Daily Table Tennis Chit Chat

[disaster3]

hi all, quick question to not create new topic…
Rubber sponge for cleaning the topsheet , do you clean it after while to rinse all the dirt out of it?
I’ve never done it before and it looks terrible.

 

[NextLevel]

hi all, quick question to not create new topic…
Rubber sponge for cleaning the topsheet , do you clean it after while to rinse all the dirt out of it?
I’ve never done it before and it looks terrible.

View attachment 26832

Hopefully someone can help you, I haven't used sponge to clean my rubber in over 10 years. Water/breath and fingers is the usual with rare uses of paper towel for drying (and for that reason, it is definitely the kind of thing that would have been better as a new topci).

 

[Jslick89]

hi all, quick question to not create new topic…
Rubber sponge for cleaning the topsheet , do you clean it after while to rinse all the dirt out of it?
I’ve never done it before and it looks terrible.

View attachment 26832

i just bought a new one after approx 1 year. my local tt shop sells them for $5 i think lol.

 

[disaster3]

It’s not a problem to buy new one but wanted to ask before I threw it out

 

[Jslick89]

It’s not a problem to buy new one but wanted to ask before I threw it out

i considered trying to wash mine but i decided to just get a new one lol. you should try to wash it and see if it works! It's just microfiber I believe....

 

[ben1229]

hi all, quick question to not create new topic…
Rubber sponge for cleaning the topsheet , do you clean it after while to rinse all the dirt out of it?
I’ve never done it before and it looks terrible.

View attachment 26832

Just clean it, and see if the surface still good to clean rubber but not damage the rubber.that what I usually do , one of mine over 3 years still going strong, donic one.

 

[dingyibvs]

So I've finally started playing some TT. Did some training at home in the garage 2 weeks ago, took about a week to get figure out the limits of my recovering leg. Then last week I started playing in one of the local clubs.

I met a coach there, he comes sometimes, but I'd never paid much attention to the coaches there. I didn't think they'd be very good, as the play level at the club isn't very high and it's a very amateurish place compared to other ones around the bay area. He came up to me first actually, told me he could help me with my backhand, which lord knows I need a lot of help with.

I was intrigued, and we chit-chatted a little bit. He had some medical issues so I shared some advice, and he gave me a free lesson on Thursday. Turns out he used to be a professional coach in China, he says his students have won national level competitions there before. My goodness did I learn a lot! I mean, a lot of the stuff I've heard of before, watched videos about, e.g. don't use the wrist too much, relax before/after the shot but concentrate the power during, let the ball come closer to you, pivot around the elbow, etc. But I gotta say, it's just a whole other thing to have someone instructing you on every shot.

The entire session of about 2 hours we did BH. It was not very tiring at all as he constantly stopped me to give instructions, correcting what I'm doing wrong. By the end I of course still wasn't there yet but I felt a HUGE difference with my shots. I can FEEL it when I'm getting the shot right, and that'll be a great basis to improve from. We only did BH counters, not even topspin counters, yet when I went home and tried it on the robot, everything from topspin to backspin was massively improved. I can feel the rubber holding onto the ball, and that my consistency and power delivery is solid.

You know, when I started playing TT again last year, I initially did sign up for 4 coaching sessions with a local coach. He's a 2400+ player and a national level USTTA certified coach, so I thought he'd be good. But he taught me nothing. At most it was like "you have to do it like this" and then hit a shot the way he wants me to. The sessions were tiring as we hit the ball non-stop, I was exhausted after a 1 hour session, but I felt like I was just training and not learning if you know what I mean. I lost faith in coaching, but this coach restored it for me.

 

[Der_Echte]

You know, when I started playing TT again last year, I initially did sign up for 4 coaching sessions with a local coach. He's a 2400+ player and a national level USTTA certified coach, so I thought he'd be good. But he taught me nothing. At most it was like "you have to do it like this" and then hit a shot the way he wants me to. The sessions were tiring as we hit the ball non-stop, I was exhausted after a 1 hour session, but I felt like I was just training and not learning if you know what I mean. I lost faith in coaching, but this coach restored it for me.

Hi dingyibvs,

You have properly articulated how it is for adult TT learners.

A high play level and coaching certification from a national body is nice, but it does little to nothing to get the adult TT learner to understand/visualize/internalize concepts, does nothing to spot and correct inefficient things, does nothing to inspire/lead, does nothing to establish a vision for the player, and does nothing to develop a player.

