Daily Table Tennis Chit Chat

[riemsesy]

congrats!

How is the league level there for womens - how would you rate say the women league among other European womens leagues, in terms of how strong the players/clubs are?

not experienced enough to say something about that. as far as I know they dont play in a european league (if there is one)

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

not experienced enough to say something about that. as far as I know they dont play in a european league (if there is one)

no worries
I will have a look at the league websites and check.

There is an european champions league, where different league winner clubs from different countries will battle to be part of the champions league or european cup.
I will have a look if there are clubs from the Nederlands there.

I recall knowing someone playing in the Nederlands before and I can't remember who, but I recall hearing a lot of goods things about it.
Its a country I want to visit one day.

 

[blahness]

i was in a "pair tournament" yday.
Format was teams of 2 (men) in 4 team league and KO tournament later with 4 draws (for 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th)
team match is doubles + singles + singles

We finally finished in the final of KO for 2nd. Im quite happy with my overall performance

Against the team which finished 1st of our group, i played only the doubles and I'm not very happy about this match. but we won the 2 other doubles including 3-0 against a very decent team. (if we didn't close 3-0 i think we'd get in trouble)
in morning singles, i played a young guy who was quite good. good serves, very powerful drive, and agressive BH taking the ball early and countering aiming for all the table. it looked like a disaster losing 5-11 5-11 G1 and G2, but i still believed in myself because there was some good stuff, and i felt i was a bit unlucky and i needed only to focus a bit more and be a little bit more agressive to win, and i also felt i could do well in receiving with my BH. I didn't want to give up as well because the guy was tchooing hard and i wanted to be given the opportunity to tchooo louder than him.

I managed to win G3 11-7. G4 i was up 10-8 but he came back and got 2 match points on HIS serive, but i saved it to win it 13-12 (golden point rule). I really thought i would win it, and in the interval between G5 he really seemed lost and took time to discuss with his teammate. Alas for me it seemed to have broken my momentum, didn't get a good start in G5, and was a bit unlucky early as well. some poor decision making too (made at a critical moment the same serve which he had received perfectly twice earlier in the match). I guess under pressure the better player prevailed 6-11.

a lot of great topspin rallies, i played some really good BH winners down the line. blocking game was consistent. Not there yet but im getting closer to these guys !

in the afternoon, we faced a weak team, won easily both doubles and singles, next match team forfeited, one guy gone home, i played only singles and won. in final, we had some chance to win the doubles grabbing on the edge G1, but my partner had troubles in G2 and G4 against leftie serve. G3 we got to 9-9 but my partner missed his 2 receives under pressure. we were also a bit unlucky in G3. thats life.

i faced the leftie in singles, he had SP on his BH which produced some very odd balls sometimes (but not too often). Very strong serves. in G1 i was lost. but G2 i adjusted a bit and on my serve game i tried not to do obvious serves but watch more his waiting stance. managed to get to 8. But in G3 he increased his level and got only to 5. i had too many problems with his hook serve to my FH. i could open it on the table with decent spin but the ball was not deep enough and he made perfect counter topspin immediately down the line 3 times. Why did i open 3 times to his FH ??? damn !!!!

tough score 0-3.

it was a good experience today. I can see where i need to work more:
- getting back in position after serve more quickly.
- Be more aware of opponent when serving
- receive half-long and long serves to my FH, specifically that leftie hook serve.

Lastly, we won a pack of nittaku 3star balls each. so it was a good day

Yeah, short to half long lefty hook serves to the FH is very difficult to receive (see Par Gerell, WCQ for e.g. or even before him, Sun Ting). Almost not possible to see the contact because they always hide it and it's the more difficult sidespin to loop with FH (you have to loop it more on the back or fade it, can't hook it as that is the strong spin axis). And because it's the max diagonal distance so they can make the speed of the short/half-long serve much higher so the spin bites more on the rubber which means that you have to be even more precise. If you use the FH hook push/flick going against the spin, it will always land in their BH corner where they are just waiting to punish it if their BH is strong. Going down the line is too risky with this receive because of the length, and also after taking this risk you have to face their FH loop which is also really bad from a risk-reward perspective.

With righty the hook serve is also pretty bad already but at least: If they serve it diagonal you can at least do the BH hook push against the spin and then defend (not ideal but ok). Chiquita and fake loops can also be very strong from the BH. If they serve it to short FH it's the straight line so it tends to drift long, and you can simply FH hook loop it diagonally to their wide FH, or to their middle which is a very simple and strong receive. Even if it's short it has to be slow (due to the straight line distance), so you can easily either short push it (much easier because incoming momentum is lower) or sideswipe it to their BH where you can again prepare to defend - it's not so easy to attack this sideswipe hard.

