Cheating in Table Tennis

[UpSideDownCarl]

Here, this video is a multiball match simulation drill (a random drill). Notice how before each shot he resets and adjusts his feet a tiny bit, but how he is really moving very little. Even when he gets moved from the deep BH side to the deep FH side, the movement is very little. And ZJK is not as tall as either NextLevel or you, Liten.

The kind of drills that are more commonly thought of as footwork drills where you move around the table and it looks like there is a lot of movement, real play doesn't happen that way. Those are really for making it so that, when you are pressured and ball placement is random like in a match, your feet make the right movements so that you are in the right place to take the ball from the power zone of your stroke. In a real match, footwork doesn't usually happen how it does in a drill like the Falkenberg. Even though practicing drills like that helps with the fundamentals of how you move your feet when you play.

That is just like the counter-hitting that pros do at the beginning of a match or looping at someone who is blocking for you. That stuff doesn't really happen in a match but practicing it does help you with the fundamentals of the stroke. Adding a slight bit of randomness to drills like that, like the randomness of a player who can't really put the ball in the same place twice for either of those drills actually makes them more useful though. If your training partner is too good at putting the ball in the same place, then you will not have to adjust to the placement for each ball which is worth being forced to do. Even if it is little adjustments.

 

[BLUE]

Footwork is really a complicated matter. I don't really agree, that you move less and less the higher your level becomes. It depends too much on your playing style and obviously on the style and skill of your opponent. If your opponent is making weak shots, or better weak placements you don't have to move that much. If you yourself are comfortable playing with both FH and BH and have the ability to respond to any kind of shot with both wings, again the need to move decreases. And adding to that: If your opponent has difficulties to find an answer to your own shots, then again there is no reason why you should move and dance all over the place

I would offer a compromise: It's not about the movement itself, which matters about the scary word "footwork". It is more about efficiency. I love when training some kids, who jump around and move about and missing every single ball I feed them, just because I have told them to "move"


To me it is about 2 main abilities:
1st to adjust the position of your feet and therefore your body to be able to execute the desired shot (which you have selected in your mind) in response to your opponent, while maintaining balance.
2nd to achieve control over your feet/lower body and upper body separately. It is a difficult thing to achieve this "separation" and it requires a lot of coordination. In german this certain skill is called "Kopplungsfähigkeit" which would translate to "linkage (Kopplung) ability (Fähigkeit)". In short to execute several movements of different body parts, whilst staying independent from each other.
My most popular example is that a lot of people have difficulties to move their fast while maintaining a compact swing with their bat. "Oh no, I have to move fast! Better execute a incredible fast swing as well! Oh bummer, I overshot the table " If you know what I mean

For these different skills/parts I use different drills. Both with and without actually playing table tennis. That is why I like the coordination ladder

Oh well, I hope my explanation isn't too messy

 

[NextLevel]

Footwork is really a complicated matter. I don't really agree, that you move less and less the higher your level becomes. It depends too much on your playing style and obviously on the style and skill of your opponent. If your opponent is making weak shots, or better weak placements you don't have to move that much. If you yourself are comfortable playing with both FH and BH and have the ability to respond to any kind of shot with both wings, again the need to move decreases. And adding to that: If your opponent has difficulties to find an answer to your own shots, then again there is no reason why you should move and dance all over the place

I would offer a compromise: It's not about the movement itself, which matters about the scary word "footwork". It is more about efficiency. I love when training some kids, who jump around and move about and missing every single ball I feed them, just because I have told them to "move"


To me it is about 2 main abilities:
1st to adjust the position of your feet and therefore your body to be able to execute the desired shot (which you have selected in your mind) in response to your opponent, while maintaining balance.
2nd to achieve control over your feet/lower body and upper body separately. It is a difficult thing to achieve this "separation" and it requires a lot of coordination. In german this certain skill is called "Kopplungsfähigkeit" which would translate to "linkage (Kopplung) ability (Fähigkeit)". In short to execute several movements of different body parts, whilst staying independent from each other.
My most popular example is that a lot of people have difficulties to move their fast while maintaining a compact swing with their bat. "Oh no, I have to move fast! Better execute a incredible fast swing as well! Oh bummer, I overshot the table " If you know what I mean

For these different skills/parts I use different drills. Both with and without actually playing table tennis. That is why I like the coordination ladder

Oh well, I hope my explanation isn't too messy

Great post, but you weren't disagreeing with anything I said.

