Daily Table Tennis Chit Chat

[dingyibvs]

I noticed that too, I'm trying to explicitly focus on getting my left leg further away during stepping-around, so that I stand wider - and am able to be moving to the left even during looping (because there is space when standing wide).



Funny, happens to me too. Serves that I'd just loop on the FH I have more trouble on the BH. I need to work on it off-season. On the other hand serves which I handle better with BH sometimes I have trouble on the FH - those shorter serves - I need to improve there too - both the FH receive and the BH flick from the FH-side, now required...

Yeah, it's like I just don't know how high to aim. It seems simple, if it's topspin, brush over it like you'd do with a topspin and vice versa, but somehow it still takes a bunch of trial and error to make it connect. I guess when I loop them on the FH side I don't really think about how much lifting or brushing over I should do, I just do it. At least I don't have much timing issues anymore on the BH side against sidespins. You know what, to speed up the process, I think I'm gonna try to return all services with my BH when I play doubles, especially if I feel the opponents are a bit overmatched.

It felt quite good once I started adjusting, and all my training started to shine through. When I was playing against my doubles partner the first few sets I had a lot of trouble with those long/half-long services to my BH. It was worth 2-3 points every set, especially since I refuse to just block/push them back and insisted on attacking them as strongly as I know I can. In later sets I was just annihilating those balls the same as I would against anything long to my FH side, it felt sooooo good ☺️

 

[blahness]

I noticed that too, I'm trying to explicitly focus on getting my left leg further away during stepping-around, so that I stand wider - and am able to be moving to the left even during looping (because there is space when standing wide).



Funny, happens to me too. Serves that I'd just loop on the FH I have more trouble on the BH. I need to work on it off-season. On the other hand serves which I handle better with BH sometimes I have trouble on the FH - those shorter serves - I need to improve there too - both the FH receive and the BH flick from the FH-side, now required...

Lol i have the opposite, my BH is way better in serve receive looping than my FH. Esp when there is half long and short serves mixed in, the BH is just way more versatile. I try to improve success rates by focusing hard on spin with my FH which compensates for my shitty FH footwork which I have no time to train. I can get great quality from my FH loop but it is just not as reliable and consistent as my BH because of footwork issues, especially on the subsequent loops.

Tbh it is so hard to find decent blockers who will just block the ball without doing some shitty short blocks, sudden counterattacks and tomahawk chopblocks or some weird sidespin fade block. So i end up not being able to train my 2nd, 3rd, 4th balls from the FH.

 

[latej]

Lol i have the opposite, my BH is way better in serve receive looping than my FH. Esp when there is half long and short serves mixed in, the BH is just way more versatile. I try to improve success rates by focusing hard on spin with my FH which compensates for my shitty FH footwork which I have no time to train. I can get great quality from my FH loop but it is just not as reliable and consistent as my BH because of footwork issues, especially on the subsequent loops.

Tbh it is so hard to find decent blockers who will just block the ball without doing some shitty short blocks, sudden counterattacks and tomahawk chopblocks or some weird sidespin fade block. So i end up not being able to train my 2nd, 3rd, 4th balls from the FH.

I need to get there with the BH...

The season is now over, we ended up 4th team out of 12, but it was because in the 2nd half it was already decided, and some teams didn't put their strongest anymore. My team didn't have much choice, it's hard to get 4 together sometimes ;-) The thing is, next season will be extremely hard! Three strong teams from 3rd league are falling to us (divize), and one rel. strong team goes up to us from so called KP1. I fear if we don't manage to get at least one strong player to our team, we will not be able to survive... This season my match success rate was 51%, previous season it was 32%, so I did improve, but not as much as I hoped I would. Got some tough loses at the end, but I still hope I can improve. The reason is because I feel that prev. season I also had some lucky wins, where I didn't quite feel I won due to my game. But this year I felt my matches were mostly like I feel this is my game, same standard aggressive orthodox known game, but my game - and I hope it will reach a break-point... Now off-season, taking pause, but will train hard later on ;-) Cheers.

 

[Ghostzen]

Good training session tonight. 3 hours on the table minus a few switch arounds.
Some quality players in the hall and faired well against the players I played.
Really still liking the new blade. It's got a bit more power which is handy when out of position or want to put the ball away.
Will probably feel it tomorrow!

