Daily Table Tennis Chit Chat

[Takkyu_wa_inochi]

so i was in a round-robin tournament yesterday.
i was wearing as usual lately an elbow brace (still hurts) but somehow it was uncomfortable and i wanted to try without it for the last match.

and... it was a total joke. i had absolutely no feeling at all in the arm, i couldn't hit the ball.
the opponent was kind and let me put it back on after a few points lost.
but ofc i couldn't attach it exactly where and how it was and the feeling was different. I lost G1 and G2 largely before starting to get used to it but it was too late.

so TIL not to remove a brace before a tournament / session is over.

as for the tourney itself, 1W3L, first match 0-3 while it felt I could have won 3-0. had the initiative most of the time but didn't play clean the 4th or 5th ball looking for the quick kill and making unforced errors. still the old myself.
2nd match i win the decider but it wasn't a great match. 3rd match lost 1-3 to a leftie. still struggling in receiving lefty serves and it seems i forgot how to deal with reverse sidespin (=lefty) half long serves to my FH. just remembered it AFTER it was over. i had won G1 at deuce and lost 2nd at deuce coming back from 6-10. the result could have been different.

again a mediocre performance despite having played rather well in training recently (both exercises and training matches to unknown players)

 

[dingyibvs]

so i was in a round-robin tournament yesterday.
i was wearing as usual lately an elbow brace (still hurts) but somehow it was uncomfortable and i wanted to try without it for the last match.

and... it was a total joke. i had absolutely no feeling at all in the arm, i couldn't hit the ball.
the opponent was kind and let me put it back on after a few points lost.
but ofc i couldn't attach it exactly where and how it was and the feeling was different. I lost G1 and G2 largely before starting to get used to it but it was too late.

so TIL not to remove a brace before a tournament / session is over.

as for the tourney itself, 1W3L, first match 0-3 while it felt I could have won 3-0. had the initiative most of the time but didn't play clean the 4th or 5th ball looking for the quick kill and making unforced errors. still the old myself.
2nd match i win the decider but it wasn't a great match. 3rd match lost 1-3 to a leftie. still struggling in receiving lefty serves and it seems i forgot how to deal with reverse sidespin (=lefty) half long serves to my FH. just remembered it AFTER it was over. i had won G1 at deuce and lost 2nd at deuce coming back from 6-10. the result could have been different.

again a mediocre performance despite having played rather well in training recently (both exercises and training matches to unknown players)

So, how do you usually deal with half-long pendulum serves from lefties?

 

[Takkyu_wa_inochi]

So, how do you usually deal with half-long pendulum serves from lefties?

should loop them
but to make it easier, a few details can help.

wait with right foot ahead. put weight on that foot. contact ball on the RIGHT side and not in FRONT (i think that was the biggest mistake)

swing forward, not just up. for the timing try to contact the ball above the table so have the racket ready just at the end of the table. stay relaxed (probably i wasn't relaxed enough) and swing just with the arm, and wrist, don't use the forearm. use body rotation. have a grip with open wrist, else cannot generate enough spin.

I didn't apply all of that esp from G3 ? and started making weak pushes to his wide FH and he killed those balls easily. i remember doing good receives in G1 and even G2.

 

[dingyibvs]

Been kinda busy the last couple weeks, haven't played as much as usual. Also started playing soccer again Thursday, first time since I broke my leg last year. Now my whole body hurts lol, but I did find out that my cardiovascular endurance can take more than what I've been doing in TT. I typically take a break when my HR hits the 170s when practicing, but last week it managed to hit 184 which I thought was an inaccurate read. But when I played soccer there was a stretch where I went above 165 for 8 minutes straight and hit 191 max. I guess when you're on the pitch you sometimes don't have the option of taking a break and just have to keep pushing. Now that I know I can handle more, I'll start training in TT harder too.

