Daily Table Tennis Chit Chat

[OldschoolPenholder]

I have a 30-35 years old sheet of Friendship 729, the original stuff, maroon (eggplant) coloured that kindly disagrees. Needs a few drops of water and a wipe every now and then, after which it will lift a ball for multiple seconds. I even now still like how it plays. A shame that colour isn't permitted anymore…

(Hoping to get a ‘eroica’ tournament off the ground, that allows only vintage (30+ years old) equipment, balls too, using early '80s rules. My Friendship is ready for it.)

#OHMYGUOYUEHUA

oldschool 729 Friendship!!
oldschool rules!
early 80's rules ... WOOD BABY!!!

Would love to play you Sir!

 

[OldschoolPenholder]

suds,

maybe it's me, i used a MX-P and got the hang of it and loved it. But after boosting/reboosting, it seemed to die after ~3 months.

 

[ajtatosmano2]

We won 17-1 in the league again. I was that one loss. Again. Oh man, it feels so bad!

 

[Boogar]

(Begin Boogar voice)

I forgot to video the match.

(/Boogar voice)


(Begin NextLevel voice)

No video? In that case, nothing happened.

(/NextLevel voice)


LOLOLOL at me!

Seriously though, isn't that Flow state a great feeling?!?!?!?!

I do not have a camera at the moment :-/ my smartphone died a tragically death.
Jea was awesome in the end he found my weakness ... long serves in my backhand without any top or back spin, only side.

 

[yoass]

oldschool 729 Friendship!!
oldschool rules!
early 80's rules ... WOOD BABY!!!

Would love to play you Sir!

Yes, that would be lovely!

 

[Der_Echte]

Drive 2.5 hrs to TT Monster's club in Bay Area to participate in the Trouble Makers team for his CRC league... played a doubles match, won 3-2. Had some good moments, some tight moments, but it is good to know that when it was crunch time, I could deliver by either finishing, serving, or simply not pissing away the point. It is good to know I can belong on this team, even if my official rating is much lower than our top players' average.

The team is 12-1 in team vs team matchups and other teams are suddenly hesitant to commit to play the required matches vs the team. At some time or another, they will need to gulp down the bad tasting medicine. The 12-1 record means we have a ridiculous 92+ win per percentage out of 13 or 23 required team vs team matchups. That means we crossed the halfway point tonight with a pretty solid record. There are some higher rated teams the Trouble Makers gave trouble to and sent home to shower and drink warm milk... but there are a few teams remaining who can also send us to the showers and an extended Epson salt bath.

 

[Der_Echte]

Now the number 1 and 2 of the team look to team up for a certain rated doubles event in US Open... nice since they as a team are prolly 300-400 points under classified. Lookout Vegas in Dec 2017.

 

[yoass]

So, competition night, meeting a team with three players a notch or two above my level. Got demolished by their #2, who just outgunned me; lost in five to the #1 opponent. In both cases I could step away from the table knowing that I had played to my ability. Their #3 was a messy player, took me a game or two to adapt to unusual sidespin pushes and blocks, but in the third I started to come out on top — and then fumbled it. On 9-9, my opponent had a lucky shot clipping the table edge. The referee didn't notice, but I did and pointed it out; and at matchpoint, my opponent went for broke, and his all-or-nothing effort turned out all.

I don't really have the competitiveness gene, I guess; had fun playing, performed at or above my level, and in the end lost three matches. I can live with that.

 

[Der_Echte]

Yoass dude, the competitive Warrior will never accept defeat. You got defeated and accepted it.

However, even though you lost your matches, you were not defeated, nor your honor, nor your values. You fought with truth to yourself, that is all you can ask.

You have a perspective and attitude and peace about your table tennis that I have perhaps only a tiny fraction.

Koreans call your attitude Jeul-Tak, which is a kind of modern table tennis slang - Jeul being 1/2 of the verb for enjoying, Tak being 1/2 of the word for table tennis... so it means enjoying your table tennis.

It means Koreans have a BLAST playing the sport and it is infectious. You got IT. It means enjoying and involving others, which is just about the essence of my Trouble Making intentions, which are all fine and dandy and DO work... until I get to fixed and zeroed in on winning and all my good attitude goes out the window.

You are a leader in your area in TT whether you realize it or not, and you also lead internationally through this TT forum.

 

[Takkyu_wa_inochi]

my 1:1 sessions with my coach have become a bit of a routine as we do not work on some new techniques, but its really about basic exercises, and a lot of multiballs (if my condition allows for it)

Whats interesting is how i can please my coach. Its not when i make a fluke, that super topspin or block. It would anger him even if its a winner. Its rather when i manage to AVOID trying to hit a ball and instead try to control and spin it and just put it back on the table. A fluke even if it lands on a table makes him angry because he tells me "at best , you'll make 20% of those shots on the table, thats not how you win", he prefers to see me MISS a ball but choose the right shot...

He likes it when i put one more shot on the table, and TRY to put safety BEFORE anything else...

His game philosophy: be able to play with control and safety, and to play rallies, and when there is a good chance, go for a winner. Going 100% on every shot is NOT the way to play TT.

 

[Der_Echte]

Going 100% on every shot is NOT the way to play TT.

ah shucks. Does that mean all those CNT videos are for CNT pros and not us amatures? We can't expect to play winning TT at our amature levels trying to go for broke on every shot?

