Daily Table Tennis Chit Chat

[NextLevel]

I have a one week break from relatives visiting so I went to the club yesterday. I have settled on the Cybershape Carbon as my main blade, I suspect its handle just suits me better but I am not mentally ready to hack my Trinity handles. And i think something about Koto outer plies is beginning to click in my head. I am curious how the Stiga Inspira plays, to know whether the Cybershape really makes a difference. Has anyone done this test?

It's really funny how someone can use pips and frustrate people from playing. I keep waiting to see what about his game is disturbing, but I don't see it, maybe because he uses the most popular pies I trained against coming up and uses them in OX. I think maybe because I play too close to the table, balls that some players take on the fall, I kill on the rise.

The main thing I am working on right now is backhand spin versatility, I am reintroducing my sidespin smash since I don't know how to flat hit with sticky rubber. But my game against lower rated players is coming together. It is the ones that attack the first ball that I need to expand against. Hopefully I can find time to go do some training this week before the next set of house guests come.

 

[Takkyu_wa_inochi]

TV Tokyo has this 60-seconds rally challenge and we took it

 

[NextLevel]

TV Tokyo has this 60-seconds rally challenge and we took it

Looks like the video is gone now. But I saw it before It went

 

[Takkyu_wa_inochi]

yeh sorry, i just replaced it by this one because i forgot to include a small scene, and i added also a Mario jingle
at the beginning

 

[JeffM]

Here is my highlight video of the competition!

Note I selected the best points only haha.

Took me a fair while to select the best points and then put it all together.

Now that I finished the highlight video, I have bit more time to work on the exercises that my coach gave me.

Will be playing table tennis tomorrow evening.

Excited ++

 

[OvrChkn]

Decided to experiment a little bit and switched my R7 to forehand. In my limited testing, I'm more consistent with returning backspin or side spin from it. My BH quality seemed to be a bit better with a softer rubber. Hopefully, I can get a good coaching session in this weekend.

 

[Der_Echte]

All my resultant injury from allergies coughing and sneezing violently have healed and I have felt normal the last week or so.

Been goofing off every other night and chopping with a Gambler $30 USD blade with Aurus and a $14 .6mm Gambler LP rubber.

LOTS of fun and good training for one of the guys I train and also Sergey I hate to be called Scoobie Doo Tsos is in on the fun having to adapt to the different spins and trajectories i give along with coach Greg.

 

[JJ Ng]

All my resultant injury from allergies coughing and sneezing violently have healed and I have felt normal the last week or so.

Been goofing off every other night and chopping with a Gambler $30 USD blade with Aurus and a $14 .6mm Gambler LP rubber.

LOTS of fun and good training for one of the guys I train and also Sergey I hate to be called Scoobie Doo Tsos is in on the fun having to adapt to the different spins and trajectories i give along with coach Greg.

Hey you don't chop with Gambler's $30 blade. You are supposed to loop with it! Ok, just kidding. I use a $40 Gambler blade and I like it quite a bit! I will do a review on all the Gambler blades one of these days. The Gambler rubbers...they are not good at all.

Glad you are feeling better!

 

[blahness]

All my resultant injury from allergies coughing and sneezing violently have healed and I have felt normal the last week or so.

Been goofing off every other night and chopping with a Gambler $30 USD blade with Aurus and a $14 .6mm Gambler LP rubber.

LOTS of fun and good training for one of the guys I train and also Sergey I hate to be called Scoobie Doo Tsos is in on the fun having to adapt to the different spins and trajectories i give along with coach Greg.

Now it's my turn ( the flu is amazingly potent this year in Australia too... Never had such a bad flu in my life

 

[Der_Echte]

Hey you don't chop with Gambler's $30 blade. You are supposed to loop with it! Ok, just kidding. I use a $40 Gambler blade and I like it quite a bit! I will do a review on all the Gambler blades one of these days. The Gambler rubbers...they are not good at all.

Glad you are feeling better!

The $10 USD rubber that came standard on that thing was an utter black hole, I immediately slapped on a new sheet of Aurus to make it instantly respectable.

The BH .6mm sponged LP does very well... I can do a lot with incoming balls and land them well.

 

[JJ Ng]

The $10 USD rubber that came standard on that thing was an utter black hole, I immediately slapped on a new sheet of Aurus to make it instantly respectable.

The BH .6mm sponged LP does very well... I can do a lot with incoming balls and land them well.

Which blade is it? The Gambler one?

