Daily Table Tennis Chit Chat

[Takkyu_wa_inochi]

yeh its a "general" statement, and you should not take it to the letter.
The point is, you should try to develop a strong game and focus about developing it.
in your example, my mentality is to keep flicking that ball, because i don't want to win this training match, but i want to get better at flicking, and ultimately i would get to a level where i score many points flicking against this opponent or any other one

in a tournament, (as opposed to training) my approach would be different.

 

[Archosaurus]

That makes more sense. Make your flick stronger so the counterattack doesn't blast past you, and make your block/counterloop stronger to counter their counter.

 

[NextLevel]

@Takkyu_wa_inochi

I understand your thought, but isn't that too theoretical and rooted in absolutes? No two people play the absolute exact same way with the same shot placement, quality and habits and whatnot, so why do you think you should play the exact same against everyone?

Say they keep serving no-spin to you, and you flick it because it's no-spin. They loop your weak flick and keep blasting the ball past you. Why is is bad to mix it up and not play into the opponents' game just because you're "supposed to" flick that kind of ball?

Read the whole original post again if this is how you understand his intent.

 

[suds79]

Got a tournament tomorrow in Omaha Nebraska.

Anybody in the area going to be able to make it?

Going into the tournament I feel my playing level right now is just okay. Not bad but I'm not going in hot. I'm trying to remind myself that however I've hit over the last week or two doesn't matter. It's all about how you perform that day. Certainly at club I've had weeks where i'm hot one week and not the next.

Currently playing penhold short pips & inverted on backhand. Had been playing LPs on the backhand for quite some time but relatively recently switched to inverted. Started to notice a trend of the LPs really working on newish players. More advanced players don't seem bothered as much with it and vs them it wasn't helping me. The inverted on my BH with the RPB has opened some attacking doors for me. However my game over the last year hasn't been fine tuned for this style of play. I'll see how it goes but I'm expecting to have more set points & style with this setup probably a couple of months from now.

The finals for the tournament to me looks like a 3 man race which should be fun to watch. Between Parvis Mojaverian, Mark Kennedy & Daniel Stepanyuk, I'm not sure who will take it. All are between 2000-2100 USATT and there should be some good matches to watch. Talk about TT being a life long sport. I think Parvis is in his 60s at least. Mark in his upper 40s and Daniel I think is still 11.

Should be a good time. I'd get some video but my camera is on the fritz. Looking to get a new action camera so I can get some future tournament action & some club play.

 

[42andbackpains]

Took my Saturday lesson today. Coach has been training for the U.S. Nationals in couple of weeks and she was in good form. She was blocking back a lot of my winners and lost 5 out 7 games when she gives me 6 points. I think she is back up to her 2400 to 2500 form.

Put a tear in my MX-P which i had on for about 8 months during the week when i went to the club to do some serve practice and double bounce pick hit drills. So i decided to put on a fresh sheet of MX-P on my FH and EL-S on my bh. I was using Tenergy 05 on my backhand and decided to see if the EL-S would be a good replacement for me. It took about 5 minutes for me to get used to it, i needed to the let the ball dig in too the rubber more. There is more control since the EL-S is not at bouncy as Tenergy. But i would say the Top end spin and speed still belongs to Tenergy 05. But at my level, i think EL-S will be my backhand rubber from now on. EL-S is a lot cheaper and a little easier to control.

I feel going to the club during the week to do serve practice has helped me a lot. Serving mid-short side down to the opponents forehand gives everyone trouble no matter what the level.

If my bad back holds up, i may play one event in a tournament sometime in the future. Presently my back stiffens up when i finish playing and start to cool down. Hoping to win a bet with my long time friend....lol

 

[Takkyu_wa_inochi]

Mizutani said that he wasn't able to play his best all the match against LSS but that was better than in WTTC. His YG serve was key to win.

Hirano said she felt powerless against the Chinese who found tactics to prevent her to play her game, especially her BH. she could not deal well with the heavy underspin long pushes, and that CHEN didn't make any mistakes in service/receive. She says she has to improve a lot to beat the Chinese (again)

 

[Loopadoop]

Last Thursday, I played left handed using a $2 paddle, very bad, plays like a slow anti on both sides, kitchen cleaner like soft sponge. I beat a 1600 level player 3-0.

 

[ajtatosmano2]

Last Thursday, I played left handed using a $2 paddle, very bad, plays like a slow anti on both sides, kitchen cleaner like soft sponge. I beat a 1600 level player 3-0.

