Daily Table Tennis Chit Chat

Boogar said:

So today I was training with a female player from Germany, she has got a ttr of 1700 or 1800 :O
After playing she told me my forehand topspin is way too nice, its perfect for counter top spinning and doesn't have enough pace and spin. She told me to use my hip more, which i had totally forgotten about. Strangely since i stopped playing with my Hurricane NEO III... I guess me being a lazy *** thought that i could just use my arm for topspin as the MXP had enough power by itself -.-

I was wondering why everyone was always playing into my forehand, especially lefty's... I also finish most points with my backhand ... I need to record myself playing again :O

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Boogar,

I think Next Level already pointed it out with other things, and BTW, look at my Avatar on OOAK, it is moar Rambo.

I especially agree with the lady's comments. One will have a hard time generating pace and spin with the normal 60-70 percent power stroke without being able to transfer energy from legs to hips to shoulders to arm/wrist/grip to ball. There are so many dynamics and several approaches, but I would agree underuse of hips is a hindrance.

On a related note, I am dealing with some Grade 1 tears of muscles attaching to my hip under other muscles. I use a LOT of power transfer and sometimes, I play TT for long hours. I am not a small dude and use some of the hip to explode laterally.

Needles to say, I put extra wear and tear on my hip with my extra weight and heavy spinning or power hitting ways. I can literally feel her advice to you... daily... and painfully.

Boogar said:

So today I was training with a female player from Germany, she has got a ttr of 1700 or 1800 :O
After playing she told me my forehand topspin is way too nice, its perfect for counter top spinning and doesn't have enough pace and spin. She told me to use my hip more, which i had totally forgotten about. Strangely since i stopped playing with my Hurricane NEO III... I guess me being a lazy *** thought that i could just use my arm for topspin as the MXP had enough power by itself -.-

I was wondering why everyone was always playing into my forehand, especially lefty's... I also finish most points with my backhand ... I need to record myself playing again :O

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Brett has been doing a lot of videos on Ttedge recently emphasizing the role of the hips on every stroke including forehand flip and backhand topspin but obviously forehand topspin, counterhit and backhand block. His most recent video emphasizes something I tell people but some people don't get it . You are supposed to feel like you are dragging your racket into the forehand topspin. So the way Brett reaches the stroke now is left hip, right hip, finish over the eyes. So in short, you use your left hip to plant weight on the right foot on the backswing, then while your racket is going back you use your right hip to initiate the forward swing and of course like a whip or a sling, you will be dragging the racket forward and then the finish is determined by the standard demand topspin position.

If you use the hips on your strokes consistent, you will see that table tennis is played by the hips with a relax arm. Many people talk to me as if I don't use hips, but it is not true, if you practice using hips, the motion becomes smaller and more invisible on certain strokes with training.

Had a good day yesterday playing left-handed, my weaker side, use long pips on bh, went 17-0 games vs 3 different 1600+ level players.

Tell us after you buy one and make vids... and tell us it was no good for TT. (But maybe for skateboarding)

GoPros are OK for recording Table tennis, although may be overkill, unless you have other uses for it. I have a 3+, so a bit out of date now. Bought a mono-pole/selfie stick/with a tripod foot attachment, which isn't the most secure, but it works. Make sure you set the zoom to something useable. Fish-eye is no fun for table tennis. Main hassle is battery life.

Boogar said:

Sorry for the double Post, but this is a new Point i want to bring up.

I am thinking about buying a GoPro to record matches. What do you guys think of GoPros for filming Table tennis?

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If you check my last post, that video was filmed using a gopro 3+. I didn't think it turned out too bad but there are probably better alternatives. It's easy to set up, but I'm not sure the fish eye lens is that useful as darucla mentioned.

Edit: this video -

So today the blade of my dreams will arrive. I ordered a Nittaku Violin FL with 88 grams.
I used WSC years ago (took a multi year long break) and then switched from Euro rubbers to H3 and Clipper CR. Great setup, I play better than ever before but I still think that I should focus on more control and less speed. After all I don't play that high level and control matters more. Usually people go faster with their equipment, I went slower (the Clipper CR + H3 Neo setup is way more controllable than WSC + Vega Pro for example). So now it's even slower but I hope my rating improves further.

Boogar said:

Thanks for the tips! So i trained today with the robot and with real people too. However I encountered the following problem witch the hip turning. I get more pace but the spin is missing, so i miss lots of shots. The different timing doesn't help, well i guess i just have to practice.

Interesting note, I played some shots with a T05 today and it felt so damn easy... Maybe my MXP is still a bad gluejob.

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IF the spin is missing, your hand is too tight and you are not doing any whippy wrist work. But just post video - these things are easy to fix when there is video but are usually a waste of time when there isn't. You might be getting good speed but because you are refusing to change your contact point, you are not spinning the ball as your old contact point had a stroke with less racket head speed but more control.

So I have switched to ALC blades. What has surprised me is how much more control I have on offensive shots than I Thought I would. In fact, I think that with the plastic ball, I am more convinced that if you have heavy spin shots, convert the spin to power. In any case, so far the choice to go to ALC has been good. I guess I still have to play competitive matches to seal the deal but I will probably start with a lower rated league on Saturday. Need to build up to this as I haven't played anything serious in a while because of my knees etc. I am feeling better but I need to make sure it is not fool's gold.

While you are at it , may be you want to try the other kind of ALC ... the Long 5 kind , after switching I am liking it more than the ZJK ALC for now ... not sure why may be I have adapted my shots to it . ZJK ALC feels more bouncy to me these days ... and less control .. but Long V does not lack power when I need it ...

