Daily Table Tennis Chit Chat

[dingyibvs]

Had my first training session yesterday since getting back from my 2 week trip. It was the first session with Zyre on my S968 and the results were pretty meh. It doesn't feel like a good fit for the S968, at least not on the BH side. I'm just not a big fan. It's fast sure, but it's much harder to hit into than when I tried it on the FZD ALC, so hand feel is not great, and I don't think the decrease in control is worth the increase in speed. I think a thinner, softer, slower rubber like the Rxton 9 37.5 fits my BH, at least on the S968, much better.

Surprisingly, I'm time and again impressed by its abilities on the FH side. I feel like I can penetrate the sponge much easier on that side, and it just feels like a much better fit there. Maybe I'll glue it onto a LJK ADC and use it on the FH side to see.

 

[RPB Enthusiast]

Had my first training session yesterday since getting back from my 2 week trip. It was the first session with Zyre on my S968 and the results were pretty meh. It doesn't feel like a good fit for the S968, at least not on the BH side. I'm just not a big fan. It's fast sure, but it's much harder to hit into than when I tried it on the FZD ALC, so hand feel is not great, and I don't think the decrease in control is worth the increase in speed. I think a thinner, softer, slower rubber like the Rxton 9 37.5 fits my BH, at least on the S968, much better.

Surprisingly, I'm time and again impressed by its abilities on the FH side. I feel like I can penetrate the sponge much easier on that side, and it just feels like a much better fit there. Maybe I'll glue it onto a LJK ADC and use it on the FH side to see.

You could try boosting it and try it again on the backhand. It seems to have made a difference allowing to engage the rubber better. As you said, it's easier to use on the forehand, but the speed and control you would have to get used to. I used it on both sides at different times, and I liked it a lot more on BH than FH. FH my partners had a very hard time blocking because of the speed and BH I was able to loop more confidently. Hope you like it better on your LJK ADC blade!

 

[Archo]

First session again after using a fucking rocket launcher for 2 months and going back to my Allround Evo; feels like cheating. Everything is roughly 10x easier. It wasn't like this with other carbon blades I've tried. They were just a bit faster at the expense of a bit of spin, but sometimes not even. I don't know what it is with my exact B2, but it's much faster than you'd ever expect.

The B2 I have is so fast it doesn't grab the ball at all unless you swing like hell. I only really noticed it after comparing again. I thought it was a technique issue all this time! The carbon kicks in so early that everything is super touchy. Even compared to outer blades! Must be some production issue with it given that it measures much higher Hz than other B2s.

I bought a Nittaku Acoustic LG, almost unused, for a bargain price off a clubmate, so I'll give that a try after. Every time I've tried Acoustic + H3 I enjoyed it, and the handle and wings actually suit my hand slightly better than the Allround Evo one which is just a little big for me.

No video today, was more of a casual session with nothing of note. Just feeling out the blade and doing some multi.

 

[beeray1]

TTDSL Season 3 decide to skip a week or what??

 

[Der_Echte]

Had my first training session yesterday since getting back from my 2 week trip. It was the first session with Zyre on my S968 and the results were pretty meh. It doesn't feel like a good fit for the S968, at least not on the BH side. I'm just not a big fan. It's fast sure, but it's much harder to hit into than when I tried it on the FZD ALC, so hand feel is not great, and I don't think the decrease in control is worth the increase in speed. I think a thinner, softer, slower rubber like the Rxton 9 37.5 fits my BH, at least on the S968, much better.

Surprisingly, I'm time and again impressed by its abilities on the FH side. I feel like I can penetrate the sponge much easier on that side, and it just feels like a much better fit there. Maybe I'll glue it onto a LJK ADC and use it on the FH side to see.

Hi @dingyibvs ,

Your reported observations are consistent with your BH not having as much initial bat speed as your FH. In these situations, a harder rubber (and Zyre sponge is very hard and requires fast bat speed to use that sponge well) feels like it isn't right... and it isn't.