 

[beeray1]

Reminiscing about the pre-plastic times the other day, someone took it a step further and whipped out a box of brand new 38mm balls and we hit them a little bit for fun. It made me wonder - with how dodgy the plastic balls have always been, and how even less spin seems to be in the ABS balls, why shouldn't table tennis simply go back to 38mm balls but with modern material?

The argument for camera visibility was never great to begin with, and now with modern video quality it would be even less of a problem. It would add rotation back to the game, it would maybe encourage some other styles/systems at the pro level (obviously would take time), it would be more consistent for players, and it would reduce injuries across the board.

 

[dingyibvs]

I need to get there with the BH...

The season is now over, we ended up 4th team out of 12, but it was because in the 2nd half it was already decided, and some teams didn't put their strongest anymore. My team didn't have much choice, it's hard to get 4 together sometimes ;-) The thing is, next season will be extremely hard! Three strong teams from 3rd league are falling to us (divize), and one rel. strong team goes up to us from so called KP1. I fear if we don't manage to get at least one strong player to our team, we will not be able to survive... This season my match success rate was 51%, previous season it was 32%, so I did improve, but not as much as I hoped I would. Got some tough loses at the end, but I still hope I can improve. The reason is because I feel that prev. season I also had some lucky wins, where I didn't quite feel I won due to my game. But this year I felt my matches were mostly like I feel this is my game, same standard aggressive orthodox known game, but my game - and I hope it will reach a break-point... Now off-season, taking pause, but will train hard later on ;-) Cheers.

Improvement takes a long time and is often nonlinear, just keep up thr good work!

Now that I feel my FH training is at a good level, I'm gonna switch to the Q968 and focus my training on the BH. I kinda like this process thus far, training one side with equipment that's weaker for that side, then switch over to train the other side. I'm now much more careful about timing on the FH side and with a heavier focus on spin/arc generation for example, due to the FZD's shorter dwell and flatter shot. I anticipate the opposite on the BH side, so looking forward to working on that.

 

[Ghostzen]

Good training session tonight. 3 hours on the table minus a few switch arounds.
Some quality players in the hall and faired well against the players I played.
Really still liking the new blade. It's got a bit more power which is handy when out of position or want to put the ball away.
Will probably feel it tomorrow!

Yup, feeling it today....!

 

[Gozo Zyreruna]

Gozo doing BH stroke ( open table ).

Gozo blocking drill:

 

[dingyibvs]

Gozo doing BH stroke ( open table ).
View attachment 35004
Gozo blocking drill:
View attachment 35006

Both your BH and FH form from recent videos look real good! I think if you can work a bit on footwork it'd be a real multiplier for your new strokes. Keep in mind that footwork doesn't necessarily mean moving a lot, so much of it is just about shifting weight from one foot to another, or turning your foot from pointing forward to the side, or just moving say a right foot that's in front to the same level as your left foot.

For example, see how you have your right foot forward for both videos, imagine trying to hit a FH from that position, it'd feel rather awkward wouldn't it? If in games you can just move your right foot back a bit after the shot you'd improve your consistency and quality dramatically. Even if you just can turn your feet toward your right without actually lifting them off the floor, that'd make a FH a lot more comfortable.

 

[dingyibvs]

I played at the closest club today, haven't done so in many months as the schedule doesn't work as well and I don't like the gym flooring very much. There are many better players there now, so I was relegated to the 2nd group based on my previous ratings there. I didn't have much trouble there, only lost 1 set on the day. It was the last match, I was up 2-0 and leading in the set, then lost some focus. The FZD blade's lack of dwell combined with the hard rubbers offers a bit lower margin of error, and I'm not that consistent to begin with.

I've already started the switch to the Q968, glued up new H3's on both sides and played and practiced with it a bit over the past few days. Interestingly, I glued H3 OS 37 degrees on the BH side instead of the 38 degrees I had on it before, and I absolutely hated it! The 37 isn't just 1 degree softer, it felt like a completely different rubber. Mushy, suuuuuper dwelly, seems impossible to transmit enough power to the blade to activate it. I used to have the 37 on my W968 as well, so now I wonder if I hated the W968's BH more because I didn't find the rubbers to pair with it? I remember when I used the W that whenever I'd twiddle the racket and use the H3 BS 40 side it'd feel better, though a bit too hard.

