Daily Table Tennis Chit Chat

[Boogar]

Archo is playing at the sweden open !

No, but is this one guy from pongfinity playing right now on table 2?

Anyway off to training!

 

[Archosaurus]

@Boogar, I wish.

It could be. I can't remember his name, but Pongfinity has a player who represents Finland IIRC.

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

Always take care of REAL LIFE first, don't worry about TT or TTD!!

TT and TTDaily make the real things I have to deal with in my everyday life go better. And if I really paid attention to this, based my REAL LIFE, I would probably never come on here. But you have to have some things that make you happy.


Sent from the Subterranean Workshop by Telepathy

 

[ttmonster]

Could not agree more Carl !!! Table tennis is the oil that keeps the wheel moving without too much noise .....

TT and TTDaily make the real things I have to deal with in my everyday life go better. And if I really paid attention to this, based my REAL LIFE, I would probably never come on here. But you have to have some things that make you happy.


Sent from the Subterranean Workshop by Telepathy

 

[OldschoolPenholder]

TT and TTDaily make the real things I have to deal with in my everyday life go better. And if I really paid attention to this, based my REAL LIFE, I would probably never come on here. But you have to have some things that make you happy.


Sent from the Subterranean Workshop by Telepathy

Ah, then Yin/Yang.

 

[Archosaurus]

As a young person, when you're supposed to be doing something "important", any little time spent on things like sleep, fun or rest might feel like a waste of time and like you're slacking off.

I think we young people stress these things a little bit too much and fail to see the big picture of well-being sometimes.

 

[NextLevel]

I am testing Nexy Karis M+ and will soon be testing Nexy Karis M as well. Very consistent rubber so far - doesn't seem to have the easy spin of softer topsheets and one playing partner felt it was a major drop off from Tenergy. But I felt that the consistency of the shots and the directness of the play felt better to me. Some shots seemed to indicate there was more to the rubber that I needed experience to tap into.

Here was my only league match loss yesterday so you can see the rubber vs high levels of spin.

 

[Yecats Encerwal]

Hello Everyone, I hope you are all having a great week!

On the weekend I travelled over to England to participate in the second weekend of British League action. Our team was in the 4th division last year and we won the division, however following a re-structure of the divisions we are now back in the same division to do it all again.

One tough match I had this weekend was against a left hander, who strongly favoured his forehand. I went 2-0 down, losing two close sets 11-9 and 12-10. I figured I was being too passive on receive of serve and also kept serving into areas of the table that suited him. I changed up my tactics, serving more carefully and receiving with more aggression, playing out wide to his FH when I saw him turning on his BH. Just by changing these tactics I managed to win the next 3 sets 11-4,11-5 and 11-7. Does anyone have any further tips regarding playing vs left handers who play strong FH's at every opportunity?

Overall I managed to win 12/12 matches (8 singles and 4 doubles) and our team is at the top of the table heading into the final two weekends of play in December and March. I did not record any footage however one of the teams we played against recorded every match and so if any of these videos surface, I will let you know!

 

[Archosaurus]

Today was quite funny.


In the beginning of the day, I could barely bounce the ball on my bat consistently. Let's not even talk about proper strokes or serves.


Later in the day, when I had played 4 or so hours, and after a lot of repeating the mantra of "Be like a rubberband" followed by "The only reason your shots miss is if you tense up", I could loop consistently and late in the bounce, and I actually felt relaxed too.
Granted I had gotten very used to my partner's game, that doesn't exactly improve shot mechanics. I could feel that earlier in the day I was gripping the racket like it owed me money.

I used to think this was a warming up issue but actually, I think it is mental. It's like I'm afraid of my shots going out, so I tense up to control the ball better, which just ends up with my shots actually going out.
Once I get some proof that my shots will hit, and I get into a comfortable groove, over half of the tenseness goes away. I am still a bit tense because I don't get that much whip, but I'm not white knuckle gripping the bat at least.

I've found that going "Hup!" like Ovtcharov (Well, probably not as loud as Ovtcharov ) actually helps A LOT. I don't think I gain much power or anything, but it's like the stress goes away with the sound. I'm pretty convinced that this is mostly a mental issue, and I just need to convince myself that being relaxed pays off, so I am willing to use "gimmicks" like this.

I really wish a 3rd person would stay so late so I could film myself when I play like this. Next time I stay late with the guys I play with, I will record no matter who I am playing.

I didn't want to film earlier when I could have because I felt my opponent was not good enough to pressure me enough, but that's bullshit now that I think about it. My mechanics are the same no matter who I play. I have found ways to tone down my strokes for the worse players and still keep form. I will try to film myself as much as possible to see if I am progressing.