That is no dig on your BH, it is a statement about where you are... and you making a wise choice to use something that allows easier use of sponge until you get there. (faster BH bat speed that would make it easier to use firmer sponged rubbers with enough consistency/quality) (sometimes this is also a matter of the topsheet itself being hard too)

I went through all this before many years ago... my BH bat speed before impact is sufficient to make medium to medium hard sponges 47-51 degrees ESN to work very well on BH. After I tested out dozens of rubbers and sponge hardness, I discovered that when I use a softer rubber (42 or less sponge) that I land 1 or 2 balls out a hundren more on the table without losing any quality.

That told me I should be soft on BH regardless of what it felt for me.

It also helps that my preferred Aurus has a very supple topsheet that makes wrapping of ball and engaging sponge easier at all firmness of sponge across the product line. 38 Sound... 42 soft... 47 medium hard

 

[VRM]

Hey everyone,

I have vibe coded a program for video editing of table tennis videos. It is not 100% accurate but do give it a try. I just wanted to have fun with these AI tools.

Table Tennis Smart Video Editor

I would love to have your thoughts and ideas to improve it. And even you guys could do it too !!!

 

[Tyce]

Since we are almost done with the season and need a double miracle to get out of last place (we need a 5-0 win and the team above us needs to lose 0-5) I decided to start some testing, with interesting results.

First I put D09c on my Ma Lin Carbon, with Rozena still on the BH. It's just such an interesting rubber! It's really interesting to play it on a blade I'm familiar with. Having the ability to play strong, slow and spinny, but also being able to accelerate the game extremely well makes it like a more accessible version of H3 to me. I just love making pace changes and where Glayzer on my main FH plays mostly in one tempo, it feels like D09c has so many different faces. The experience makes me curious again to try a fresh sheet of G09c, and see how that works for me.

It's also really curious how Rozena changes character not only between different blades, but even between different types of rubber being put on the other side. It feels quite setup-sensitive like what I felt Rakza 7 was, and that one could already vary between feeling extremely soft and way too easy to hit through, to very poppy and catapulty and hard to penetrate, depending on the rest of the bat.

I have a feeling that this phenomenon also applies to Glayzer, because people are reporting that it plays very bad (different) on the wrong blade. Funnily enough I don't have that impression from D09c, and neither from H3N really. It's mostly the medium-soft rubbers that seem to be very dependent on the rest of the bat.

Another thing I did was dusting off my Appelgren Allplay, with Fastarc G-1 and C-1 on it. It is amazing and very satisfying how fast the brain recognizes the old equipment. It's also very clear that while pretty much all active strokes are very safe and have a gigantic success rate, it completely falls apart as soon as I'm out of position and unable to brace my power correctly. I was weirdly good at defense, blocking spinny high loops but also pushing and chopping. The result however was I had zero chance to put away a point and I crumbled as soon as I was out of position (especially shots to my body).

Now, the reason I was doing this in the first place is to figure out how much I can turn down the speed knob before it becomes counterproductive. And tbh the MLC isn't all that much slower than my IFL ALC, if only it was a little bit lighter and more maneuverable. I might try and get my hands on a Waldner Senso Carbon but at this point the benefits of this MLC over my main IFL ALC are too small to warrant a change of blades.
As for allwood, ehh I like the feeling but I need the reinforcement to add a bit of safety, being able to rescue those out of position shots is very valuable in my game.
First things first, let's see what the competition does next Wednesday. If they do manage to lose 0-5 somehow, we still have that slightest chance.

 

[J-fed]

I was flying tonight. Played tennis yesterday so told the coach I was only in for an hour today.
First half was practice and multiball and I felt good, then in the second half I used my practice rights to choose games instead of practice (that's how iit works at our club, coach calls who you practice with next and says who's turn it is to decide the conditions).
First game I beat a 27 ish female who hammered me last week. I really admire her allround game. So good. I rarely beat her and see her cleaning up against anyone who is predictable.
Second game I lost at deuce with my favorite opponent. He's a 22 yr old loop monster. So damn fun to play. My block/smash and LP game Vs his fast spin attack.
Third game I came back from a nasty position Truls style to beat another loop bezerker.
Yoshhhh.
It's also my birthday and the missus got me MTB and TT goods from Ali!
Life is good.

