Daily Table Tennis Chit Chat

[Novarac23]

So I recently caved and purchased nova s pro robot. I was determined to practice more at home but was trying to avoid having to do it on an actual table because I have to set it up and disassemble every time I use it. I tried vr thing twice its just not for me. So i finally got a robot and just accepted the annoyance of assembling and dissasembling the table.

I am so glad that I did. The thing is amazing. I only had it for two weeks and I can already tell that I am improving. Biggest flaw in my game is not watching the oponenet and where they are pushing / looping the ball and with robot and random setting I can practice that all day. It’s amazing how much value I am getting out of it.

Of course there are downsides and you have to know what you need to work on and make sure you already have a solid foundation of strokes when performing complex exercises etc

 

[jk1980]

i dont want to curb your enthusiasm, but the flaw to not be able to predict where your opponent will play will not be learned by using a robot. With the robot you can perhaps improve your reaction to unexpected balls, but predicting where your opponent plays has much more to do with how the opponent moves to the ball and what stroke he chooses instead of anything that happens to the ball after it was struck. If the ball was struck you basically dont have enough time to properly move in position anyways, so there always needs to be that part where you watch the opponent and anticipate that he will play to position x.
waiting for him to hit the ball and just watching the ball will have you get caught off guard easily too often.

 

[Novarac23]

i dont want to curb your enthusiasm, but the flaw to not be able to predict where your opponent will play will not be learned by using a robot. With the robot you can perhaps improve your reaction to unexpected balls, but predicting where your opponent plays has much more to do with how the opponent moves to the ball and what stroke he chooses instead of anything that happens to the ball after it was struck. If the ball was struck you basically dont have enough time to properly move in position anyways, so there always needs to be that part where you watch the opponent and anticipate that he will play to position x.
waiting for him to hit the ball and just watching the ball will have you get caught off guard easily too often.

Yeah fair point, for me though I wasn't really looking at the oponent period but rather either "passively looking" (aka not paying attention) or just looking at my side of the court for some reason. So yes agreed its about how the oponenet moves and what stroke they do, but I wasn't really paying attentiont to any of that but rather just waiting for the ball to come to my side of the court and then quickly reacting. Totally understand its not that simple in real life but it will get me in the habit of paying attention to what the oponenet does

 

[Tyce]

Last night was interesting in a few different ways. First, I played with someone who's really a level below me, but plays a decent open game and returns plenty of balls. He just doesn't have any aggression in him so he really plays rather than competes (I've seen league games of him).
What went well is his game really allowed me plenty of time and opportunity to reflect. I found my BH to be more stable, but also took a lot of time to play more at the table, picking balls on the rise or the high point rather than letting them drop. The difference was insane. So much easier to put pressure on, way less tentative feeling and of course I could pretty much dominate him playing this way.
I switched back a few times, consciously taking balls later, and it just feels so risky in comparison.

Second, my wrist which was acting up weird last Thursday was fine yesterday. Strong action there, and no soreness today. Also my golfer's elbow held well, I refrained from most FH smashes and that was enough to keep the pain very low. Also feels OK today rather than overworked.

Last, there was a new guy in. Strong player, nice person. Played all night with a couple of guys but I didn't as I had done enough. He had a couple of HM Blades with him, said the creator is a friend.
Hope I do get to play him in the future as he's very willing to give good advice as well as just playing very strongly and smoothly. Lots to learn from him.

 

[Jslick89]

Got my first win against a 2000+ rated player last night. He recently reached that level, and I know beating a 2000 player doesnt make me 2000, but it definitely instilled some confidence in my game, especially after losing my other 4 matches.

I put on new rubbers over the weekend. Switched from orange sponge hurricane to blue sponge. They are similar rubbers but definitely a little different. I think i have to adjust my paddle to be a little more closed than what I was doing with the orange sponge. Most of my missed shots were going long last night, not into the net.

Definitely need to practice my serves more now with these new rubbers too. i figure i have about 3 months until the next tournament. should give me plenty of time to adjust

 

[dingyibvs]

So I had 2 more coaching sessions the past couple of weeks. Going on another 10 day trip later this week, but then no travel for 3 months so hopefully I can make good progress then. So much stuff to work on, but a lot of improvements in form already.

