Last night's AAR:
Got to club early. Club not as packed as it could be perhaps due to weather being overcast/drizzly/rain.
My Chuck Knoblauch Syndrome still persists. Chuck Knoblauch was a 2nd baseman for the baseball team Minnesota Twins. Was traded to the NY Yankees in the mid-1990's (or NYY picked him up as a free agent - old man memory, don't recall). He had some decent years for the NYY. But towards the end of his career... he couldn't throw to first base. His whole life he has been throwing a baseball and most if not all of his career, the highest amount of his throws have been to field a ball and throw to first base. He had some mental block.
My woes from last week persist. I cannot hit a basic FH. I've tried to loop and can't find the table like my FH. My blocks are 50/50. Sunday night, i reglued just in case but to no avail. Originally i thought perhaps it was because I was hitting with a higher-level partner and i'm self-conscious of missing and making them pick up the ball. But alas, it happens with lower-level players too.
I don't recall exactly when my 30+ yrs old favorite racket, Excalibur, died from a broken handle, and I switched to my backup Avalox P700. But I think it has been 4 months maybe. With the DHS H3, I found I played a bit better. I am more consistent than with other rubbers on Excalibur. However, I'm not as consistent as I used to be 30+ yrs ago. So after roughly 4 months, last week I was infected with Chuck Knoblauch Syndrome. Most of this week too
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1) Hit with B. Lately, I have been mostly blocking for him to work his loop. An older gentleman who is not as mobile, can get wicked sidespin on his SH fh loops. Due to his mobility issues, I won a set very easily back in April. Since then, when we play, I don't play games with him and just block for him.
After 15 mins or so of just blocking, i tried FH blocking and looping. Still cannot find the table. Shots were all over. GRRRR!
I decided to break out my new backup racket, which is an old off-the-shelf DHS racket... probably 30, if not more, years old. I inherited 2 old rackets from my Uncle after his passing. I put an old but still playable DHS H3 on it. Put on my old Adidas rubber on the backside. Have this modern PH setup just in case I try to update my dinosaur game from the oldschool PH style of FH attacks and BH punches (oldschool term for punch is 'push-block'). Last night was my first time hitting with this blade/setup. Not a true modern ph setup, but just a makeshift one for me to experiment.
Way heavier than I am used to BUT I love the solid DHS blade/wood feel - which is 'no feel' - no vibration. Reminds me of my old Excalibur, a DHS "08" 7 ply which is good for hitting (the "032" was 5 ply and good for looping). After about 4 dedicated months of getting used to the "pock pock" sound of the rubber/blade and blade's slight vibration. Since June 2015 and my 'unretirement', i've periodically tried the Avalox and couldn't get used to the sound and vibration. I went back to Excalibur until its recent death.
I was able to land my FH shots... didn't try to loop... didn't want to overdo it lol ... either the weight of the double rubbers or the solid blade helped my FH shots. Chuck Knoblauch begone! Strange though as I was playing and getting used to Avalox after 4 dedicated months of playing with it.
I may or may not give up on Avalox.
Switched on and off between the 2 blades and my FH came back with Avalox. WHEW! Probably hit with B for 45 mins or so.
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2) B took a break and J hopped on. J likes to hit and not play games. Has a modern PH setup. I blocked for him to work his FH loop. After about 30 mins of this, I asked if i could work on some serves. He said ok. For no reason other than I wanted to work my fast nospin serve. I probably should've worked a nospin serve instead, but not confident of my nospin serves and not wanting to make J pick up balls, i went with the fast nospin. Mostly I served to his BH and punched it down the line to his FH. One of my staple tactics. After a few minutes of this, J said hey, that is a pips tactic. You should play pips! I told him i started off as pips. We both chuckled.
After a few more minutes of getting some nice, low, fast serves and good 3rd ball punches, I asked if i could video us, he said ok. Of course, once the camera is on, i had some performance anxiety lol
Below is an edited video that came out to ~1 min 45 seconds. Put some of my winners at the beginning. Included some of my losers. I had more losers than winners
The drill was to 3rd ball punch down the line to J's FH. At 0:05-0:08, I saw his lean to his FH side and punched it to his BH.
0:00 - ~0:43 - camera behind my back
0:43 - 1:46 - camera facing me
I don't recall if i was officially taught this serve/motion. I believe this motion is self-taught. It came about as part of my FH pendulum serve motion... trying to disguise it... not sure how successful i am in the disguise though lol ... will repost this video to UpSideDownCarl's TTDers true essence thread
2 notes
My friend and fellow TTDer, 42andbackpains, advised I should be closer to the table when serving. He said watch any world-class player and see how close to the table they are when serving. Although players are almost hugging the table when serving, I have a mental block... afraid my '
boys' will hit the corner of the table, if you know what i mean - LOL at me!! In time, I will have to work that in of standing closer to the table.
The other was the motion, i don't know how to describe it, but 42&bp on his fast nospin serves does a different motion. I, for now, have not tried to really grease the groove on that serve motion.
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3) Saw F, the lady SH chopper hitting with my 'arch nemesis' K. Went to that table hoping to be able to loop against F. She saw me and said give her 5 more mins, she's tired. Meaning I will hit/play with K. I was a little let down, but looked forward to a rematch with my arch nemesis.
Starting hitting with K. We have chatted previously about the game. He also didn't play in 30 or so years. Was a PH, frustrated at not having a BH... switched to SH. Been unretired a little over a yr. Given that insight, he made great strides in his SH game.
We chatted on looping, 3rd ball attacks, PH vs SH, old age, mobility, etc.
Stopped hitting, and he asked me to serve backspin to him... i did, he pushed it back to FH and asked me to 3rd ball loop. I got some, i missed some. Then he served backspin and i pushed it to his FH, he looped mostly for winners. I was surprised as when i play him and watch him play others, he's BH-oriented. I asked if you got such a great FH loop, why are you BH-oriented during games. I should've known the answer before I even asked the Q. He said he's working his BH, he knows his FH loop is good. We continue more of the 3rd ball loop backspin drill. He gave me some minor tweak advice on my loops which helped.
Then he said, I noticed you are having problems with your picks/flicks and i said yes. He then served short various spins to my FH and tips on how to return each. K said, see? easy! We both had huge smiles after that. I didn't pick consistently but the seeds have been planted.
A littler earlier, felt something in my knee. I haven't felt 'something' in my knee for many months. I put on a knee brace. Was also started to fatigued. Due to work, forgot to eat breakfast! So body wasn't properly fueled. What was a slight disappointment turned out to be a pleasant and welcomed surprise! Called it a night and thanked K profusely for his time and advice/tips!
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4) I should've left, but i recalled i didn't hit with my regular training partner. He was there, so i blocked for him. He's been trying to work his fh loop and is not getting it. he's like an absolute beginner despite watching many videos and many sessions with me blocking for him. It was superlate for me, and i was supertired. I apologized to him and officially called it a night.
So tired, the ~25 mins walk home took 30 mins.
Approximately on/off, mostly on, hit for 4 hours.
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As always feedback welcome. THANK YOU TTD CCers for letting an old man write novels during the lulls in his workday!
p.s. thanks to Archo for the video, I now will follow the Japanese video's naming convention ... instead of 'fast nospin' serve, i will call these 'rocket serves'.