There are needed skills to be an effective coach and a high level or cert has little to no bearing on this.

I am glad you ran into someone with these skills and a desire to help.

MANY, if not the great majority of what people view as a high level coach, is simply a dude who will take the money to be a highly paid hitting/feeding partner.

We have this for two primary reasons.

1 - Most high level players suck at the skills needed to teach, train, and develop an adult TT learner, but since TT was all their life, they gotta do something to eat, breath oxygen, and otherwise keep the body and soul together.

2 - There is a surprisingly high number of adult TT players who at heart do not want to learn and go through multiple phases of failing to develop... they just want to FEEL like they are doing higher things, so being able to hit a ball hard that comes to a predictable spot over and over looks and feels impressive to these... and to them is worth the pricetag.

So, there is plenty of fault on both sides contributing to this.

I am glad you are real and sincere... and have met a kindred soul who has effective adult coaching skills. It is too bad you were not able to run into @NextLevel , that cat has a ton of TT learning / match skill developing truth bombs and pearls every damn time he shuts his camera off... and that damn cameral is rolling/recording almost 24/7.

 

[blahness]

I figured out how to short push properly with the BH especially against FH pendulum serves. With D05, going against the spin (ie doing a left to right movement) basically will be extremely hard to control the ball especially if it's sidetopspin. The fundamental issue is that you can't engage the fingers or the body to absorb the momentum properly.

I figured out the other way which is a lot better which is to go right to left, and to engage body and fingers to absorb the incoming momentum and apply spin to. This is going with the spin (as ball is also spinning from right to left), but because you can engage the body it's way easier to control the trajectory.

Basically this means that FH short push is always a left to right movement (anticlockwise) regardless of spin, and the BH short push is a right to left movement (clockwise). You only adjust racket angles and degree of momentum absorption based on the incoming spin/shot.

The other thing I learnt was how to really increase the quality of the BH chiquita and BH opening loop against FH pendulum serves. I think previously i have always prioritised landing rates and didnt go forward enough with my hand movement. this worked incredibly well and I won quite a few more games today against my training partner because the shot was almost unreturnable, it was very fast and loaded with spin, and at least he was forced to just do normal blocks where I could follow up my looping much more comfortably. Previously when I did a softer chiquita or BH opening loop I got into trouble either from his FH quick counter or the BH punch to my wide FH/middle which is the most annoying shot to deal with.

 

[turbozed]

hi all, quick question to not create new topic…
Rubber sponge for cleaning the topsheet , do you clean it after while to rinse all the dirt out of it?
I’ve never done it before and it looks terrible.

View attachment 26832

I have the same sponge I think. Donic?

I've washed the sponge with regular liquid hand soap and the blackness came out and it looked (mostly) like new again.

 

[JeffM]

Hi dingyibvs,

You have properly articulated how it is for adult TT learners.

A high play level and coaching certification from a national body is nice, but it does little to nothing to get the adult TT learner to understand/visualize/internalize concepts, does nothing to spot and correct inefficient things, does nothing to inspire/lead, does nothing to establish a vision for the player, and does nothing to develop a player.

There are needed skills to be an effective coach and a high level or cert has little to no bearing on this.

I am glad you ran into someone with these skills and a desire to help.

MANY, if not the great majority of what people view as a high level coach, is simply a dude who will take the money to be a highly paid hitting/feeding partner.

We have this for two primary reasons.

1 - Most high level players suck at the skills needed to teach, train, and develop an adult TT learner, but since TT was all their life, they gotta do something to eat, breath oxygen, and otherwise keep the body and soul together.

2 - There is a surprisingly high number of adult TT players who at heart do not want to learn and go through multiple phases of failing to develop... they just want to FEEL like they are doing higher things, so being able to hit a ball hard that comes to a predictable spot over and over looks and feels impressive to these... and to them is worth the pricetag.

So, there is plenty of fault on both sides contributing to this.

I am glad you are real and sincere... and have met a kindred soul who has effective adult coaching skills. It is too bad you were not able to run into @NextLevel , that cat has a ton of TT learning / match skill developing truth bombs and pearls every damn time he shuts his camera off... and that damn cameral is rolling/recording almost 24/7.

I wish I could have the chance to run into that cat and receive some of the wisdom bombs.

