Travelled to a club in the nearby town (54km away) with a few friends.
It was after a long day at work, but my friend drove, so it was great as I get to have a bit of rest prior to playing.
On the way to and fro, we discussed about the competition that we are planning. It is so much better discussing in person than via a screen.
Got there, our captain knew their top player, so he quickly introduced me to him, and I got to play him first. The club environment was alot more busier than I expect in a small rural town! Lots of kids, and there are also ppl in their 30s and 40s, and all the way up to the 70s-80s.
A bit of info on their top player, he used to come over to the town that I am in currently to play, as there was a Chinese girl that that is no 1-2 state wise. Apparently he improved significantly during that period, and that the captain could not beat him after that period due to his improvement. As I warm up with him, he certainly had that feeling that he had trained before. We were hitting constant forehands without missing for a min or 2, so he can warm up well. In game situation, as it was the first time we play, we weren't too used to each other's serves. I noticed that he likes to attack with his forehand (like me lol), so it was more who does it first. I attacked a few by pivoting but he had a few good blocks down the line, so he got up in lead 9-6 or 9-7. I somehow caught up by doing some backhand banana flip vs his light spin serves, and I guess that caught him off guard as there would be no one in his club that does that. I only did it as I was not able to push that ball properly, so I attempt the banana and against light spin serves, it goes relatively fast. I won the first set, but then he won the 2nd set with a bigger score difference (11-7 I think). Then third set, I start out strong, and I finished it 11-2. It was great to play someone who has some proper training strokes, but like me, he suffers from having no one to train with.. I took the opportunity to exchange numbers so we might organise some training together (despite the distance between us).
After that, it was mostly other members asking me and my friends to play doubles. Not much of a training opportunity but I try to practice my bananas against serves in doubles.
It was a great session especially playing with their top player.
I want to do the banana more often, but I always have a fear that as I get the bat in position prior to swinging out the wrist, I always fear that the bat will somehow bang the table. That stops me from doing it more often. And if I take more care not to bang the table, it slows me down, then the ball drops further and I now fear that the ball is too low for me to flip it over the net. I suppose I just need to do it more often and get over the fear, and I don't really know why it bangs the table but I have done it before, where the bat just got stuck by the back edge of the table.
Will try it more in the session next week in my usual club. I guess even in doubles, I can always practice various serve returns that I can use in singles.
hahahahaha.