I have tried all of their rubbers since they said "oh-toro" is the best Japanese sponge they have. Nope. It feels dead. Zero catapult effects. And I ordered max sponge for all of them. I don't even want to say what model of rubber I got because they all feel the same. I would put them on recreational blades for sure. But that's pretty much it. I mean their price is not bad. But I can score cheaper rubbers on Aliexpress like Sanwei T88 Ultra Spin at better price and better performance.

Gambler's blades are pretty good though. I am using the Gambler Blackout blade. It is very good. Fast but lots of control. Fire Dragon Fast and Gline are faster than Blackout and I cannot control them very well.

I am slowly working my way through all the Gambler blades.

 

[JJ Ng]

Aurus

What is your opinion of Aurus, Aurus Prime, Aurus Sound, Aurus Soft and finally Aurus Select? They are all availabe on TT11.

How would you compare to Tibhar Revolution series? The reason I asked is that I have tried MX-P, MX-S, EL-S, and FX-P. I like EL-S and FX-P. MX-P and MX-S, not so much.

You have spoken highly of Aurus so I am wondering if I should score a sheet or two from TT11.

By the way, I like soft ESN rubber so my BH rubber right now is Rakza 7 soft and C-1. So I think Aurus regular might be too hard for me? Aurus Sound and Aurus Soft might be interesting...?

 

[JeffM]

I played tt ytd.
I didn't do exceedingly well, but I focused on rotating my waist when I am doing a fh loop.
My partner says the spin is good.
Idk if I am doing it right but I am trying to change my fh so there is more forward motion instead of up.

I played my partner who is from nearby town ytd, and I narrowly beat him 3-2. We are both playing tactically to avoid giving the other player what they want. I think I need to do more of that, so that in competition, I actually take the time before each serve to plan how I want to play out the serve.

He has beaten me a fair few time before, so I am happy with the win, even if it wasn't like 3-0.

At the very end, I tried his bat which has the dignics 09c! He is using a different blade than I am, I think so acoustic blade that is heavier, but the dignics 09c feels very nice to use. I feel when I loop with fh, I have more control and he says the spin is good. I just haven't tried serving or doing push with it. But I think next time I go back to the city, I will change it. Now the question lies whether I should stick with my current blade or back to viscaria.

 

[Der_Echte]

What is your opinion of Aurus, Aurus Prime, Aurus Sound, Aurus Soft and finally Aurus Select? They are all availabe on TT11.

How would you compare to Tibhar Revolution series? The reason I asked is that I have tried MX-P, MX-S, EL-S, and FX-P. I like EL-S and FX-P. MX-P and MX-S, not so much.

You have spoken highly of Aurus so I am wondering if I should score a sheet or two from TT11.

By the way, I like soft ESN rubber so my BH rubber right now is Rakza 7 soft and C-1. So I think Aurus regular might be too hard for me? Aurus Sound and Aurus Soft might be interesting...?

I have only used Aurus and Aurus Soft.

Aurus Soft on the BH of the Donic Persson Power Play is a beast when I crack it... soft rubber and slower blade allows you to hit harder and still control it. A stark difference from the missile launcher fast stuff.

If you have a faster, stiffer blade, regular Aurus will have a pleasing top end... but every shot isn't about top end... that is why Aurus shines, it does all your shots well.

 

[Der_Echte]

Which blade is it? The Gambler one?

I have tried all of their rubbers since they said "oh-toro" is the best Japanese sponge they have. Nope. It feels dead. Zero catapult effects. And I ordered max sponge for all of them. I don't even want to say what model of rubber I got because they all feel the same. I would put them on recreational blades for sure. But that's pretty much it. I mean their price is not bad. But I can score cheaper rubbers on Aliexpress like Sanwei T88 Ultra Spin at better price and better performance.

Gambler's blades are pretty good though. I am using the Gambler Blackout blade. It is very good. Fast but lots of control. Fire Dragon Fast and Gline are faster than Blackout and I cannot control them very well.

I am slowly working my way through all the Gambler blades.

I bought the ALL oversized rosewood outer chopping blade. I think the combo with the crappy FH rubber (sevens) and the good .6 sponge LP cost me $55 with the case and shipping.

Took a while to adjust to that blade, but I got it done, I chop well and with Aurus on FH, I can crush a topspin when I decide to.

EDIT, here is the blade link. Hmm, a $28 blade.

