Daily Table Tennis Chit Chat

[Der_Echte]

Playing what do you mean by soft? When I think of people who play soft, I think of myself. Where someone loops at me, then backs up slightly for their follow up, and my soft blocking causes the loop to not come as far as they anticipated. People tend to NOT like this when they play me.

Watch this guy in jeans. Everything he does is VERRRY soft. (unless it's a smash on a high ball) Point starting at 4:34 Very frustrating when you have to stay close to the table to loop over and over. But then again, a big part of that happening is because I'm also a soft player. Just not as soft as the opponent.

Shuki,

When you can get a boatload more spin, or a few levels more pace, he wont get your ball back, I agree, you are playing too soft and not making his job harder. HE is making your job harder by baiting you into continuous topspin, instead of destructive topspin. Go Rambo on him. If dude gave me those kind of slow long balls, he would be HATIN' it and have to try duking it out with me. It is nive you can play 10 balls, but noene of those ten really troubled him much and eventually you mis-time or mis-judge one.

 

[Shuki]

Shuki,

When you can get a boatload more spin, or a few levels more pace, he wont get your ball back, I agree, you are playing too soft and not making his job harder. HE is making your job harder by baiting you into continuous topspin, instead of destructive topspin. Go Rambo on him. If dude gave me those kind of slow long balls, he would be HATIN' it and have to try duking it out with me. It is nive you can play 10 balls, but noene of those ten really troubled him much and eventually you mis-time or mis-judge one.

Agreed, this video was a while ago and I'd like to think that these problems don't occur anymore. But that's not true.

He plays this same, "base-lining" style with higher level players, just with more touch. Thursday he went undefeated, beating a 2300 (or maybe upper 2200 I don't remember anymore) and 4 others between 2000-2100.


I like that you said he'd have to try duking it out. his name is duc, pronounced duke. haha

 

[Der_Echte]

I see that one didn't get by ya... (pun intended about the Duking and the by-ya) If he give me those balls, I will Tazmanian Devil spin 'em up or hit 'em By-Ya. I am a riot vs his style of play up to a few hundred points level Above my level. All I can ask for is a long ball and some time, which he gives freely. Still, if he has such and such rating or level, it isn't an accident, it is skill and patience.

 

[Shuki]

I see that one didn't get by ya... (pun intended about the Duking and the by-ya) If he give me those balls, I will Tazmanian Devil spin 'em up or hit 'em By-Ya. I am a riot vs his style of play up to a few hundred points level Above my level. All I can ask for is a long ball and some time, which he gives freely. Still, if he has such and such rating or level, it isn't an accident, it is skill and patience.

patience, skill, and intelligence. very relaxed fun style to watch. you're down there on the west coast now, you may meet his cousin who's also no slouch. Tri Dinh is his cousins name, prounounced tree dinhee. Right now he's only 2066, but two years ago he was fluctuating between 2250-2300. peaked at 2343

 

[JeffM]

Happy Chinese New Year TTD Chit Chat Users! Wishing you all a happy, healthy, and prosperous Chicken year with less chicken wing form forehands and more Ma Long or Xu Xin (or substitute your favourite player here) form.

Now in Aruna's tone:
Hong Bao Na Lai - meaning: give me your red pockets

 

[Shuki]

Worst I've played in a while today. Decided to upload. Let the world see just how bad I can be

 

[Shuki]

first game wasn't bad, you can skip that part to where I break down.

edit: think I uploaded the warmup match by mistake. it was supposed to be a best of 7. oh well. off too bed, maybe I'll do it tomorrow.

 

[Archosaurus]

Shuki, Yecats, you may be right, but you guys are properly coached people. It's easy for you to say "Just do whatever keeps the ball on the table". For someone with 2 years of experience or less, that doesn't cut it when they play someone who learned to play "properly".

The only "self learned" and "unorthodox" people I've played who can give me a run for my money have been older, much more experienced gents who've played much longer than I have. No-one, unless they're extremely talented, is gonna be able to play like that with 2 years of experience and no serious learning effort.

Am I wrong?

 

[Boogar]

I think you need to make the best out of your circumstances. If you are really passionate about the sport, why not try to start up a club? Or some school tournaments and stuff, get other people into the sport.

I am always trying to get new connections, meet people i can play with. Be it outdoors, at home with somebody who has a table or at my, or other clubs. I am very thankful that I have the possibility to play league in a club! But there are other ways.

I think the best one is to find yourself a person who likes the game just as much and make him your trainings partner. I found somebody like this, although he is injured a lot :-/ However we both help each other developing our game. We watch tons of videos and try to point out to each other if our movement looks strange etc.

