Daily Table Tennis Chit Chat

[NextLevel]

Changed rubber yesterday (I had already decided on a blade change because of the head size of the Mazunov which made it harder for me to play with newer rubbers) and even for an Anti EJ like myself, the difference in match results was stunning. I just hope I don't get injured using really sticky rubber on both sides - that said I have done this before a couple of times. and with good results both times as long as I accept the limitations and don't try to get too much from the setup and focus on precise placement.

The biggest difference is that I don't arc the ball as much/consistently anymore with the new rubbers (I went from Fastarc C1/Rasanter C48 - both similar enough - to Golden Tango and Golden Tango PS now) and my arc wasn't giving people trouble in the past. With the harder tacky rubbers, my ball is more direct and people are having trouble reading the amount of spin on the ball because I can put the ball past them. Got a game off a guy who I have not gotten a game off in maybe 6 matches, and finally beat a guy who I had lost to the previous 3 times. It will be interesting to see how I play against some of the guys I usually hit with on Sunday.

 

[Der_Echte]

Almost 24 backwards backworz!

YES, you just KNEW I was talking backwards, and tend to do that a LOT as a true deadpannner.

 

[Der_Echte]

I will discuss with wifey lol. What state is this in again?

Hi Next Level,

The Meiklejohn Senior TT Tourney is held in Laguna Woods California (30miles? south of LA) in one of the clubhouses of a HUGE 55+ retirement complex. The air there is WONDERFUL so healing. I think they hold in in May each year.

There is a group of us from Sacramento who gang up in a car and share hotel room two of us prefer sleep on the floor (more elbow room) and support each other.

You might get to meet Jones badd-azzz Baldonado there and a bazillion others.

There was a Nigerian player who played in our league took everyone to 5th had 2000ish skills... guy named Chris. Looked like he was out of sport for a time.

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

YES, you just KNEW I was talking backwards, and tend to do that a LOT as a true deadpannner.

"True DeadPanner" ????? Most deadpanners don't laugh and cause a ruckus while deadpanning.

 

[thomas.pong]

Hi Next Level,

The Meiklejohn Senior TT Tourney is held in Laguna Woods California (30miles? south of LA) in one of the clubhouses of a HUGE 55+ retirement complex. The air there is WONDERFUL so healing. I think they hold in in May each year.

There is a group of us from Sacramento who gang up in a car and share hotel room two of us prefer sleep on the floor (more elbow room) and support each other.

You might get to meet Jones badd-azzz Baldonado there and a bazillion others.

There was a Nigerian player who played in our league took everyone to 5th had 2000ish skills... guy named Chris. Looked like he was out of sport for a time.

I thought it was up North somewhere.

I'm gunna have to look into it!

 

[Der_Echte]

"True DeadPanner" ????? Most deadpanners don't laugh and cause a ruckus while deadpanning.

I am usually only funny in writing, but if you see my TT in person, I guess I would be funnier there too. Gee whiz.

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

I am usually only funny in writing, but if you see my TT in person, I guess I would be funnier there too. Gee whiz.

I have seen you cause a scene and get a whole club laughing, every person in the club, including the bitter old bitties.

 

[Dan]

One day we really need to do a big TTD reunion somewhere in the world right

 

[Der_Echte]

We could do a TT Camp" where there is training going on and we actually CAMP in the TT club, sleep like Snoopy on top of table of something...

 

[Dan]

We could do a TT Camp" where there is training going on and we actually CAMP in the TT club, sleep like Snoopy on top of table of something...

Haha this is a great idea! Any ideas what camps? We could actually arrange something somewhere?

 

[Der_Echte]

Haha this is a great idea! Any ideas what camps? We could actually arrange something somewhere?

A camp could be in YOUR CLUB, it should be easy to manage it since you are managing it already...

There could also be fun comps like...

- Creaky knee foreigners vs locals...

- Foreigner/Local mixed where both teams have a foreigner and local

- Skills challenges

- Random Draw singles

Lookout for the after TT runs, England locals have a rep for being thirsty after hours, but they are not the only people in the world capable of downing a pint and talking it up for big fun.

 

[Der_Echte]

I know enough coaches in 888 TTC near San Francisco airport... they get a small apartment 1-2 km from the club and might be able to host up to a dozen people if offered enough food and drink (hey it is way cheeper than a hotel !)

BTW, the hotel 888 advertises to use for its tourneys is a 3 minute walk from 888 TTC... is not expensive ($80 a night), I always get 4-5 to 5 of us in a room and I sleep on the floor with a $10 air mattress plenty of elbow room... so that is like $15 to $20 USD a night and it isn't over-cramped - so easy to manage.

The top end of players at 888 is staggering, as McBeth and Liam, they did a tourney there last year. They prolly have 12 players who would win vs you and Tom 3-0 or 3-1 and a dirty dozen players at your standard.

If our city's former club was operating, they coulda hosted 30-50 players easily, the owner built extra showers and rooms for future coaches.

 

[dingyibvs]

Yesterday, I had a great session at the other club I go to. It started off with some excellent warmups against higher level players. One lady complained that my FH warmups were all over the place, but in a few minutes I was able to lock down the placement and she was pleased . We then had some free play, where I was able to hold my own.

Then we played a couple doubles matches, which provides a good comparison with last week's doubles matches. I felt much, much more comfortable with the 968. One of the opponents is a Cpen player with the best RPB banana flick in the club, and it was completely useless against me. My BH counters were so on point, and more important instinctive, that it shocked even me. I was no longer missing everything long on the FH side, though my FH counter loop is still worse than before. So instead of that, I tried stay closer to the table and use FH counters instead, and it was a massive success. I countered back some pretty good loops.