Part of the disconnect, and I have to stress this, is that my posts are usually directed to adults who are learning the game and not people who were lucky enough to drill and train for hours as children - children need to learn footwork early so that when their game matures, they can have good habits to support their strokes. Adults have to prioritize and don't have that time, but if they have the patience and the time and years, then they can invest in footwork. However, many adults have been brainwashed to believe that their real issue is footwork, when their real issue is usually poor strokes.

Many adults or even half-serious children under 1500 in rating think they can't play because they have bad footwork, and my first response is that no, you usually can't play because you have bad strokes. Because good strokes tend to force the opponent to come back to you or make them miss the ball entirely and good strokes give you an idea what position yo need to get into to make the proper shot, even if your footwork is technically incorrect. When your opponent can control your strokes and make you move, and you have strokes that will work when you get into position, then footwork is the main issue because you need to be able to link it together to recover to the next shot and that linking is what gets many people into trouble (transition). I am speaking as someone who has bad knees.

Your comment about getting the feet to do what they do apart from the body is very high level and I first heard about it from Ben Larcombe in his discussion of relaxed table tennis, then second hand from William Henzell when asked what was required to get good footwork. In general, it applies to a lot of table tennis (moving your arm fast to block still needs to to have relaxed fingers), but I tell people all the time that in Table tennis, the legs are the only part of your body that should feel as if they need to get where the ball is quickly. The upper body should feel mostly relaxed with mild tension in the core, but in a backswing position and just ready to execute the shot when you get into position.

Anyways, these are the small things I realize as I get better. After another year, it can be all very different - I learn something new everyday. In fact, I am also learning to get more of the backswing from how I use my wrists.

 

[NextLevel]

For these different skills/parts I use different drills. Both with and without actually playing table tennis. That is why I like the coordination ladder

Oh well, I hope my explanation isn't too messy

What is the co-ordination ladder?

 

[Suga D]

This here...

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

Movement in the sport is more than a little overrated at the lower levels. The reason better players do is is because their opponents force them to move.

.....As I got better and better, I moved less and less. That said, I am now at the point where players have sufficient ball control to force me to move with good serve returns, so again, movement for me is becoming a bigger issue.

So, there was a point in game development where NextLevel, as he got better needed to move less and less. And now he is enough better that his competition is better and can place the ball and make him need to move.

So at his current level he will have to start moving more to get better.

Little kids also have to develop better footwork because they are.....well....LITTLE. To get to the ball they actually have to move.

I am also little. I have to move some as well.

And it is true that those footwork drills really help develop certain skills. But most footwork happens for a shakehand player as it happens in that video I posted although that is extremely high level footwork with all those micro-movements to get into just the right position. But it is also quite economical from a certain perspective.

Now if you are a traditional penholder you better learn to move your feet well. That is a different ballgame.

And I think there is something to be said for training those footwork drills. I know they help me be able to turn to my FH on the BH side when I want that extra pop of a FH. And I do use that in match play.

Anyway. Info think you guys both made great posts and NextLevel is good in saying that you were not actually disagreeing with each other.

Good stuff.

Learning to move upper and lower body independently is pretty cool. This is why with those ladder footwork drills I also practice shadow TT footwork drills. It is not real footwork. But I may never have developed the coordination without practicing the footwork with the stroke and without the ball.



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[NextLevel]

So, there was a point in game development where NextLevel, as he got better needed to move less and less. And now he is enough better that his competition is better and can place the ball and make him need to move.

So at his current level he will have to start moving more to get better.

Little kids also have to develop better footwork because they are.....well....LITTLE. To get to the ball they actually have to move.

I am also little. I have to move some as well.

And it is true that those footwork drills really help develop certain skills. But most footwork happens for a shakehand player as it happens in that video I posted although that is extremely high level footwork with all those micro-movements to get into just the right position. But it is also quite economical from a certain perspective.

Now if you are a traditional penholder you better learn to move your feet well. That is a different ballgame.

And I think there is something to be said for training those footwork drills. I know they help me be able to turn to my FH on the BH side when I want that extra pop of a FH. And I do use that in match play.

Anyway. Info think you guys both made great posts and NextLevel is good in saying that you were not actually disagreeing with each other.

Good stuff.

