Maybe Archo has hope 30 yrs down the road if he remains in his situation.
Hahaha, I hope I don't stay in this situation for 30 years.
I played the penholder I talked about. Shoulder felt a lot better after a hot shower and it had actually forced me to not overuse it at all in my swings if I want to play, so I think my form got a little better. I could feel the difference between tight and painful compared to relaxed and completely painless. Well, not so much painful as quite uncomfortable.
I beat him 4-0 in games. They were all close. I took all the great advice I was given here and just narrowed it down to realistic things I can do. So during the game I thought:
Legs first then stroke, get in position.
Don't poke at the ball, swing at it.
Open slower and heavier very deep into his backhand if in doubt.
Step back a little and take it into a slower rally.
RELAX!
I had been doing some self hitting and just waving the bat around with a relaxed arm compared to a tensed arm prior, so I could even half do some of these. My footwork and strokes are not exactly good either but they were good enough that I could do something proactive instead of just reacting.
Sometimes I found myself tensing up or leaning into the ball, but often I could get into a slower, more spin oriented rally where I could keep form a little easier.
His punches were still fast but stepping back slightly more than normal and making sure to move my legs first helped in dealing with the time pressure. I experienced for myself that if you step first then do the stroke, you actually have more time than if you just leaned into it.
OSPH also talked about his difficulty punching backspin, so rarely I chopped or served long, higher backspin to his deep backhand and he netted them. He doesn't have the footwork to always pivot around and take a forehand. I also found that spinny slower shots placed DEEP are good, while spinny slower shots placed short on the table can get punched all the way to Peking.
The most notable thing about this is when I was down 3 - 7 and served my serve right into the back of the table putting me at 3 - 8.
I didn't accept giving up and I took him to 12 - 10. He started getting nervous when I was getting points off my attack and gave me more conservative serve returns that I could attack. I was in slight disbelief the entire time until 10 - 10.
He was very humble about his losses and I respect him for that. He kept trying as well. That's good.