 

[dingyibvs]

I've switched my BH rubber back to Rxton 9 for now. Zyre played alright actually, I beat a couple guys I lost to recently at the club, but also almost lost to a much lower level player because I couldn't do basic things well like pushing and blocking. I also just didn't have confidence in countering. A lot of it I'm sure is just a lack of adjustment, but I'm also pretty sure my main issue on the BH side is technique. With that in mind, it's probably better to just stick to thr same rubber, a more basic one, and work on technique for now.

Looking at videos, my BH technique is pretty close now. It's actually not really easy to see significant problems on video, it's more of a feel thing. My feeling is that I'm not quite getting thr timing right with regard to my wrist. I feel like I'm not hitting the ball with my wrist fully relaxed in a cocked back position. When I do get the timing right the loop feels amazing, so that's something I'm gonna be working on next, getting that amazing contact feeling every shot, first against the robot, then against blocks. Everything else seems to be fine now in terms of body, arm, elbow positioning etc., so just need to get this part right.

 

[RPB Enthusiast]

I was flying tonight. Played tennis yesterday so told the coach I was only in for an hour today.
First half was practice and multiball and I felt good, then in the second half I used my practice rights to choose games instead of practice (that's how iit works at our club, coach calls who you practice with next and says who's turn it is to decide the conditions).
First game I beat a 27 ish female who hammered me last week. I really admire her allround game. So good. I rarely beat her and see her cleaning up against anyone who is predictable.
Second game I lost at deuce with my favorite opponent. He's a 22 yr old loop monster. So damn fun to play. My block/smash and LP game Vs his fast spin attack.
Third game I came back from a nasty position Truls style to beat another loop bezerker.
Yoshhhh.
It's also my birthday and the missus got me MTB and TT goods from Ali!
Life is good.
View attachment 44185

Happy birthday! 🥳🎂

 

[J-fed]

I've switched my BH rubber back to Rxton 9 for now. Zyre played alright actually, I beat a couple guys I lost to recently at the club, but also almost lost to a much lower level player because I couldn't do basic things well like pushing and blocking. I also just didn't have confidence in countering. A lot of it I'm sure is just a lack of adjustment, but I'm also pretty sure my main issue on the BH side is technique. With that in mind, it's probably better to just stick to thr same rubber, a more basic one, and work on technique for now.

Looking at videos, my BH technique is pretty close now. It's actually not really easy to see significant problems on video, it's more of a feel thing. My feeling is that I'm not quite getting thr timing right with regard to my wrist. I feel like I'm not hitting the ball with my wrist fully relaxed in a cocked back position. When I do get the timing right the loop feels amazing, so that's something I'm gonna be working on next, getting that amazing contact feeling every shot, first against the robot, then against blocks. Everything else seems to be fine now in terms of body, arm, elbow positioning etc., so just need to get this part right.

You’ll get there FS

 

[Archo]

Well I bit the bullet and I decided to just unwrap the HL5 I ordered on 11.11. Worst case it's too much blade for me and I shelve it. I couldn't resist the temptation of figuring out if my B2 was a dud or if that's just how all of these are. I got a very thin and light one, so it might be usable. Finish is incredibly good for DHS standards, everything's on straight and the sanding is even, no gaps etc. Maybe they've improved it lately. This one's 2025-11.

Hitting the ball out of my hand, it feels entirely different to B2. I distinctly remember B2 had zero spin whatsoever in these kind of normal loops. This one is climbing up the walls. Very interesting. Spin on serves is similar, perhaps slightly higher, based on how much it travels on the floor.

I'll go today to have a casual hit with it to evaluate it more.

1313Hz for the curious. B2 was 1356Hz.

 

[J-fed]

Since we are almost done with the season and need a double miracle to get out of last place (we need a 5-0 win and the team above us needs to lose 0-5) I decided to start some testing, with interesting results.

First I put D09c on my Ma Lin Carbon, with Rozena still on the BH. It's just such an interesting rubber! It's really interesting to play it on a blade I'm familiar with. Having the ability to play strong, slow and spinny, but also being able to accelerate the game extremely well makes it like a more accessible version of H3 to me. I just love making pace changes and where Glayzer on my main FH plays mostly in one tempo, it feels like D09c has so many different faces. The experience makes me curious again to try a fresh sheet of G09c, and see how that works for me.

