Daily Table Tennis Chit Chat

[J-fed]

Focusing on the weight transfer, and using a stable pivot point trying not to buckle/collapse the knees has really brought back that feeling that in the end, equipment matters a lot less than some of us EJs make it out to be. And the main useful thing in Amateur space is being able to control the ball when you're NOT in proper position.

Funny also how there are different philosophies, essentially just based on whatever the player feels comfortable with. Talked a bit with @NextLevel about this, and he feels comfortable being able to put quality and speed on the ball, taking over the attack, powering through the opponent (without necessarily applying all that much physical power). This comes at the cost of pretty much not playing balls short except for some serves, but it works great for his game.

Personally, I have always been about control-first. I have also played those setups that make it feel incredibly easy to attack the ball and I get it. It just feels too scary to let go of the safety net of having a stable, controlled, easy placement option. Takes a leap of faith, really, as well as practicing exactly that, of course.
The local club environment honestly isn't all that rewarding to players that want to learn to attack basically any ball. People will straight up say to not take the risk. But then, when you chug on and start hitting like faster BH openers more reliably, people do get impressed


Where did I want to go with this? I guess mostly saying that the experience of being around completely different players, with different ideas, and re-evaluating some basics has seemed to have opened the door for more (controlled) offensive playing, and I'm pretty sure I'm gonna need to build on that in order to make more progress. Being able to access these things honestly makes me feel that there's more headroom in me than I figured, and it makes me positive about what I can achieve in the current season.

Great post. I can relate to all of it and agree that finding your style is way more significant than nervous equipment tinkering. That is a luxury to be enjoyed after you establish who you are as a player. So long as your bat is not egregiously inappropriate, focus on the footwork, technique, tactics, mental fortitude and fitness.
Practice push for the opening more than you practice drive on drive and engage in varied practice more than cross table unmissables.
These are not absolute rules but they would improve most average players in the same way focusing on the short game would improve most golfers (they prefer irons and drivers).

 

[Tyce]

Are those balls slow, no spin, or both?

I have two separate problems with dead balls. Faster balls that have much less spin than I expect is one, but I can get used to those relatively well. When I get it right, I will usually return those with a topspin stroke coming over the top of the ball, like a soft, easier version of a counter.
Or step back and get a harder attack in, but backing off is usually a disadvantage against players that give me this kind of ball. They will be sticking to the table and block me wide.

The worst ones are basically lobs that completely lose their speed mid air, they behave a little bit like a pips chop. They don't dip down from topspin but from no speed

To attack more confidently, you need to attack more consistently. And the key is to have a consistent loop/pace. So it is not just the mentality, but the technique is more important.

Exactly. And I think the most important technical point for me is to properly brace myself against the ground, so I can bring a solid force to the ball and engage the sponge.

I'm doing pretty much all of this training in practice matches by the way, so I have to adapt to the individual balls which is great and will help transfer this to competitive matches.

 

[Haito]

I have two separate problems with dead balls. Faster balls that have much less spin than I expect is one, but I can get used to those relatively well. When I get it right, I will usually return those with a topspin stroke coming over the top of the ball, like a soft, easier version of a counter.
Or step back and get a harder attack in, but backing off is usually a disadvantage against players that give me this kind of ball. They will be sticking to the table and block me wide.

The worst ones are basically lobs that completely lose their speed mid air, they behave a little bit like a pips chop.

I had something similar, I think I am pretty good with those balls these days. The video above presents a lot technical information about the mechanics of the BH drive. I basically took learnings from it and practiced and recorded myself playing a robot set up to imitate those balls. I saw improvement after 3-4hrs or so. Random practice is the key.

 

[Tyce]

One day you will be able to return my drunken balls. And when you are ready, I will have improved and won't be giving them anymore

Gotta figure out a good way to set up the (simple) robot so that balls don't get all over the living room.

 

[RPB Enthusiast]

Day 1 Update on Viscaria Super ALC CPen with Boosted Zyre-03 2.7 and Boosted Stiga Helix Platinum 55°:

This setup played like a total beast today compared to my Xuperman Super S1 w/Xuperman rubbers and W968 w/ Boosted Trinity Charged/Dynamic rubbers. The speed difference is huge, which made my high-skilled partner have so much trouble blocking, which the other two set-ups mentioned he could block easier. Zyre-03 seems to have a flatter trajectory with a decent amount of my shots skimming the net on the SALC. Helix 55° was decently slower than Zyre-03, but when I looped with my backhand, the ball had lots of speed and power where my partner couldn't react to it. With serves, I only used Zyre-03, but I was able to get lots of spin as well as speed when I would do long hook serves as I don't really do fast long pendulum serves. Honestly, I feel I got much more spin than I did with my Xuperman and JOOLA rubbers, but the Xuperman and JOOLA rubbers seemed better when doing short serves due to the tackiness. When playing with my high-skilled partner, I completely changed up my game where I would basically attack everything on FH and BH, unless I absolutely needed to push the serve when it was low and short. Overall, this setup made a very good first impression on me and I can't wait to see how good it gets. This setup played very good when playing extremely aggressive.

 

[Haito]

One day you will be able to return my drunken balls. And when you are ready, I will have improved and won't be giving them anymore

Gotta figure out a good way to set up the (simple) robot so that balls don't get all over the living room.

If you think about a decent app controlled robot is about equivalent price of fzd alc and set of glyzers price, so...

I do not regret buying that infinity joola. I think that a decent robot is good investment that will pay itself over super quickly.

 

[Tyce]

If you think about a decent app controlled robot is about equivalent price of fzd alc and set of glyzers price, so...

I do not regret buying that infinity joola. I think that a decent robot is good investment that will pay itself over super quickly.

If I had the space for a good table, there would be one with a robot. But I can only use the dinner table so I don't do that much. The basic ball shooter was a cheap fun second hand buy

 

[Haito]

If I had the space for a good table, there would be one with a robot. But I can only use the dinner table so I don't do that much. The basic ball shooter was a cheap fun second hand buy

I just rented the table for 2€ per hour with multisport discount. Might be worth for u to look at those options.

 

[Archosaurus]

Hit a bit today, no usual partner so no video, I was supposed to film some serves but I ended up playing to the end.

Losing sets vs player I shouldn't lose (low-medium level pips chopper) but it is what it is. I kept hitting the label part of the forehand on most wide balls. It's so super consistent there's probably some technical issue there.

My average shot quality has increased A LOT in the past month or so and the haircut really did unfuck a lot of my form. I'm not doing any more that weird followthrough where the racket face is open and pointing towards the opponent, it's now edge towards opponent. Will be interesting to see how it looks on film.