Learning to move upper and lower body independently is pretty cool. This is why with those ladder footwork drills I also practice shadow TT footwork drills. It is not real footwork. But I may never have developed the coordination without practicing the footwork with the stroke and without the ball.



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I guess my description of things sometimes assumes too much knowledge of my situation on the part of the reader - I need to get better at the full context.

IMHO, footwork is not the same thing as movement. Footwork is learning and drilling the technically correct ways of moving to the ball (half-step, one-step, two-step, crossover etc.) as well as some of the the correct transitions between these.

I know kids who learned to play relatively well (2000 level) with minimal drilling in these things. They just slowly incorporated some of these things over time but usually had bad or untrained transitioning between certain positions but overcame the issues with athleticism or strokes. What they relied on more were good serves and good third ball attacks and very strong basic strokes.

I know a little kid who is now a big kid who didn't develop footwork - again, footwork is different from athleticism or the ability to move to a ball. I can supposedly move to the ball and so can this kid. Footwork is about learning and practicing the ways of moving with proper table tennis technique.

I could always move to the ball somewhat, though I couldn't train it the way I might have wanted to because it would have hurt my knees more than I could bear. The real issue, IMO, is usually what happens when you get to the ball. Do you have a stroke that brings the ball back. And even before that, this article by Richard McAfee makes the point I stated here earlier in more detail about ball placement being very important for improving your anticipation skills.

http://www.teamusa.org/USA-Table-Te...-MECHANICS-Improving-Your-Anticipation-Skills

What sometimes gets annoying to me is the premium some people place on footwork as a cause for TT issues when a player has not even developed strong and consistent strokes on both sides. I guess that is what is driving my posting here. If you have fairly good strokes, then you will have an idea of what position your body needs to be in to make those strokes and even when your footwork is not fully drilled in, you will often just into position however inefficiently and make the shot because your body has developed a feel for it. But when you lack the stroke, all the footwork in the world is just going to make you get there and play a bad stroke. The other reason good strokes help is that good strokes limit your opponent's options per the McAfee article so your anticipation goes up a level. When you blast the ball cross court, you don't have to wait on a down the line shot unless your opponent is much too good to be playing you.

As for MY moving more, the forehand is a movement stroke. I am realizing that the key to closing out one of my biggest weaknesses is that I need to develop footwork to go there and take out the ball because most people are serving me things that my technique is strong enough to kill - the problem is getting close enough to the ball to kill it. Usually, I can get there late and push the ball but as your opponents get stronger, what got you here won't get you there.

I'm also developing a better feel for how with my current strokes, visualizing and thinking about my legs and my arms, especially my wrist, as part of a stroke making system can help my level. I am trying to tie certain things together as instincts and it will take time. But again, I find it hard to believe that one can arrive at this kind of insight without good strokes. Maybe it's possible, but I doubt it. But maybe some people get it with healthier knees through coaching and doing the right thing from the beginning. But for people who didn't or who need to focus on some things and skip others, footwork is the last thing I would focus on to get better when you can't spin the ball past someone or control the ball when you get to it.

I do agree that two winged loopers move less and that smaller people have to move more. But that kind of movement is not the same thing as drilled footwork unless a person is drilled/trained. And I don't believe a person of a certain size needs drilled footwork more urgently than another.

 

[BLUE]

Wow, seems like we really started something here (and did some high quality hijacking of the thread ). Maybe a moderator can seperate our footwork dedicated posts into a new thread, because it certainly is very interesting (at least to me).

Finally I have found some spare time (Damn you daily obligations! Stop wasting my time! ) and used it to reread all the posts. Now I understand a lot more, so in short: Yes, I completely agree with you (both NL and USDC).

We seem to have the same opinion on the topic of footwork, but we were just looking at it from different view points.

You are right in saying, that adults have to prioritize a lot more than children. One of the best things you said was that a lot of players overemphasize footwork while having poor strokes. I just wished that more people would know that.
Nevertheless footwork is a very important part of the game but (!) only after you mastered your strokes to a certain amount.

I, as a coach, described my views from my standpoint.
I train the kids and younger adults in our club. The range is from round about 7 years old to mid 20s (I am 22). All of them have started no later than 14 years old.
The "worst" are at a very beginner level (the youngest). They are having difficulties to throw and catch a ball consistently.
The "best" are at a decent level. They have a German TTR of ~ 1800 which would be 2100-2200 USATT (at least that's what I read from various sites).
Some of the kids may even have the opportunity to earn some money for playing table tennis in a few years, which would be really cool .

