Daily Table Tennis Chit Chat

[Yecats Encerwal]

LOL OSP!
I can spot you 7 points, but you spot me 7 points back?

Some say it's bigger than Ma Long vs Zhang Jike.

Some say it's bigger than Waldner vs LGL

Some say it's Jeff vs OSPH!

I'd pay to watch

 

[OldschoolPenholder]

Some say it's bigger than Ma Long vs Zhang Jike.

Some say it's bigger than Waldner vs LGL

Some say it's Jeff vs OSPH!

I'd pay to watch

ROFLOL!

Nah, it would be a boring match to watch... you will see me miss A LOT. Although, you will probably see JeffM in prime form on his FH loops and RPB!

 

[JeffM]

ROFLOL!

Nah, it would be a boring match to watch... you will see me miss A LOT. Although, you will probably see JeffM in prime form on his FH loops and RPB!

You will see OSP smashing me and pushing me everywhere with his block literally. You will see me misreading his side top / side down spin serves.

 

[OldschoolPenholder]

JeffM, Yecats et al,

I don't think it's probable that I will ever meet JeffM in the middle of the world somewhere. Either I visit Perth or he visits NYC. And the match will go down like this:

1) 0:12-0:15 - fast footwork to get to FH when his opponent served down the line
0:42-0:45/1:12-1:15 - nice RPB on the fast serves to JeffM's BH

2 of my favorite serves and JeffM shows he can return them with ease. And I sometimes miss my down the line serve!

2) 1:30-1:32 - my least favorite serve! and i do that 1-5x a match

3) 2:22-2:26 - great combo - RPB to FH loop - i may be able to return 1, but probably not the 2nd.

4) 3:07-3:09 - i'm old and slow, JeffM will catch me looking on 70% of these rocket serves

5) 4:02-4:06 - after a fast serve, if returned to my BH side, I generally punch to FH side ... if i try to punch back to BH, this will be the result!

-----------

1) 0:06-0:10 - if JeffM misreads my sidetop serve, I may have a chance

2) 0:30-0:33 / 4:33-4:37 - not going to lie, I may be able to smash JeffM's slow loops to my FH side better than his opponent did in this point - on the 2nd point, i would be close to the table and not trying to smash while backing up

3) 4:42-4:51 - 11 ball pushing match, on the 12th ball JeffM was going to swing around and loop it, but his opponent netted the ball ... if JeffM just pushes, i would've either 3rd/5th/7th ball looped - i'm 40/60 on 3rd ball loops, and 50/50 on 5th/7th ball loops

0:13-0:21 - i wait for Si-hing's slow topspin loops and smash them

-----------

CONCLUSION

JeffM will beat me at 3... hence my request for a 7 pts handicap

 

[Yecats Encerwal]

JeffM, Yecats et al,

I don't think it's probable that I will ever meet JeffM in the middle of the world somewhere. Either I visit Perth or he visits NYC. And the match will go down like this:

1) 0:12-0:15 - fast footwork to get to FH when his opponent served down the line
0:42-0:45/1:12-1:15 - nice RPB on the fast serves to JeffM's BH

2 of my favorite serves and JeffM shows he can return them with ease. And I sometimes miss my down the line serve!

2) 1:30-1:32 - my least favorite serve! and i do that 1-5x a match

3) 2:22-2:26 - great combo - RPB to FH loop - i may be able to return 1, but probably not the 2nd.

4) 3:07-3:09 - i'm old and slow, JeffM will catch me looking on 70% of these rocket serves

5) 4:02-4:06 - after a fast serve, if returned to my BH side, I generally punch to FH side ... if i try to punch back to BH, this will be the result!

-----------

1) 0:06-0:10 - if JeffM misreads my sidetop serve, I may have a chance

2) 0:30-0:33 / 4:33-4:37 - not going to lie, I may be able to smash JeffM's slow loops to my FH side better than his opponent did in this point - on the 2nd point, i would be close to the table and not trying to smash while backing up

3) 4:42-4:51 - 11 ball pushing match, on the 12th ball JeffM was going to swing around and loop it, but his opponent netted the ball ... if JeffM just pushes, i would've either 3rd/5th/7th ball looped - i'm 40/60 on 3rd ball loops, and 50/50 on 5th/7th ball loops

0:13-0:21 - i wait for Si-hing's slow topspin loops and smash them

-----------

CONCLUSION

JeffM will beat me at 3... hence my request for a 7 pts handicap

Your analysis is fantastic as always, however, as I'm sure you are very much aware, anything can happen in table tennis!

