Daily Table Tennis Chit Chat

[dingyibvs]

Oh yeah this sounds awesome. Do you mind sharing websites of those two clubs? I managed to find Alameda but it says its closed in 2020

Alameda | MMTTA

Train at MMTTA Alameda! Offering table tennis and badminton open play, lessons, group classes, tournaments, and weekly league events. Opened in 2024.

www.mmtta.io

Concord Table Tennis Club

Open Times: (Open to Public, Drop-In / Walk-Ins Welcome) Open Mondays and Wednesdays, 7PM to 10PM (6:45pm for 1st timers) Closed: June 22 & 24, 2026. (Basketball Event) Fees: (Cash, Credit, Zelle, Venmo accepted) Visitors: $15 per playing night (1st time $10, under age 18 always $5) Members: $10

sites.google.com

The Alameda club is a dedicated TT facility, Concord is two nights a week in a basketball gym. If you just want some lessons with him it might be better to just go to Concord as he charges less there (presumably because Concord takes a smaller cut). It's coach Huang BTW.

 

[Novarac23]

Alameda | MMTTA

Train at MMTTA Alameda! Offering table tennis and badminton open play, lessons, group classes, tournaments, and weekly league events. Opened in 2024.

www.mmtta.io

Concord Table Tennis Club

Open Times: (Open to Public, Drop-In / Walk-Ins Welcome) Open Mondays and Wednesdays, 7PM to 10PM (6:45pm for 1st timers) Closed: June 22 & 24, 2026. (Basketball Event) Fees: (Cash, Credit, Zelle, Venmo accepted) Visitors: $15 per playing night (1st time $10, under age 18 always $5) Members: $10

sites.google.com

The Alameda club is a dedicated TT facility, Concord is two nights a week in a basketball gym. If you just want some lessons with him it might be better to just go to Concord as he charges less there (presumably because Concord takes a smaller cut). It's coach Huang BTW.

Oh awesome! I'm maybe visiting west coast at some point this year so we'll see if I can get there Thank you!

 

[jk1980]

had my first training session with a boosted Rxton 9 40,5° and in some categories it felt really great and definitely as dead as i remember it (when i played one a year ago unboosted).
Drills i did were Block & Counter Topspin which the rubber performed great in. Even from distance it was not too slow. In the training match i lost 0-3 to the guy i won 3-1 last week (with different rubbers though), mainly because everything from 30-70% power stroke does not seem very linear. Finding the amount of power and acceleration to loop spinny was too hard inside the match, but thats fine. Touch game was great as well, so only really the gap between 30 to 70% power shots are a mistery (in terms of what i get out of it with given power x) to me and not very linear. For the high power shots i did not even have to engage my full body but a firm acceleration of a little hip and under arm was enough to send the ball flying out, so playing it with a european technique would work (again boosted with 2 layers of yellow seamoon regular)

I will continue to play it but it might even be too fast in the top gears to me. I am looking forward to testing it with spinsight in terms of spin generation compared to Battle 2 Gold in red.

 

[Tyce]

Had another session with Korbel tonight and slowly things are starting to click. Bit by bit I'm playing more fluent shots, and staying in control rather than overhitting. One bad habit is a wild forehand where I make some weird uncoordinated movement dashing my upper body forward, and pulling my playing shoulder back for some kind of huge backswing. I managed to keep that from happening about 75-80% of the time.
Had a couple of coordination brainfarts which usually means I'm actively learning something else
The quicker strokes are giving more reliable rubber engagement and the slower blade is helping a lot to make that happen safely.

It's probably the last night I play this week, we're getting a couple of hot days and it's already turned into a sauna in the building. Plenty of time to keep considering softer rubber and make it just a bit easier.

 

[Takkyu_wa_inochi]

Nope FTX and Alameda blew up in 2021

 

[Larshos]

Quick technique question here: when forehand looping, do you keep the base knuckle/joint of your index finger in contact with the backhand rubber? Or do you hold it in a way that the joint is not in contact, only the middle and outer joint of the finger..?

 

[Scarfed Garchomp]

Quick technique question here: when forehand looping, do you keep the base knuckle/joint of your index finger in contact with the backhand rubber? Or do you hold it in a way that the joint is not in contact, only the middle and outer joint of the finger..?