With this background it is clear, that I have to put some effort in footwork.
Most of the kids have solid strokes and only need smaller and smaller tweaks here and there in their execution of the strokes, so footwork is becoming sometimes a deciding factor in matchplay. Obviously the younger you are, the easier it is to learn stuff. So I have to pay attention, that they develop a solid basis from which they can benefit later when footwork really becomes important (just like you said).

The firmer the foundation is, the more likely and easier it is to move (or learn to move) quickly and efficiently. This is where the linking between the strokes comes in play, which you mentioned. When they have the strokes to play and have a certain understanding/knowledge/skill regarding footwork I start feeding more and more random placement drills like USDC linked. In my eyes it is important to this step by step (no pun intended) and not start rushing. Footwork easily becomes a mess

This doesn't mean, that I use only Falkenberg and similar regular drills until these can be played blindfolded before starting with irregular drills. I narrow thing down, like random placement but onle FH, or only varying the placement on the base line, not the length. Or varying between FH and RH but with similar placements on each side, so the kids can concentrate on the goal of the drill (f.e. switching between FH and RH without nowing when). The more aspects they can do automated, the more variables I have as a coach to be creative

Very few times, I do some training with adults, ranging from beginners to good players (TTR 1900). From young to old. Here I use a very different approach. As you said many have sore knees or have some "battle wounds" as I call them

Here, most of the time it isn't the feet but either the technique/the stroke or the mind which limits the outcome.
Training them is definitely fun aswell, but shooing kids around in the training hall until they lie happy and exhausted on the ground is even better

I hope I didn't bore you to death with a post, which in essence just confirms what has already been said before

-BLUE

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

Great post. Not really much to add.

The step by step building of the stroke and footwork is sound fundamentals and I think that is how progression of skills is most effectively maximized.

This is just to add to the story of the adult learning thing. I am 50. I started playing at 44. As a kid I loved to play but only played recreationally with friends who were tennis players and were much better than me. But it was not table tennis. It was tennis with ping pong rackets and illegal topspin serves. I had no idea what underspin was. Then when I was in my 20s I found a real TT club and played for about 3 months in between two jobs after college. I wasn't good enough to play with most of the players at the club so I mostly hit with the robot which really was enough to make me happy anyway back then. One guy who, back then was about 2000 (USATT now he is 2300 but doesn't compete any more) was really nice to me and helped me a bunch.

But then I got a job and didn't play for another 20+ years (till I was 44).

After starting 6 years ago, I noticed I was able to win games and matches against guys whose technique was better than mine but that, in real terms I really was pretty bad, by my standards. There were times I was playing someone and they would look at my rubbers to see what kind of antispin I was using only to find I was using conventional smooth rubbers and just had weird dead ball shots because my contact was direct and unpredictable. Bad technique can = decent game strategy for under 1600 (USATT). Hahaha.

At a certain point I decided that if I kept playing matches my technique would never get better. I stopped playing matches and started trying to improve my strokes.

Man it was torture, partially because I am stubborn and for a long time I tried without the help of coaches. At a certain point a few friends who are 2000-2400 started helping me and that made a big difference. Then a couple of guys over 2500 started giving me coaching as well. That made a big difference too. But man it was still hard to change those old bad habits. Hours of doing strange drills on my own to actually get into muscle memory some of what my higher level friends and coaches had showed me. Because just seeing what is correct wasn't enough for my body to produce that.

In my head I knew what I should do but my body was not doing that. And a lot of the time, I thought I was doing the right thing but was not. Because you can't see yourself very well while trying to move to, time and contact a ball coming at you with variable speed, spin and placement.

Anyway, one of the things I realized was that in doing drills where I had to move to and hit the ball, my stroke technique would invariably break down.

When I started doing shadow drills, I started with just strokes. Then I tried to add footwork drills with strokes.

What I remember at the beginning is that my body did not know how to move, plant, set and stroke as a fluid process. If I had to move the stroke was clumsy and awkward like I was doing it with my left hand.

When I started getting better at that ability to separate upper body from lower body that BLUE referred to in an earlier post, things got better. As I was doing these shadow footwork/stroke drills, I was doing them both righty and lefty. Interestingly the awkwardness of doing them lefty helped me get better at doing them righty.

For a while I still noticed that in footwork drills with a coach feeding, at a certain point in those drills, my strokes would start breaking down and technique would go out the window.

