Causing Trouble in LA.

[Der_Echte]

Day one of trouble causing mission... saw Matt Hetherington doing his thing... which is 3x more trouble than I cause.

Made it to finals of Over 50 Division and lost to a much higher player I defeated in group stage.


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[Der_Echte]

A few pros here...

E. Wang

Apolonia

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[Der_Echte]

Tiago Apolonia's fishing and retrieving are stunning the crowd.

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[watcher]

Nice! Wish I dropped by perhaps another time... but congrats on placing!!!

[Der_Echte]

Another ttd member recognized me on site and had 3 minute talk with me... curious about the origins of the Goon Squad...

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[Der_Echte]

Matt Hetherington be causing trouble too..



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[Der_Echte]

Light was so bright on the showcase table and everywhere...

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[Halon X]

What is ITTF recommended lumens for table tennis playing area?

[Der_Echte]

What is ITTF recommended lumens for table tennis playing area?

3.2.3.4 In World, Olympic and Paralympic title competitions the light intensity,
measured at the height of the playing surface, shall be at least 1000 lux
uniformly over the whole of the playing surface and at least 500 lux elsewhere
in the playing area; in other competitions the intensity shall be at least 600 lux
uniformly over the playing surface and at least 400 lux elsewhere in the playing
area.

USATT has a less stringent standard.

4.3. Playing Conditions 4.3.1. The playing space shall be rectangular and not less than 9.2m long, 4.6m wide (30ft long, 15ft wide) and 5m high.
4.3.2. The light intensity, measured at the height of the playing surface, shall be at least 300 lux in the entire playing area.


For a 4 star tourney (which yes LA Open is) 600 lux on the showcase tables is required for the tourney to be sanctioned.


On a separate note, I never saw so many pros miss so many shots outright... ever. It wasn't the Joola Prime ball, it was the lighting. The lighting was more like blackout drive, with all kinds of glare from the side... plus walls of arena were LIGHT color like ball, plus some barriers and wall advertising were white. On courts with no rubber mats, the ball was practically invisible once it left the table. If you crouched down lower, it helped, but only so much.

[Halon X]

oh that explain the other thread on mytt

[jawien]

Great trouble causing event! Pictures worth a thousand words ; )
Surprised Apolonia had time to travel, wasn't he playing Bundesliga this week?

The more I watch those pics the more I'm eager to compete with Der ... maybe we should organize a TTD's World Tour events ... ; )

[Jimbob MacInbred]

Great trouble causing event! Pictures worth a thousand words ; )
Surprised Apolonia had time to travel, wasn't he playing Bundesliga this week?

Tiago doesn't play German Bundesliga any longer. He left Saarbrücken earlier this year and will be playing in Japan starting this fall (his new team is TT Saitama). So I guess he has enough time to practise and take part in tourneys and exhibitions like the LA Open...

[jawien]

Tiago doesn't play German Bundesliga any longer. He left Saarbrücken earlier this year and will be playing in Japan starting this fall (his new team is TT Saitama). So I guess he has enough time to practise and take part in tourneys and exhibitions like the LA Open...

Thanks. I was hoping for somebody to reply. After I posted it, I checked ttbl.de and couldn't find Apolonia ... this is going to be that "all new" Japan super league - right?

[Jimbob MacInbred]

Thanks. I was hoping for somebody to reply. After I posted it, I checked ttbl.de and couldn't find Apolonia ... this is going to be that "all new" Japan super league - right?

I believe so, yes..

[Der_Echte]

My 2018 LA Open Summary.

Entered tourney rated USATT 1801.

O50 Singles: Lost to a 2030 player (Jim Zhang) I defeated in group stage. I had him REAL concerned in the finals, but he pulled it out.

Wins: 1705, 2030, 1887, 1975
Losses: 2030

U1950 Singles: Crashed out of group stage. Could not read touch of teenage ICC girls.