It's also really curious how Rozena changes character not only between different blades, but even between different types of rubber being put on the other side. It feels quite setup-sensitive like what I felt Rakza 7 was, and that one could already vary between feeling extremely soft and way too easy to hit through, to very poppy and catapulty and hard to penetrate, depending on the rest of the bat.

I have a feeling that this phenomenon also applies to Glayzer, because people are reporting that it plays very bad (different) on the wrong blade. Funnily enough I don't have that impression from D09c, and neither from H3N really. It's mostly the medium-soft rubbers that seem to be very dependent on the rest of the bat.

Another thing I did was dusting off my Appelgren Allplay, with Fastarc G-1 and C-1 on it. It is amazing and very satisfying how fast the brain recognizes the old equipment. It's also very clear that while pretty much all active strokes are very safe and have a gigantic success rate, it completely falls apart as soon as I'm out of position and unable to brace my power correctly. I was weirdly good at defense, blocking spinny high loops but also pushing and chopping. The result however was I had zero chance to put away a point and I crumbled as soon as I was out of position (especially shots to my body).

Now, the reason I was doing this in the first place is to figure out how much I can turn down the speed knob before it becomes counterproductive. And tbh the MLC isn't all that much slower than my IFL ALC, if only it was a little bit lighter and more maneuverable. I might try and get my hands on a Waldner Senso Carbon but at this point the benefits of this MLC over my main IFL ALC are too small to warrant a change of blades.
As for allwood, ehh I like the feeling but I need the reinforcement to add a bit of safety, being able to rescue those out of position shots is very valuable in my game.
First things first, let's see what the competition does next Wednesday. If they do manage to lose 0-5 somehow, we still have that slightest chance.

Love to hear the Applegren story.
That’s what so many people used when I started playing 40 years. ago.I had one once and it was the most vibey blade I ever used.
If you try these Sanwei blades, the echo or parla I think you’ll get a different impression of all wood blades.
I use echo coz I don’t feel I need speed but still it’s very stiff and puts power back into the ball when you want it to. No vibes. No mush. Echo is actually a terrible name for it. It has no real ‘feel’ and that’s why I love it.
I imagine the 7 ply Parla will be even more to your taste.

 

[J-fed]

Happy birthday! 🥳🎂

Thanks chap.
52 and still got some zest to beat these guys in their 20s. Just my footwork has notably dropped off.
I’m not sure if it’s laziness or age. I am trying to get it back with multi ball and tennis (I consider tennis to be TT overload training) but it’s not there in the games yet.
I will persevere.

 

[Der_Echte]

Thanks chap.
52 and still got some zest to beat these guys in their 20s. Just my footwork has notably dropped off.
I’m not sure if it’s laziness or age. I am trying to get it back with multi ball and tennis (I consider tennis to be TT overload training) but it’s not there in the games yet.
I will persevere.

I didn't get my footwork in order instinctively until I turned your age, a full ten years after i learned. Some people are slow, glad not everyone is as slow as me. You have a lot of hope.

 

[Der_Echte]

I've switched my BH rubber back to Rxton 9 for now. Zyre played alright actually, I beat a couple guys I lost to recently at the club, but also almost lost to a much lower level player because I couldn't do basic things well like pushing and blocking. I also just didn't have confidence in countering. A lot of it I'm sure is just a lack of adjustment, but I'm also pretty sure my main issue on the BH side is technique. With that in mind, it's probably better to just stick to thr same rubber, a more basic one, and work on technique for now.

Looking at videos, my BH technique is pretty close now. It's actually not really easy to see significant problems on video, it's more of a feel thing. My feeling is that I'm not quite getting thr timing right with regard to my wrist. I feel like I'm not hitting the ball with my wrist fully relaxed in a cocked back position. When I do get the timing right the loop feels amazing, so that's something I'm gonna be working on next, getting that amazing contact feeling every shot, first against the robot, then against blocks. Everything else seems to be fine now in terms of body, arm, elbow positioning etc., so just need to get this part right.

This post is a PRIME example of the holistic evaluation and testing measures one should use to determine is such and such equipment has a place with a player.

@dingyibvs made good choices in the end and will later too as stuff changes.

