Daily Table Tennis Chit Chat

[OldschoolPenholder]

BTW, I played this match with short pips. That's what's on the black side. I know I switch a lot between black inverted & black short pips but I just make less unforced errors with the short pips so I'll stick with that. It's a pinch harder but you can still RPB with short pips.

old man brain fart -- you are right of course. LOL at me!

 

[Archosaurus]

@UpSideDownCarl

I didn't think I'd improved much at all. Good to know. I noticed that I am REALLY not moving enough laterally to play my forehand: I am very cramped and I can only lean on my left leg and not rotate. I think I can produce a good stroke once in a while if I give myself enough space. I will try to do more of that. I agree that there is no need to go into the details of FH mechanics. I know myself what I need to do. However doing it is another thing. It will just take time: I am getting a better feel for what is a nice stroke and what is not.

The pushes, I agree, I don't get enough backspin serves and whatnot at me to really get good at pushing. However I kept purposely pushing somewhat spinny and high because he kept netting them, for my own amusement. I would never push like that in a real game: it will get looped by someone better. The penholder I play with just kills those and I regard them as huge mistakes.

I can push short and soft, but not anywhere low enough and not against good spin. I will work on pushing lower, more off the bounce. I should probably stop doing those high joke pushes before they become habit.

I agree on the serves, and let me tell you, the one spin contact I made is nearly no-spin by my standards. Notice how there is very little racket acceleration and no whip. I just couldn't land backspin serves today, at all, so I served flat and easy.

I will practice my backspin serve more until I can always serve it with my eyes closed at 4AM, then teach my partners how to push and flip it. Currently the rare backspin serves I did land earlier in the day didn't come over the net, maybe because I didn't do many today and they didn't get any practice in pushing them. I think to really develop a true looping game, I need a consistent short backspin serve and a partner who can push it long for me.

I forgot that it's better to film from the FH side. I usually play on that side, so I didn't even think about it. Next time I'll swap to the other side and the FH side will be closer.

Thanks a lot, Carl. It's very helpful if people go over the videos and give advice.

Maybe later I will post a backspin serve video to find out just why my serve is so inconsistent.

 

[Shuki]

Arch I like the footage, you look like you're developing a lot better as of lately. The first thing I noticed is that your able to step around and play your forehand close to the table way too frequently. This tells me your opponents can't hit the ball deeper and this could actually make doing your forehand extremely difficult when you play a decent player. You're never forced to step off a bit and that's going to be a rough transition once you play good players.

 

[Archosaurus]

@Shuki

Oh yes, I think I get what you mean. Sometimes when I play the penholder and he pushes spinny and long to my backhand, I will rotate and be too close. Then I will not be able to get the ball over the net or just miss it.


I think even against players of this caliber, I should be able to distance myself a little from the table and move more laterally, so I have space to do the forehand.

 

[Shuki]

Archo,

I don't feel qualified to give specific pointers to your SH game given I'm PH... plus the others you addressed are 1900+ and SH, so you will get better feedback from them.

Don't you include me with the likes of Carl and NL. I'm well under 1900 . Especially after my long pip matches over the weekend. I'm guessing I'll be under 1700 once it's updated. ;P


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[OldschoolPenholder]

Don't you include me with the likes of Carl and NL. I'm well under 1900 . Especially after my long pip matches over the weekend. I'm guessing I'll be under 1700 once it's updated. ;P

LOL--1700 is still better than me! and you came in 3rd in the U1900!!!

so er yeah, i don't belong in the same group as YOU, NL and Carl!

 

[Shuki]

@Shuki

Oh yes, I think I get what you mean. Sometimes when I play the penholder and he pushes spinny and long to my backhand, I will rotate and be too close. Then I will not be able to get the ball over the net or just miss it.


I think even against players of this caliber, I should be able to distance myself a little from the table and move more laterally, so I have space to do the forehand.

I think a high energy game where you're primarily using forehand and stepping around you need to be off the table a step to counter their deep stuff. Then if it ends up being a bit shorter you can jump forward and go for the point. I think you're expecting a long return off your serves and that's why you're so ready to step around. Lots of options you could go with.


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[Archosaurus]

Shuki, I think I know why I do this so much.

I play during the schoolday at times, and there are people in the halls. It gets quite cramped. I do not have any actual space to pivot properly, so I do this kind of pivot.


I should probably stop doing that entirely, because first off the pivot is not even strong and can get blocked or countered to my forehand wing by a decent player and it's really ingraining bad habits.

I am getting much more confidence in my backhand these days. I think I will make the most of the cramped conditions and replace the pivot with a backhand attack. Then when I have space, I will pivot further away and more to the left than feels comfortable, so I can ingrain a better pivot.

Does this make any sense?

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

I didn't think I'd improved much at all.

It could be that you made a real effort to get better footage. This footage is so much better than previous footage. For that alone you deserve some credit. But here we can at least see that sometimes you are putting some spin on the ball. The previous videos your contact was all flat.


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[UpSideDownCarl]

Don't you include me with the likes of Carl and NL. I'm well under 1900 . Especially after my long pip matches over the weekend. I'm guessing I'll be under 1700 once it's updated. ;P

Hey, as far as level, I can say from first hand experience, our levels are not very different. My technique is decent but my game skills suck. Der and NL are on a totally different level than I am.

But I am content to be one of those guys who look good in practice and then suck in match play. Hahaha.


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[Archosaurus]

I have been doing a lot of work on my technique, so maybe it has payed off. I just personally had not noticed a huge change in how it feels.


Carl, when I was playing, all of these shots felt like drives, completely flat. I know they have a little spin on them based on how they react with the ground, but they don't feel like loops. I only did two loops during the whole day and they're off cam of course.