Its not really a conscious input for me, but for purposes of trying to remain relaxed when fh looping, I find that its actually just the pad/tip of my index finger that ends up feeling like its applying the pressure on my fh loop

 

[Larshos]

Its not really a conscious input for me, but for purposes of trying to remain relaxed when fh looping, I find that its actually just the pad/tip of my index finger that ends up feeling like its applying the pressure on my fh loop

So you're then using your thumb actively to counteract the torque you put on the axis of the length of the blade?

 

[Scarfed Garchomp]

So you're then using your thumb actively to counteract the torque you put on the axis of the length of the blade?

A little bit but I feel just as much work from my pinky to keep the whole racket in my hand

 

[jk1980]

had a session with the first player of the first team of my second club i train with. Nothing wild (1400-1500 TTR) but i knew he could spin very well with forehand and backhand and is a very good blocker, so i took the chance and compared the Rxton 9 i boosted recently with the Battle 2 Gold and just asked him to block against my loops. He already asked me what my forehand rubber was, because it was so spinny (that was Rxton 9 for these matches), but when we did the loop against bloc exercise with me then changing from Rxton 9 to Battle 2 Gold he said that it's even harder for him to block against the Battle 2 Gold. Yes, Rxton 9 has a lower throw and the trajectory was lower and the bounce of the ball after it hits the table is what he expected (relative to the flight trajectory). With the Battle 2 Gold the trajectory was distinctly different and he said it was hard to judge how the ball would bounce off, since the high arc of the ball would not match the way the ball would then suddenly "jump" at him with a lower trajectory after hitting the table. Other then the difference in arc i would not have been able to determine this and his blocking performance was still not affected by this much (so he never missed a block really and blocked 4 or 5 loops in a row), . I did not want to take it as gospel yet, so i put it to the test with spinsight and it showed just a slight improvement of spin with the Battle 2 Gold, but i think the arc is what makes it harder for the opponent and not just the 5% more spin or something.

 

[Tyce]

I agree, higher arc loops are usually harder to judge. Flatter loops might have more quality in absolute terms of spin+speed, but it's predictable quality. Once you get a gauge of the spin capacity, adjusting the block ie pretty straight forward.
That's not saying it's easy, the margins for a good block are small when you get it low over the net.

 

[NextLevel]

I agree, higher arc loops are usually harder to judge. Flatter loops might have more quality in absolute terms of spin+speed, but it's predictable quality. Once you get a gauge of the spin capacity, adjusting the block ie pretty straight forward.
That's not saying it's easy, the margins for a good block are small when you get it low over the net.

For better players above my pay grade, it is not so much about the spin to speed on high arc, but about the fact that the shorter landing point with the high arc enables you to play with more power closer to the table with confidence. The further back you play, the more valuable speed arcs become. And with the power produced from distance, those are not that easy to block either.

 

[Takkyu_wa_inochi]

still in recovery mode from my hip joint injury. 2 full weeks without playing (since ITTF Masters)
pain is gone at 90% but i am afraid that if i practice again, it will get worse...

 

[Tyce]

For better players above my pay grade, it is not so much about the spin to speed on high arc, but about the fact that the shorter landing point with the high arc enables you to play with more power closer to the table with confidence. The further back you play, the more valuable speed arcs become. And with the power produced from distance, those are not that easy to block either.

So what you're saying is, very basically put, if you play close to the table, high arc is better and if you play further, low arc is better? Because that kind of makes sense and I never thought of it like this.

*wheels are turning*
With that information... I like to stick close for my BH but I don't mind going half distance on FH... Interesting.

 

[dingyibvs]

For better players above my pay grade, it is not so much about the spin to speed on high arc, but about the fact that the shorter landing point with the high arc enables you to play with more power closer to the table with confidence. The further back you play, the more valuable speed arcs become. And with the power produced from distance, those are not that easy to block either.

Above a certain level, higher arc becomes a lot easier for opponents to deal with as well though. The ball has to travel a longer distance so more time to prepare, and then it's also easier to just keep the racket high and counter loop downward if you're closer to the table.

 

[NextLevel]

So what you're saying is, very basically put, if you play close to the table, high arc is better and if you play further, low arc is better? Because that kind of makes sense and I never thought of it like this.

*wheels are turning*
With that information... I like to stick close for my BH but I don't mind going half distance on FH... Interesting.

The goal is alwaus to faster and with a relatively low arc as you play better. I am speaking in terms of the property of the equipment for generating that fast and relatively low arc. Because you need both speed and safety and because power creates speed and spin creates safety, you need something that has high arc in order to be safe when you olay with power close to the table. It is mostly on the spin. But not in the spin to gor spin dake but on thr spin to make sure a powrrful ball dips onto the table.