Last week I focused on BH, and I feel quite comfortable with the elbow closer to the body form now. Depending on the angle of the camera it might not seem much closer, but the mechanic is entirely different. The elbow further out stroke is very arm driven, while the elbow closer in stroke incorporates the shoulder much, much more, and also allows body usage much better.

This week the focus is on FH. Having coaching is supremely helpful here. Every couple of strokes I start to fall back to rotating my waist more, and the coach corrects me. Obviously a 1 hr session isn't enough to cement the new form, but it was enough for me to know the "feel" when I execute it correctly, which allows me to replicate it in practice later at home.

Another thing we worked on is the arm use. It was very difficult for me to understand what he was trying to get me to do, but after rewatching the coaching session and spending a couple hours of trying things out I think I finally got it. Basically what I need to do is use my body including chest as the activation sequence to generate forward speed, while the forearm snap at the end is primarily for brushing. I was trying to use the forearm snap for both speed and spin, and that usually results in a rapidly changing racket angle at contact whether it's open-to-closed or closed-to-open, and that results in a lot of inconsistency as the requirement for precise timing is great.

We worked on so many more details, and looping backspin too. Plenty of things to work on until the next session, but I'm probably gonna hold off on the backspin loops for now, as it's based on the topspin loop and I need to get that down pat first.

 

[yamagata]

Watching Ruwen Filus yesterday, once again I am attracted to the long pimple on backhand playing style. Basically his entire game can be done with 5-6 basic strokes, I love the simplicity of this. Slice, Chop and push on backhand, drive, push and no spin placement on forehand. The drive is reserved for the occasions he is sure to end the point. I know now though that long pimples are not needed - I could try to mimic his approach with my soft inverted.

 

[yamagata]

I know that I should focus on playing with only one blade, and probably the Stiga Pure I bought recently. However, I cannot get the "what if" thoughts out of my head regarding my other blades Loki K9, Haitian Y-1, Yasaka Ma Lin Extra Offensive and Blutenkrische Aurora Shield.

 

[Tyce]

Watching Ruwen Filus yesterday, once again I am attracted to the long pimple on backhand playing style. Basically his entire game can be done with 5-6 basic strokes, I love the simplicity of this. Slice, Chop and push on backhand, drive, push and no spin placement on forehand. The drive is reserved for the occasions he is sure to end the point. I know now though that long pimples are not needed - I could try to mimic his approach with my soft inverted.

I think simplicity is far from an accurate description of the modern defense game.

 

[NextLevel]

It was really interesting listening to Isaac Quek. His position was that to beat top players now, you have to focus on improving yout rally skills. I think on some level i have accepted and resisted thus at the same time. I need to move away from resistance.

 

[Tyce]

It was really interesting listening to Isaac Quek. His position was that to beat top players now, you have to focus on improving yout rally skills. I think on some level i have accepted and resisted thus at the same time. I need to move away from resistance.

Building consistency... I just watched a video about it earlier and it makes sense. If you can play and place 15 balls in a row you can outlast the opponent in most rallies.
I still need to be able to consistently beat almost all of my supposed lower level opponents because as long as I don't, I am simply their level.

 

[Takkyu_wa_inochi]

The Shaolin method for TT learners

 

[Tyce]

Played with two pretty consistent and highly experienced older guys tonight who play my current league level. Excellent experience to learn when I do, and don't, dominate the game against these players.
Made some serious comebacks alternating between more aggressive and more calculated play and I FH smashed maybe 5 balls all night which my elbow really likes.
Lot of focus on opening up the right ball, and staying close to the table when I make that loop so I can dominate the open rally. Even when I had to stretch for balls I had the ability to put danger into them with sharp placement.

I did slip up eventually and lost the last best-of-3 but I have no regrets there. He played smart and good, and I was out of focus.
All in all I feel confident about next season, if we have to play our current level we should be able to win the group this time, and if our request for promotion is granted I'm sure we can get enough points for comfortable retention.

Almost forgot, but I seem to be getting quite used to playing my Pro 01 now. I had a bit of doubt it might be too fast for me now that I'm closing up my game more towards the table but it's excellent. My reflex movements actually work better with this blade, and the bounce really helps me when I'm out of position to still put pressure on.

 

[Gozo Zyreruna]

Dad, when I grow up I wanna be as cool as Mister Jang Woojin!

