Daily Table Tennis Chit Chat

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Today i played with coach OYA, and i displayed (from his words) an "unbelievable" level ! i'm so excited !

It helped that i lost 2-3 kgs recently back to below 70kgs (before eating). I've been running once a week recently and added 10mns of jumps + shadow training during that running session, also added an extra coaching session (with another coach) including 1h of multi-ball training. It had been a while, and very tough to get the rhythm back but it definitely helped being in form. Also been to the spa/sauna, highly recommended (alternating sauna + cold water) to relieve sore muscles) + sports massage.

Also, i changed my eating habits, taking much more time to chew, and eating more slowly. it makes digesting easier. it also feels like eating more, because it lasts longer. I was already eating healthy food but I believe that extra measure is making a big difference.

From a TT point of view, well I was moving much more quickly today. from the first FH exchanges i had a good feeling with the ball, and i made during the warm-up an extra adjustment hitting the ball even a bit earlier and a bit more in front of me: i put the hit zone a bit more forward by forcing myself to extend the arm a few 3-5cms more, it instantly gave me more power, more rhythm, easier to recover as well. I never matched very fast and powerful FH topspin to topspin ralies as well as today, and winning a lot of those to his and my own surprise.

Same kind adjustment with BH side. i could block with good control and speed against his full swing topspin for whole long rallies, never happened before and even managed to pivot to manage a few FH counters !

For matchplay exercises i have more trouble in service + receive and i have a tendency to go back too much after a short receive + lose the dynamism in footwork. More work is needed but I believe i will manage to overcome this difficulty in a few weeks / months.


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Coronavirus situation is getting ugly. Not the case YET here in Japan , but logic says in a few weeks/months time, they'll need to shutdown again alas. I'll try to make the most of the time until then in the training hall.
 
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Played some tt today. Nothing crazy, as my knee is still not healed since 5 months ago. Haven't been able to train properly in any meaningful regimen since then. Usually I train hard once and then the recovery back to a playable state takes weeks. So for the time being, I just resort to playing casually in a controlled manner with a knee band on.

Played once last saturday after hibernating for a few weeks, surprisingly the touch was still there. I was able to beat a regular by some tricks and blocks. With the knee's current state, I am trying to avoid any bending or loading unless its absolutely necessary, so I became more defensive but also relying alot more on using the backhand. I am also putting more emphasis on my pushes.
Today, I was happy in that I was able to execute backhand 3rd ball attacks over the table off a short slightly higher ball after my serve. It is like a cheap 3rd ball attack as I don't need to use my knee much but mostly my wrist. I tried these last week but without much success, but today it seemed to have improved. With my forehand, I do not aggressively loop all the balls off the table on the middle / my backhand side anymore as I am trying to minimize my movement necessary, so my backhand comes into play alot more.

I will see a Sports Medicine doctor next week, hoping that he will be able to shed some light as to what is happening to my knee and what I can do to improve its state.
 
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Well, managed to get 2 hours of practice today with my teammate. We usually do the routine of pushes, H and X drills, topspin, etc. I think we both got better :). I am starting to finally use the entire body to generate topspin on my forehand instead of just my arm, but it's a slow process. Got to practice with my new setup today (Stiga Azalea Offensive as my blade and Tinarc 5 and Fastarc S-1 as rubbers). Tinarc is a bit slow on my forehand, but it's great for teaching the stroke and weight transfer. We played some matches (best of 7) and I won. He won the second one. Both were really close matches. We are waiting for our 3rd league match next Tuesday, so wish us luck :).
 
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Just finished a qualifiers tournament. Reached finals but lost. Sorry but I have no other place to vent out my feelings so I apologize. My opponent hides his serves very well and the umpire at the time ain't no help either. Lost 4-3. I always tried to play fair and square putting in the effort. It's really frustrating that I lost due to these serves. Protesting in and again only to be disregarded. If I reach an even higher level in the future, are there going to be more people like this? Should I also learn hidden serves?
 
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Just finished a qualifiers tournament. Reached finals but lost. Sorry but I have no other place to vent out my feelings so I apologize. My opponent hides his serves very well and the umpire at the time ain't no help either. Lost 4-3. I always tried to play fair and square putting in the effort. It's really frustrating that I lost due to these serves. Protesting in and again only to be disregarded. If I reach an even higher level in the future, are there going to be more people like this? Should I also learn hidden serves?

ofc You're disappointed but isn't finals a good result ?
regarding serves, I have no idea what your opponent did or did not but i just want to tell an anecdote related to yours.