What is supposed to happen on paper very often doesn't actually go that way!

 

[JeffM]

JeffM, Yecats et al,

I don't think it's probable that I will ever meet JeffM in the middle of the world somewhere. Either I visit Perth or he visits NYC. And the match will go down like this:

1) 0:12-0:15 - fast footwork to get to FH when his opponent served down the line
0:42-0:45/1:12-1:15 - nice RPB on the fast serves to JeffM's BH

2 of my favorite serves and JeffM shows he can return them with ease. And I sometimes miss my down the line serve!

2) 1:30-1:32 - my least favorite serve! and i do that 1-5x a match

3) 2:22-2:26 - great combo - RPB to FH loop - i may be able to return 1, but probably not the 2nd.

4) 3:07-3:09 - i'm old and slow, JeffM will catch me looking on 70% of these rocket serves

5) 4:02-4:06 - after a fast serve, if returned to my BH side, I generally punch to FH side ... if i try to punch back to BH, this will be the result!

-----------

1) 0:06-0:10 - if JeffM misreads my sidetop serve, I may have a chance

2) 0:30-0:33 / 4:33-4:37 - not going to lie, I may be able to smash JeffM's slow loops to my FH side better than his opponent did in this point - on the 2nd point, i would be close to the table and not trying to smash while backing up

3) 4:42-4:51 - 11 ball pushing match, on the 12th ball JeffM was going to swing around and loop it, but his opponent netted the ball ... if JeffM just pushes, i would've either 3rd/5th/7th ball looped - i'm 40/60 on 3rd ball loops, and 50/50 on 5th/7th ball loops

0:13-0:21 - i wait for Si-hing's slow topspin loops and smash them

-----------

CONCLUSION

JeffM will beat me at 3... hence my request for a 7 pts handicap

Thanks for the detailed analysis, OSP!
My serve receive still needs alot of work since I am not good with reading the spin, so your point 1 of section 2 will happen alot.
As you have great smashes, you will be smashing my slow loops alot, with high success rates, so your point 2 of section 2 will happen alot as well.

Although you have less dot points in section 2, the rate of them occuring is very high. So I suggest we decide the handicap pts at the time when we do meet
P.S. Do you go back to Hong Kong any time of the year OSP?

 

[OldschoolPenholder]

Yecats,

IIRC, this is a video of you (in black) and your brother hitting ... if that is indeed you, you can spot me 9 pts!

 

[OldschoolPenholder]

Your analysis is fantastic as always, however, as I'm sure you are very much aware, anything can happen in table tennis!

What is supposed to happen on paper very often doesn't actually go that way!

LOL although true, I'm a one-trick pony, JeffM will figure out how to return my sidetop serve taking away my higher percentage 3rd ball smashes forcing me to my 40/60 or 50/50 loops.

 

[Cornel]

Well, I've been passive for quite a long time, so I'll try to report only the most important things that happened during the last 3 weeks.

1. I had a night when I wasn't vulnerable to my kryptonite. If someone remembers, in my most recent post I was talking about a player I couldn't beat. Right at the following training I won 3-1 and 4-0 respectively. Focused very well on moving fast to meet the ball and loop that quite heavy backspin. Also managed to block a good part of his heavy topspin loops.