NextLevel said:

So I have switched to ALC blades. What has surprised me is how much more control I have on offensive shots than I Thought I would. In fact, I think that with the plastic ball, I am more convinced that if you have heavy spin shots, convert the spin to power. In any case, so far the choice to go to ALC has been good. I guess I still have to play competitive matches to seal the deal but I will probably start with a lower rated league on Saturday. Need to build up to this as I haven't played anything serious in a while because of my knees etc. I am feeling better but I need to make sure it is not fool's gold.

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ttmonster said:

While you are at it , may be you want to try the other kind of ALC ... the Long 5 kind , after switching I am liking it more than the ZJK ALC for now ... not sure why may be I have adapted my shots to it . ZJK ALC feels more bouncy to me these days ... and less control .. but Long V does not lack power when I need it ...

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I tried the long 5. The problem is that the head is too big for what I am trying to do and it feels too soft as limba is too dwelly. Of course given I used d welly stuff for a long time, this is silly but I mean it. The bigger head is the real issue - I want something that lets me get more creative with wrist on my forehand as I have accepted that my stroke is always going to have relative issues because of my knees and I need to compensate with my hand and wrist action.

Hello DTT CCers,

Been busy with everything BUT table tennis and liking every post on TTD

Played one night for 3 hrs straight 2 weeks ago. Prior to that i had probably a 2 month break due to Real Life. Missed last week, and played last night for 2.5 hrs straight.

As expected with my play after a long layoff, timing issues, mechanics issues, etc.

But it was fun just hitting again and catching up with friends. For now, body is still achey ... soon, hopefully will be hitting for 2x a week. At my peak, i used to hit 3x a week before shoulder issue and then eldest daughter home from school for the summer. Need to work back up to 2x a week. Feel I've gained weight LOL

Although I had a long enough break, and it would be a good excuse... i've no FH/FH loop anymore. I can still TPB block, sometimes RPB loop, SH BH is steady enough although may not be perfect form... my FH is all over the place with PH or SH.

Hope all is well with the DTT CCers!

~osph

Realized a misconception I had about Euro rubbers to Chinese rubbers.

I currently with with MXP. My first euro rubber. Previously I had always played with Chinese rubbers. I love the grip you get from those tacky topsheets when they're brand new. Problem is that that tack always wears off relatively quickly. At least for me it has. A tacky rubber capable of picking a ball off the table indefinitely would always be able to hold a ball for just about 1-2 seconds after a weeks worth of play for me. And that's with consistent cleaning.

That being said, I went to a more expensive euro rubber first and for most the higher quality sponge. No argument there. But secondly because I believed the degredation of topsheets to work like this.

Chinese
New - Tacky. Used - Tack gone but still very grippy

Euro
New - Grippy. Used - Still grippy.

Ahhh! wrong.

My buddy recently also picked up MXP & FXS for his blade. It's brand spanking new. maybe a week old.

His MXP & FXS were noticeably gripper or maybe even a pinch tackier to the touch vs mine which is probably close to a few months old.

So now I'm starting to think that regardless of what you get, you can expect a steady, or not so steady depending on the quality, decline in topsheet regardless of what type you get.

Leads me to think might as well get the best grip topsheet you can get if you like that kind of thing. IDK.

suds79 said:

Problem is that that tack always wears off relatively quickly. At least for me it has. A tacky rubber capable of picking a ball off the table indefinitely would always be able to hold a ball for just about 1-2 seconds after a weeks worth of play for me. And that's with consistent cleaning.

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I have a 30-35 years old sheet of Friendship 729, the original stuff, maroon (eggplant) coloured that kindly disagrees. Needs a few drops of water and a wipe every now and then, after which it will lift a ball for multiple seconds. I even now still like how it plays. A shame that colour isn't permitted anymore…

(Hoping to get a ‘eroica’ tournament off the ground, that allows only vintage (30+ years old) equipment, balls too, using early '80s rules. My Friendship is ready for it.)

If you like tack that much, there are ways of prolonging it especially by using plastic sheets. The impression I got talking to people who worked with advanced users of tacky rubbers was that you weren't supposed to prolong it excessively but I am fairly sure everyone has their own relative preferences even at the top level.

All that said, I think that playing skillfully with grip doesnt require it to be at its maximum the more advanced your technique is. It is actually bad technique that relies excessively on topsheet grip and probably extremely advanced technique looking for competitive advantages but someone like myself should be able to play as well using a lower grip version of my usual rubber against lower rated opposition. There was a time I couldn't do this as my technique was much too brushy but I have gotten better at deeper contact even when brushing. There is a lot of mechanical grip in pips being bent into the sponge even when the topsheet is no longer as grippy so topsheet grip is more important for certain kinds of touch shots. Some players do use those touch shots a lot but they should not be the defining element of your play at an under 2000 level. At a 2400+ level, they can be a separator.

PS. My opinion would have been a bit different in the cell ball days. Spin is just less effective as a pure play unless you play a pro level style like Boll.

Boogar said:

I almost beat a 2100-2200 player today! Well almost... I lost in the last game 16:14. Prior to that I had a perfect run, hit every ball like i wanted and was just in the flow! Interestingly I used my Tibhar stratus power wood with MXP max on the forehand and Xiom Europe DF on the backhand for the first time... which seems to heavier than the stiga classic allround. Maybe its just the bigger head that i like about it...

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(Begin Boogar voice)

I forgot to video the match.

(/Boogar voice)


(Begin NextLevel voice)

No video? In that case, nothing happened.

(/NextLevel voice)


LOLOLOL at me!

Seriously though, isn't that Flow state a great feeling?!?!?!?!