 

[OldschoolPenholder]

I really wish a 3rd person would stay so late so I could film myself when I play like this. Next time I stay late with the guys I play with, I will record no matter who I am playing.

I ended up selling my Joby magnetic tripod to "Fun" last week as he was going away on vacation and didn't have a chance to get one for himself.

Since then, I went back to my oldschool way - propped my phone against a 20 oz Gatorade bottle filled with water. Angle is not the best at times, but it's something.

 

[Archosaurus]

My main problem is elevation.

I could prop my phone against something tall and stable easily, but all the seats and benches and whatnot there are just too low and the only high desk there is in a terrible angle. I can't find any boxes or anything to stack either. A cameraman sitting on a chair or standing eliminates the height problem.

I'm gonna need a lot of height to make up the difference, and I can't just go and take some chairs from a classroom and stack them seeing as the doors are locked and most the teachers are out of the building at that time anyway, so I'm gonna need to be a bit creative. For now I will just use a cameraman.

 

[Boogar]

Hey guys I hope you are all great!

Today I played 4. league again. They missed one team member and played with only two people :-/
However one of them was a LP player who has 140 more points then me. I fell behind 0:2 to come back 3:2 with all games above 22 points :O.
He twiddled and also kind of looped with his LP's. Very annoying to play against! He didn't want any footage on yt so i can send you the link in a PM if you want to see the match

In the second match i played against a gent with a deadly short game. He took out the spin of the pushes and flicked extremely hard! I was left baffled over and over. He only pushed with his BH so i could move him out of position and then use a BH loop into his forehand. I won 3:1
Not sure if i can upload the video. otherwise i will send it to you per PM again.

Cheers

 

[Shuki]

I'd like a pm'ed link Love seeing how you've been developing, and I'd love to see how you brought it back for 0-2!

Hey guys I hope you are all great!

Today I played 4. league again. They missed one team member and played with only two people :-/
However one of them was a LP player who has 140 more points then me. I fell behind 0:2 to come back 3:2 with all games above 22 points :O.
He twiddled and also kind of looped with his LP's. Very annoying to play against! He didn't want any footage on yt so i can send you the link in a PM if you want to see the match

In the second match i played against a gent with a deadly short game. He took out the spin of the pushes and flicked extremely hard! I was left baffled over and over. He only pushed with his BH so i could move him out of position and then use a BH loop into his forehand. I won 3:1
Not sure if i can upload the video. otherwise i will send it to you per PM again.

Cheers

 

[Archosaurus]

I've been doing shadows based on the feedback I got on my last video.

I didn't really understand at the moment what everyone meant with trying to muscle it with the upper body, but I think I get it now. I couldn't really notice just how soon I engaged the arm, but a lot of video review and a lot of shadows has made me more aware.


I've been going in front of a full body mirror and just letting the arm be by my side and rotating from the core and the legs. I think that I can do okay. It's nice and smooth. However if I add the arm, it tenses up, and now I finally can feel that it kind of "leads" the body rotation and just wastes the energy. The best way I can describe it is trying to take off in an old car with the parking brake on.

Now I think I have a better swing where the arm goes more in unison with the body. It's a very different feeling, so we see if I can force myself to swing like that in drills and games. However I could not do that at all before this experimenting, so I think it's progress. It looks much better in the mirror, more coordinated.

What amazes me is that people can see this in real time, on the first glance, and gauge it accurately. I guess once you can do it yourself and you know how it works, it becomes easier to see.

 

[Der_Echte]

I am testing Nexy Karis M+ and will soon be testing Nexy Karis M as well. Very consistent rubber so far - doesn't seem to have the easy spin of softer topsheets and one playing partner felt it was a major drop off from Tenergy. But I felt that the consistency of the shots and the directness of the play felt better to me. Some shots seemed to indicate there was more to the rubber that I needed experience to tap into.

Here was my only league match loss yesterday so you can see the rubber vs high levels of spin.

I put Karis+ on the FH 2 days ago and I am ready to declare it my new fh rubber for the big teams tourney. I am that confident. That rubber is very stable. Of course it won't get heavy spin from a weak stroke, but it rewards both a good brush and solid impact strokes.

Sent from my SM-T350 using Tapatalk

 

[wtachetna]

I don't have anybody in my home who knows how to play Table Tennis. I wish there was to way to play the game alone.

 

[JeffM]

I don't have anybody in my home who knows how to play Table Tennis. I wish there was to way to play the game alone.