 

[NextLevel]

Another weekend of TT just ended. I went to play on Saturday morning at my friend's church. His other long time training buddy had returned so it was going to be 3 of us playing best of 3s going round and round. I thought I wouldn't lose a game given the level disparity and played the first game with minimal warmup against the training buddy. I lost that match 0‐2 and learned a lesson in humility. I then beat my friend 2‐0, and then left the table. But after that lesson learned, I pl played smarter and then just didn't lose another game the rest of the day despite close calls. 2‐0 wins when 3 of us were playing, and 3‐0 wins after the training buddy left. The main thing I think I learned that I will continue to work on is third ball I to the elbow with power and starting the point out with loops and serves into the elbow before going wide. I tend to do very well when pulled wide (I like to go wider) so I struggle whe I am not given that angle but on the other hand, sometimes it is smart not to give the opponent that angle either, not on the first ball at least.

Today, I met the Swedish player I will take lessons from. He had to study and the club opened late so we couldn't get table time but I will schedule something with him for next Sunday.

I hit with an old guy who likes to block the ball around. Sometimes I get annoyed because he blocks the ball to spots I am not read to cover and I am always trying to loop the ball to the half of the table where he is blocking, even if I don't have the angle to do it easily. But he admitted that my loops are hard for him to control so he has to disrupt me to give himself time.

I then was invited by the guy who I played last week (beat on Friday, lost to on Sunday). We played two matches, I won the first one 3‐2, and it was pretty close, and won the second match 3‐1, an easier ride. I think the biggest consideration is just what this spin thing means for my game. Should I really be using a moderate speed Hybrid, or should I look for something faster? Or should I just accept the stability of my rotation/spin game and look for effective strategies within that game? Thae last is probably where i am heading. But I will ask the Swedish coach whether he has any thoughts when the time comes. That said, I looked at Damien Provost and he is using the Aruna Hinoki with some Gewo rubbers and playing the style I largely want to play. Maybe I should buy and test that.

We had a Nigerian guest from Atlanta and I played him - I was expecting the level disparity to give me easy wins. However he actually won the first game (the guys in Atlanta have some high level coaching and a couple of high level topspin amateurs who keep them all sharp and knowing how to rally against fast heavy topspin). I never checked his equipment but for some reason he was scrubbing my spin off the ball. So the next three games, I focused on slow and heavy rotation and he didnt get more than 3 points a game. But it was another lesson in humility for sure. Later, at dinner, I asked him what he used and he said he uses Hurricane on both sides, Provincial forehand and Neo backhand. Which explained the spin scrubbing effect of his strokes. Which is why you should always check the equipment of your opponent. Again lessons in humility...

Last match, I played a guy with short pips on the backhand and again, I learn the lesson in humility. He feels my spin during the warm up but in the match his flat balls do give me some trouble and he blocks well. The short pips make me miss quite a few topspins and I have to move a bit to keep the ball in play. I win 3‐0, but it wasn't a walk in the park at all.

After playing and watching other people play, we go to dinner at a Nigerian restaurant. Now I look forward to the week of school and work. Hope I will get some insights into blocking 2500 level loops next week lol.

 

[JJ Ng]

So I've finally started playing some TT. Did some training at home in the garage 2 weeks ago, took about a week to get figure out the limits of my recovering leg. Then last week I started playing in one of the local clubs.

I met a coach there, he comes sometimes, but I'd never paid much attention to the coaches there. I didn't think they'd be very good, as the play level at the club isn't very high and it's a very amateurish place compared to other ones around the bay area. He came up to me first actually, told me he could help me with my backhand, which lord knows I need a lot of help with.

I was intrigued, and we chit-chatted a little bit. He had some medical issues so I shared some advice, and he gave me a free lesson on Thursday. Turns out he used to be a professional coach in China, he says his students have won national level competitions there before. My goodness did I learn a lot! I mean, a lot of the stuff I've heard of before, watched videos about, e.g. don't use the wrist too much, relax before/after the shot but concentrate the power during, let the ball come closer to you, pivot around the elbow, etc. But I gotta say, it's just a whole other thing to have someone instructing you on every shot.