Tsk Tsk, that won't sit well with the TT fanboy amature crowd...

Haha triple haha, I settled on the KJH blade, because it was the best balance for my game, which I win more points from controlling the ball and using touch/placement than I do max power offensive strokes... even if at heart I want to use more OFF strokes and be a macho man attacking TT player.

 

[Garrison]

Depends on what you mean with "100%". 100% power? Or 100% commitment to every possible ball? I agree that it is best to focus on consistency and then you can build on that since every fantastic rally can be equalized by a pathetic missed push...

 

[NextLevel]

My own position is simple - if you can hit a powerful topspin with consistent technique and place it in the middle of the table to receive a consistent block (which is something usually only 2300+ players can do and I really mean 2500+), then go ahead. Most people under 2300 looping with power tend to use the wrong body parts to get the power and hence ruin the form of their topspin.

I think this is what your coach is saying - if you want to hit a power topspin, do so and maintain the form of your consistent topspin, which is not easy and usually means that you need strength training of the core to improve the power of your topspin. Just about everything else is mostly useless to improve the topspin other than core and hip strength.

 

[NextLevel]

So I am playing with Koto ALC for the first time and trying to somewhat imitate my favorite player, Timo Boll, only of course with a straighter arm technique and a lack of footwork . It has been an interesting process.

For me, the biggest appeal of Vega Pro is the price. To be able to find a good rubber under $30 is not easy and Vega Pro supports my technique. I have used grip tape to convert my Boll Spirit ST handle into a flare. I love the OTC as well, it just feels so much lighter than my hands that I will try to see if I can get a heavier one. Might also load it up with grip tape to see what happens as well. I Was hoping 2.0mm would be significantly lighter but I don't notice the difference in weight unfortunately. But in that case, I will use 2.0mm as it is a heavy rubber.

Maybe I will find some match video next week or something. I played at Princeton today for fun and was surprised at how well I played despite my long lay off. A lot of stuff was just not sharp and the faster blades have me struggling a bit more with backspin. But conversely, when the ball sits, I am no longer playing as many rallies as before, the power shot is much faster and powerful. Still I lost only one match to a chopper and I did win matches despite a lot of errors trying to attack balls.

Now let's hope my body recovers well tomorrow morning...

 

[Takkyu_wa_inochi]

My own position is simple - if you can hit a powerful topspin with consistent technique and place it in the middle of the table to receive a consistent block (which is something usually only 2300+ players can do and I really mean 2500+), then go ahead. Most people under 2300 looping with power tend to use the wrong body parts to get the power and hence ruin the form of their topspin.

I think this is what your coach is saying - if you want to hit a power topspin, do so and maintain the form of your consistent topspin, which is not easy and usually means that you need strength training of the core to improve the power of your topspin. Just about everything else is mostly useless to improve the topspin other than core and hip strength.

The way I understood it is to wait for the right (=easier) ball to attack stronger, else just be consistent. And to be consistent don't try too much power and focus on balance and recovery instead

 

[NextLevel]

The way I understood it is to wait for the right (=easier) ball to attack stronger, else just be consistent. And to be consistent don't try too much power and focus on balance and recovery instead

Yes, but it is because your "much power" is not produced consistently. The way I like to describe it is:

1. If the ball is low or tricky, meaning you need time and consistency, spin it up.
2. If the ball is high or easy, drive it.
3. With practice, you want to make more balls go from category 1 to category 2 by making tricky balls easier with more spin in your drives.

 

[ajtatosmano2]

Double post.

 

[ajtatosmano2]

Playing consistently is an important thing, but even if it's a cliché, the middle way is the best. You need to train your consistency to improve, but if you don't train playing with 100% aggressiveness, you limit yourself. I don't know exactly who said that, but I am sure that a CNT coach: 'we train our players to play irrational shots rationally' or something like that.
I see with some hungarian junior players that they're very consistent, they don't try to be flashy and they they earn lots of points that way in international tournaments. But when they meet with stronger junior players, their attacks aren't enough powerful, their opening loops are getting killed. It's obvious that e.g. the french national team's junior players are trained to attack with more power.

 

[NextLevel]

Playing consistently is an important thing, but even if it's a cliché, the middle way is the best. You need to train your consistency to improve, but if you don't train playing with 100% aggressiveness, you limit yourself. I don't know exactly who said that, but I am sure that a CNT coach: 'we train our players to play irrational shots rationally' or something like that.
I see with some hungarian junior players that they're very consistent, they don't try to be flashy and they they earn lots of points that way in international tournaments. But when they meet with stronger junior players, their attacks aren't enough powerful, their opening loops are getting killed. It's obvious that e.g. the french national team's junior players are trained to attack with more power.

Not 100% aggression, but to increase the level of your 60-70% shots so that to a lower player, they look like 100% aggression. Consistency without power is not enough, as you said, the Chinese train to increase the power and don't make consistency an absolute. Nowadays, spin that bothers your opponent is harder to generate as well, so you have to really put effort into your shots.

 

[Takkyu_wa_inochi]

Not 100% aggression, but to increase the level of your 60-70% shots so that to a lower player, they look like 100% aggression. Consistency without power is not enough, as you said, the Chinese train to increase the power and don't make consistency an absolute. Nowadays, spin that bothers your opponent is harder to generate as well, so you have to really put effort into your shots.

I think we agree