Anyhow, I ripped off the 37 and glued the 38 back on, and now it feels infinitely better. Gonna probably make the switch in earnest this week.

 

[Tyce]

Interesting! I find the H3 37 to be a very different, and mushy, rubber as well. It's like they used a softer topsheet as well as a softer sponge or something? It's definitely miles different from the usual H3 39 I use on FH.

Good to know 38 is an option that feels more similar to the other H3's if this one doesn't work out for its softness.

 

[dingyibvs]

Interesting! I find the H3 37 to be a very different, and mushy, rubber as well. It's like they used a softer topsheet as well as a softer sponge or something? It's definitely miles different from the usual H3 39 I use on FH.

Good to know 38 is an option that feels more similar to the other H3's if this one doesn't work out for its softness.

The 38 on prott is listed with the 37 provincial (you can choose 38 degrees from the drop down menu), and trust me, it's a completely different rubber. It feels like a regular H3, obviously a bit softer than the hardness we typically use on the FH side. I'm gonna see how the 37 works with an easier to activate blade like say the Viscaria.

 

[Tyce]

I found it *slightly* less mushy on Pro 01 (koto/outer, Viscaria-like) than on Pro 05 (Limba/inner, HL5X-like). The Limba does amplify the soft feeling.
The "weird" thing is, it's not bouncy-soft like a soft EuroJap tensor. It's actually more reminiscent of classic softer rubbers, but with a thicker feel.

 

[Tyce]

So, tonight I played against two guys who were actually fairly new to TT. On paper I should have won easily.
One guy I did 3-0, and unintentionally almost 11-0d because I was working really hard to stay focused.
The second guy, I lost 3-2. He was just so unpredictable and I couldn't handle it. All credit to him because he executed everything he needed to do very well. I like to think it helped that we didn't play easy or let up the pressure and he picked up the slack and really went for it.
I actually gave him some technique tips afterwards, told him what he was doing well too.

I didn't have confidence in my game one bit, and I have myself to blame. I thought I could play with a setup I'm not really used to. And stubborn as I am, I didn't change back even after a hard doubles game. I'm not saying I would have won the last game, but I didn't even give myself the chance to be better.

Tl;DR: I didn't use my trusted setup during a league game and I paid for it by losing to someone with just months of TT experience.

 

[Gozo Zyreruna]

I ❤️ U Tibhar Aurus!
I ❤️ U t05fx!
I ❤️ @Der_Echte for his good recommendation!

I am spinning! I am spinning at last!

 

[NextLevel]

I ❤️ U Tibhar Aurus!
I ❤️ U t05fx!
I ❤️ @Der_Echte for his good recommendation!

I am spinning! I am spinning at last!

Video?

 

[Gozo Zyreruna]

Video?

He who asketh shall geteth...

I will bring along my tripod during my next game play, but the tricky part is getting consent from my opponent to put them on video...

 

[Machi]

I ❤️ U Tibhar Aurus!
I ❤️ U t05fx!
I ❤️ @Der_Echte for his good recommendation!

I am spinning! I am spinning at last!

I thought you bought T05 hard, why did you not use it yet

 

[Gozo Zyreruna]

I thought you bought T05 hard, why did you not use it yet

Ej'ing... T05H is on another blade.

 

[blahness]

Today i actually played a lot of mid distance FH looping which I really liked. I finally found a really good feeling in connecting the body with my arm. Tbh this is more valuable than trying to loop against all the nonsense blocks from the old players with their random sidetopspin, sideunderspin, sudden topspin counters.

So the aim for me this time was not to produce forward power, but to absolutely load up the spin directly using the body and then recover directly using the body for the next topspin shot. I was preparing lower and finishing higher in general.

I felt like this is a lot more consistent than lower finishes, i like it and will probably adopt this as my default stroke going forward. I feel like it gives my legs a lot of a better workout too. Towards the end of the session whenever i put full power into the spinny loop i was pretty much in complete control.

I played some matches, won all games and felt quite good about it too. But missed a lot of FH loops against BH sidetopspin pendulum serves which used to be my bread and butter...

Tbh i feel like my success in matches currently is about how precisely I can loop/punish the long serves, and how nasty i served. I dont even get to use my receive skills.