Daily Table Tennis Chit Chat

[UpSideDownCarl]

Footwork for an emergency:

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[Archosaurus]

Is that a valid example? He is already moving towards the forehand before the ball leaves the racket, his limbs are long and he has tremendous footwork in the first place. I can't even move my feet as fast as he does.

Your "footwork for an emergency" is more what I mean. He is cross stepping there, is he not?

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

Both have valid applications. There was one time I was working with Edmund Suen back when we did that regularly and Edmund brought Damien Provost to watch and help. Not bad to have a 2700 level player's eyes watching.

The drill was random and Damien noticed I had trouble moving wide in either direction.

He got on the table did an awesome imitation of what I was doing badly and then showed me him doing it in a relaxed way because he kept resetting properly. It only took him a very easy one step to get from the wide BH to the wide FH. And I know, in running through FH/BH switching drills 2-2 and 1-1, and doing random drills where 2 go to the BH and then the next either goes middle or wide, that the step to wide FH is much shorter than you would think if you hadn't done it well a few times. And the feet to the middle from the BH corner are just to rotate you open, BUT DEFINITELY NOT to cross over.

You don't have to move laterally to get to the middle from the BH. You just rotate open. When you move from BH to FH the distance is really much less than how you think of it in your head.


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[Shuki]

I don't cross step. It I overextend with my forehand to the backhand it's going to be a point ender. I often even follow through hard enough to have a 360 with it.


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[Der_Echte]

Visited my son in Colorado Springs for a week and had a chance to play at their club in a couple of small round robins. Nice guys and I got to keep in practice against new folks who were my level and higher. Won more matches than I lost but I have to work on extending the rallies rather than trying to over hit shots trying for a kill when the angle or height just is not there. My serves are too high and long as well. I contact the ball too high so they bounce too high. I will be working on service this week in the garage as I will be in D.C next week Sept. 24-25 for the WDCTT Open.

Gene,

I gotta say that at this point, you shouldn't sweat too much how high you impact the ball on your short serve. It is very possible to impact the ball as high as your middle chest and still land the ball short and tight low. If you watch any vid of me, you will see I impact it pretty high. Watch me when we meet up how I serve. I am pretty good for my rating, serve and attack prop up my playing level.

When I meet you, I will probably give you the spiel about 3 phase, off table chop serve to floor make it roll back, off table a few meters chop it high to table, make it go over net and come back, then at the table practice.

I believe one should get the bio mechanics, acceleration, bat angle, and impact right before going to the table.

 

[Cornel]

So I haven't written something for a while as I've been quite busy, and I will report in this post everything that happened in terms of TT for me during the last week.

Sunday - I went to an usual tournament and it went bad. I mean really bad. This was, I think, the worst tournament I've ever had. I lost all my 7 matches. My legs were stiff and didn't work at all. It was like I woke up only in the last game when I was already 0-2 down, so it was a little too late and I lost that last match 1-3.

I haven't been doing exercises for improving footwork recently because I was having a little discomfort in my knees and decided to visit a doctor to see what's wrong. The rheumatologyst said everything was fine with my knees and the discomfort could be a consequence of the fact that I have flat feet, so I'll visit an orthopedist.

So on wednesday I did a little rope skipping and some Falkenberg shadow training in front of the mirror and yesterday my feet felt a little more lively. After the training part yesterday I did some more shadow footwork training and also rope skipping. Paid attention to standing lower and on my toes, and also moving the legs properly. Waiting for the next training to see what will be the outcome.

I've caught a cold and I'll be using the weekend to get well, so no tournaments this week.

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

Comedy for the day. This morning I played in a club I don't normally play in. Doing a bunch of training drills and I must say, that atmosphere was fun and full of joking banter. There were 4 us who usually play at Spin making wisecracks at each other. And there was this coach at the club. And he moved the other two Spin guys off one table. And me and my training partner kept playing. Then another table opened up and these two guys jumped on. And then the coach moved them off that table too. So they started joking that they got moved because they were Puerto Rican and that on PR might be okay but two together, the club knew it meant trouble.

So I started saying it was really because I was famous.

And then, at some point the coach said, wait, are you UpSideDownCarl. Man I just started laughing. I guess I'm as big a big mouth in person as I am online!!!! Hahahahaha.

I still can't get over how funny it was.


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[Der_Echte]

Haha Carl, at least they can pronounce ur name hehe.

