Daily Table Tennis Chit Chat

[dingyibvs]

Just played at the Thursday night league again. The weather was terrible show rate was a little low. Most of the time group 1 players have league ratings in the 1600's-1700's range, today there were two right around 1600 and one that was ~1450. I thought it was the perfect opportunity to focus on using my recently learned techniques. I decided that unless I'm down by 4 points or more, I'm gonna be focus on using my BH as well as my new service motion.

I had made some progress on Tuesday, but today felt like a bit of a step back. I did go 3-1, but lost to a guy I had beaten the last 2 sessions. That guy struggles with my reverse service, but I wanted to work on my new motion regular pendulum service. I still could've won if my BH was more consistent, but from opening loop to loop against blocks it just wasn't there.

Against other guys my BH is simply not consistent enough to win many points. Numerous times I went down by 4+ points and had to revert back to using a FH dominant game. Yikes. So despite playing against slightly less than average competition, my BH is still not there yet. Back to work I suppose.

When I came home I did some BH vs return board practice, and it's really no surprise why my BH is not good enough yet. Even standing at one place I have trouble stringing together more than a few loops in a row. I just gotta practice more.

 

[NDH]

Just played at the Thursday night league again. The weather was terrible show rate was a little low. Most of the time group 1 players have league ratings in the 1600's-1700's range, today there were two right around 1600 and one that was ~1450. I thought it was the perfect opportunity to focus on using my recently learned techniques. I decided that unless I'm down by 4 points or more, I'm gonna be focus on using my BH as well as my new service motion.

I had made some progress on Tuesday, but today felt like a bit of a step back. I did go 3-1, but lost to a guy I had beaten the last 2 sessions. That guy struggles with my reverse service, but I wanted to work on my new motion regular pendulum service. I still could've won if my BH was more consistent, but from opening loop to loop against blocks it just wasn't there.

Against other guys my BH is simply not consistent enough to win many points. Numerous times I went down by 4+ points and had to revert back to using a FH dominant game. Yikes. So despite playing against slightly less than average competition, my BH is still not there yet. Back to work I suppose.

When I came home I did some BH vs return board practice, and it's really no surprise why my BH is not good enough yet. Even standing at one place I have trouble stringing together more than a few loops in a row. I just gotta practice more.

Do you have any video of your matches?

I know this will divide opinion, but I really feel people underestimate match technique, in favor of "perfecting" the little things when practicing (with humans or robots).

There are a lot of players who would look amazing on camera - Fantastic forehands and backhands, great movement and speed..... They look amazing when you see them knocking up.

But then you get them in a match, and it all comes crumbling down when things aren't exactly as they want it.

Your practice videos are great (and I'd never suggest people stop practicing!) - But I'm curious to see how much you can translate what you do in practice, in an actual match.

 

[dingyibvs]

Do you have any video of your matches?

I know this will divide opinion, but I really feel people underestimate match technique, in favor of "perfecting" the little things when practicing (with humans or robots).

There are a lot of players who would look amazing on camera - Fantastic forehands and backhands, great movement and speed..... They look amazing when you see them knocking up.

But then you get them in a match, and it all comes crumbling down when things aren't exactly as they want it.

Your practice videos are great (and I'd never suggest people stop practicing!) - But I'm curious to see how much you can translate what you do in practice, in an actual match.

I'll try to bring my camera to the club Tuesday. I'm curious about it too!

 

[JeffM]

I didn't play TT today, but at the gym I tried 2 new exercise (along with all my previous ones + cardio). I did those because I have been training the muscles that oppose them, so I thought, it is probably a good idea that I train these too to avoid an imbalance.

I have been doing alot of squats and leg extension, so today I try doing some leg curls.
I have been doing bench press so today I did some lateral row.

Hopefully they all help making me stronger and better on the court!

 

[TheProfessor]

Playing in a tournament later. Joining a class C and class B tournament.
Fellow PH table tennis players, anyone know what US Rating equivalent our Class B players are?

 

[Ghostzen]

I'm playing County at the weekend and after this weeks practice ...have a feeling it might not go sooo well. I really struggled to find any touch and purchase on the ball on openers. I guess though sometimes a bad practice might be ok as a one off before the event.

 

[NextLevel]

I'm playing County at the weekend and after this weeks practice ...have a feeling it might not go sooo well. I really struggled to find any touch and purchase on the ball on openers. I guess though sometimes a bad practice might be ok as a one off before the event.

Would really like to see you play some day in a video or better irl.

 

[Ghostzen]

I'll have some video of us playing and a few photos at the weekend. Next time i'm in the US I'll grab a few days extra and we can have a hit.

 

[NextLevel]

I'll try to bring my camera to the club Tuesday. I'm curious about it too!

It might not be obvious but I suspect part of the reason NDH is asking the question is that there is a massive disconnect between your ball quality in practice and the players ratings you are losing to. Maybe it is just you getting back into the game, or maybe it is the infamous (even if erroneous) Cali deflation, but the disconnect can be closed by seeing your match play. Maybe it is a case where your rating will just go up the instant you move to somewhere where better players are around. Or maybe you really need to put long pips on your backhand lol.

