Daily Table Tennis Chit Chat

[Der_Echte]

Day one of my new full time club is in the books. Stayed 4.5 hrs. Did hits with some members near my level, JT came in as promised, I played vs his 2200 friend hit topspin vs JT's chops, and helped him get used to the BTY G40+ ball that will be used in a tourney happening soon.

Did an hour group coaching session that was really a hit with others in group while waiting on turn to get 10 minutes from coach multiball. MAN, I plumb forgot how tiring exhausting that shyt can get. been 3-4 years since I did it last haha. Coach and some other members keep telling me my stroke too vertical and too long. Well, maybe yes, maybe no. Usually, I go for a heavy slow spin, time to be ready, then go for a loopkill. (the forward shot she wants me to do).

Later did king of hill pyramid, I start on lowest table, if I win a game, I move up a table. made it to top table and stayed. Many O50 gents with unorthodox style and strokes, but they win points and know how to get the job done. Well, I am glad they never had me to practice receiving serves. you never saw so many confused looks, especially with the owner looking on. I love playing vs junk rubber and junk it up styles, I HATE players with good touch, or who can block well close to table with placement and control. Glad those folks stayed home today.

Some day I will put up pics.

 

[Takkyu_wa_inochi]

I played a team tournament this WE. We are 4 members, I'm the 2nd strongest player in team.

We are in a group of 6 teams. We finished 2nd. The formula is for each match 4 singles + 1 doubles. doubles is always match #3, I always play match #4, and our #1 player plays match #1 so i could play all doubles with the #1 player.

Personally i played 3 singles match, and won all of them, 3-0 , 3-0 and 3-1. In doubles, we played 5 matches, and won 4, losing only to the best team 1-3, who are high school students, which all play around 2200-2300.

I'm happy with my level. My strongest opponent was a Penholder playing with long pimples and blocking at the table. I won 3-0 but it was a tough match, 11-9 at each set, and i made a comeback in the 3rd to avoid a more complicated match.

I was not surprised by his style because there's another guy who is stronger than this guy whom I train regularly with. so I had the good tactics and good touch.

This is certainly my best team tournament performance for a while. not only the results, but also the way I played, not a lot of mistakes, not rush, good attacking game, good rallies... i performed also under pressure, because our player placed in last, was a bit weaker, and had almost no chance to win (he actually lost everything today), so I was always winning to give the decisive point. I will sleep happily tonight

 

[ajtatosmano2]

The right mindset by FZD:

 

[Loopadoop]

Junk rubber returning your serves

Day one of my new full time club is in the books. Stayed 4.5 hrs. Did hits with some members near my level, JT came in as promised, I played vs his 2200 friend hit topspin vs JT's chops, and helped him get used to the BTY G40+ ball that will be used in a tourney happening soon.

Did an hour group coaching session that was really a hit with others in group while waiting on turn to get 10 minutes from coach multiball. MAN, I plumb forgot how tiring exhausting that shyt can get. been 3-4 years since I did it last haha. Coach and some other members keep telling me my stroke too vertical and too long. Well, maybe yes, maybe no. Usually, I go for a heavy slow spin, time to be ready, then go for a loopkill. (the forward shot she wants me to do).

Later did king of hill pyramid, I start on lowest table, if I win a game, I move up a table. made it to top table and stayed. Many O50 gents with unorthodox style and strokes, but they win points and know how to get the job done. Well, I am glad they never had me to practice receiving serves. you never saw so many confused looks, especially with the owner looking on. I love playing vs junk rubber and junk it up styles, I HATE players with good touch, or who can block well close to table with placement and control. Glad those folks stayed home today.

Some day I will put up pics.

What serves were you using that caused confusion to the junk rubber players ?

 

[Takkyu_wa_inochi]

my toughest match today, against that long pips penholder (blocking style). Its a good win for me. I couldn't beat this kind of player easily before but I have improved my BH and that was essential today.

Although I was playing him for the first time, I was not surprised as I often play against another player with the same style, who is like 300 points stronger than this guy, and whom i cannot beat (yet). Basically the other guy does everything a bit better. He pushes deeper, has better placement, tactics, consistency and his serve/receive is better... But for me the gameplan is the same against both players.

 

[Richie]

Played my first grand prix and first tournament other than BUCS which is playing against other universities. Only entered the banded competition and since I had no ranking points I played in band 5 and 6.

