Daily Table Tennis Chit Chat

[Archosaurus]

@NextLevel

Your forehand really looks like it's starting to mature. I wonder when you'll hit 2200, if you haven't already.


I think I found out the main reason for my back injury. I was testing out shadow swings trying to get rid of some right-side lower and upper back tension, and I found out that if I lead the swing with my off-hand by pulling the shoulder instead of pushing with my right, it fixes it completely. Instead of tensing my back to damp the followthrough, it stops smoothly. If I had to guess, it's because my right side tried to stop prematurely while my left side used to get going too late.

 

[JeffM]

Met up with my HK friend finally for the first time this visit. Despite having a back injury from lifting luggage on the plane, I decided to give it a go, because life is too short and every single day of holiday without TT is a day wasted.

Booked a court for 2 hours. We made good use of the time. First 35 min, just warm up. Because it was winter, so by the end of the warm up, we both got warm. So I suggested to begin the first match.

I had relative ease with winning the first match. Perhaps it was because he has not played anyone of standard since I left last time, I took it 3-0, with matches ending like 11-4, or 11-2 etc. I feel he also used this opportunity to test out how to receive my serves, get a feel of how i play, and how to play properly again.

Then he suggested to start another match. This time, it was closer. He took the first set, 11-9, then I took the second set, and then I took the 3rd set, and the final set, I won in deuce. It seemed like he has stepped up his level and he was able to receive my spins alot better.

Then we took a rest. And with 35 min to go, I decided to play a final match. There were some good rallies. He took the first set, then I took the following 2 sets, with not too big gap. And then I closed it off with 11-2 in the 4th set.

Recorded the matches until my phone storage ran out, as I didn't expect initially to play 3 matches, due to time as well as my injury. But it went better than I expected. It was fun.

Will make a highlight video combining all 3 matches when I have time, which might not be the coming week, as Im going to pick up my gf from the airport tmr

 

[Archosaurus]

@JeffM

If you can, could you upload the uncut matches as well?

 

[confiscate]

Will make a highlight video combining all 3 matches when I have time, which might not be the coming week, as Im going to pick up my gf from the airport tmr

Ya man dont't bother with making the highlights video, it takes too much time. Just upload the whole thing! (Actually even uploading without highlight-edit takes a lot of time )

 

[OldschoolPenholder]

@JeffM

If you can, could you upload the uncut matches as well?

Not sure of Jeff's HK net speeds, but when he went to.uni in Australia he had slooooow net speed, hence his editing

 

[OldschoolPenholder]

Played last night. Lately eating less, forgot to eat a banana prior. Gassed out after 60.mins straight. Rested 15 mins, trie d to hit again. Lasted 15 mins and pooped. Called it a night.

No video, worked sh bh and rpb. Periodically went for the flat hit. My partner was "Mommy" so i didn't unleash as she is a 2 evels below me ... as i was cooling down, she hit with someone else ... they both hit to win the point, even though its not a match..
Really Oldschool and they both were ok with that... she unleashed some wicked rpb... she started learning rob after me, learnt from a few coaches and she picked it up faster tham me, although she plays 5x a week. I told her she has a good rpb and she chuckled. Her rpb has a rounded stroke whereas no e is similar to sh bh.

Going again thurs will see how it goes.

 

[Musaab]

@NDH
Thanks for the demo. But to be honest, I don't really know how to adjust this spin/speed ratio , I know that I can do the stroke more vertically may be but it is a bit complicated with no spin balls, it works great though with backspin balls. The obvious response might be to brush more, however, I feel like I brush at my maximum ability, if I try more brush thn this I lose consistency. Let me ask you an innocent question, don't you think your setup with ZLC and T05s add to the quality of your shots? in my videos I was playing with 729 on a wood blade deliberately to have a low speed setup to force myself to generate power using a good gesture. Being a real EJ (as many adults I suppose) , I couldn't take it anymore and I took out my ZJK ALC to try to see if the gesture developed combined with the carbon blade now gives that extra power, I'm biased but it feels great playing with an ALC and a tacky forehand rubber.

 

[Der_Echte]

Had poor finish to us open. In u3200 lost round of 8 match had them on ropes.

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[ttmonster]

you made it to the last 8 , which is technically quarters ... that is already impressive ... don't be too hard on yourself ... its not easy to play doubles with a 500-600 rating difference between partners , doubles always favor equally balanced teams if they can put the ball consistently on the table ... how about the rest of the events , can we have a summary or some more details of the mission ? I know you did reach the semis of U2000 ...

Had poor finish to us open. In u3200 lost round of 8 match had them on ropes.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

 

[OhWell]

@NDH
The obvious response might be to brush more, however, I feel like I brush at my maximum ability, if I try more brush thn this I lose consistency.

Not sure, but you might have answered your own question: you are effectively saying that you *can* brush more. The fact that, as of now, doing so would hurt your consistency sounds like the good old long term development vs short term results problem. As people often point out, in TT just like in other pursuits, working on improving specific parts of one's technique can hurt one's results in the short term. If your main goal is to become a better player mid to long term, that's often a sacrifice worth making.