Gambler Rosewood Classic Oversize ⋆ Gambler Table Tennis

Rosewood Classic is a beautiful 5 ply classic oversize blade that plays just as good as it looks. Suitable for all around play with sponge rubbers also makes a fantastic hard bat (no sponge pip out rubbers). This timeless beauty is hand lacquered with a metal lens inlay, Rosewood outer ply...

gamblertt.com

 

[NextLevel]

Now it's my turn ( the flu is amazingly potent this year in Australia too... Never had such a bad flu in my life

Feel better!

 

[NextLevel]

Gambler's blades are pretty good though. I am using the Gambler Blackout blade. It is very good. Fast but lots of control. Fire Dragon Fast and Gline are faster than Blackout and I cannot control them very well.

I am slowly working my way through all the Gambler blades.

The problem with cheaper blades (and rubbers) isn't always how they play once, but whether they will remain consistent across different instances. Quality control for these things means that if you like it, you have no guarantee that the next person will like what you liked since the blade might play very differently.

 

[pgpg]

I bought the ALL oversized rosewood outer chopping blade. I think the combo with the crappy FH rubber (sevens) and the good .6 sponge LP cost me $55 with the case and shipping.

Took a while to adjust to that blade, but I got it done, I chop well and with Aurus on FH, I can crush a topspin when I decide to.

EDIT, here is the blade link. Hmm, a $28 blade.

Gambler Rosewood Classic Oversize ⋆ Gambler Table Tennis

Rosewood Classic is a beautiful 5 ply classic oversize blade that plays just as good as it looks. Suitable for all around play with sponge rubbers also makes a fantastic hard bat (no sponge pip out rubbers). This timeless beauty is hand lacquered with a metal lens inlay, Rosewood outer ply...

gamblertt.com

Which 'good LP' did you get there, GXL Oh-Toro?

 

[Der_Echte]

Which 'good LP' did you get there, GXL Oh-Toro?

That is affirmative Ghost Rider.

 

[NextLevel]

So I drove out to the TT club on a weekday. Still waiting for Der to do Dallas since the club is in a Korean mall and has a Korean owner so we can do barbeque.

I mostly trained for the time I was there and got to hit a lot more with the Cybershape. Did an hour of countering and blocking drills with a really strong two winged looper and I think I figured out how I have to block against strong players but I just have to find the time to practice it better. I am trying to expand my backhand play but I think my shoulder has limits on what it will accept so I won't push my original idea as far as I originally wanted to, which was to be able to use the backhand to hit inside out like Crisan with very little movement. But now I think about it, I want to give hitting forehands with the backhand side of my rubber like the old Xu Xin video a try. These are just crazy ways of looking to defend my middle a little while challenging my mind.

One of the other club members I saw later seems to have caught on to Golden Tango on both sides since he likes to hit the ball extremely hard (he loop kills my heaviest backspin serve with his backhand if it drifts long, I usually beat him since he is impatient countering heavy spin on his forehand but his touch game is very annoying as he wins a lot of points on short blocks to my forehand, and they are not easy wins). It will be interesting when I play him next.

I played a lower rated Nigerian friend who I have been trying to convince to expand his game. I think my backhand shenanigans hurt my shoulder a bit as well as some reaching for forehand shots so I only felt comfortable playing backhands against him. I found it weird that I could beat him easily playing mostly backhands, but when I tried to do the same with the forehand, I just didn't have the patience or the technique to pivot and spin the serve comfortably. Something to work on for sure, maybe I should target trying to beat him in a game playing mostly forehands from both sides. It says something about my forehand stroke and recovery that I can do this with my backhand and not my forehand. My right knee is also contributing something I suspect, it hurts when I want to do aggressive forehand movements.

At a certain point, I started pushing exclusively to the lower rated player's forehand hoping he would open and then I would practice countering. What happened next surprised me - he missed push after push after push over and over. It was a good reminder of how people's games can be very imbalanced. He likes to loop heavy forehands from behind the table, but the fact he was struggling to opening on basic pushes, even if consistently heavy, was just funny to me. But that said. it is probably something he hardly practices against since most people are opening against him and he is often the weakest regular player at the club. So he isn't surviving pushing battles at his level. Growing pains I guess, but a reminder that it is hard to cheat the process.

Went back home with the Cybershape firmly my main blade. Still fighting the SZLC sirens, but I will try to use a Boll T5000 for range training with the Cybershape to get better with Koto and to improve my ability to control faster blades with grip pressure. Stay tuned...