Started off poorly by losing my first game in the group stages and was 0-2 and 9-10 down in the second group match but managed to pull it back and win it (This guy looked so much like Boogar by the way and his surname was Boulbar so it reminded me even more of him, I really thought it was him first haha). After beating the Boogar look-alike my winning streak started and I ended up in the final. Unfortunately losing that when I was 10-8 up in the fifth. I'm still happy as I never expected to go that far. Sadly I had to play a good friend of mine and practice partner from last year in the quarter-final. Usually he has the upper-hand but lately I've been playing well. https://tabletennisengland.co.uk/news/archived/kawai-king-rise-to-the-top-on-day-1-in-bath/

I was exhausted after all that, managed to place first in my group in band 5 but then lost quite poorly to a guy after that.

 

[Boogar]

I won my first tournament! It the gents E event, with players up to 1700 points.

And also beat the guy who got into the semis in the D event, wich has players with up to 1900 Points in us ttr. That tournament had about 70 contenders, with group stages. In which i won two of three games but got placed third because of the game ratio

Anyways it was a long day and i am very proud that can now cross the E event off my bucket list. To win once was one of my two goals of this season. The other one is to get up to D5 rating. Which is about 1750 us ttr, I am now only 50 points short! Maybe i can get it with one more tournament win!!

**** Jea!

 

[ttmonster]

Der can clarify , but since I have played against him , its not just the spin combination, his serves are heavier than they look especially because of the high toss , he does not do a whole lot of sidespin , so it would be a combination of under, heavy under, no spin and topspin .

What serves were you using that caused confusion to the junk rubber players ?

 

[Der_Echte]

What serves were you using that caused confusion to the junk rubber players ?

Glad you asked. Serving with deception is both science and individual art.

I establish right away my underspin serve is really heavy. All my serves look like under. Often, opponent cannot see how I can generate that level of spin with a short whip. So, they fail to get it over the net even with pips.

Personally, it is very satisfying to see a pips player use the magic lp and still fail to clear the net.

Once they start adjusting to my heavy underspin, I go to a short topspin or dead ball. They often hit that our or high and deep enough to easily attack.

It is mental warfare. They are growing crazy wondering what is on the ball and why they don't read it. They lose 2 points on my serve and all I got to do is win 2 points on their serve the whole game. I can afford to experiment with stuff.

Once they are confused, I can serve most anything, especially deep. If they are getting my variations, I go back to heavy and do it all over again.

Sent from my SM-T350 using Tapatalk

 

[Takkyu_wa_inochi]

another match yesterday against a weaker player than the pips penholder. I win easily 3-0. I knew that normally i should beat this guy because he is not very consistent and not good in serve/receive, but I was a bit surprised it was so easy (at least in the first two sets) in which I make him look really bad, before you can tell in the 3rd he can play TT.

 

[NextLevel]

I watched that match earlier. It was good to see you play people that actually allowed you to use your strokes the way you like to. I know people like to say you learn best from your losses but I personally learn a lot from my wins as I like to see my strokes in action. Your forehand really looked good against the penholder with long pips and even your full back hands were really strong as well. The ones against topspin I wasn't as sold on sometimes but everyone's technique is different. Good matches.

 

[NextLevel]

Glad you asked. Serving with deception is both science and individual art.

I establish right away my underspin serve is really heavy. All my serves look like under. Often, opponent cannot see how I can generate that level of spin with a short whip. So, they fail to get it over the net even with pips.

Personally, it is very satisfying to see a pips player use the magic lp and still fail to clear the net.

Once they start adjusting to my heavy underspin, I go to a short topspin or dead ball. They often hit that our or high and deep enough to easily attack.

It is mental warfare. They are growing crazy wondering what is on the ball and why they don't read it. They lose 2 points on my serve and all I got to do is win 2 points on their serve the whole game. I can afford to experiment with stuff.

Once they are confused, I can serve most anything, especially deep. If they are getting my variations, I go back to heavy and do it all over again.

Sent from my SM-T350 using Tapatalk

Yes. I love to embarrass (long) pips players on their serve return. Some of my favorite matches are driven by the whole concept. One day I will make a compilation video of me servicing backspin and no spin to pips players rated over us attached 2000. It will be glorious and epic. The one for those under 2000 will take too long to make...

 

[Takkyu_wa_inochi]

I watched that match earlier. It was good to see you play people that actually allowed you to use your strokes the way you like to. I know people like to say you learn best from your losses but I personally learn a lot from my wins as I like to see my strokes in action. Your forehand really looked good against the penholder with long pips and even your full back hands were really strong as well. The ones against topspin I wasn't as sold on sometimes but everyone's technique is different. Good matches.

Thanks. I was expected to win against all of today's opponents, but I know that some time ago, perhaps i would have won as well, but perhaps not that easily, and/or showing not so good technique and confidence. Beating with a margin of safety weaker players (compared to beating them without this margin) is also a good sign of progress and I appreciate those wins, because I have been disappointed so many times before, and i don't want to have those sh*t feelings again.