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[NextLevel]

Just finished a tournament day. Looks like I am changing equipment again. Lost the U2000 semis to an up and coming kid 15-17 in the 5th. Could not handle serves to my short forehand. I also did not record any matches as I forgot my disk in my infinite wisdom.

Played my last 3 matches with Tenergy 80. All of a sudden, my block became perfect and I was playing more comfortably when late to the ball off the table. I also hate to the T05 trajectory when I block and it hurts my loop as well as I have upward motion in my stroke.

So I will go back and forth between 05 and 80 for a while but I think I might end up with Tenergy 80. I can't loop forever and I don't have the touch to play flat with 05.

 

[marauDEr]

Had my first practice session (2 hrs) after ages of inactivity today, thought it'd have been worse but god, there's so much to work on.

Trajectories were extremely high, i couldn't keep the ball low for the first 20-25 mins of just focused FH and then BH shots.
Missed the ball a lot of times... Sent the ball a lot of times out of the table... And sometimes i had the feeling i couldn't "see" the ball

BH appears to be quite decent, mostly counters... Tried to give spin few times and looks like i have to practice some more before being able to brush again properly.
FH was super awkward at the beginning, went better at the end but this is definitely the thing i have to practice the most. A lot of times i missed the ball or wasn't able to apply the desired amount of spin.
Also i think the position of feet needs to be adjusted.
Chops on FH were definitely awful. Didn't even bother trying on BH.

At the end, when i started getting a decent feeling, i was going for things that i knew i was able to do, but the outcome wasn't really what it was supposed to be, disappointing me a bit. It's like the brain remembers you were able to do that thing, you try and try and try again but the result is poor.

I think i'll be having some coaching sessions next week: there are some quite skilled people at the TT club i went and would love to play vs them. Luckily a couple of them were patient enough to play with me a bit.

Oh something about the polyballs: used a Gewo *** and i can't say anything about the weight and the feeling of it when hitting the ball (mostly because memories of weight are gone), but i expected way more spin because in few cases i brushed the ball properly and after it hit the table i was like "only that ?!". It's like i have to double the effort when brushing to properly apply "something".

Welcome to 2016, haha!

 

[laistrogian]

Just finished a tournament day. Looks like I am changing equipment again. Lost the U2000 semis to an up and coming kid 15-17 in the 5th. Could not handle serves to my short forehand. I also did not record any matches as I forgot my disk in my infinite wisdom.

Played my last 3 matches with Tenergy 80. All of a sudden, my block became perfect and I was playing more comfortably when late to the ball off the table. I also hate to the T05 trajectory when I block and it hurts my loop as well as I have upward motion in my stroke.

So I will go back and forth between 05 and 80 for a while but I think I might end up with Tenergy 80. I can't loop forever and I don't have the touch to play flat with 05.

Are we talking about T80 backhand or forehand? I have my friend telling me that I have forward motion with my forehand loop. Guess such thing is expected when you are accustomed with T05. Have you try Rakza 7 yet NL?

 

[Der_Echte]

NL... bummer, but the glorious life of East Coast TT where anyone over 1800 can win.

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[NextLevel]

Are we talking about T80 backhand or forehand? I have my friend telling me that I have forward motion with my forehand loop. Guess such thing is expected when you are accustomed with T05. Have you try Rakza 7 yet NL?

I use the same rubber on both sides almost all the time with few exceptions. I haven't used Rakza 7 for an extended period, but it can't be that different from the Baracuda/Genius/Hexer generation. I would have stuck with Hexer but for my newfound spring sponge addiction. I think T80 might be adequate though.

 

[NextLevel]

NL... bummer, but the glorious life of East Coast TT where anyone over 1800 can win.

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The kid was only 10-15 pts below me officially. I was down 0-2 and had to come back. Had a couple of match points but could not convert. In the end, my game just has to get sharper.

 

[Cornel]

Had my first practice session (2 hrs) after ages of inactivity today, thought it'd have been worse but god, there's so much to work on.

Trajectories were extremely high, i couldn't keep the ball low for the first 20-25 mins of just focused FH and then BH shots.
Missed the ball a lot of times... Sent the ball a lot of times out of the table... And sometimes i had the feeling i couldn't "see" the ball

BH appears to be quite decent, mostly counters... Tried to give spin few times and looks like i have to practice some more before being able to brush again properly.
FH was super awkward at the beginning, went better at the end but this is definitely the thing i have to practice the most. A lot of times i missed the ball or wasn't able to apply the desired amount of spin.
Also i think the position of feet needs to be adjusted.
Chops on FH were definitely awful. Didn't even bother trying on BH.