2. The next day went to a very big tournament - some of the best moldovan players gathered there, including the moldovan No.1. I was the third seed in my group, after the moldovan Nr.7 and another guy who came back after a 5 year break but still plays at the highest level - he initially lost to the first seed in the group 2-3 but managed to beat him later in the main draw 3-2. As for me, of course I got swept by both of them 0-3, but my game was quite good because I was doing mainly the better things I could do against them - managed to follow my tactics pretty well and throughout the whole match, keeping the serve always short, managing to begin the attack first many times. The other two guys in the group were weaker and didn't have any major issues against them.
I'll do a small description of the competition system so you understand what followed next. There were 5-6 people in each group. After the group matches were over 1st and 2nd placed players went to the main draw. There were two more similar draws - for the ones placed 3rd and 4th and for the players placed 5th-6th.
So I went to the 2nd draw as one of the "favourites". My first match should've been against no.116, so it could've been an interesting match, considering that I'm ranked 100th in my country. But that guy didn't show to the table so it was technical victory for me. Next match was against an unranked guy. He had good fh loops, steady blocks, but no way I could have had serious trouble against him on a normal day. But as it often happens to me at tournaments, I got in trouble. 0-2 and 3-7 down in the third doesn't sound good. That was the moment when I left all my thoughts aside and started to play relaxed realizing that I had nothing to lose. Managed to turn everything around and scratch a victory in the decider. Then was the draw final against moldovan no.31. Lost 0-3, the opponent's play was good with steady loops and blocks, but still I didn't feel it was something out of this world and my game was disastruous. So I finished overall 18th. So, it was maybe the best possible result with one of the worst plays.

After that tournament only had some bad days, nothing really fantastic, just a little piece of advice - never play badminton right before table tennis.

 

[OldschoolPenholder]

Thanks for the detailed analysis, OSP!
My serve receive still needs alot of work since I am not good with reading the spin, so your point 1 of section 2 will happen alot.

My serve receive also needs a lot of work... watch the vid of NextLevel vs me - lost many points are failed serve returns ... my 2 matches vs Der_Echte, although I edited out most of my failed serve receives, it just underscores the point that my serve receive is crappy. Easily 500 rating in serve receive.

As you have great smashes, you will be smashing my slow loops alot, with high success rates, so your point 2 of section 2 will happen alot as well.

Although you have less dot points in section 2, the rate of them occuring is very high. So I suggest we decide the handicap pts at the time when we do meet

LOL -- ok!

P.S. Do you go back to Hong Kong any time of the year OSP?

I'm due for a visit, my last time in HK was 1980 and 1982! However, our eldest daughter just started Uni in Sept and sadly we cannot afford to travel, especially to other countries. Got 2 more kids and their time for Uni will be soon.

That's ok though, gives me more time to practice and when we do play I'll only ask for 6 points

 

[OldschoolPenholder]

0-2 and 3-7 down in the third doesn't sound good. That was the moment when I left all my thoughts aside and started to play relaxed realizing that I had nothing to lose. Managed to turn everything around and scratch a victory in the decider.

This is so easy to advise, but so hard to do. Great to hear you adopted this attitude and pulled out the W.

Regardless of what you may think, ranked #100 and finishing #18th is great in my book! CONGRATULATIONS!!

 

[Yecats Encerwal]

Yecats,

IIRC, this is a video of you (in black) and your brother hitting ... if that is indeed you, you can spot me 9 pts!

Yes that is me, thank you for your compliments

Although, just because someone looks good in training, doesn't mean it translates into good match-play all the time! I have often seen someone warming up and thought "There's no chance I can beat them" then it turns out that they fall apart in a match situation.

 

[Cornel]

This is so easy to advise, but so hard to do. Great to hear you adopted this attitude and pulled out the W.

Regardless of what you may think, ranked #100 and finishing #18th is great in my book! CONGRATULATIONS!!

Thanks for the kind words, OSP! The final result actually sounds great rather than being great. Of course I didn't lose to any lower ranked player, but I also haven't won against any higher ranked one, so you get a more detailed picture of what happened. At that tournament were present the majority of "the sharks" as I like to call them - players ranked 1-25. But there was something like a dead zone regarding players ranked 50-100. In addition to that, we were divided into age groups - my age group was 15-39 yo. Many of players ranked above me are veterans, so they were in another group.

Still, considering that I had two "sharks" in the group stage, in the draw I had no chance to get any higher that 17th. But I didn't upset someone ranked above me. I just don't want you to build the false illusion that I made a fantastic tournament.
The fact that I finished 18th being ranked #100 may sound like at this tournament I went way above the expectations but it isn't exactly so. A good result, but nothing out of this world.

 

[OldschoolPenholder]

Ah ok then Cornel, but still ... the key is your performance was on par then, it was 'expected'... you probably didn't drop in ranking... sometimes this is a Win in itself... to play consistently at your current level is better than playing lower than your current level. Sometimes expectations doesn't become reality. Know what i mean?