 

[Archo]

Well I bit the bullet and I decided to just unwrap the HL5 I ordered on 11.11. Worst case it's too much blade for me and I shelve it. I couldn't resist the temptation of figuring out if my B2 was a dud or if that's just how all of these are. I got a very thin and light one, so it might be usable. Finish is incredibly good for DHS standards, everything's on straight and the sanding is even, no gaps etc. Maybe they've improved it lately. This one's 2025-11.

Hitting the ball out of my hand, it feels entirely different to B2. I distinctly remember B2 had zero spin whatsoever in these kind of normal loops. This one is climbing up the walls. Very interesting. Spin on serves is similar, perhaps slightly higher, based on how much it travels on the floor.

I'll go today to have a casual hit with it to evaluate it more.

1313Hz for the curious. B2 was 1356Hz.

It's as I thought. The HL5 I have is COMPLETELY different from the B2 I have. Emphasis on "I have" because I doubt my B2 is within the specs it should be in.

I'm gonna do some bounce tests or something and measure them both later because the B2 is so weird it's actually interesting. Maybe nothing will show up in a simple test but who knows.

HL5 is definitely still fast when you hit into it, not quite as fast as the B2 but not too far off although the spin is much higher, but it's so much slower in everything else that it's almost comical. You can feel it bend and it doesn't make a weird raspy metallic sound like my B2 on drives and blocks. The throw angle doesn't change dramatically either.

 

[J-fed]

I didn't get my footwork in order instinctively until I turned your age, a full ten years after i learned. Some people are slow, glad not everyone is as slow as me. You have a lot of hope

Honestly footwork was always good. Light on my feet and pitter patter.
Just lately I’m heavy legged.
IDK if it’s coz I’m tired from MTB etc or just lazy.
Match results are good though. Mainly due to the absolute transformation in my mentality since doing this sports psych research.
I’m putting it all to use and the payoff is huge.
I was always a decent player who couldn’t win. Now I can and do..Been very strong in the clutch this past year.
If I lose it’s never regretful nowadays.

 

[dingyibvs]

This post is a PRIME example of the holistic evaluation and testing measures one should use to determine is such and such equipment has a place with a player.

@dingyibvs made good choices in the end and will later too as stuff changes.

You know, if you kind of go backwards, as in having identified the wrist usage as an issue and then go back to watch the videos, I do see some issues. Before, I could just see that my wrist seems a bit "floppy", but now I can see and understand the underlying issue. The wrist basically over-rotates because I'm contacting the ball after my wrist has already rotated a good bit instead of nearing the beginning of the rotation. On video it just looks like a floppy wrist.

In practice, it results in aggrevating my wrist injury (although not by much, since I don't do it as much as before and it's primarily from other issues right now), for one. And for two, there's just a lack of proper contact, which actually shows itself most acutely when I try to banana flick as proper wrist engagement is most critical for a good BH flick.

My correction for this is to keep my wrist action almost constant. Loose, accelerate, then stop just as it's about in-line with my forearm. Racket angle would adjust minimally from shot to shot, and once I decided on an angle I'd keep it constant throughout the forward swing. I just keep all my focus on that, and then let the rest of my body adjust until I can hit a solid shot with good contact. That seems to work pretty well so far, as my feet, body, elbow, and shoulder would automatically move and adjust the timing and angles until I can get a good contact and land the shot with just a relaxed but limited and steady wrist motion.

To further unburden my wrist, I think I'm going to use the LJK ADC as a mold and further shave down my S968 so they're the exact same shape. My S968 has the largest racket head of any racket I've ever owned. It's long like the W/Q968, but it's also wider. I've shaved the length down a bit to match the LJK, but now it looks really round. I think I'm gonna shave the sides down as well so all my main blades other than the FZD are of the same rough shape.

 

[NextLevel]

So I haven't been able to play much given I am working again and also still trying to finish grad school and do some entrepreneurial endeavors. But in addition to practicing the special techniques of shadow boxing (okay, shadow stroking and footwork), I have decided to make one change (or one return, depending on how you see it) to my technique. I have decided that I finish my forehand topspin too close to my body and I want to start habitually finishing it further away from my body with hip rotation as well. So back to a slightly straighter arm forehand topspin with a snap extended further away from my body. Will add other elements as a I return but a lot of this will be mostly in shadow workouts for the forseeable future as a lot of academic and work deadlines are in the near term.