I lost badly last year to a guy 0-3. I felt I was cheated because he's not throwing his ball high enough - or sometimes just dropping it - when serving which enables him to serve very fast at the two corners of the table and its difficult to react in time. I called him during the match but he would keep on doing that and I'd even come to words with him at the end of the game. My teammates all agreed his serves were illegal

However after reviewing the video, my judgment might have been hasted, and indeed his serves may be good (excellent), just inside the authorized limits.

So instead of complaining I should have focused on my own games and about how returning those serves instead of frustrating myself.

Btw I've been told that some of my serves weren't good. I'm not even aware that i'm doing something illegal. Im no trying voluntarily to hide anything but apparently sometimes i throw the ball from under the table or other stuff. The truth is at our level many of us serve illegally - at least from time to time and without malice - without realizing it.

PS I've apologized to the guy so there is no problem now. except that i've still not figured out how to win against him. Well he's strong...
 
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Just finished a qualifiers tournament. Reached finals but lost. Sorry but I have no other place to vent out my feelings so I apologize. My opponent hides his serves very well and the umpire at the time ain't no help either. Lost 4-3. I always tried to play fair and square putting in the effort. It's really frustrating that I lost due to these serves. Protesting in and again only to be disregarded. If I reach an even higher level in the future, are there going to be more people like this? Should I also learn hidden serves?

You are beginning to realize a reality.

Some people, at some levels, will serve illegally, even when you are NOT. SOMETIMES, you get an umpire, and STILL there are illegal serves.

You can fight with your honor and principles, although at a disadvantage, or you can fight on equal ground with your own serves. Your way to decide what is right is your personal ethics decicision process and such a process is followed in just about every part of life.

Some may say this is ethical and this is unethical, it comes down to what is commonly accepted and your judgement... and we are not all the same.
 
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What I described happened to me in a sanctioned tourney, I asked for an umpire, actually got the REFEREE as unpire, some serves still illegal and I lost.

I was sore about it, but I told opponent that I got my umpire and still lost, so good win to him and I had nothing further to say.

My friends from Boston who were on hand, who saw the action... they were not so cordial or beat around the bush about it. There were a might salty.

This very topic has been discussed frequently, you will see it several times a year.
 
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Just finished a qualifiers tournament. Reached finals but lost. Sorry but I have no other place to vent out my feelings so I apologize. My opponent hides his serves very well and the umpire at the time ain't no help either. Lost 4-3. I always tried to play fair and square putting in the effort. It's really frustrating that I lost due to these serves. Protesting in and again only to be disregarded. If I reach an even higher level in the future, are there going to be more people like this? Should I also learn hidden serves?
Losing to good and illegal serves is part of the game. Playing someone with good legal serves helps you get over it faster.

As you get better you see the ball better. The biggest issue is learning to topspin long and half long serves. And most serves below a certain level are long and half long so you almost never need to push.

The biggest lesson I learned was to never get frustrated when I was missing serves and to focus on my serves until I find one that is working. I learned after watching many of my matches that I often lost to someone after getting frustrated with his serves in game 1, but that even when I returned the serves better in games 2 and 3, my mental attitude was stuck on game 1 and this made me play worse on my nerves. So after I learned the lesson, I expect my serve return to improve whether I realize it or not and just continue playing my best and keep looking for serves that give the opponent trouble. If I survive game 3, I often win the match because the opponent has gotten so used to easy points that he cannot adjust to facing resistence.
 
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Pretty sure pros have degrees of hidden serves. If the umpire do not say anything or when the game I close they hide the ball more.
 
says 2023 Certified Organ Donor
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I remember back in DC one day I did not get half of Next Level's serves for 15 minutes straight.

Pay Next Level's visiting TT club fees and get free serve receive practice.

I was lucky as he paid Charlene already as I was late to club with traffic. I think we ate at cheepo 24 hr place safe bet crappy coffee.
 
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Thanks everyone for your wonderful insight. I will keep it to heart. I watched the video and confirmed it was illegal as the ball was behind the body.

I was salty, saltire than the ocean. It's because I was one step away from the trophy that's why I felt so upset. I would have moved on from it if I lost due to skill and great leagl serves. I felt cheated. Honestly. But the game has past and the award was given.

Sat down with my coach while venting out these feelings I have. He said it's only going to get tougher now. Most people hide their serves very well.

I asked him
Should I hide my serves now too? Should I switch to double pips(both proficient in SP fh and BH)?

He said no stick to what you have. Stay honest and true. Win with your own skill. Winning honor and honesty feels greater than deceiving/cheating your opponent. I reflected on it.

And I decided to just let this be a good lesson for me.
I need to learn on tempering my emotions.

Thanks again everyone.
I hope I will be able to have a hit with everyone here in the nearest future.
 
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