As a training our coach plays sometimes with a similar paddle (cheapest artengo stuff).
Still he can beat the club's best junior player (who has a solid technique and pretty good ranking in the country).

Daily Report: I will give a try to the V>15 Extra on my backhand. I expect it to be in the middle of my earlier rubbers (MX-P and T64), but with more control. It will arrive this week.

 

[NextLevel]

Should be in DC from tomorrow to Friday. May visit a couple of clubs but may also not play at all. Depends on my mood when I get there.

 

[gman4911]

Should be in DC from tomorrow to Friday. May visit a couple of clubs but may also not play at all. Depends on my mood when I get there.

Where are you staying? You may have trouble getting to most of the clubs during rush hour.

 

[NextLevel]

Where are you staying? You may have trouble getting to most of the clubs during rush hour.

I'll be in Dupont Circle. I'll just go to WDCTT and hit with Charlene at some point in the evening. Not the end of the world if nothing else happens. And if I don't play, it's okay too. DC isn't another galaxy to me (I just got called out the last time I showed up and didn't tell people I Was coming).

 

[Der_Echte]

Should be in DC from tomorrow to Friday. May visit a couple of clubs but may also not play at all. Depends on my mood when I get there.

Man, NL has become one GROUCHY cuss, but what the heck, if my only local full time club got blown up, and my knees blew up, I would be very grouchy too.

 

[Nuke Skywalker]

Haha, I guess it was me that called you out. If you go to WDCTT let me know. Thursday's I meet my practice partner at NOVATTC but maybe I can convince him to go to D.C.

No pressure one way or the other... if not there's next time. Seems like you come down here often enough. All that coaching and ttEDGE money you got lying around. Lol


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[NextLevel]

I last beat this kid over 2 and a half years ago. If someone had told me that I had to play the way I did 2.5 years ago just more consistent to it again, I wouldn't have believed it. But it turned out to be the case.

 

[Takkyu_wa_inochi]

good match on your side. I think this Joe was too overconfident, and didn't take you very seriously, too bad for him, and very good for you. its feels like he thought he was already doing enough and the match would go his way sooner or later...

Yes, you were more consistent than him. it was very difficult for him to find a fault in your blocking game. I think he was playing too far from the table, and used mostly his BH to attack but in the BH diagonal you were more stable than him. He used too rarely his FH to attack and when he did he was far from the table unable to surprise you.

I found both of you didn't make a great advantage of serving. Finally you attacked a bit more than him with your FH and scored more winners than him when the ball came on this side, that tipped the match your way, and it was a well deserved win.

 

[NextLevel]

good match on your side. I think this Joe was too overconfident, and didn't take you very seriously, too bad for him, and very good for you. its feels like he thought he was already doing enough and the match would go his way sooner or later...

Yes, you were more consistent than him. it was very difficult for him to find a fault in your blocking game. I think he was playing too far from the table, and used mostly his BH to attack but in the BH diagonal you were more stable than him. He used too rarely his FH to attack and when he did he was far from the table unable to surprise you.

I found both of you didn't make a great advantage of serving. Finally you attacked a bit more than him with your FH and scored more winners than him when the ball came on this side, that tipped the match your way, and it was a well deserved win.

Yes. and thanks. He didn't do half the things that he could have done, but for me, I tried not to do half the things I usually try to do too. I was tired of trying to loop through him and looking like an idiot vs his junk balls when playing me. Me, I did not use my spinny service because I usually have to go out of position to do it and he can get good pushes and flicks so I just served no spin to make him attack and then I can block left and right. If he didn't attack, I got aggressive if the ball was easy. He has beaten me the past few months playing like this, so maybe I will get a consistent form of the same, or I will get a different view next week or after.

 

[suds79]

Never reported back from the tournament I had last Saturday.

Turns out there was some pretty good competition.

Parviz Mojaverian, who is ratings central (that's typically lower than USATT) 2027 won it. He beat a John Chen who I had never seen before. Parviz must at lest be in his 60s so it's a testament as to why TT is so great. Truly a life long sport... Some good matches to watch.

It was a weird tournament for me. I played solid. Not bad but not great. I think rating wise i beat everybody I was projected to beat and lost to everybody I was projected to lose to. So nothing too exciting there.

TT is a game of many styles and you have to be ready to play a lot of them. At club, we have some good high spin players. However in my singles draws, I often find myself playing players who might be lower rated and thus maybe hit a little lower and significantly less spin or no spin. I simply need more practice against this type of player. One hardbat player I played it wasn't close. Got lots of attacking opportunities but simply hit them out.

