Daily Table Tennis Chit Chat

Hi there,

after a horrendous tournament, where I lost all 5 games and barely kept my 1300 TTR points. I finally decided to stop using the Butterfly Timo Boll Spirit and went back to my all wood Butterfly Primorac.

I'm still trying to use a classic tacky Chinese rubber on my forehand, but still need time to adjust.
Currently I'm using the DHS Hurricane 3 without tuner or booster.

I like this setup very much for serving because it's pretty slow, but I'm still experiencing problems with looping.

Anyways I made 2 reverse pendulum videos yesterday:


I'm trying to emulate Fan Zhendong's reverse pendulum serve, but they are still to high. Experimenting with how I hold the blade while serving proved to be very helpful to increase the possible wrist movement. The last serves in both videos are the best ones, I think

So, I got a haircut.

Why the hell does anyone care, and what does it have to do with table tennis?

I don't have to deal with hair in my vision during cross-steps or aggressive looping. Pretty sure my level has improved slightly due to that.

Archosaurus said:

So, I got a haircut.

Why the hell does anyone care, and what does it have to do with table tennis?

I don't have to deal with hair in my vision during cross-steps or aggressive looping. Pretty sure my level has improved slightly due to that.

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Hahaha nice one, I am saving my haircut to closer to the comp, so my improved skill level can last throughout my comp
I didn't play any TT today either, but did some physical stuff for TT. That counts right?

Yesterday I got a couple of guys who normally play at Spin to go out to College Point to play at NYISC.

42andbackpains was there and played some but was careful not to overdo things so his various dings stayed healthy and were not too aggravated.

But we still got in a few doubles matches which were awesome fun.

Also, 42&bp got me to play this kid who was maybe 11. 42&bp told me his level was low because he played with no strategy and just wanted to rip the ball all the time. But this kid's technique was still awesome and lots of fun to watch.

Yeah I could trick him with serves, spin and sneaky strategy. But this kid could loop from either wing and man could he loop. And his switch from BH to FH or vice versa was flawless.

If he plays two or three more years consistently, based on the technique, he still could be over 2100 (USATT) without much strategy. With strategy, the sky's the limit. [emoji2]

Anyway, I had fun playing with him even though he may have been relieved when a friend his age arrived and he no longer needed to play with the oldsters.


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UpSideDownCarl said:

Yesterday I got a couple of guys who normally play at Spin to go out to College Point to play at NYISC.

42andbackpains was there and played some but was careful not to overdo things so his various dings stayed healthy and were not too aggravated.

But we still got in a few doubles matches which were awesome fun.

Also, 42&bp got me to play this kid who was maybe 11. 42&bp told me his level was low because he played with no strategy and just wanted to rip the ball all the time. But this kid's technique was still awesome and lots of fun to watch.

Yeah I could trick him with serves, spin and sneaky strategy. But this kid could loop from either wing and man could he loop. And his switch from BH to FH or vice versa was flawless.

If he plays two or three more years consistently, based on the technique, he still could be over 2100 (USATT) without much strategy. With strategy, the sky's the limit. [emoji2]

Anyway, I had fun playing with him even though he may have been relieved when a friend his age arrived and he no longer needed to play with the oldsters.


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Oldsters = Gubbar

"Gubbe" in singular form..

//Viklas - looking out as a baby..

Very cool Carl!

Still bummed I couldn't join you, 42&BP et al

It was great getting together with Carl and his cohorts from Spin. Since I have not played in 6 weeks due to my never ending injuries, I was taking in gingerly. It was fun playing doubles, i have not played doubles for a long while and it brings back alot of memories when playing league as a 12 year old kid.

About the kid carl played, he has been playing for about a year and takes weekly lessons with his brother from US Open 2012 Womens winner Liu Juan and former China Team player(She has near perfect modern penhold strokes. Very short and compact & super spinny). Kids in our clubs that get weekly training get to about 1900 to 2100 U.S. rating in about 2 to 3 years. Once they hit highschool and college, real life kicks in and there interests goes elsewhere. To get to elite levels, you have to be really dedicated.

Hope i can put up a Video of me training soon, unless i get hurt again and again and again.

42&BP,

Were we on same League team? Old man memory

42andbackpains said:

About the kid carl played, he has been playing for about a year and takes weekly lessons with his brother from US Open 2012 Womens winner Liu Juan and former China Team player(She has near perfect modern penhold strokes. Very short and compact & super spinny). Kids in our clubs that get weekly training get to about 1900 to 2100 U.S. rating in about 2 to 3 years. Once they hit highschool and college, real life kicks in and there interests goes elsewhere. To get to elite levels, you have to be really dedicated.