In any case, your actual match play will help answer these questions.

 

[NextLevel]

Do you have any video of your matches?

I know this will divide opinion, but I really feel people underestimate match technique, in favor of "perfecting" the little things when practicing (with humans or robots).

There are a lot of players who would look amazing on camera - Fantastic forehands and backhands, great movement and speed..... They look amazing when you see them knocking up.

But then you get them in a match, and it all comes crumbling down when things aren't exactly as they want it.

Your practice videos are great (and I'd never suggest people stop practicing!) - But I'm curious to see how much you can translate what you do in practice, in an actual match.

I have heard from multiple sources (never seen him play in person) that Freitas hits the ball the hardest in practice halls and that when you see him practice, you feel fairly confident he is going to win the tournament.

Which to me is almost completely at odds with his spin-orientation in matches.

But I suspect that is more common than many people realize. That's why my approach to many kind of multiball training is more about range than about power and using the muscles as correctly as I reasonably can.

 

[dingyibvs]

It might not be obvious but I suspect part of the reason NDH is asking the question is that there is a massive disconnect between your ball quality in practice and the players ratings you are losing to. Maybe it is just you getting back into the game, or maybe it is the infamous (even if erroneous) Cali deflation, but the disconnect can be closed by seeing your match play. Maybe it is a case where your rating will just go up the instant you move to somewhere where better players are around. Or maybe you really need to put long pips on your backhand lol.

In any case, your actual match play will help answer these questions.

Oh I have a good idea of where the disconnect is. I've been constantly retooling my technique and tactics the past few months. The consistency just isn't there when I try to put it all together in real games. I'm always a step late because I'm mentally not prepared to either make the shot or use the practiced form.

Keep in mind that I post videos when I have just learned a new stroke and got it to where I think is close to what I want. I then seek feedback from the board before working on consistency because I don't want to cement a bad form. Oftentimes there's further tweaking after considering the feedback. The first video I posted was only 2 months ago, and there are other things I've worked on that I haven't posted videos on, so you can probably see why I'm not yet able to execute in real games the numerous new strokes I've worked on just yet.

You're watching an adult learner developing in real time!

 

[Der_Echte]

Der_Echte FH looks like crap in the knockup... but come match time, the ball lands and gets magically blocked out.

 

[blahness]

I have heard from multiple sources (never seen him play in person) that Freitas hits the ball the hardest in practice halls and that when you see him practice, you feel fairly confident he is going to win the tournament.

Which to me is almost completely at odds with his spin-orientation in matches.

But I suspect that is more common than many people realize. That's why my approach to many kind of multiball training is more about range than about power and using the muscles as correctly as I reasonably can.

I suspect also that the robot also gives unnatural balls which may not translate to real world balls which have a lot more variation. I haven't trained with multiball or robots for the longest of time, and when I got some multiball training from the coach I was discussing technique with, I was missing a lot because it came from a weird af angle and the balls weren't the ones I was expecting (the bat was too close to the net), whereas with say FH loop against block I would barely miss these days.

Although I adjusted after maybe a few minutes, I still missed a shit ton in the beginning.

 

[NextLevel]

Watching Noshad Alamiyan play, I sometimes feel like I am on drugs.

 

[dingyibvs]

I suspect also that the robot also gives unnatural balls which may not translate to real world balls which have a lot more variation. I haven't trained with multiball or robots for the longest of time, and when I got some multiball training from the coach I was discussing technique with, I was missing a lot because it came from a weird af angle and the balls weren't the ones I was expecting (the bat was too close to the net), whereas with say FH loop against block I would barely miss these days.

Although I adjusted after maybe a few minutes, I still missed a shit ton in the beginning.

One big weakness of the robot is that it can't realistically vary the spin. I mean, it can certainly change the spin, but unless you eliminate randomness then you won't know what spin is coming until it bounces on the table. In real games, you'd watch your opponent's action to help judge the incoming ball's spin. It does help eliminate a variable though, which is your own stroke, so that when I miss a shot I know if it's because I didn't execute correctly or I didn't read the spin correctly.

 

[Gozo]

Watching Noshad Alamiyan play, I sometimes feel like I am on drugs.

why?

 

[dingyibvs]

why?

I'm just in disbelief that one can play at this level without using his FH.

 

[Der_Echte]

I suspect also that the robot also gives unnatural balls which may not translate to real world balls which have a lot more variation....

This is a big reason early on I avoided multiball with those I help... only used it to train certain sequences to get their feet moving and not to develop ball striking.

 

[SleepyMaster]

Played a tourney today. Have lost only to a guy that is the best in the group. With 11+ years of experience. But all games with him where so close - one or two point difference, besides one set, that i lose 11 to 4 I need to be more patient like him, and not be so envy to straight winners from serve receive or third ball. Also have buyed a tripod, so would be able to upload some trainings and games in near future. For you guys, for those who won't believe that athleticism helps to learn basics of a game faster, and getting wins over much more experienced players with one year of playing TT as adult

 

[Richie]

Today we had a player from the UK visiting us to help us out in our final league match. What a point
and the comment from the Danish player