Spoiler: Me: When I have grown up and swagger like Mister Jang

 

[Tyce]

Dad, when I grow up I wanna be as cool as Mister Jang Woojin!

Spoiler: Me: When I have grown up and swagger like Mister Jang

View attachment 36937

That was the most blatant non-tossing serve I've seen in a while. But if you can punish it like that, doesn't matter really.

 

[Tyce]

On a completely different note (which is why I'm deliberately double-posting)

I've missed two club nights now so I hope there's some fun people to play with tonight to compensate for missing yesterday and last Thursday. Going this long without playing always gets me looking at new equipment. I didn't buy anything, mostly because I'm running out of angles I want to try so that's good I guess.
My elbow is still a sensitive thing. It's just not getting better than what it has been for a while now: easy to
aggravate.
I've caught myself using some pretty strong ulnar deviation (rotating the pinky finger outwards towards the elbow) on shots that hurt the most, as it seems I'm subconsciously doing that to adjust my bat position. I really need to try and keep my wrist more straight on those shots so that the tension on the tendon for golfer's elbow (medial epicondyle, or the inside-elbow-tendon) is less drastic. Something like a bent handle (Tenaly) might be able to assist here.
I'm getting more worried about the whole elbow thing since it doesn't seem to be going down any further.

 

[Gozo Zyreruna]

That was the most blatant non-tossing serve I've seen in a while. But if you can punish it like that, doesn't matter really.

I did not notice the no toss as I was so fixated and laser focused on the contact point of his serve.

 

[NextLevel]

On a completely different note (which is why I'm deliberately double-posting)

I've missed two club nights now so I hope there's some fun people to play with tonight to compensate for missing yesterday and last Thursday. Going this long without playing always gets me looking at new equipment. I didn't buy anything, mostly because I'm running out of angles I want to try so that's good I guess.
My elbow is still a sensitive thing. It's just not getting better than what it has been for a while now: easy to
aggravate.
I've caught myself using some pretty strong ulnar deviation (rotating the pinky finger outwards towards the elbow) on shots that hurt the most, as it seems I'm subconsciously doing that to adjust my bat position. I really need to try and keep my wrist more straight on those shots so that the tension on the tendon for golfer's elbow (medial epicondyle, or the inside-elbow-tendon) is less drastic. Something like a bent handle (Tenaly) might be able to assist here.
I'm getting more worried about the whole elbow thing since it doesn't seem to be going down any further.

1. Rest to reduce.
2. When some of the pain subsides, there are lots of ways of getting the things that drive elbow issues stronger from grip strength to pronating exercises and other strength training. The Theraband flexbars were my go-to for a long time. They don't consume a lot of time and the relief is worth it.
Some people also get some relief from adjusting their technique slightly so that the motions are not as extreme. I modernized my backhand and that helped a bit as well. The key is to realize that the stroke needs to follow a path and you can create the path by adjusting your technique to follow a similar path but with a different swing that doesn't strain you the way you currently are doing it. If Kanak can get heavy spin with his backhand topspin, then a lot of approaches at our level are simply overdoing it.

 

[NextLevel]

I did not notice the no toss as I was so fixated and laser focused on the contact point of his serve.

the serve was also in the wrong court. It's fun to kill serves.

 

[Jslick89]

i dont want to curb your enthusiasm, but the flaw to not be able to predict where your opponent will play will not be learned by using a robot. With the robot you can perhaps improve your reaction to unexpected balls, but predicting where your opponent plays has much more to do with how the opponent moves to the ball and what stroke he chooses instead of anything that happens to the ball after it was struck. If the ball was struck you basically dont have enough time to properly move in position anyways, so there always needs to be that part where you watch the opponent and anticipate that he will play to position x.
waiting for him to hit the ball and just watching the ball will have you get caught off guard easily too often.

I agree with what you're saying, and being able to predict where your opponent is going to hit the ball is a very important table tennis skill, HOWEVER a robot is beneficial for improving a lot of table tennis skills:

-stamina
-footwork
-consistency
-forehand to backhand transition
-practicing a new technique hundreds and thousands of times


Also, advanced robots do have a random feature. its not the same as anticipating your real life opponents shots but it does improve your reflexes.

I believe its better to practice against a real opponent. and to train with a coach. but a robot is a good complimentary training tool.