The entire session of about 2 hours we did BH. It was not very tiring at all as he constantly stopped me to give instructions, correcting what I'm doing wrong. By the end I of course still wasn't there yet but I felt a HUGE difference with my shots. I can FEEL it when I'm getting the shot right, and that'll be a great basis to improve from. We only did BH counters, not even topspin counters, yet when I went home and tried it on the robot, everything from topspin to backspin was massively improved. I can feel the rubber holding onto the ball, and that my consistency and power delivery is solid.

You know, when I started playing TT again last year, I initially did sign up for 4 coaching sessions with a local coach. He's a 2400+ player and a national level USTTA certified coach, so I thought he'd be good. But he taught me nothing. At most it was like "you have to do it like this" and then hit a shot the way he wants me to. The sessions were tiring as we hit the ball non-stop, I was exhausted after a 1 hour session, but I felt like I was just training and not learning if you know what I mean. I lost faith in coaching, but this coach restored it for me.

I started learning table tennis when I was 13, not too young and not too old. I think it allowed me to appreciate how an "adult" beginner would feel.

Coaches who started training at the age of 7 really have a hard time relating to adult beginners.

I look at the players at the club and I am wondering what the heck they are doing.

For example, I started playing at 13, My coach and his wife (his wife also played table tennis) would tell me to focus on using my forearm and hit the ball over the table, and "carry" the ball over the net. In other words, they started training me to feel the ball and borrow the momentum right off the bat. They emphasized that I should alwasy start my stroke on my side but always end up hitting the ball in front of me, so I am looking at the ball directly. That philsophy carries over to every single stroke, be it hitting, looping or forehand push. They told me to tug my elbow close to my body to gain the most control of my upper limb. Only when they taught me Chinese-style forehand loop, that's when they asked me to losen up my elbow, etc.

When I started looping, they taught me to let the ball drop and tell me to "pull" the ball up with my rubber's top sheet to feel the spin.

Nowadays when I see adult beginners in classes, they hit ball all over the place. Off the bounce, top of the bounce, on the way down from the top of the bounce, etc. etc. They hit the ball on the side of their bodies, etc. etc. I just keep my mouth shut.....

 

[Der_Echte]

Traveled to Almeda TT Gym with LDM7... I did league and managed to watch a small amount of his games.

I struggle in that gym with light glare, high walls and ceiling light, and those old BTY tables have the friction coefficient of sandpaper. Any kind of light underspin ball that is not moving fast will not skid and continue towards you, it will stop like brake check. This is tough vs a certain Medium Pips dude who gets you to attack and drops it short with the help of the table.

Close games at 11-9 or 13-11... but i went 2 games down... on top of the inherent difficulties, he managed 3 nets a game... then in game 3, when I was 3-4 down, he managed another 4 nets (after already getting an edge and a net) to get me down 3-9.

The positive thing is i told myself he didn't get 11 yet... but he sure had momentum and I had low single digit odds of winning even 1 game. I manage to get to 8-9 and 8- 10 and 10-10... think I had to win at 13-11. Down in game 4 and managed to win 11-9... down in game 5 and at the end it was 8-10 with me serving. managed to get to 10-10 and won 12-10 I think.

That is my main take away, won when down 3-9 in 3rd game vs a player who won vs me 3-1 in close sets so many months ago and i do not see the ball well or play worth crap in that gym for competing.

My mental performance is going up and is a help, I need it from not doing much competitive singles the last couple years and it dropped my tourney level a lot.

 

[Der_Echte]

@Jslick89 would really appreciate that there is another J-Slick in the world... the great Bassist in the Adrian Belew Power Trio is named Julie Slick.

 

[Scarfed Garchomp]

That said, I looked at Damien Provost and he is using the Aruna Hinoki with some Gewo rubbers and playing the style I largely want to play. Maybe I should buy and test that.

Given all you've written about GT and your experience with tacky rubbers, I don't think you will like a modern Tensor like Nexxus Superselect as much as you might want to. But it still remains to be seen if you would either like it as much or perform as well with it given time dedicated to making the switch to a bouncy nontacky modern style Tensor, from a very hard and linear rubber like GT

 

[NextLevel]

Given all you've written about GT and your experience with tacky rubbers, I don't think you will like a modern Tensor like Nexxus Superselect as much as you might want to. But it still remains to be seen if you would either like it as much or perform as well with it given time dedicated to making the switch to a bouncy nontacky modern style Tensor, from a very hard and linear rubber like GT

Of course, I am not Damien Provost so this is all just thinking out loud . But there definitely is some balance to be struck between taking big cuts at the ball and being able to take quick strokes close to the table since I don't backup - my style is towards the latter, but I just don't know how to do it without something like the former because of the rubber speed. I did try Dignics 05 recently and played like an idiot with it but didn't give myself time to adjust. But regardless, the biggest thing is that I don't know how to hold the ball over the table with these faster rubbers, and this is where I might just have to get a better player to talk me through it. It's just thinking through what I might need to beat the players I Want to beat, but maybe I already have that and it is just about being precise in my practice.