I can only really produce what I consider a looping contact if I take a bigger, faster swing and rotate well. Maybe I will start hitting those regularly once my technique can support it.

My backhand wasn't too flat this time around, but it's a bit soft. I didn't feel any grab at all today. Usually my backhand is pretty soft. I think all of this is because I have low racket head speed and very little whip in my strokes.

We will see how it improves.

 

[NextLevel]

It could be that you made a real effort to get better footage. This footage is so much better than previous footage. For that alone you deserve some credit. But here we can at least see that sometimes you are putting some spin on the ball. The previous videos your contact was all flat.


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Don't fall for false Archo modesty. After telling us for the past few months how much better he had gotten, do you really think he felt he hadn't improved at all?

 

[Archosaurus]

NL, that was talking out of my ass. I thought I had improved A LOT more than what I had really improved.

Of course I had improved up to now, but I'm pretty sure that the reason I look better on cam now is just simply because I played better on cam. My shot quality and technique hasn't exactly progressed leaps in the past months. It has gotten slightly better, but there's a lot more I could do. Most people here are far better than me and progress faster to boot, and I can recognize that now.

I'm somewhat saddened that as I try to change my view on things and how I behave, you will tell people that I am simply pretending.

 

[NextLevel]

NL, that was talking out of my ass. I thought I had improved A LOT more than what I had really improved.

Of course I had improved up to now, but I'm pretty sure that the reason I look better on cam now is just simply because I played better on cam. My shot quality and technique hasn't exactly progressed leaps in the past months. It has gotten slightly better, but there's a lot more I could do. Most people here are far better than me and progress faster to boot, and I can recognize that now.

I'm somewhat saddened that as I try to change my view on things and how I behave, you will tell people that I am simply pretending.

Progress faster? LOL. Who are you watching? The thing about this sport is that even with technical improvement, you might still not win matches. My rating was 2062 in January 2015. It is 1970 or so in November 2016. Just about everyone who watches me then and watches me now will call my technique better on every shot. Yet my rating has me skating uphill on ice.

Improvement doesn't work the way you think it does.

 

[Archosaurus]

Maybe.

In my eyes, guys like JeffM, Boogar and OSPH have made way more progress in their technique than I have in the past months. It's even more considering their higher level.

Improvement in playing the actual game is another thing. I don't know if I can even talk about that let alone notice anything: I'm too preoccupied with technical issues.

 

[OldschoolPenholder]

Archo,

Thank you for your kind words... I'M NOT BEING HUMBLE, I DON'T THINK I IMPROVED... there are nights when I cannot hit a basic FH or a BH block let alone serve/loop. I got so much I'm working on, even if i break it down into manageable chunks. I'm so inconsistent with my shots, even basic/shots that i sometimes make, sometimes miss. So inconsistent that it is frustrating.

My 'arch-enemy' "K" is always asking me, "How do you know you improved?" ... i never answer him but we both know that the answer is if i can at least make the easy/basic shots that I am hit and miss on.

Regardless, my point is i really don't feel I improved. And being a slow learner is retarding my progress. But I keep at it.

The Path to Self-perfection is a long one.

Good luck in your training!

 

[Boogar]

Nice going Archo! I like the bat angel of your backhand strokes and also your follow through! Keep it up!

Edit: Today I was the only one at the trainings hall besides a junior player of ours. He is ripping up the 3. league at the moment.
I actually managed to win two matches! 3:1 and 3:2 well at the end he forfeited because his belly was hurting him.

We also did falkenberg drills and irregular topspin drills, where i didn't know where he would block the ball to and i had to loop it every time. Very good exercise as he is a much better player than me!

Edit 2: I like how you keep the angel the same on the follow through. I find that very hard to do. I think if you'd use more bat speed upon contact you could infuse the ball with good spin.

 

[Archosaurus]

@OldSchoolPenholder, it seems like no one feels they have improved.


@Boogar

What specifically do you like about the bat angle? Is it consistent, good backswing, good followthrough, good recovery or switch to forehand?

 

[TareqPhoto]

So today i went to the academy to ask the coach few questions, that time he was in training session with a member, and i saw what he is trying to teach him, i will practice on that at home, but i really need someone for that because it is 2 persons practice not one, but i will try to simulate the technique alone if possible, that is why i am waiting to buy a robot as soon as possible.

Later, i went to our town club, and there i was trying just to have fun with players there, i really don't know if they get improved or not because i don't visit so often since last year, and i am not good to them because they train, but i saw one thing from them all, they all are weak to BH side simple, and they only focus to finish and smash the point even it is really unnecessary so they lose a lot of balls.

I did play with 2 kids there, one of them is really a good player, the first kid the coach told me he stopped since long time and returned back, so i played best of 5 with him and defeated him 3-0, then i played with that better player, also mostly he is depending on those kind of pushing and drive more than techniques, and honestly speaking i underestimate him. We played best of 5 too, i thought he will do a lot of mistakes so i planned to just return balls and moving him to sides, i didn't attack much, even if i do i wasn't doing it properly, so i lost 2-0, then i just planned on revenge, i defeated him 3-2 at the end, as i said, i underestimate him when i was really able to beat him 3-0 from beginning, but it was a good lesson for me.

Somehow, when i play with players with very near to my level and i try to beat them i get more confidence and trying to dominate my style better than i do play against somehow higher level players and then i try to attack pointlessly, i may try to play with those kids more often in our local club because they do practice with the coach and they are playing in UAE TT league for under 12 or U18, and they are facing different levels players of other clubs, so if i keep winning over them it means i keep my level stable or in balance, then later i play with stronger players, if i lose to those kids it means i am wasting time and i am not improved at all.

 

[OldschoolPenholder]

@OldSchoolPenholder, it seems like no one feels they have improved.

er ... you posted you felt you improved lol