I played in a teams tournament this weekend, an unrated event, and it was short as my team got knocked out in the group stage. People sandbagged freely in this unrated event, and so did we, but not as hard lol. I was the biggest sandbagger on my team and won my singles matches easily without dropping a set, but others I think were getting a bit nervous and didn't perform very well. It's nice to see that I can still perform in a tournament setting, and that I still don't get nervous. That's one good thing about being a very poor multi-tasker, I just don't have the mental capacity to think about nerves when I'm focused on a match.

 

[NextLevel]

So, how do you usually deal with half-long pendulum serves from lefties?

Train against a good righty backhand pendulum serve it will give you some of the same benefits.

 

[dingyibvs]

Train against a good righty backhand pendulum serve it will give you some of the same benefits.

Against both services I tend to have trouble BH looping them cross table. Recently I've found that using the body for some extra rotation seems to help, not sure if other techniques work as well.

If I step around to use my FH, I still to have a bit of an opposite issue. I can attack them fairly strongly cross table, but the ball tends to go long when I try to loop them down the line.

If the serve is to my very wide FH, then the issue is that my loop would be predictably across the table, so the common tactic for a left hander in particular would be to block it down the line and I see to have some trouble attacking that. That's probably just a matter of practicing the recovery footwork and BH re-loop though.

 

[NextLevel]

Job hunting at the moment but for some reasons, I can train a bit more TT while doing it. I had a friend from NJ visit me for Juneteenth and we went to a new local club with a couple of other friends and played matches. I switched to Dignics 05 on my backhand, an old rubber that I had in my drawer for a while and it played like Skyline 3 for me, easy to attack with with and spinnier and faster, maybe not as good for serving but otherwise surprisingly good. Since I want to reintroduce thr kind of backhand dominance I was known for when I was coming up in the hope of making my two winged game more threatening on both sides, I think this is the future and Skyline 3 might take a back seat for a while.

I played a tournament today. I didn't read the entry form carefully, I thought I was arriving early when I got there at 752am only to realize matches were starting at 8am. I managed to win the first match with minimal warmup but then I lost to a guy I used to beat all the time, I had played him in months, he switched from Grass D Tecs to Hellfire and I felt he had clearly been training with someone who had been feeding him more quality loops as he felt more confident rallying against mine. Then I lost to the A player after getting to match point in the 5th (but lost at deuce). Then I tried Skyline 3 again (not a really smart idea) against a medium pips player and lost 3‐1 despite fighting through some close games. I was 1-3. Felt like the table was too slow and everything was against me.

But wait, there's more... I played doubles with my main match practice partner. We played another team and we're down 6-10 and came back to win 12-10 in game 1. Then one of their players went to play matches in other events so the match paused. When she came back, we went up and won the next game and were leading 2-0, 10-6. And all of a sudden, all the errors we exploited just stopped working and we lost the third game, got blown out in the 4th game, and got to 9-9 in the 5th, lost the next two points and that was it. What a great day.

Then one of my friends from out of town in Texas came from the tournament and we have a running grudge set for a few years. So he was having a bad day (he went 0-3, I was 1-4 only because my group had 5 players and his had 4). So he challenged me to a match and I gladly accepted and decided to take out my frustration on him (as he wanted to on me). I beat him 3-0, 3-0. He was shocked and even our friends at the tournament watching were laughing, saying that obviously I didn't come to play the tournament, I came to play him lol. So after the grudge matches, where I threw my knee issues to abandon and just ran down and hit everything, I now had to play the Open event.

Played the first match against an athletic girl who hits the ball well but doesn't always time the ball and doesn't deal well with heavy spin either. I beat her straightforwardly and will offer to coach her a bit jiat to address what i think are some processing issues. Then I played a veteran player who had played in the Olympics for his country in the 90s, I surprisingly managed to win a game, play some good rallies and lost deuce on the 4th. I then closed out the group with a lefty who I had lost to in a prior tournament (and he also was on the doubles team I crashed against earlier ) and I won 3-1. I adjusted better to the specifics of his pips which were much more no spin than backspin and didn't loop the balls off the table.