It took a lot of getting my shadow stroke better, getting my stroke better on the table, getting my feet better in shadow and getting anyone I could to move me around before my strokes stopped falling apart at the slightest increase in intensity during movement.

So, what is the point of all this: frick table tennis requires a ton of training of technique before you can move, and keep your stroke technique solid.

My ability to respond to random placement has made a big jump in the last 4-5 months after what seemed like years of really being terrible at it.

But for me, all that work and training is actually what I love to do. Now if I can improve my serve and receive skills a bit more and fine tune my feet so they are a bit better, I will become a decent player from a technical standpoint.

But the reality is, I am a few glaring weaknesses away from that. Hahaha.


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[Persistence TT]

Here, this video is a multiball match simulation drill (a random drill). Notice how before each shot he resets and adjusts his feet a tiny bit, but how he is really moving very little. Even when he gets moved from the deep BH side to the deep FH side, the movement is very little. And ZJK is not as tall as either NextLevel or you, Liten.

The kind of drills that are more commonly thought of as footwork drills where you move around the table and it looks like there is a lot of movement, real play doesn't happen that way. Those are really for making it so that, when you are pressured and ball placement is random like in a match, your feet make the right movements so that you are in the right place to take the ball from the power zone of your stroke. In a real match, footwork doesn't usually happen how it does in a drill like the Falkenberg. Even though practicing drills like that helps with the fundamentals of how you move your feet when you play.

That is just like the counter-hitting that pros do at the beginning of a match or looping at someone who is blocking for you. That stuff doesn't really happen in a match but practicing it does help you with the fundamentals of the stroke. Adding a slight bit of randomness to drills like that, like the randomness of a player who can't really put the ball in the same place twice for either of those drills actually makes them more useful though. If your training partner is too good at putting the ball in the same place, then you will not have to adjust to the placement for each ball which is worth being forced to do. Even if it is little adjustments.

One of the reasons I admire ZJK so much is that, he makes better adjustments (which are very small but necessary) in his footwork than anyone in his rallies. He can apply his footwork to his tactic/strategy very well.

I also believe that "the less you move the better you play" but not LITERALLY. Its all about figuring out your opponent and then making the small footwork adjustments needed to take the initiative.

ZJK managed to win against liang jingkun being injured and he let liang take the attacks most of the time. A characteristic difference between top chinese players and zjk is that zjk doenst try all the time to pivot and turn around for a strong FH, he stays patiently in a bh to bh rally or block and when he feels comfortable enough he turns around.

Fang bo for example would have won many points against ML if he didnt risk so much on pivoting. Same goes for XX against Fang Bo.

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

@ TTFrenzy: 100%. And the word there is EFFICIENCY!


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[NextLevel]

@ TTFrenzy: 100%. And the word there is EFFICIENCY!


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Efficiency is one thing, but then there are the persistents - as in, those kids that rally so persistently well that if you decide you don't want to move, you will lose the match because they will hit the ball to places that you just don't like. When I play those kids, I wish I had footwork to support my strokes, but I just haul a-*-s from point A to point B by any means necessary until I will the point or they do. And of course, in 3 more years, they grow from kids to monsters, especially if they are ladies!

 

[Der_Echte]

Wow, seems like we really started something here (and did some high quality hijacking of the thread ). Maybe a moderator can seperate our footwork dedicated posts into a new thread, because it certainly is very interesting (at least to me).

-BLUE

Haha, Blue is NEW to TTD and Hijacking, but it's gunna be alright.

If Blue REALLY wants to LOL and ROFL and ROFLHAO... he ought to read some of my sorry-azz German posts at Pimp My Blade (German forum) about OX LP women playing in Korea.

 

[Suga D]

Was this the one?
Your german seems to be pretty ok for a non native speaker. I guess my english is worse...
http://www.pimp-my-blade.de/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=138&start=40

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

Suga D, your English is great. I wish mine was as good and I don't speak any other languages. [emoji2] Especially when it is in a photo with an aluminum foil Viking helmet. Wish I had those kind of communication skills. [emoji2]


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[Suga D]

Thank you, Carl.
But as you can see i have to re-edit my posts for grammar reasons most of the times.
And english and northern german (in german known as 'platt') aren't that far apart. grammarwise and also vocabularywise.
Sorry for being offtopic again...
@DTopSpirit: great vid (1nce again)

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

Thank you, Carl.
But as you can see i have to re-edit my posts for grammar reasons most of the times.
And english and northern german (in german known as 'platt') aren't that far apart. grammarwise and also vocabularywise.
Sorry for being offtopic again...
@DTopSpirit: great vid (1nce again)

LOL. Hijacking is part of my business. Especially when the thread is titled Cheating In Table Tennis!

