on this one but I'm calling BS on a relatively new youtube channel. EmRatThich

If you guys like to occasionally surf table tennis related things on youtube, you've probably seen this one.

It wasn't until this video, where I simply thought, okay lets get serious.

"How to Loop"

In the past I've thought "This guy seems to know at least something about table tennis." But after this one, I think I've had my fill. Every video increasingly becomes more & more a theme of China does it right. Everywhere else in the world does it wrong. He essentially says he's seen as much about 20 seconds into the video... Nevermind the fact that there are 1.3 billion people in that country as a sample size to select from. ... But that's a different topic.

I simply asked for some footage of the person playing or the coaching they have been receiving simply as a means to justify them as a legitimate table tennis source and wouldn't you know it? Crickets in reply. SMH.

Yep, this is the classical "it's all about the legs and the arm doesn't matter" argument. I would have bought into this only a few years ago. Fortunately, now I know better.

The author of the video completely neglects the fact that Ma Long is also using a forearm snap in his stroke. Nor does he explain why one couldn't use the hips in conjunction with good arm mechanics. Why does it have to be one or the other? His argument is that "Chinese players use their body and European players use their forearm. Therefore, Chinese players are better." Pretty weak, IMO.

 

[NextLevel]

Probably late to the party on this one but I'm calling BS on a relatively new youtube channel. EmRatThich

If you guys like to occasionally surf table tennis related things on youtube, you've probably seen this one.

It wasn't until this video, where I simply thought, okay lets get serious.

"How to Loop"

In the past I've thought "This guy seems to know at least something about table tennis." But after this one, I think I've had my fill. Every video increasingly becomes more & more a theme of China does it right. Everywhere else in the world does it wrong. He essentially says he's seen as much about 20 seconds into the video... Nevermind the fact that there are 1.3 billion people in that country as a sample size to select from. ... But that's a different topic.

I simply asked for some footage of the person playing or the coaching they have been receiving simply as a means to justify them as a legitimate table tennis source and wouldn't you know it? Crickets in reply. SMH.

There is a market for this kind of stuff. It just isn't serious table tennis players. You asked the right question. It's not so much that he is wrong or right but that without verifying his credentials, he could be a higher level Archos. In fact, the fact he is not showing his play or practice makes him just that.

One thing I learned from Brett was that even good coaches disagree though they would largely agree on fundamentals. So whenever I see someone focusing almost entirely on what is wrong with something in TT when a player is above 1600, I tend to feel dogmatism is in play and there is no serious attempt to put things in context.

 

[Archosaurus]

Doing stuff like elbow close to body and only using the hips to rotate will most likely cause injury for someone who doesn't actually know what's going on. That's my experience at least. When you buy into this crap and start trying to "implement it into your game", you will form habits of doing unsafe things in a way that makes safe things feel incorrect.

 

[NextLevel]

Yep, this is the classical "it's all about the legs and the arm doesn't matter" argument. I would have bought into this only a few years ago. Fortunately, now I know better.

The author of the video completely neglects the fact that Ma Long is also using a forearm snap in his stroke. Nor does he explain why one couldn't use the hips in conjunction with good arm mechanics. Why does it have to be one or the other? His argument is that "Chinese players use their body and European players use their forearm. Therefore, Chinese players are better." Pretty weak, IMO.

You've had the experience of reviewing video with a national level coach so you know what you are looking at and what to look for. How many people who are watching his videos will have that kind of insight?

 

[baumschule]

Hey everyone,
haven't posted in quite some time and only read what you have been up to but I thought I could use some more opinions.
As one or two might remember (probably not ) I tested T05 on my forehand before the season here in germany started but didn't like it. The first half of the season went pretty well for me and my team but since it's winter break right now I've decided to test again. This time I tried Andro Rasant and T64. Didn't like the Rasant at all but T64 felt quite good to me during the ~8 hours I played with it so far.
This is where I need your opinions:
Compared to Roxon I can produce a lot more spin and the throw angle is higher wich means that although the speed is a bit faster the ball overall takes a bit longer to reach my opponent so he has usually more time to react. The advantage of the higher throw and arc means safer and more consistent loops.
So right now I'm not quite sure if these advantages outweigh the loss of effective speed I got with the very low throw of Roxon.
I'll geht some footage of me playing with T64 in the coming days but unfortunately I got no video of me playing with Roxon to compare it to.