The last match I played on the knockout of the open was pretty bad. I played a guy without a backhand but he did so much junk stuff like chop block with his backhand and I didn't have the stability to handle it. Lost 0-3 in what should have been more competitive. But it is what it is.

So key takeaways: I am really 1800 in Texas. And probably 1800 period in the US. My movement is better. My control is not bad, but I need a better framework for controlling the ball consistently. My backhand is becoming a beast again. I need to figure out how to make my forehand work as well. Maybe there is no alternative to boosting Hurricane or Dignics 09c... or something like that with Gewo Codexx EF 54 or K2 or Hurricane 8-80...

But I think with the right forehand, if I get my movement issues addressed and learn to be more consistent, I can definitely challenge 2000 again. Let's see how it goes.

And by the way, after I beat my friend 3-0, 3-0, he proceeded to win his group in the Open, going undefeated and beating a really strong topspin player 3-2. Unfortunately, he lost to the teen I lost to deuce in the 5th deuce in the 5th as well. On the other hand, he had 5 match points not one like me. Oh well...

TT is hard. It sucks sometimes. But we are all sadomasochists. And winning makes it all worth it!

 

[NextLevel]

Against both services I tend to have trouble BH looping them cross table. Recently I've found that using the body for some extra rotation seems to help, not sure if other techniques work as well.

If I step around to use my FH, I still to have a bit of an opposite issue. I can attack them fairly strongly cross table, but the ball tends to go long when I try to loop them down the line.

If the serve is to my very wide FH, then the issue is that my loop would be predictably across the table, so the common tactic for a left hander in particular would be to block it down the line and I see to have some trouble attacking that. That's probably just a matter of practicing the recovery footwork and BH re-loop though.

Ton Lodziak discussed this in a video with Lois Peake. Maybe you should check that out and see if it gives you any ideas?

 

[netdriver]

im wondering if its time to change my forehand rubber after using it for only 3 months

the topsheet is still grippy but hitting with it really doesnt feel as good as it used to be, even after reboosting it. mushy feel and the spin isnt quite there anymore.

 

[NextLevel]

im wondering if its time to change my forehand rubber after using it for only 3 months

the topsheet is still grippy but hitting with it really doesnt feel as good as it used to be, even after reboosting it. mushy feel and the spin isnt quite there anymore.

When you no longer trust your equipment, it is a good idea to renew it.

 

[NextLevel]

So I managed to go to a club today to hit for a bit. Thankfully. there was someone to hit with so I hit for an hour. On my other paddle, I had replaced the Skyline 3 with Dignics 05 as well and wanted to try whether I could play well with the H3 BS combo and Dignics 05 (I played Skyline 2 and Dignics 05 on Saturday).

My conclusion: I need to find Skyline 2 BS lol. Because BS is clearly an upgrade on OS, especially since I don't boost. So my target setup is currently something with BS on forehand (I have to not use red on forehand but I will live), which will be either Skyline 2 or Hurricane 3 (low outside chance of Skyline 3) then Dignics 05 or 80 on backhand. I like Dignics 05 but my concern is that I won't be able to sustain the aggression to use it and avoid the passive game because I don't really block well with it. But for now on offense, I now have even more balance to my offensive game - thanks @latej, Pete and all the people who mocked my backhand or judgment and made me switch. But the H3 BS is an upgrade over the Skyline 2 OS for spin, so I will be using that setup more. But I think that Skyline 2 if it had BS would be the better rubber for my game.

I played someone before I left who I last played in April and he was like "wow, you got better". And I understand where he is coming from but he doesn't know where I think I am relative to my peak. Such is life, lol.

 

[OvrChkn]

So I managed to go to a club today to hit for a bit. Thankfully. there was someone to hit with so I hit for an hour. On my other paddle, I had replaced the Skyline 3 with Dignics 05 as well and wanted to try whether I could play well with the H3 BS combo and Dignics 05 (I played Skyline 2 and Dignics 05 on Saturday).