At the end, when i started getting a decent feeling, i was going for things that i knew i was able to do, but the outcome wasn't really what it was supposed to be, disappointing me a bit. It's like the brain remembers you were able to do that thing, you try and try and try again but the result is poor.

I think i'll be having some coaching sessions next week: there are some quite skilled people at the TT club i went and would love to play vs them. Luckily a couple of them were patient enough to play with me a bit.

Oh something about the polyballs: used a Gewo *** and i can't say anything about the weight and the feeling of it when hitting the ball (mostly because memories of weight are gone), but i expected way more spin because in few cases i brushed the ball properly and after it hit the table i was like "only that ?!". It's like i have to double the effort when brushing to properly apply "something".

Welcome to 2016, haha!

Nothing to worry on, Simeone! 25 years is a long break, and best you can do is to wait patiently for your instincts to come back, and not to get angry when you miss the table. If you're going to have training sessions with a coach, I guess in a month your confidence at the table will raise to another level.

Regarding the ball, during these 25 years there were changed both the size and the material from which the ball is produced, so it's normal that everything is so different. I have myself some 38mm balls and played 5 minutes with them some months ago, and although I'm not a player that feels the subtle differences in balls, I could feel that they are absolutely different from the poly ones. But I guess I'm not the one who should talk about all the changes since my whole life until now has been shorter than your break.

I'm glad that you came back to this amazing game, I wish you good luck and keep on working!

 

[Shuki]

I was wrong about not doing a cross step. Yesterday I found myself doing it a few times in my matches. Unfortunately I also noticed that my stroke comes too early in it. I don't get much body into the stroke, more of the opposite thing that Brett noticed in NL's cross step at the beginning. To compensate for my lack of using body in the cross step, I found I go more upward creating a slower less powerful ball. The kind that still provides a bit of pressure and lands on the table, but is easily countered and takes away my offense.

Anyhow

At school I fiddle around with my mini bat. But players that are able to spin the ball a bit make the bar feel like it's going to snap. I can feel it bending back.

Anyone know of a decent quality mini bat that I can glue rubbers on and is a bit more stable?

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[JeffM]

I went to play at a open competition today. I participated in an event called the 'Special A' Men's singles, which meant anybody can join the robin style competition apart from grade A players. I had a good performance. I tried the attitude of not over caring about balls, a bit like ZJK, how even if he hits a good ball he wouldn't show anything on his face. But for the bad balls that I make, I still show it, so I am not there yet. That worked for me for everyone I played except a guy which I have beaten 2 years ago. Perhaps as I knew him, I couldn't help but have the friendly feeling, and then everything went bad. Not to take any credit off his play, he played very well and better than what he was 2 years ago. So he got 1st place, and I got runners-up.

Of the opponents that I played, one was a kid who has very good technique, he took the first set from me 11-9, but I won the next 3 sets with ease. I think I played well and also had a much better mentality today.

Another one was a top player of another university that I saw 2 years ago in a inter uni competition (which at that time I did not get to play him as I was the reserve of the team). Had a chance to play him today. All scores of the game was close except the last game, but I won 3-0.

In summary, I'm satisfied with my performance today in general, apart from that loss. But win some, lose some, that is life.

 

[DTopSpirit]

Ah, that was you Jeff - I didn't put two and two together at the time! Well done on the second place and thanks for coming, hope you enjoyed it.

 

[ttmonster]

Come on guys, spill some beans about the table tennis daily member encounter that was not really an encounter

Ah, that was you Jeff - I didn't put two and two together at the time! Well done on the second place and thanks for coming, hope you enjoyed it.

 

[ttmonster]

Of late I have been playing a league in my club, its made up of almost 40 different teams , all professionals , either based out of the club or working in the same company.

Its been really fun. However, I am noticing of late how much tight I am getting while playing. The biggest thing that gets hit is the loose power I can get in loops when I play matches in practice, I am ending up swinging bigger and then getting stuck in recovery , especially with penhold blockers. One guy did get me with pendulum serves ( probably same ones that OSPH uses ) right into my backhand or body . I have to find somebody to give me those serves in practice and figure out a way to play loose in the game ....