I don't know how you like to proceed when working on a specific shot, but for a lot of people, adjusting the speed/spin ratio is most easily done doing that one shot over and over again in drills.

Here is a more specific pointer that might (or might not) help: at least for me, looking for an answer to the question "what can I do to have better control over X" (say, X=amount of sidespin on my forehand loop) is rarely enough for me to actually achieve better control over X. While doing a shot over and over, there tends to be moments or phases when I notice an expansion in what I can consciously control to achieve that outcome more reliably. To stick with the amount of sidespin on my forehand loop: during drill, I started noticing how the angle of my wrist, together with the contact point relative to my body have a huge impact on the amount of sidespin I generate. Since I got there from the inside, during drills, I was very quickly able to adjust how I use these elements to control sidespin. However, if someone had just told me told me that wrist angle and contact point have a huge impact on sidespin on forehand loop, I wouldn't have known how to implement that lesson in play.

YMMV, but the best way to make the "I need to brush more" thought helpful in achieving a higher spin to speed ratio might just be to drill specific shots until you reach these moments of expansion in what you have conscious control over.

TLDR; here's a great example of how learning actually happens when working on technique: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22F2hRS2ZiA&index=12&t=155s&list=PLRXyDmJoz1MAjeKB9hpDj8N-ORcoQtD8L

 

[NextLevel]

@NDH
Thanks for the demo. But to be honest, I don't really know how to adjust this spin/speed ratio , I know that I can do the stroke more vertically may be but it is a bit complicated with no spin balls, it works great though with backspin balls. The obvious response might be to brush more, however, I feel like I brush at my maximum ability, if I try more brush thn this I lose consistency. Let me ask you an innocent question, don't you think your setup with ZLC and T05s add to the quality of your shots? in my videos I was playing with 729 on a wood blade deliberately to have a low speed setup to force myself to generate power using a good gesture. Being a real EJ (as many adults I suppose) , I couldn't take it anymore and I took out my ZJK ALC to try to see if the gesture developed combined with the carbon blade now gives that extra power, I'm biased but it feels great playing with an ALC and a tacky forehand rubber.

Shape the stroke more - DO NOT do the stroke more vertically - brush and try to follow the shape of the ball - following the shape of the ball is more important than brushing though you may need to brush more to create friction if the ball is backspin or no spin. You are right that equipment may be what you need but when it comes to raising the spin level, the two main things I find that help other than good equipment are learning to contact the ball slightly off its face (on the side top or side bottom, not the back or top) and then making sure one's stroke is more curved as it turns the ball. Whippy wrists and fast but not excessive forearm snap help as well for those who practice, but the wrists and snap should mostly follow the shape of the stroke, not add power unless driving a high ball.

 

[NextLevel]

I am not saying you can play like this overnight or you need to play like this, but look at my opponent here taking my opening loops off the bounce like a boss.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPi-nZrkF8U

 

[Boogar]

I am not saying you can play like this overnight or you need to play like this, but look at my opponent here taking my opening loops off the bounce like a boss.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPi-nZrkF8U

@ 4:27 ?

 

[OhWell]

learning to contact the ball slightly off its face (on the side top or side bottom, not the back or top)

Is this for spin evasion, or because of the mechanics of the swing? (Or something else?)

 

[confiscate]

Had poor finish to us open. In u3200 lost round of 8 match had them on ropes.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

Dude it's the US Open--it's a beast! Sounds like you advanced some rounds. Great job!

 

[NextLevel]

Is this for spin evasion, or because of the mechanics of the swing? (Or something else?)

Its for a variety of things including spin evasion.

 

[JeffM]

@JeffM

If you can, could you upload the uncut matches as well?

Ya man dont't bother with making the highlights video, it takes too much time. Just upload the whole thing! (Actually even uploading without highlight-edit takes a lot of time )

Not sure of Jeff's HK net speeds, but when he went to.uni in Australia he had slooooow net speed, hence his editing

Generally I would try to post full length matches if I deem it was necessary. You guys would know already as I've done that many times before. But with these matches, the wait between each point is quite long, and not all are interesting. So I will be doing highlights first.

 

[Boogar]

Generally I would try to post full length matches if I deem it was necessary. You guys would know already as I've done that many times before. But with these matches, the wait between each point is quite long, and not all are interesting. So I will be doing highlights first.

I usually just skip the part in between with the arrows for a 5 second skip, fits pretty well.

 

[NextLevel]

@ 4:27 ?

Yeah but a lot of his play is close to the table looping so any point where I manage to survive more than two shots tends to count. His backhand has gotten better too so I now have no hiding place.

 

[Der_Echte]

Dude it's the US Open--it's a beast! Sounds like you advanced some rounds. Great job!

Yes and no. We should have defeated them easily.

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