 

[Yecats Encerwal]

Every video increasingly becomes more & more a theme of China does it right. Everywhere else in the world does it wrong. He essentially says he's seen as much about 20 seconds into the video... Nevermind the fact that there are 1.3 billion people in that country as a sample size to select from. ... But that's a different topic.

Just a quick point, and as you said it is a different topic, but my opinion Is that population size Is not a driving factor in table tennis success at all.

Top 5 countries in population:-

1) China
2) India
3) USA
4) Indonesia
5) Brazil

Now, other than China, this list does not at all reflect the current world rankings in TT. Goes to show that the secret to the success of China in TT runs a lot deeper than their population. Top quality coaching and un-paralleled levels of commitment definitely have a part to play. If you look at world rankings, maybe there is an argument for the idea that the Chinese way of playing is the right way after all...

Just a thought

 

[SchemeSC]

When I was learning to play TT in my twenties, my only source of information for table tennis were videos like the one suds posted above. I lived in a pretty remote area without much of a TT scene (and I still do, actually), so I put a lot of stock into these types of videos. There weren't any coaches or top players around, so where else was I going to learn how to play? But what I've come to realize is that it was my faith in these types of videos that really stunted my development as a player.

You see, I believed so much in these videos that I began to doubt my own personal revelations as a player, simply because I had never seen it in a video before. One time I was forehand looping with my 1900 level practice partner, and my stroke just felt terrible. I could only loop about 3 balls in a row before missing. It was so frustrating. Then, towards the end of the session and probably just out of anger, I started snapping my forearm really hard around the moment of contact. Suddenly I was looping 10-15 balls in a row without missing. But, since I had never heard anything about a forearm snap in any of the online videos I had watched, I dismissed the idea entirely that it might be helping my stroke. I had heard so many times before that "forehand looping is all about using your legs and your body" that I refused to believe that anything I could be doing with my arm was actually improving anything.

When I started taking some lessons with a 1950 level player, I often wouldn't listen to his advice because I had never seen it in an online video:

"The backhand loop is a little like throwing a frisbee", he told me, probably a year before I knew who Brett Clarke was. Did I listen? Nah, I had never seen it in a video before, so it couldn't be right. Kreanga said that the most important thing about a BH loop was a shoulder turn and keeping the legs steady.

"Your forehand loop against backspin a bit too vertical. You need to think about going through the ball more" he told me. Did I listen to him? Not really. That had never been emphasized in any of the hundreds of hours of online video I'd watched.

So yeah, please don't be like me and put so much stock in these videos that you start denying your own personal experiences. I've got years of dogmatic thinking built up in my head, and now I'm having to work really hard to overcome it.

 

[NextLevel]

Just a quick point, and as you said it is a different topic, but my opinion Is that population size Is not a driving factor in table tennis success at all.

Top 5 countries in population:-

1) China
2) India
3) USA
4) Indonesia
5) Brazil

Now, other than China, this list does not at all reflect the current world rankings in TT. Goes to show that the secret to the success of China in TT runs a lot deeper than their population. Top quality coaching and un-paralleled levels of commitment definitely have a part to play. If you look at world rankings, maybe there is an argument for the idea that the Chinese way of playing is the right way after all...

Just a thought

You were doing okay until you got to "at all". Population size is always a measure of human resources and the idea that having more resources to throw at a problem doesn't affect or influence success is pretty odd, to be honest. Limiting the list to the top 5 is also not the way a social scientist would approach this - a social scientist would at the very least correlate world rankings with human populations and come to a positive, negative or zero correlation. It's really unlikely that population is not a factor for achievement in any sport. It may not e the dominant factor, but it is almost always a factor. Germany and Japan are amongst the most populous nations in the world, and in Africa, same for Nigeria and Egypt.

In China, given how they produce athletes, it is clearly in part a factor. There are a lot of athletes who do not survive the rigors of Chinese TT training. The ability to be able to throw enough athletes into a hard training regimen and select those that succeed is a luxury given to you by a large population. That there are special training schools that one can go to for table tennis is in part cultural, but is also a benefit of a large population. You don't get that kind of specialization with a smaller population in something like table tennis. You just don't.