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She was beautiful to watch for her technique and other reasons as well. [emoji2]

What I was proud of in the doubles is how we stole that match when you and I were teamed up against Filipe and Dave.

Filipe is minimum 1900. Dave and I could barely get games off him. But I think you are pretty good at doubles. Good at setting up points and good teamwork skills.

I know both Dave and me are not very good at doubles, you could say, flat out bad. But it was cool how well we played together in spite of me giving you several good reasons to give me bruised ribs--like Der_Echte--by not getting out of the way after my serves.

Hahahahaha.


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[emoji23]

For members in the Tristate area, Brett will be at Westchester Table Tennis Club. On Wednesday evening giving a clinic on serving. Definitely recommended if you are under 2200 or just want to work on your serves.


http://www.westchestertabletennis.com/events.asp?id=64

UpSideDownCarl said:

But it was cool how well we played together in spite of me giving you several good reasons to give me bruised ribs--like Der_Echte--by not getting out of the way after my serves.

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I was thinking about this last night ... i may be wrong, but take this FWIW ...

Your preferred service style is the fh hook serve... you would have to get out of the way faster as you stood somewhat in the middle of the table ... when i served, it was almost always a bh sidedown serve short from the right corner of the table ... this afforded my partner a better "look" on the 3rd ball and easier for me to get out of the way

There were a few times i served a fh pendulum, luckily opponent misread my serve/spin, but regardless, i did my best to get out of the way

Just a random thought, not sure if it helps... we can try it out next time when we are able to hook (no pun intended) up.

p.s. Rio Olympics, i recall seeing a point or 2 where a women's doubles team didn't serve bh, had a high toss fh serve... they are world class athletes ...i'm old and slow, so yeah, i'll serve bh - lol at me

Did multiball for 90 minutes with my friends and then continued to do more drills for another 90 minutes in practice place. Right now I'm just straight out drained. My arm's muscle was so tight during the multiball session it almost close my elbow by itself. The head-heaviness of SPW is really killing me.

Put any kind of sports grip on the handle and that alone will help a lot.

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Good morning TTD Chit Chatters!

I have a martial arts training group I work out with Tuesday nights. My wife called me last minute and I had to cancel my MA and do something with her. We finished, and my TT club closes 9:30. Decided to show up at the TT club. Close to closing time, and slight rain, many members left. I didn't feel like waiting for next on the 4 tables and have the club close down on me when it was my turn.

I was so looking forward to hitting, as Monday night, watched a lot of Wang Hao and Ma Lin. Got to club and lost the mood and felt so deflated

Did 2 minutes of shadow drills and left.

Tonight, looking forward to working on 3rd ball attacks, specifically 3rd ball loops. I've been focusing on short stroke loop, but tonight, I'm just going to let loose and relax and if i get the short stroke, cool, if not, i won't kill myself for the big stroke loop. My first concern is to set myself up for and make the 3rd ball attack and not lose the point because I didn't get into position or i was too conscious of my stroke.

Flow, be free, relax, be in the moment, don't think, just let 'it' express itself.

OSPH , you can serve high toss , point is you have to keep it really really short so that they cannot flip it or aggressively push it or serve short half long , low fast with spin variation ...no/under spin and slow down the speed of the serve if getting out of the way is a problem ... I normally try to do these before giving up and serving hard long serves , thats the last option in doubles if nothing else is working , because generally its a gamble ...

OldschoolPenholder said:

I was thinking about this last night ... i may be wrong, but take this FWIW ...

Your preferred service style is the fh hook serve... you would have to get out of the way faster as you stood somewhat in the middle of the table ... when i served, it was almost always a bh sidedown serve short from the right corner of the table ... this afforded my partner a better "look" on the 3rd ball and easier for me to get out of the way

There were a few times i served a fh pendulum, luckily opponent misread my serve/spin, but regardless, i did my best to get out of the way

Just a random thought, not sure if it helps... we can try it out next time when we are able to hook (no pun intended) up.

p.s. Rio Olympics, i recall seeing a point or 2 where a women's doubles team didn't serve bh, had a high toss fh serve... they are world class athletes ...i'm old and slow, so yeah, i'll serve bh - lol at me

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@OldschoolPenholder

I've seen you post twice that you cancelled something at the last minute to go and do something with your wife. Although I acknowledge you're older and evidently wiser than I am, I'd still like to remind you that falling into the trap of complacency never makes anyone happy in any kind of relationships. Although whatever you were doing was probably actually important and warranted a change of schedule, so don't get me the wrong way.

