Daily Table Tennis Chit Chat

[dingyibvs]

Last time I posted about my FH revisions I mentioned that there were just some minor adjustments needed. Well, those minor adjustments sure took a damn long time! But finally, I'm there. Every little adjustment somewhere meant adjustments needed to be made everywhere else, the work just compounds. Since I worked from the bottom up, the arm/wrist movement was always the last to be adjusted and it was just a mess until last week when I finally put everything together.

The new form feels sooooo good. Powerful, spinny, consistent placement, and no excessive sidespin. With every shot I feel solid contact, no weird last second arm/wrist adjustments all the time, and I can really feel the hip rotation energy going into the ball instead of this disconnected feeling of "where did all my power go?" all the time.

It took months of iterations, but so worth it! Every adjustment to my form went through the process of changing one aspect of the stroke, then adjusting everything else to fit it from the foot upward to the wrist, drilling it into decent consistency, then make the next adjustment and repeat the whole process. Interestingly, what finally did it was after I got the the movement down pat for the backswing and all of the forward swing except from the arm onward. My coach kept telling me I need to go forward more, but it just felt off. I eventually just forced myself to go forward with my stroke, and adjust my arm/wrist motion until I could land the ball while doing so since I knew everything else was right.

On an unrelated note, I also switched back to the FZD ALC. It's just an easier blade to play with compared to the W or Q968, especially on the BH side. I also really like how I can hit at 50% power on the FH side and still hit into the blade, which is helpful when I try to use less power and focus on consistency. The quality is less, but the shorter trajectory of the ball ensures that I land a lot more of them.

 

[TampaBayTableTennis]

Finally tried using Tear Mender glue to remove old glue residue from rubber sponges. So easy!

 

[pong99]

Finally tried using Tear Mender glue to remove old glue residue from rubber sponges. So easy!

I have used this method for years.

I don't even bother with a sponge, just use a finger. 2-3 coats usually results in the glue peeling off in one big sheet.

 

[TampaBayTableTennis]

I have used this method for years.

I don't even bother with a sponge, just use a finger. 2-3 coats usually results in the glue peeling off in one big sheet.

thanks! i will keep that in mind. cant believe i waited this long to try this out. glad i know now though

 

[JackJohnson]

What’s Anders Lind talking about?

 

[NextLevel]

Playing with Zyre has made me think a bit about my forehand topspin. I played a tournament last weekend which I described in a previous post and at that tournament, I saw a Ghanian player who is fairly popular in Oklahoma who played at the Atlanta Olympics on 1996 in table tennis. He is still roughly 2200 in his early 50s and extremely fit. He likes to play fast topspin drives and focuses far less on heavy topspin though his balls definitely have quality. What I find interesting is that his follow through takes his bat to his left ear and almost to his left shoulder but it isnt upper arm driven. I think this stroke is actually something I can use. I looked at the GoAT in the China Games men's team final and again looking at how many of his forehand follow-throughs wrapped around his forehead. Because i am trying to use TT as my primary weight loss exercise and trying to challenge my body with new motions, I am goijg to trying playing riskier and more powerful forehands largely hip driven with smaller backswings and larger follow through and see what it does

I have about 25 pounds to lose. May not lose all of it because I have definitely put on more muscle but I do want to look fitter.

 

[tobitdehnen]

This is side + backspin for sure because his bat angle is super open on the followthrough meaning he brushed the bottom half of the ball with force going right + upwards. Ma Lin and Chen Qi loved doing this vs this exact half long FH serve exiting the sides of the table. There is a sidetop version too but the bat angle has be more closed on the followthrough.

This was my shot - like you say, it's definitely part sidespin and not just pure backspin (partly also because the serve had a lot of sidespin). We named the clip as a backspin forehand because if we'd described it as sidespin forehand people would have expected a top+side spin shot which it definitely isn't. And yes I could have closed the bat more for extra deception!

 

[dingyibvs]

Had a coaching session a couple days ago. My coach immediately noticed the improved FH (I didn't say anything), and FH training was shorter than usual as I about doubled my consecutive FH loop record. As usual, the hardest thing to get right after a change in technique is timing, and that's gonna be my focus on the FH side going forward. My coach has me play close to the table and gives me soft blocks back, both make it harder to time as I have less distance after the bounce to judge the ball and the softer block requires me to generate more power and borrow less.

We then moved on to 2-point FH, where I also easily broke the record for consecutive shots, but not by as much as I was limited by my stamina. Same story for BH/BH/Pivot FH training.

On the BH side we worked a lot on my timing. I had to let the ball come to me more, and it feels like I'm taking it way too late yet thr shot feels great. I think I found a trick to improve this, which I can also use for the FH side.

First, find the optimal place the ball should be at the point of contact relative to your body. Then watch the ball, but instead of focusing your attention on the ball, just passively track it while focusing your attention on that optimal hit box. It's like if you have a stopwatch and you're trying to time a sprinter's 100m time. How do you get it most accurate? Focus all your attention on the runner, or divide some of that attention to the finish line as the runner approaches it as well?

