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...