Of course, I'm still young, so perhaps I don't really understand the whole concept of sacrificing oneself for the happiness of another.




Today was a strange day. I was very tired, and tensed up like hell in my games. Played like shit, to be frank. Absolutely shameful. I couldn't even serve short backspin without getting a net.

I chose not to judge my performance, and just let it be. Later in the day I became so tired I nearly fell asleep. After I got back to the table, I did some serves and self hitting. I was so utterly tired that I could barely move my limbs fast enough for serves, but I was relaxed. I stopped caring, and started whipping my arm as fast as I can and putting as much body into it as I could. My serve position during the day was very high, during this session I began with my chest nearly touching the table and knees bent.

I did some relatively fantastic serves. Very consistent, low, short with the 2nd bounce on the white line or near it and very spinny by my standards. Side, side/back and back. Ball didn't slide into the net even a single time, and I could really feel like I was pulling past the ball and utilizing the body.

I realized that the main thing was simply using the body to produce the needed power to spin the ball and get it over the net. I normally stomp, but I wasn't stomping today during the day. I stomped on every serve in the afternoon, to add pace and spin. Confidence also increased: it didn't feel so much like a crapshoot and more like I was in control and directing the ball while it just span itself.

So, what I learned: Using the body is extremely important in good serves. If you use the body, there is a much lower chance of a mishit and the overall quality is much higher. Contact point should be slightly above net level, at chest height and not any lower. Body position should be low.

When I don't do even one of those, my serves are absolutely lousy. I'm not a good enough server to get away with even a small slip up, but if I just remember to be strict, the quality is acceptable. I practice serves a few hours per day, so I should know so much.

On a similar note, my stance is getting lower and lower slowly. Even if just 1mm per day, it's getting lower. Footwork has improved tremendously and I can even step around from my wide forehand corner to loop a low push that landed halfway down my backhand wing Although at that point I feel like I'm going to fall over and need to just go for it and powerloop it from below net height.

I only do it if I'm feeling very optimistic: for someone my level it is MUCH smarter to just take it with the backhand. Still, I've tried it and succeeded. I didn't think I could. But I'm young and stupid so I will try. I really need to work out my legs and stay lower: maybe in a few years I can take those balls with perhaps .2 sec to spare. I really respect one sided penholders who step around on balls like this: the conditioning needed is just tremendous. And to think that to some penholder pros, this is a very bread and butter shot. Christ.

On this one Archo , your level is -2700, just so that you know . its not sacrificing your own happiness for others , its sacrificing a tiny winy bit of happiness to save your own life , peace and tranquility of your mind and ensuring that you don't become really really sad anytime soon and especially if you are in US and did not sign a prenup , protecting half your old age savings . Again I am not married but I am 15 years older than you and have plenty of friends who have been married ....

Archosaurus said:

@OldschoolPenholder

I've seen you post twice that you cancelled something at the last minute to go and do something with your wife. Although I acknowledge you're older and evidently wiser than I am, I'd still like to remind you that falling into the trap of complacency never makes anyone happy in any kind of relationships. Although whatever you were doing was probably actually important and warranted a change of schedule, so don't get me the wrong way.

Of course, I'm still young, so perhaps I don't really understand the whole concept of sacrificing oneself for the happiness of another.

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ttmonster said:

OSPH , you can serve high toss , point is you have to keep it really really short so that they cannot flip it or aggressively push it or serve short half long , low fast with spin variation ...no/under spin and slow down the speed of the serve if getting out of the way is a problem ... I normally try to do these before giving up and serving hard long serves , thats the last option in doubles if nothing else is working , because generally its a gamble ...

Click to expand...

Thx ttmonster, i didn't express clearly, sorry about that... meant with the high toss serve that i saw in the olympics, or any serve for that matter, if the server is standing in the middle of the table and not more towards the right side of the table, getting out of the way may be a challenge ... for doubles i generally serve bh and pretty much standing at right corner of table to afford the most room and view for my partner and cut down on the time i need to get out of the way

okay , got it OSPH , I do the same whenever I feel my partner is feeling Claustrophobic

OldschoolPenholder said:

Thx ttmonster, i didn't express clearly, sorry about that... meant with the high toss serve that i saw in the olympics, or any serve for that matter, if the server is standing in the middle of the table and not more towards the right side of the table, getting out of the way may be a challenge ... for doubles i generally serve bh and pretty much standing at right corner of table to afford the most room and view for my partner and cut down on the time i need to get out of the way

Click to expand...