You can get a rebound board, or fold up table in half, or play with a robot.

It is not the same as playing against a real person, but it is better than not playing. In the end, it all comes down to how much you want to play. You can even try get the Kuka robot that played against Timo Boll if you can

 

[Xylit]

I have won that Butterfly Apolonia ZLC blade here from the Olympic winners contest, remember? Five weeks ago it arrived at a Friday. I had two league matches that weekend and as I really wanted to play with that blade so much I went to a local table tennis store right before the league matches at Saturday to equip that blade with some rubbers. As a Joola player for the last couple of years I felt I had to put something special on that beautiful blade so I decided on a Tenergy 05 for FH and a Tenergy 64 for BH. I've played that combination already before my Joola era for quite a bit and I always loved it, only changed to Joola as they sponsor our club and the price difference is huge.

So the first time I've played with that blade ever was at the warm-up 30 minutes before the league match started. Warm-up worked great, I immediately like that setup. First double was a close win against weaker opponents, I made a lot of unforced errors. My first single match was a 2-3 loss after leading 2-0. Usually I win most of my games by doing nearly zero unforced errors with a few all-in attacks. However, I could not chop or block as I am used to, the new setup was too different from my old one so I lost that match against a player I thought I'd never lose to. Second single match was against a player I always struggle, lost that with 1-3 as well. Still no safety in my strokes. Lost a lot of TTR points that day, however, we won that league match in total.

The next day I've lost my first single match very closely with 2-3 but I played really good. Still a few unforced errors that were uncommon because of the new setup, however, much better backhand blocks and forehand attacks as with my old Joola setup. After that match the penny dropped finally. After that I have won the next ten matches in a row that took place the last weeks, even against opponents with much more TTR points than me. The new setup feels so great, my TTR points increased to a new, much higher maximum. In the end it paid off that I switched to that new setup right away.

Only downside is that I am back with expensive butterfly stuff but as I have finished my study recently I should be able to afford that in future

 

[JeffM]

I have won that Butterfly Apolonia ZLC blade here from the Olympic winners contest, remember? Five weeks ago it arrived at a Friday. I had two league matches that weekend and as I really wanted to play with that blade so much I went to a local table tennis store right before the league matches at Saturday to equip that blade with some rubbers. As a Joola player for the last couple of years I felt I had to put something special on that beautiful blade so I decided on a Tenergy 05 for FH and a Tenergy 64 for BH. I've played that combination already before my Joola era for quite a bit and I always loved it, only changed to Joola as they sponsor our club and the price difference is huge.

So the first time I've played with that blade ever was at the warm-up 30 minutes before the league match started. Warm-up worked great, I immediately like that setup. First double was a close win against weaker opponents, I made a lot of unforced errors. My first single match was a 2-3 loss after leading 2-0. Usually I win most of my games by doing nearly zero unforced errors with a few all-in attacks. However, I could not chop or block as I am used to, the new setup was too different from my old one so I lost that match against a player I thought I'd never lose to. Second single match was against a player I always struggle, lost that with 1-3 as well. Still no safety in my strokes. Lost a lot of TTR points that day, however, we won that league match in total.

The next day I've lost my first single match very closely with 2-3 but I played really good. Still a few unforced errors that were uncommon because of the new setup, however, much better backhand blocks and forehand attacks as with my old Joola setup. After that match the penny dropped finally. After that I have won the next ten matches in a row that took place the last weeks, even against opponents with much more TTR points than me. The new setup feels so great, my TTR points increased to a new, much higher maximum. In the end it paid off that I switched to that new setup right away.

Only downside is that I am back with expensive butterfly stuff but as I have finished my study recently I should be able to afford that in future

Congrats again for winning the contest! Good to hear you started winning all the matches after you got used to the bat.
I am so jealous now hahaha, if only Tiago Apolonia ZLC comes in penhold, I would have bought it without second thought.. if only it did...

 

[NextLevel]

I put Karis+ on the FH 2 days ago and I am ready to declare it my new fh rubber for the big teams tourney. I am that confident. That rubber is very stable. Of course it won't get heavy spin from a weak stroke, but it rewards both a good brush and solid impact strokes.

Sent from my SM-T350 using Tapatalk

It takes me back to my Big Dipper days - my short game control is just so much better with it. Even if I don't use it all the time, it is going to improve my technique in a massive way. The rubber is EXTREMELY direct and you can feel the spin and the power working in the same direction. All I need to confirm is whether I should be playing with M or M+ and how long the rubber lasts. But I am sure I will not lose anything by switching.

This is another Karis match from Tuesday.