Go through my last 20-30 posts. Tell me the percentage of them that remain unedited. Sometimes I edit the same post 5-6 times. Then I still find typos and mistakes. I admire a guy like Der_Echte who never edits and leaves all the typos and mistakes in. I wish I could do that.

But, Suga D, you are great to have on the forum.

I hope nobody asks me for information on my boosted, National, Pro version rubbers and how I got the secret handshake.

"Hey, is that Par Gerelle over there? Godda go!"


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[Der_Echte]

Was this the one?
Your german seems to be pretty ok for a non native speaker. I guess my english is worse...
http://www.pimp-my-blade.de/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=138&start=40

Yeah, that is me and my sorry-azz German writing. If you say it is OK and say Ur English is sorry terrible, then my German must be a whole lot better than I give myself credit for... because Ur English is FRIGGIN' PRETTY DAMN PROFESSIONAL functional level at the minimum, better than some American's who do not care to learn or write.

It has been 12 years since I lived in Germany and I was around American military all the time, so not so many chances at day to practice anything. Still, I really haven't forgotten much.

If you say so, I'll believe it, but your English is very under-rated good.

 

[Der_Echte]

LOL. Hijacking is part of my business. Especially when the thread is titled Cheating In Table Tennis!

Go through my last 20-30 posts. Tell me the percentage of them that remain unedited. Sometimes I edit the same post 5-6 times. Then I still find typos and mistakes. I admire a guy like Der_Echte who never edits and leaves all they typos and mistakes in. I wish I could do that. I edit my posts all teh time and they are still filled with FAT FINGER words.

But, Suga D, you are great to have on the forum.

I hope nobody asks me for information on my boosted, National, Pro version rubbers and how I got the secret handshake.

"Hey, is that Par Gerelle over there? Godda go!"


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SugaD, Don't believe EVERYTHING Carl sez, heck, the government is less filled with crap in what they say, and we all know how full of it they are.

If anyone believes Carl got hiz pile of rubberz from a secret handshake, go right ahead. he prolly did a shake-down on the manufacturers. Didn't anyone notice where Carl went last week? He posted photos of himself in Cape cod, but he was REALLY in Tamasu (That is BTY) and DHS headquarters telling their CEOs it would be a good idea to supply Carl with a small sum of rubbers before certain vids Carl took with hiz Spy-Phone hit the internetz. A few rubbers is indeed a very small price. Heck, just talking to a laywer few 10 minutes costs moar. The CEOs are not stupid.

 

[Suga D]

LOL. Hijacking is part of my business. Especially when the thread is titled Cheating In Table Tennis!

Go through my last 20-30 posts. Tell me the percentage of them that remain unedited. Sometimes I edit the same post 5-6 times. Then I still find typos and mistakes. I admire a guy like Der_Echte who never edits and leaves all they typos and mistakes in. I wish I could do that.

Haha, me too. I usually don't bother seeing them in other people's posts. But not in mine. It just hurts the eye.

But, Suga D, you are great to have on the forum

Thanks again, carl. I can only give that back to you. I'm not that long a member of this forum as you guys. (Though i have been reading here as a guest every once in a while).
But i've read so many great posts here.
(From you, from der Echte, Dan, GiangT, and from many others, too. Sorry for not mentioning all of your names. I hope you know who you are, from my 'likes')
Thank you for all of your shared thoughts. There are some real enlightening ones.
Also thank you for your very open and honest self-analysis. THAT is a very hard to find but IMHO important thing, 'cause it keeps one humble and on ya toes and allows one to grow.
Not everybody can selfreflect like that. I met many people that are not honest to themselves. And there weren't many who could do so.

I hope nobody asks me for information on my boosted, National, Pro version rubbers and how I got the secret handshake.

Hey, is that Par Gerelle over there. Gotta go.

Are you talkin' bout the secret bluesponged tenergy or do you mean that spring sponge h3?
Anyway...
I believe you have found ways to keep the Goon Squads off your trail.