This IMO may be particularly useful in TT as it also helps you to move your body and thus the hit box appropriately to meet the ball. Conveniently, this change in mindset is also something that can be practiced entirely in the head, which is nice since I'll be visiting my parents this week and won't be able to play.

 

[NextLevel]

Had a coaching session a couple days ago. My coach immediately noticed the improved FH (I didn't say anything), and FH training was shorter than usual as I about doubled my consecutive FH loop record. As usual, the hardest thing to get right after a change in technique is timing, and that's gonna be my focus on the FH side going forward. My coach has me play close to the table and gives me soft blocks back, both make it harder to time as I have less distance after the bounce to judge the ball and the softer block requires me to generate more power and borrow less.

We then moved on to 2-point FH, where I also easily broke the record for consecutive shots, but not by as much as I was limited by my stamina. Same story for BH/BH/Pivot FH training.

On the BH side we worked a lot on my timing. I had to let the ball come to me more, and it feels like I'm taking it way too late yet thr shot feels great. I think I found a trick to improve this, which I can also use for the FH side.

First, find the optimal place the ball should be at the point of contact relative to your body. Then watch the ball, but instead of focusing your attention on the ball, just passively track it while focusing your attention on that optimal hit box. It's like if you have a stopwatch and you're trying to time a sprinter's 100m time. How do you get it most accurate? Focus all your attention on the runner, or divide some of that attention to the finish line as the runner approaches it as well?

This IMO may be particularly useful in TT as it also helps you to move your body and thus the hit box appropriately to meet the ball. Conveniently, this change in mindset is also something that can be practiced entirely in the head, which is nice since I'll be visiting my parents this week and won't be able to play.

It's pretty much what I do though i do it in a lazy way since I dont have the fitness to move to create the strike zone.

 

[NextLevel]

Anyone coming to NA Teams on DC over Thanksgiving?

 

[Amaken23]

So...
Since I bought several different types of Chinese rubbers on Ali : long pimples, medium pimples, short pimples, inverted sticky ones, etc. along with spare 729 Friendship Yellow ALC blades, I decided "Why not to use them ?" So, I decided to add another 2 rackets to my arsenal, making them 4 in total :
1) Main one : Friendship Blue ALC + Double Fish Volant Phoenix 39 degrees on FH + Yinhe Moon Mid-Hard on BH
2) Spare one : Friendship Blue ALC + KLTx729 Limitless 2-colour sponge (blue inner 39 degrees and white outer 37 degrees)
3) LP one : Friendship Yellow ALC + Double Fish Volant Phoenix 39 degrees on FH + Yinhe Nepture 0.7 mm LP on BH
4) SP one : Friendship Yellow ALC + Yinhe Jupiter Asia 3 38 degrees on FH + Yinhe Uranus Pro 1.5 mm SP on BH
After couple training sessions where I slowly began to understand the inner workings of both LP and SP rubbers, I began having SO much fun ! Chopping with LP was always my favourite exercise to do in training against the boys I usually train with and after I switched from Loki Kirin K3 blade to Friendship Yellow ALC, I actually have so much more control. Same with SP : after couple training sessions, playing with SP and just smashing it from both sides with authority feels so satisfying...and some of the expressions on their faces after I smash it just over the net on BH side....some even clapped after couple of points. Even managed to chop few times in a row using SP. It is so fun and amazing for me to play all 3 different styles. I interchange all 4 rackets between trainings if any of training partners want to play against different style. Of course, I did not master them and I probably never truly will, but when one of the boys said it helped him against a chopper at the tournament he played...make you feel like you contributed and I felt a little proud of myself . Today I will do so again : one match with main racket, one with LP one and one with SP. Last time I won all 3 matches will all 3 rackets so wish me luck since today I play against the best person of our group (top 20 in country in his age category). And sorry if I sound overly happy or immature but I will say it again : IT FELT SO FUN to play and learn all those different styles. Strongly recommend anyone here to try

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

So quite a few players in Taiwan now…

The whole Singaporean team
Felix and Lilian
Kotomo Omoda

 

[NextLevel]

Sad no one here is coming to the Teams. It would have been nice to meet up. Will be my first year using my phone as a camera so I should be able to record more matches.

Some players from the British military used to come at one time not sure they still do. I played some of them in the 2010s so there was a time even casual Europeans would make the hike. And oh, I met the Founder here in 2017/2018 when I was on an injury- and marriage-driven hiatus.

 

[NextLevel]

Struggled at the Teams, which is to be expected since I have not practiced anything close to as much as I would like to. We had a team with four players between 1850 and 1950 and then we got gifted a 2180 player who didnt look for a team early and whose mother knew us and felt comfortable letting him play with us since we had known him since he was much younger. He was as high as 2300 two or three years ago and between school and other priorities had lost some level but not to the point of being 2000.