 

[JeffM]

In order to keep myself fit and away from injury, I rejoined gym 3 days ago. I have been going every single day since, also because I have a few days off. I am aware of the dangers of over-doing it, so I am trying to be sensitive and see what can be done and what needs rest.
I did some skipping and bike for the last 3 days. The leg extension machine is my favouriote as I feel it really helps me keep my thigh muscles in shape and that helps prevent alot of my knee issues. I feel alot more stable after I do them.

I have been really deprieved of TT as I have not played for 2.5 weeks!
I feel so bad today that I had to just take out my bat and bounce a ball on it for a little while, it made me feel better.
Tomorrow is the weekly session, although cap is still injured, I am just looking forward to being able to hit the ball.

If anyone wants to come down here for a holiday, enjoy the rural lifestyle, and play some tt, let me know

 

[OvrChkn]

I started learning table tennis when I was 13, not too young and not too old. I think it allowed me to appreciate how an "adult" beginner would feel.

Coaches who started training at the age of 7 really have a hard time relating to adult beginners.

I look at the players at the club and I am wondering what the heck they are doing.

For example, I started playing at 13, My coach and his wife (his wife also played table tennis) would tell me to focus on using my forearm and hit the ball over the table, and "carry" the ball over the net. In other words, they started training me to feel the ball and borrow the momentum right off the bat. They emphasized that I should alwasy start my stroke on my side but always end up hitting the ball in front of me, so I am looking at the ball directly. That philsophy carries over to every single stroke, be it hitting, looping or forehand push. They told me to tug my elbow close to my body to gain the most control of my upper limb. Only when they taught me Chinese-style forehand loop, that's when they asked me to losen up my elbow, etc.

When I started looping, they taught me to let the ball drop and tell me to "pull" the ball up with my rubber's top sheet to feel the spin.

Nowadays when I see adult beginners in classes, they hit ball all over the place. Off the bounce, top of the bounce, on the way down from the top of the bounce, etc. etc. They hit the ball on the side of their bodies, etc. etc. I just keep my mouth shut.....

I think the one thing other experienced members of my club are having me do is work on guiding the ball on my strokes, especially off of the bounce. A lot of consistency drills with every permutation of forehand and backhand with focus on where to contact the ball. Watching this then going back into a coaching session really clicked with me on what to do (

). The back of my arm is pretty sore today.

Same philosophy for the doing loops off of backspin.

 

[NextLevel]

I think the one thing other experienced members of my club are having me do is work on guiding the ball on my strokes, especially off of the bounce. A lot of consistency drills with every permutation of forehand and backhand with focus on where to contact the ball. Watching this then going back into a coaching session really clicked with me on what to do (

). The back of my arm is pretty sore today.

Same philosophy for the doing loops off of backspin.

It's a good video. The biggest things are knowing your sweet spot and learning to swing in large curves that approximate straight lines in the contact region of your stroke. The body *always* turns in a circle, it all depends on where the racket force is being directed at impact and this can be done with skilled use of the forearm. Some people for whatever reason just don't work at making it all make sense. This happens most often when you are doing a counterhit or looping drill when the guy is supposed to direct the ball but for whatever reason, they don't know how to send the ball towards where they want it to go, they contact the ball later or early and let the body rotation do the aiming rather than the forearm and wonder why they are hitting the ball somewhere else. You just have to get out of holding your paddle in one spot and always direct the ball, even with a light force, towards where you want the ball to go a bit with your forearm. Against heavy spin, the light force is important to control the ball and get good contact, so it informs technique as well, holding the paddle out there mostly works only if the ball is coming directly into your rubber and the rotation isn't heavy enough relative to the forward speed to just grab your topsheet.

Over time, as your body rotation does the heavy lifting for power and not your upper arm, then the soreness becomes far less and you become a physical table tennis player.