I am playing this game for a little bit more than two years and i am only just beginning to grasp how complex of a game it is. Stuff that NL said to me when I was in the states are just now starting to make sense!

Cheers <3 you all

 

[Archosaurus]

@Boogar

I have a friend who likes the game enough to seriously train with me. He started recently. I think he will become a TTnut like the crazy people here.


Honestly, for my circumstances, I think I am doing pretty ok. Especially lately, when I have taken a more honest look at my game.

 

[Takkyu_wa_inochi]

I had my first tournament of this long TT weekend. It was a pair tournament , my partner is a bottle stronger than me, perhaps around 150-200 pts worth. System is doubles plus two singles.
We were in a very homogeneous group of 6 teams. Many full set games or close games but we ended 4th of the group only. For example, The eventual winner was the winner of our group. We lost 3-2 the doubles while we were leading 2-0 if my memory is correct and my friend won his singles...
We lost a doubles having match point but won another at the decider saving match points...
So we were qualified only in the B knockout tournament where it was only doubles and lost in the final.

Personally I played 9 doubles (5v 4d) and 4 singles (2v 2d). Singles I played 3 long pips players. The first one was quite strong and steady making few mistakes. I played a perfect first set winning 11-5. But I didn't move as well from there losing easily the second, I fought well from behind in the third to lose it 9 and in the fourth I was leading 10-7 , served badly and didnt play well that point. The guy then attacked the next two points for the first time of the match. His topspin attack was more powerful than mine !! I was a bit surprised, missed my two blocks and certainly it affected me mentally and lost 12-10. I felt like real shit

The next pimples guy a bit more of the same I was ahead 10-7 in the first and shitted in my pants. I was also a bit more tired and this guy was perhaps less consistent with his pimples but attacked much more. I think I gave up unconsciously somehow.

The third guy was a slightly less strong but still a menace. I won straight but it was the reverse scenario. I could feel the pressure was on him and he messed up at the end of the sets making suddenly mistakes.

The last match was an easy win against a beginner

Not very happy with my singles performance. In the doubles actually it was much better than I thought because my game doesn't match my partner who likes to block mainly but we played some good matches and I contributed a lot with attacks from both wings.

It was very long and I think it was a lack of focus and energy which cost us the victory in the B tournament.

I have another singles tournament tomorrow but there should be not as many matches. Need some rest now...

 

[Shuki]

For someone with 2 years of experience or less, that doesn't cut it when they play someone who learned to play "properly".

It doesn't cut it when you play someone with more experience than you. It has nothing to do with their form.

 

[LoopLobSmash]

Yeah, to them it looks like you're playing in slow motion because they can read you like a book.

 

[Shuki]

I hit with duc today, I like warming up backhands with him so I decided to record that to show archosaur what I mean by soft. start around where I serve at about 53-54 seconds in. He's warming up his backhand loop and I'm blocking these very spinny loops softly. They aren't bouncing back to where he'd be comfortable to put more power behind them. My left leg comes up with the block because it's my way of reducing the force behind the ball I'm giving back.

then at 1:21 I do a solid block instead of a soft one. the change in the soft vs hard block caused him to miss the table. Doing this kind of stuff in a warmup is abnoxious to some, but duc likes it and usually encourages it. So don't get on me about "winning the warmup" I'm at least going to the same area

 

[Shuki]

question for those of you that play with the "good" players at your club.

How long did it take you for them to start inviting you to hit with them? For me, there were a couple of the better players who enjoyed the style matchup and would play me more often than any of the other "good" players. And then one day, all of a sudden every good player started inviting me to play with them when there was an open table.

It's a good feeling, and since I'm always playing with the "good" players now, the new club members see me as one of the good players. I make sure to play just as many "newbies" each day as I do the good players.

 

[NextLevel]

question for those of you that play with the "good" players at your club.

How long did it take you for them to start inviting you to hit with them? For me, there were a couple of the better players who enjoyed the style matchup and would play me more often than any of the other "good" players. And then one day, all of a sudden every good player started inviting me to play with them when there was an open table.

It's a good feeling, and since I'm always playing with the "good" players now, the new club members see me as one of the good players. I make sure to play just as many "newbies" each day as I do the good players.

Maybe when I was 1200, partly because the some players at my club are Black and partly because I blocked and pushed well.

I tell people I coach or hit with all the time to fix their block if they want to hit with higher players often. Better players don't care about your loops or smashes, they care about your consistency and ball quality in drills which usually boils down to good blocking and pushing, and being able to produce the ball they want to train against on demand.