Now I hope to show a good performance as well against stronger players in the coming tournaments.

 

[Gene Tuttle]

Went to the El Paso club last week and played Tues,Thu,Saturday in preparation for the upcoming tournament there. Got coaching each day and was filmed during some multi ball. I need to downsize the video somehow so I can upload it to this site.The film confirmed what the coach was telling me which showed me that my follow through on my forehand is too long and crosses my body (a lot) rather than being more more vertical. I had not realized how far it had changed from when I used to play. When I was younger my follow through was more like I was saluting.It also showed me how little my feet move.... (and how much pie I ate during the holidays) The plus of this practice though was that with all the matches I played my return of serve improved as did my mental game and touch. I improved my focus and was managing to keep the ball in play rather than always trying for a low percentage, one shot winners. Most of my play was against better players and reinforced the idea that improvement is gained by competing against better opponents instead of milling about with those of a similar skill level. Currently I am only rated 1360 and the main guys I practiced with were 1850,2294 and 2360. Nice guys and we did hours of drills/games which trained my service return and my own serve placement as they were quick to take advantage of any service or return errors I made. It reminded me of when I practiced with Der Echte last fall in D.C. and he showed me how different higher level serves were than what I usually encountered. Much heavier spin.To my low level eyes and touch Der Echtes serves compared to the 2300 rated players spin level. Same feeling that if I was off on my racquet angle even a hair it was going into the net of off the table.

 

[NextLevel]

Gene,

I think you should be careful about over-rating the quality of your play vs higher level players. Sometimes, there are things at play that make it easier to read and control higher level balls and the relative improvement in the results vs playing people at your level can be misleading.

For example, the long serves of better players may be of high enough quality that you block them and do decently. But at your level, such serves should be looped and not doing so is a gap at your level. As one player put it, it is better to lose the point trying to loop than to be stuck in pushing rallies if one wants a fair indicator of where your game is going.

The one thing that tends to translate well is long serve receive and the effectiveness of your long serves. If those worked against the better players they will work against anyone.

 

[Boogar]

I forgot to mention: In the finals of the E gents event I played the same guy I lost to in this
video.

Got my revenge and you were right his rubbers really are dead! I won the game 3:1 with a referee counting and people watching felt so good to shake hands with him and the referee after the game I felt like i had just won the finals of a major tournament

 

[songdavid98]

Gene,

I think you should be careful about over-rating the quality of your play vs higher level players. Sometimes, there are things at play that make it easier to read and control higher level balls and the relative improvement in the results vs playing people at your level can be misleading.

For example, the long serves of better players may be of high enough quality that you block them and do decently. But at your level, such serves should be looped and not doing so is a gap at your level. As one player put it, it is better to lose the point trying to loop than to be stuck in pushing rallies if one wants a fair indicator of where your game is going.

The one thing that tends to translate well is long serve receive and the effectiveness of your long serves. If those worked against the better players they will work against anyone.

hah, this was me when I first started playing. I still play using this concept today.
I'd rather lose the point trying to attack, because I know that I will improve and that I will be able to do it one day.
In the end, I don't really care about winning the game. I just want to improve.
I might lose purely due to mistakes on my part and embarrass myself, but it's just a game

This is the way to improve guys. The growth mindset is very important.

 

[NextLevel]

hah, this was me when I first started playing. I still play using this concept today.
I'd rather lose the point trying to attack, because I know that I will improve and that I will be able to do it one day.
In the end, I don't really care about winning the game. I just want to improve.
I might lose purely due to mistakes on my part and embarrass myself, but it's just a game

This is the way to improve guys. The growth mindset is very important.

To be fair to Gene, it is easier when you are young. Old age makes you more conservative generally, but we have to remember that in Table tennis, losing the point is far less consequential than losing in other things in life.

The other problem is that when better players make you take those shots, you feel you would have lost the point anyways so you don't really care. But with worse players, missing those shots leaves that doubt that maybe you could have won with less risk. The trap is extremely seductive but can only be rectified by accepting the need to play properly against all levels of players.

 

[Garrison]

off topic: What camera are u guys using for your recordings? I want to start recording my games and practise because sometimes it is hard for me to analyze what I did wrong.

 

[NextLevel]

So here is it my shame video

Today i tried to work on "easy" balls high returns without spin or with some backspin.

Just at the end of the session i realised what my problem with the forehand in recent days is!

I dont drop the shoulder anymore before a topspin stroke and as a result cant really put in any body rotation!

I left the club on a good notem i hope i can get in some tt tomorrow!!

Btw: The player in the back wearing a last year china super league shirt was the "weak" player i wrote about.

Funny how time flies.... "shame video".