Losses: 1850, 1910

U2050 Singles: Won group stage. Almost defeated 2010 A player in 5 sets. Lost to a 2030ish player in crossovers - 5 sets. Almost is not good enough.

Wins: 1880ish girl chopper, 1600 kid who will be 1900 soon.
Losses: 2010, 2030

Should get a ratings adjustment to have initial rating around 1900, then whatever from there. I will allow the mysterious USATT algorithm to do its death dance on me.


Some various thoughts:

I kept composed, even in crappy light conditions (Dark 200 lux max, shadows, glare, ball blends in with flooring and walls, etc)
Shutting up and playing table tennis was a path to success - most of the time... until I play someone 3 levels better than me.
I stayed focused and kept MOST of my leads in games.
I was adaptive, but not enough.
I see that finding quickly what will work vs an opponent and making a plan around it to make him/her play worse is precious.
I can see belief in my attacking shots if I keep setting them up is important.
I played too upright for my own good.
I need to go TDY to San Jose and play 3 months daily in ICC to get used to the touch of Indian Teenagers. They too good killin' me.
I played 5 hrs, 10, hrs, 11 hrs, and 8 hrs and was not sore or cramped.
I still was too tight on a few loops with the grip on openers.
I still do not step to the ball as much as I need to.
I had fun.
I stayed hydrated and well mineralized.
25C and 70% humidity are still very humid sweaty conditions, I was dripping sweat everywhere. Nothing was dry after one match.
Breathing is important, visualizing a winning point is important.
I drove down to LA 600 km with 4 friends... it was a blast of brotherhood together.
Met another 12 friends there, better than a rock concert.
Despite all the negative stuff I discuss at the end, my experience at LA Open was well worth it, will likely play again.

First impressions of Venue:

It was $10 to park for the event... and everyone else who used the venue for other things paid ZERO.
Immediately you could tell light distribution was poor (bright then dark and overall not bright enough)
Floor reflected light. ZERO air conditioning.
Open bay doors allowed crazy glare to come in.
Other sources allowed in glare.
A VERY LOUD soccer match with very loud sudden whistles was going on right in the middle of the tryouts for our NATIONAL TEAM. That is UNACCEPTABLE PLANNING.
There were 10x more supporters for the kids recreational soccer match than the National TT Team tryouts the day before tourney started.

Tourney Day 1 and 2 Impressions

The LATTA had a LOT of people working, made stuff run better.
Highly organized issue of draws and crossovers, TD did not issue a match until all were complete with other events.
TD could have arranged event times further apart that players were likely to participate in both.
Many players play in singles and doubles, could have been better planned.
Tables were setup displaying EVERY trophy... and they were LARGE. Professional job.
Vendor Joola had a ton of stuff players wanted at cheap good prices... except for the $15 towels that shed threads when you wiped your face.
Table numbering was haphazard and all over the place. Google Maps could screw it up.
Bathrooms had way too few stalls for the number of people. Luckily, were serviced every 30 minutes.
Lighting was low 200s lux at best on all courts - 180 lux or else on bad end.
Walls were same color as ball, so were huge ads on walls, some barriers had huge white ads too.
No Air Conditioning with those hundreds of folks sweating got real humid real quick.
Bay doors open to allow natural air circulation let in a TON of glare too.
USATT MEDIA was ON THE JOB on the ground pro-ready. (Matt Hetherington & Co)

Municipal and national codes dictate such a venue HVAC system have a certain level of circulation and fresh air ratio.
It appears someone paid off the code enforcers, ventilation of that facility was very inadequate.

The Obvious Elephant(s) in the room.

HOW did this tourney get sanctioned? How did it get rated 4 stars?

Max lux on any table was 220 lux. Minimum standard for a ZERO star tourney is 300 lux. Showcase tables need 600 lux minimum to have 3 star and above sanction. Light was almost THREE FRIGGIN times LESS than minimum standard. The venue was enthusiastically marketed as modern sports facility. The venue light was so dim you might see industrial sweat shops with more light, a less humid facility, and better access to restrooms.