The most common error lower players make is to smash the ball when hitting with a better player. It's the easiest way to lose the respect of the better player unless the better player explicitly requested it. Better player like to train against their peers power and train against your control.

 

[ttmonster]

+1 , as always NL has nailed the not so secret recipe

Maybe when I was 1200, partly because the some players at my club are Black and partly because I blocked and pushed well.

I tell people I coach or hit with all the time to fix their block if they want to hit with higher players often. Better players don't care about your loops or smashes, they care about your consistency and ball quality in drills which usually boils down to good blocking and pushing, and being able to produce the ball they want to train against on demand.

The most common error lower players make is to smash the ball when hitting with a better player. It's the easiest way to lose the respect of the better player unless the better player explicitly requested it. Better player like to train against their peers power and train against your control.

 

[Takkyu_wa_inochi]

singles tournament today.

I started as a "favorite" in a qualifying group of 3, and won both matches 3-0. First one against a young crazy player. He's trying to attack all balls agressively and moving quickly, but he lacks consistency a bit. and if i could block once that was usually enough. I had problems dealing with his long "BH" serve (he is a penholder) to my BH. I could read the spin, but had some problems to deal with the topspin+sidespin. I got the first set 11-5, lead 10-6 in the second but closed it only 11-9. He got some lucky balls in the 3rd and got more confident, he had a 10-6 lead. But i didn't give up, focused even more, especially on serve-returns and managed to come back to win it 12-10. 2nd match against a guy that i beat 3 times last year, i knew what to expect, and this time i won easily 3-0.

So, I advanced to the knockout stage where i met a seeded players who was perhaps 300 or more points above myself. a young penholder playing with long pips, and playing an attacking / blocking game. He had a BS only for serving. Against this kind of player, you have to always play with spin, a simple block against his drive will sink into the net. For that you have to be active and always well placed early on the ball. Unfortunately, he was playing quite quickly, and had very good serves as well. 2-11 in the 1st set. In the 2nd, i managed to scrap a few points on 3rd ball attacks. I also managed to get back all his short serves by getting to the ball quickly. so he didn't get any easy points on the 3rd ball anymore. But still i was moving not fast enough (maybe a little bit tired) and wasn't at my best. So in the end 0-3 (-2 -7 -5).

I saw him beat a stronger guy than me 3-0 11-1 in the last, and he advanced to the semis when i left, so no doubt he's a good player, but i regret not giving a better game, because i played in practise once with him and i remember after losing 2 or 3 games, i got a game out of him and was improving as time went on as i got used to his rubber and understood how to spin back his ball. I also played a lot of pips player in practise or tournament recently so its not like its a total surprise as well. but his style is really unusual and gives him an advantage for sure.

Gotta need some rest now.

 

[NextLevel]

Tough to do well in a tournament playing outside your comfort zone against someone who is playing in his, especially when he is 3 levels above you. You probably need to play him many more times to get to a point where you really are where you want to be. I find that such guys if you can play them your loop becomes more powerful as long as you can make the adjustment to topspin as being able to loop those balls powerfully when you have to look for friction makes it easier to go through the ball when there is already friction for you.

 

[NextLevel]

+1 , as always NL has nailed the not so secret recipe

It's really weird how often people have this misconception that the right way to hit with better players is to hit powerful smashes or powerful loops/counters. Only if the better player asks for it should you do that. Better players don't necessarily defend better against people who kill their easy balls to weird places, though that depends on style. The real question is whether you would ever have a chance to hit that ball under those conditions in a match. A better player won't be putting the ball into your strike zone when you don't have to move on a regular basis so the real issue is if you want to be doing those kinds of shots, you should discuss it. The better player may welcome it.

The other issue is the blocking technique. Many players just do not know how to block flat. No other block is correct in a warm up. The simple reason is that it is hard to understand what the ball is doing when you track a bad block off your topspin. Unfortunately, many coaches don't teach blocking to adult beginners and never work hard to reach practice blocks, so many players block with power, block with sidespin,block with topspin and other varieties. You watch the top players and no matter how they block in a match, they block with a basic technique during the warmup. It's a simple way to let the looper calibrate their stroke and will make you a valuable practice partner to any player as the ball is easy to track and the basic block is easy to adjust to higher level loops. That said, no matter your technique, the most important thing is to feed a consistent ball. Few things are more frustrating than people who both have bad technique and then bash the ball and block with topspin and sidespin when the warmup starts. It's okay to do these things after a certain number if shots (say 5 or 10 from the looper) bur not to do them all the time. And definitely not in a match warmup if your goal is good etiquette. But maybe if I had better knees, I would ignore it more often but usually, I just ask to start the match.