Congratulations again!

 

[Cornel]

Ah ok then Cornel, but still ... the key is your performance was on par then, it was 'expected'... you probably didn't drop in ranking... sometimes this is a Win in itself... to play consistently at your current level is better than playing lower than your current level. Sometimes expectations doesn't become reality. Know what i mean?

Congratulations again!

Thanks again for finding the positive things. And you are not wrong. You're actually goddamn right that being able to maintain a consistent level is a win. But I'm the type of player that usually drops his level at tournaments, I'm actually very inconsistent. And there I had my level dropped considerably when playing in the 2nd stage. I just was lucky enough that the drop wasn't that big so I managed to defend my seeding. But maybe I have too high expectations for tournaments, and if this is true, it certainly harms me. And it would be really fantastic if I could find a way to play relatively pressure free at tournaments.

 

[Der_Echte]

For the NYC crowd... Der_Echte says... "I'm Gumby, Damn it !!"

Sent from my SM-T350 using Tapatalk

 

[OldschoolPenholder]

Gumby,

The Goon Squad was not successful in intercepting the Package. It arrived safely!

Thank you!

Never having used grip tape before, and the Instructions are in Korean...

The black tape has a shiny side and a matte/dull side... the shiny side, is just some adhesive plastic sheet to protect it and meant to be ripped off, right? The dull side is what will touch the handle.

The Nexy strip is meant to be placed on the handle's edge?

I'm such an idiot.

Thank you in advance!

 

[OldschoolPenholder]

Happy Friday TTD CCers!

Last night's AAR

My journey back into TT after a 30+ yrs absence has been up and down for a little over a year. Still playing inconsistently but I'm still keeping at it.

Nexy Amazon CPen without a backside rubber felt light after 2 nights of testing a short pips on the back LOL Couldn't get some of my regular strokes to land on the table, either net it or flies off. LOLZ

I picked up my Avalox P700 CPen and hit for a few minutes and it felt good LOL

Back to the Amazon ... Hit with J, blocked his loops, then I looped some... nowhere near perfect form, not looping steady yet.

The woman I've hit with a few times was next. She generally attacks and I block. Then we switch. Still not steady yet. A better table opened up and we hopped on. "W" just finished there and is the woman's friend and he gave her tips on her strokes. He's a 1950 modern PH. I've played him once in the past when I first joined the club and got demolished.

He wanted to see her play a game. I lost 3 straight LOL He gave her some more tips after made a general comment to me that i rush too much ... almost everyone that watches me or plays me says I rush... i know i do and need to work on slowing down and relax more. Missed a lot of shots cos I rushed it.

Hand hurt throughout last night but not as bad as previous 2 nights. A little discomfort today. I've been trying to eat less and need to find a balance between eating enough on active days when i go to TT. On off days, easy to eat less. Last night felt run down after an hour. Played another hour and called it a night and forced myself to walk home the ~2,200 steps/25 mins despite being tired.

Today through Sunday, will rest from TT and do light to moderate martial arts workouts.

Have a good day and great weekend all!

 

[Boogar]

Had a great session yesterday!
I played a match against a girl who plays in women's national league B. Prob around 1800 rating. She has 300-400 more points than me.
So we started playing. I threw every risky shot i knew at her. Backhand openups and forehand killshits all hit the table perfectly! I won the first game closely contested. In the second i tried to play more safe. Which turned out to be a big mistake, as soon as I let her attack i had no ground under my feet. Her forehand shots were so damn fast... haven't seen such a fast ball before :O And she weighs probably half of what i weigh.
I lost the second game. In the third game i tried to restart my attacking, my open up loops got worse. I think she changed the spin and angle of her long pushes. Luckily I won the game closely contested again.
The 4. game started and I fell behind again.
I started changing to more short pushed balls to get her off balance. It worked i got lots of weak balls after my short pushes, occasionally throwing in a long and fast push led me to win it. 3:1 victory for me! I think that was the best game I ever played!

In conclusion I need to adapt my new learned strokes more into my gameplay. I now have the ability to attack long balls and do safe openup's on easy balls.
As soon as i started playing more defensively I lost my edge.

 

[OldschoolPenholder]

Ah, great to hear Boogar!

LOL at "killshits"