By the USATT Tourney Guide, Sanction sheet, and USATT addendum to the ITTF laws of table tennis, this tourney never should have happened in the state it did.

There was no racket control that I was aware of, should be present at a 4 star tourney. Not that I care, many my opponents boasted about how they boost their H3 or whatever... and my shots with my unboosted 3 week old $30 FH rubber spun most of them out of the arena.

The venue conditions were not even fit for a zero star tourney, let alone our NATIONAL TEAM TRYOUTS.

How did this tryout get planned knowing light conditions were WAY too dim, unevenly distributed, and a scheduled recreational soccer match going on with 200 loud family cheering and loudspeaker announcer blasting every TEN SECONDS at over 110 decibels and whistles blowing off not even 10 meters from the tryouts???!!!

Too loud? Too dark? Not planned right? Can anyone say No-Shyt Sherlock ???

Anyone who has ever been there ONCE on a rec soccer match night at this venue KNOWS it is this loud.. or louder. SOMEONE(S) knew and failed. The advertising of the venue as a modern facility appropriate for a major table tennis tourney is utterly deceptive and fraudulent to the extreme. BY a reasonable person standard, even a 6 yr old could call BS on it all.

Conclusion:

OK, I get it, the light and noise were real bad and everyone had to cope with it. Fair on that level, but in absolute terms, it gave an huge advantage to those who can better see in bad light. Advantage in this case does NOT go to the GEEZER crowd. Poor me and friends. Good for kids. Kids should have success, so not a terrible social injustice.

The marketing of this tourney (even as great a pro job that TD and LATTA workers did) was severely misleading and flat-out raw deal.

The fact that our national team tryouts were held in conditions that were many times worse other third world national TT tryouts is incomprehensible and absolutely unacceptable.

It is an insult to national pride and a reflection of the state of our sport in USA that we hold our national tryouts in conditions like this that were too easy to forecast and avoid with even a minimum of effort and attention to detail.

Even though the light/noise were terrible and unfit for a TT competition, it isn't what ought to get at everyone the most. Having a prominent TT tryout and prestigious tourney in such unacceptable conditions with such obvious misrepresentation is what ought to boil everyone's blood.

Sure, we do not have too many dollars allocated to make our events right, but DAMN, for zero extra dollars we coulda figured this out ahead of time and done better/right.

[mart1nandersson]

Just curious: Is 45USD a normal fee for USATT events? Where does the money end up (as I understand that the organizer is a non-profit organization)? Prize money?

[Der_Echte]

$45 per event is a little on the high end for an average tourney... and normal for a 4 star tourney. The higher level the event, usually the more it costs. Higher events get larger prizes to motivate better players to play in the tourney. Almost no one shows up to play just so they can say they were the such and such division champion.

The money gets divided up. USATT gets a cut, mostly from the annual fees and admin fees. The club or TT Assn running the tourney gets a large cut (a good chunk of the event fees) and the rest goes expenses (mostly prizes). Hopefully, you are running your sanctioned tourney in your own facility or sweet talked a gym to hosting your tourney... or the facility can cost some money... and you lose a lot of control over conditions in the venue. Often, you have to depend on a number of volunteers or very inexpensively paid assistants to run a tourney. Sometimes, it isn't easy. Westchester makes it look easy though. The trick is not to over-extend and get greedy with too many events/players for the number of tables and time.

[Der_Echte]

Light was a bit dimmer on another section of table...



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[tropical]

I paid $50 to watch for 2 days. The final was at 9:30PM! I drove back home at 10PM thanks to Hou Yingchou quick annihilation of Ma Yinbao in 4 straight games.

[Der_Echte]

I was talking to a Mexican visitor who came to my table to support a Ukrainian dude, I said I had to go or miss my ride, and the Open Finals match was maybe 3 points from being over when I reached my friends just in the nick of time.