 

[NextLevel]

Above a certain level, higher arc becomes a lot easier for opponents to deal with as well though. The ball has to travel a longer distance so more time to prepare, and then it's also easier to just keep the racket high and counter loop downward if you're closer to the table.

You are thinking of high arc as a property of the shott. I am talking about high arc as the property of the rubber when you want to produce consistently fast and powerful shots. Most good players (again, above my pay grade) take the ball at or below let heiight and get the ball to move through the table.

 

[dingyibvs]

I did some practice against the robot on Tues, then had a practice session on Wed. Idk what practice was working for my FH but it was working, lol. Man, I felt like I had perfect control, can go 0 to 100, focusing more on spin or speed, moving left or right, and can land the shots consistently at one part of the table. I also wasn't over-rotating, so recovery felt like a breeze. It was especially evident when I did FH loops from the BH corner. I always had issues with control before, but last night I was landing them with perfect control.

I think I'm pretty close to figuring out the BH loop as well, which is focusing a bit more on the forward momentum. I felt like I was able to achieve much better consistency that way. Still need a lot more practice though, and I don't think I'm quite at the stage my FH is, where I feel like I've figured out the form and that I mostly just need to improve consistency now.

You are thinking of high arc as a property of the shott. I am talking about high arc as the property of the rubber when you want to produce consistently fast and powerful shots. Most good players (again, above my pay grade) take the ball at or below let heiight and get the ball to move through the table.

That's not really where TT is heading these days though. Closer to the table and taking the ball earlier is more the direction, so a bit lower arc seems to be the preference of high level players now. Not really something players at our level should worry about though.

 

[NextLevel]

I did some practice against the robot on Tues, then had a practice session on Wed. Idk what practice was working for my FH but it was working, lol. Man, I felt like I had perfect control, can go 0 to 100, focusing more on spin or speed, moving left or right, and can land the shots consistently at one part of the table. I also wasn't over-rotating, so recovery felt like a breeze. It was especially evident when I did FH loops from the BH corner. I always had issues with control before, but last night I was landing them with perfect control.

I think I'm pretty close to figuring out the BH loop as well, which is focusing a bit more on the forward momentum. I felt like I was able to achieve much better consistency that way. Still need a lot more practice though, and I don't think I'm quite at the stage my FH is, where I feel like I've figured out the form and that I mostly just need to improve consistency now.



That's not really where TT is heading these days though. Closer to the table and taking the ball earlier is more the direction, so a bit lower arc seems to be the preference of high level players now. Not really something players at our level should worry about though.

Taking the ball early can be misleading terminology, everyone needs time to play their best shots and respond to the best shots of their opponents and since most top players take the ball at relatively low heights because their opponents keep the ball low, the goal is to be able to drive the ball through the table with power at low heights and this happens at relatively low trajectories with high arcing rubbers. But the high arcing (spin producing) rubbers are used to drive the ball through the table. While there are many ways to be consistent at lower levels, higher level players stay consistent with say Tenergy 05 or Dignics 06 with the modern ball by driving the ball forward through the table and what they consider high arcing is the confidence that the ball will clear the net and dip because if the spin, not so much that the ball travels in loops the way a USATT 1400 to 1800 player might be thinking about it.

This new ball slows down much more off the table than people realize. It makes the payoff in time for playing a yard behind the table if you have the power to be significant as long as yoi can get thr ball through the table with confidence.

 

[NextLevel]

So what you're saying is, very basically put, if you play close to the table, high arc is better and if you play further, low arc is better? Because that kind of makes sense and I never thought of it like this.

*wheels are turning*
With that information... I like to stick close for my BH but I don't mind going half distance on FH... Interesting.

It's all relative and this is all assuming you want to play with power/quality. My main point is that taking the ball too early can be a bad thing because it reduces the quality you can place on the ball. But if you want to hit the ball powerfully with a closed racket, the higher spin (higher arc) rubber gives you confidence the ball will dip based on your quality. Sometimes people focus on the rubber property (high arcing spin) and don't realize that it is still relative to the style and that for a close to the table topspin player, even relatively low arcing driving topspin shots can be enabled by such a rubber. I am someone who is trying to step back and develop power from behind the table because I realize is that part of the problem is that playing too close to the table makes me reactive (vs generative) when returning topspin balls.