At the NA Teams, the event is 3 days long. On Friday, Teams play between 0 and 4 matches to determine what division they will play in. The elite top of division one don't play any, division 1 teams closer to the bottom will play divisions 2 and 3 teams, div 2 teams play divisions 1, 3 and 4, division 3 teams will play division 1 and division 2 teams and division 4 and division 5 teams and so on.

We started out on division 4 or 5 (not sure exactly which) so we had to play teams in divisions 2,3, 5, 6. Our first match eas the 2 down match. I didnt play this match and we won 5-0. Our next match was the 2 up match. In all my years od playing, I have never won a 1 up match that I remember and I usually think if I manage to get games off someone in that match, it is a good day. I played it as a tune up. The 2 up team was a team of ovrr 59yr old llahlj sent their best player (2350 short pips penholder), rested their #2 and #3, and played their #4 and #5 players. This is a reasonable way to play as the better team against 2-down teams. The best/#1 player will beat the side and the lower two players should be able to beat the worst player on the lower team at least once each. Unfortunately for them, they didn't have access to the risk of using our current ratings. We managed to win 5-4 in a close match. I contributed one win, my teammates contributed two each.

After that we played the 1 up team later in the day. I sat out that match. And despite our ace losing one match, we managed to win the match 5-3. This meant we were now 3-0 on Friday. So we had a shot at 4-0. We were excited to do something rare and I got food and drink to have rhe energy to play. I won my first match in that final pairing and had a second match with our team up 4-1. I went up 2-0, the first fame i almost loat a 9-3 lead and rhe second, I reversed and 8-2 deficit. I was up 8-6 in the 3rd game and after a timeout, I lost 5 straight points. I was at 8‐8 in fame 4 and lost 3 straight points. In game 5, I went down 0-5 and my team called a timeout. Dro 0-6, I clawed my way back to deuce. Match point down, got a pop up on a no spin serve and missed it long. Oh well.....

My teammate closed it out at 5-2 as we went 4-0 on Friday. My Friday record was 2-3. Tomorrow we will likely be play mostly opponents that are too strong for us but will enjoy it as best we can.

 

[NextLevel]

Got my first and possibly only weekend win. The problem with these levels is that my knees don't let me defend the middle. I need to find real solutions lol. At least plug the gaps. My teammate who wanted to make division 2 decided he wanted to stop playing. He was tired of how he was losing lol. The beauty of playing better players where you feel your best shots are not working lol.

 

[latej]

So, 1st half of the season is over, and we didn't win any single team match out of 11! I've actually improved my rankings, but what does it bring... Also, approx. 3 weeks ago I've somehow injured my right lower back while top-spinning hardly, still not over, and I didn't play the last team match... Taking 8 days fast now, I need to boost autophagy and stem-cells, LOL... Cheers.

 

[Gozo Zyreruna]

life sometimes imitate your TT game. You can set up the most textbook perfect FH loop to the most perfect spot but life still throw a spanner into your perfect life. Sigh! Ce'st la vie!

Sabine's most wtf! moment in 2025!

 

[andymagata]

My table tennis journey continues with the following observations:

One blessing with getting older is that you know what you like and dislike and make adjustments accordingly, in many ways leading to a better life with less worries. This holds true in most areas of my life - except table tennis. I need to constantly try different techniques, approaches and equipment...and it does not look like I will be able to settle on a playing style and set of equipment anytime soon...

It was psycologically tough last team competetion when my oppos got coaching from one of our regions best players and I did not get any! The games were even, but I knew that their coach told his adepts of my obvious weaknesses to be exploited in the end.

It is a bad thing to bring practice mindset into a competitive match. On so many occasions I reflected on how I kept thinking "well this serve or stroke worked well, let us try to find something else that also works" to my downfall.

Long pips, just as intimidating they were for some of my oppos they were for myself. Again - match is different from training. Back to inverted!

 

[TampaBayTableTennis]

thought it was funny to see something resembling a table tennis club on TV

 

[dingyibvs]

So after many months of training, my new form have finally reached where I want them to be. FH, BH, topspin, or backspin, all have arrived, and I've finally got my coach's stamp of approval! Now I'm working on solidifying the new forms as I still slip into poor form gradually when I'm not paying attention to it. At least now I know what to do, and with each day more and more of the new form becomes more and more natural.

Going forward, I'm gonna focus increasingly on footwork, which should be a great enabler of all the new form. I'll also be trying to work on counter-looping a bit more.

On the equipment front, I still feel the 968 calling to me. My FZD is a particularly soft copy, it's the easiest blade to activate which has helped me greatly for my current training, but it severely lacks power from mid-distance. My Q968 is a particularly hard and powerful blade, but I do wonder if I actually have the skills to handle it. I've been testing out a clubmate's Golden W968 provincial and it appears to be quite a bit easier to activate and has sufficient power from mid distance, so I might give that a try. I'll use the same rubbers as it's quite a bit crispier than my W968 and a lot easier to activate than my Q968.