My conclusion: I need to find Skyline 2 BS lol. Because BS is clearly an upgrade on OS, especially since I don't boost. So my target setup is currently something with BS on forehand (I have to not use red on forehand but I will live), which will be either Skyline 2 or Hurricane 3 (low outside chance of Skyline 3) then Dignics 05 or 80 on backhand. I like Dignics 05 but my concern is that I won't be able to sustain the aggression to use it and avoid the passive game because I don't really block well with it. But for now on offense, I now have even more balance to my offensive game - thanks later, Pete and all the people who mocked my backhand or judgment and made me switch. But the H3 BS is an upgrade over the Skyline 2 OS for spin, so I will be using that setup more. But I think that Skyline 2 if it had BS would be the better rubber for my game.

I played someone before I left who I last played in April and he was like "wow, you got better". And I understand where he is coming from but he doesn't know where I think I am relative to my peak. Such is life, lol.

Would prott have the blue sponge?

 

[NextLevel]

Would prott have the blue sponge?

I see it here:

PROTT

Are they reliable?

 

[OvrChkn]

I see it here:

PROTT

Are they reliable?

Not sure on the rubber end. I bought shirts there and had no issues with them. Arrived in 1.5-2 weeks from ordering.

 

[Scarfed Garchomp]

My conclusion: I need to find Skyline 2 BS lol.

I got mine from BEO Store off of Aliexpress:

https://a.aliexpress.com/_mKBrsiC

 

[latej]

Patrick Franciska with his 6'3'' and his fluid athletic movements shows the way and motivates me (6'1").

 

[Novarac23]

This is a cool thread I did not know it existed! I’ll summarize a few last weeks of TT events:
* Joined a club after picking up table tennis again. It’s been really fun although a bit far. I try to go twice a week and have one practice session and other one is mostly matches / club league.
* Played 1st week of club league and it went decent. Played 10 matches which was way too much, I was gassed after 3rd match. I won 5 games and lost 5 games. Games I won there was a decent gap in skill and wasn’t hard to win. First 3 I lost were fun and we were close-ish in skill. Lots of good FH loops. Also learned stuff I need to improve on.
* Played my first sanctioned tournament last weekend. Did not win any matches but I was close to winning a few. Ones I was close to winning skill was similar but stuff broke down and I was nervous. That was U1400, I played a tournament U1800 there was a skill gap there and I had a ton of fun playing because I got to learn.

I also noticed I chipped a bit of my rubber, which makes sense since I hit the edge of the table a few times. I’m excited about working on a few things, mostly body position (I need to get lower) and timing (I have a tendency to hit the ball early). Planning on playing another sanctioned tournament in Aug and Sept, but will play U1200 and U1400 this time.

 

[dingyibvs]

I see it here:

PROTT

Are they reliable?

They're pretty reliable, I've gotten all my H3 BS nationals from him.

 

[dingyibvs]

So maybe some of you guys know the answer to this, but why the hell do my quads fatigue so easily? Between soccer and TT they can get trained heavily, it's almost constantly sore, yet even with some rest when I play soccer it's my number one limitation. Just a few minutes of playing and my quads start going weak.

I'm thinking that maybe I don't have enough aerobic capacity, and that I need to do some zone 2 training. That's really hard though, as exercises that keep me in zone 2 feel so monotonous, so boring. I tried doing TT for zone 2 but I zoom past it with less than 10 FH shots or involves any decent movement.

 

[Loop Lob Smash]

So maybe some of you guys know the answer to this, but why the hell do my quads fatigue so easily? Between soccer and TT they can get trained heavily, it's almost constantly sore, yet even with some rest when I play soccer it's my number one limitation. Just a few minutes of playing and my quads start going weak.

I'm thinking that maybe I don't have enough aerobic capacity, and that I need to do some zone 2 training. That's really hard though, as exercises that keep me in zone 2 feel so monotonous, so boring. I tried doing TT for zone 2 but I zoom past it with less than 10 FH shots or involves any decent movement.

Hi @dingyibvs given your activities, does not sound like a lack of aerobic fitness to me. Have you considered the possibility that it might be overtraining?