We then had a short counter loop practice. I don't use it often in singles, but I do use it reasonably often in doubles due to having more time to prepare for the shot. I felt a lot more comfortable with it after the practice, where I started off working on fundamentals and control using very little power, and moving on to using more body but still keeping the power minimal.

After this I had a long session of free play against a player of similar caliber to me. I started using my BH freely, and by the end everything was coming naturally! Granted I obviously still need a lot of work on everything, but I no longer had to think about using my BH, and I finally started landing all sorts of BH shots whether it's banana flicks, loops vs. BH spin, quick counters, punches, or BH loops with mostly good quality.

That was exactly what I needed! I'll finish my BH-focused training with consistency and power training, then I'll move on to fixing my FH form. I've already started shadow training, as I've noticed that once the balls start flying I often completely forget my form even with a relatively slow feed rate from the robot. I need to lock the form down before I start training against higher caliber shots. Until then, I think I'm gonna change my game to a close to the table quick counter game.

 

[thomas.pong]

Yesterday, I had a great session at the other club I go to. It started off with some excellent warmups against higher level players. One lady complained that my FH warmups were all over the place, but in a few minutes I was able to lock down the placement and she was pleased . We then had some free play, where I was able to hold my own.

Then we played a couple doubles matches, which provides a good comparison with last week's doubles matches. I felt much, much more comfortable with the 968. One of the opponents is a Cpen player with the best RPB banana flick in the club, and it was completely useless against me. My BH counters were so on point, and more important instinctive, that it shocked even me. I was no longer missing everything long on the FH side, though my FH counter loop is still worse than before. So instead of that, I tried stay closer to the table and use FH counters instead, and it was a massive success. I countered back some pretty good loops.

We then had a short counter loop practice. I don't use it often in singles, but I do use it reasonably often in doubles due to having more time to prepare for the shot. I felt a lot more comfortable with it after the practice, where I started off working on fundamentals and control using very little power, and moving on to using more body but still keeping the power minimal.

After this I had a long session of free play against a player of similar caliber to me. I started using my BH freely, and by the end everything was coming naturally! Granted I obviously still need a lot of work on everything, but I no longer had to think about using my BH, and I finally started landing all sorts of BH shots whether it's banana flicks, loops vs. BH spin, quick counters, punches, or BH loops with mostly good quality.

That was exactly what I needed! I'll finish my BH-focused training with consistency and power training, then I'll move on to fixing my FH form. I've already started shadow training, as I've noticed that once the balls start flying I often completely forget my form even with a relatively slow feed rate from the robot. I need to lock the form down before I start training against higher caliber shots. Until then, I think I'm gonna change my game to a close to the table quick counter game.

Remember to practice and play games against weaker players as well, to practice getting more comfortable with certain shots.

 

[dingyibvs]

Remember to practice and play games against weaker players as well, to practice getting more comfortable with certain shots.

Oh yea I practice against weaker players quite often. It all averages out. It's refreshing when in BH warm-ups my shots are all going to one location while the opponent's BH is the one going all over the place lol.

 

[Takkyu_wa_inochi]

another day, another team, another tournament in Tokyo.

it was a very exciting and exhausting day as we participated in the div2 tournament of our local league. we were a group of 6 teams, and i was the lowest ranked player of our team.

We started at 9am to finish at nearly 6pm. our division was played on 3 tables so we could watch and support our teammates all along, the atmosphere was great.
one match against another team = 2 singles + 1 doubles + 2 singles, first team to 3 victories.

Personally i was 3 times in position to play the second singles behind our ace player, and 2 times in position to play the last singles. played all 5 matches.

I played perhaps my best TT ever in tournaments, against players 2 or 3 levels above me, getting games and more where i couldn't even get to more than 5 or 6 points before. at times i went into the zone, and was matching them or better, and seeing myself put on incredible shots again and again that i wouldn't think myself able of, without over-playing either, but basically couldn't sustain the effort a whole match - and those guys did play their best too, they never took me lightly. but I also fumbled some leads at critical moments, and the luck was on the other side when it mattered most.

More sadly the 2 matches where i played last meant it was the decisive match, and i lost both of them, after tough battles. The last match being our last chance to stay in the division and with lots at stakes, against the most beatable player, but that was the one where my nerves got me with a dramatic ending (miracle save from the other guy when i was up 10-9 in G4 followed by a weak push receive on match point as i was a bit surprised, while i almost never did that during the whole match so far...)

Teamwise we finish last, despite our ace winning 5/5 singles, but he lost 4/5 doubles. its a tough pill to swallow that we all played our best TT, but lost so many very close games in a high density high level group where we were only a few points away in each match to reverse the result.

 

[Takkyu_wa_inochi]

in exclusivity, Dan is introducing us to the next world champion. he couldn't get in the 2023 Durban tournament but he's definitely in 2025.

 

[JeffM]

in exclusivity, Dan is introducing us to the next world champion. he couldn't get in the 2023 Durban tournament but he's definitely in 2025.

I feel like I have seen this video previously, but not on Dan's channel.

 

[NextLevel]

I feel like I have seen this video previously, but not on Dan's channel.

The video is older and was on the TTD channel when Dan first played the robot. This is just a shorter version made to get views on Youtube Shorts or such things...

 

[Takkyu_wa_inochi]

The video is older and was on the TTD channel when Dan first played the robot. This is just a shorter version made to get views on Youtube Shorts or such things...

i fell for it