This is why I'm a big proponent of 2 wheel robots so you can simulate no spin. My one wheeled robot at home can only do spin. My main training partner is a heavy spin player. I need to practice against all types of players including new players who don't spin it up as much. Sure I'd probably win those games but maybe it'd be good hitting practice for me anyways.

Recently I've gone from playing SP & LPs twiddle to SP & Inverted twiddle. My RPB is pretty good with inverted and I started to feel that the LPs largely only confuses newer players. Vs more experienced players, not that much of an advantage. I played this tournament with SP/Inverted with only having it for probably 2 weeks. Yikes. But it worked out and I'd say I played about the same or better.

 

[NextLevel]

Never reported back from the tournament I had last Saturday.

Turns out there was some pretty good competition.

Parviz Mojaverian, who is ratings central (that's typically lower than USATT) 2135 won it. He beat a John Chen who I had never seen before. Some good matches to watch.

It was a weird tournament for me. I played solid. Not bad but not great. I think rating wise i beat everybody I was projected to beat and lost to everybody I was projected to lose to. So nothing too exciting there.

TT is a game of many styles and you have to be ready to play a lot of them. At club, we have some good high spin players. However in my singles draws, I often find myself playing players who might be lower rated and thus maybe hit a little lower and significantly less spin or no spin. I simply need more practice against this type of player. One hardbat player I played it wasn't close. Got lots of attacking opportunities but simply hit them out.

This is why I'm a big proponent of 2 wheel robots so you can simulate no spin. My one wheeled robot at home can only do spin. My main training partner is a heavy spin player. I need to practice against all types of players including new players who don't spin it up as much. Sure I'd probably win those games but maybe it'd be good hitting practice for me anyways.

Recently I've gone from playing SP & LPs twiddle to SP & Inverted twiddle. My RPB is pretty good with inverted and I started to feel that the LPs largely only confuses newer players. Vs more experienced players, not that much of an advantage. I played this tournament with SP/Inverted with only having it for probably 2 weeks. Yikes. But it worked out and I'd say I played about the same or better.

Now you know why I play the range and breadth of opposition I do, though if I was healthier, I would also play more topspin players.

 

[Takkyu_wa_inochi]

Last Tuesday, I had a 1:1 lesson where I worked on the fundamentals of my FH drive. The coach told me the reason why I often could not transfer properly my weight from the R foot to the L foot was because my swing was too much forward. I need to make it more circular, and to get more power (to make up for the fact the swing is less forward), i must take more backswing with the full arm deployed, and use the forearm at impact. The right image is the military salute with the tip of the blade finishing just in front of the middle of the head. Doing so, the weight transfer will be more natural as well.

He told me this was important to improve my technique, to drive more consistently against (long) backspin pushes and chops, against which I've always been struggling. Also, using the full arm means the hitzone is a bit farther from me, i will need less footwork but need to adapt.

It was weird, he told me not to move my feet at all, and fed me some balls which at first seemed totally out of reach without moving my feet. Then after a while, i managed to touch them but could not drive them properly as i was out of balance and on my right foot all the time. At the end I managed to do a few good drives.

----

so i had a lot to think about when i was at the club today, and i played first a LP chopper, who've i've already beaten, but he's still better than me for the time being. I won just one of the early sets (1st or 2nd) then i was really confused with my FH, and missed a lot, and in the end, i lost it completely mentally as well. 1 set to 6 is the harsh result. I didn't even try other tactics than serving long and try to drive everything because i wanted to get better at that. but i never got into the rhythm against him.

Then i played his usual buddy for the first time a PH, which I beat - to my own surprise - quite easily. He had a good FH drive, especially going straight and/or aiming my BH. but he had problems returning my serves, and his footwork wasn't very good. 3-1 and 3-2 is the result, and it was 2 good matches for me, especially the 1st one, and the last set of the 2nd.

I played a last match against a teammate who's weaker than me, but somehow he manages to cause me a lot of problems, especially with his serves. He won recently a few times against me, and i'm not playing well when i play him. This time, it was the same again. I won deuce at full set, but tbh i played crappily.

I have a training scheduled on Saturday with a friend of a friend (never played him b4) and a tournament on Sunday.

 

[NextLevel]

Your coach could have been Brett Clarke advertising the benefits of straight arm forehand over bent arm forehand.