 

[NextLevel]

Comments welcome. My only loss from a friendly event on Sunday (did cost me first place though):

 

[pedro.dantas]

Comments welcome. My only loss from a friendly event on Sunday (did cost me first place though):

Why do you loop standing upright? Just asking, seems like you play table tennis for a long time, but why not get the center of gravity lower?

 

[NextLevel]

Why do you loop standing upright? Just asking, seems like you play table tennis for a long time, but why not get the center of gravity lower?

Really bad knees. Sometimes I try but every time, the pain sends me back to square one. Though I am going to keep trying for the next few months as long as I can add some general strength.

 

[pedro.dantas]

Really bad knees. Sometimes I try but every time, the pain sends me back to square one. Though I am going to keep trying for the next few months as long as I can add some general strength.

This must be frustrating, maybe you could hit the gym and try strengthen your quadriceps and femoral biceps, these muscles really protect your knee, with professional advice, besides, you should see a doctor as well, unless you practice everyday you shouldn't feel this pain.
I'm still a beginner at table tennis, but I believe it's possible to lower your center of gravity by shifting your weight to your thigh, avoiding your knee. When I practice I always try to use my legs as much as possible, and avoid putting my weight on my knees. The next day my legs are very sore, but after a day or two of rest I don't feel anything anymore.

 

[Takkyu_wa_inochi]

Yeah, short to half long lefty hook serves to the FH is very difficult to receive (see Par Gerell, WCQ for e.g. or even before him, Sun Ting). Almost not possible to see the contact because they always hide it and it's the more difficult sidespin to loop with FH (you have to loop it more on the back or fade it, can't hook it as that is the strong spin axis). And because it's the max diagonal distance so they can make the speed of the short/half-long serve much higher so the spin bites more on the rubber which means that you have to be even more precise. If you use the FH hook push/flick going against the spin, it will always land in their BH corner where they are just waiting to punish it if their BH is strong. Going down the line is too risky with this receive because of the length, and also after taking this risk you have to face their FH loop which is also really bad from a risk-reward perspective.

With righty the hook serve is also pretty bad already but at least: If they serve it diagonal you can at least do the BH hook push against the spin and then defend (not ideal but ok). Chiquita and fake loops can also be very strong from the BH. If they serve it to short FH it's the straight line so it tends to drift long, and you can simply FH hook loop it diagonally to their wide FH, or to their middle which is a very simple and strong receive. Even if it's short it has to be slow (due to the straight line distance), so you can easily either short push it (much easier because incoming momentum is lower) or sideswipe it to their BH where you can again prepare to defend - it's not so easy to attack this sideswipe hard.

thank you very much for your advice. im not sure im getting it all.

Righty hook can sometimes be annoying for me but i know its like BH serve and one of my usual training partners plus my regular coach use mainly this one so I'm a bit familiar with it

However, leftie hook serve is more like pendulum serve from FH side, like in doubles, but i don't play doubles that much and in doubles people use more and more BH serve. Also the trajectory is a bit different often in doubles people aim for the middle of the table and put much less side spin.

Against this specific opponent, (that leftie guy) I could see the impact, but it didn't help much , as im very bad at judging spin (and length) from the impact, so I try not to play the ball too early and watch for the bounce when receiving. But its true that a lot of players hide the ball when serving hook serve. I remember complaining (always early in the match) a few times recently but fortunately the opponent did comply.

As a fun note, I've seen my coach (GC Foerster, an expro) lose to a leftie Youtuber (Yuji) who's got a really excellent hook serve (can't tell if he is hiding or not). GC seems lost like a beginner against this serve. so its not just me ! Its really a serve id like to learn both to receive well AND to execute !
actually i can see myself in not so old videos doing it from time to time, certainly way more often than i do recently. but it lacks a bit of quality and deception

 

[blahness]

thank you very much for your advice. im not sure im getting it all.

Righty hook can sometimes be annoying for me but i know its like BH serve and one of my usual training partners plus my regular coach use mainly this one so I'm a bit familiar with it

However, leftie hook serve is more like pendulum serve from FH side, like in doubles, but i don't play doubles that much and in doubles people use more and more BH serve. Also the trajectory is a bit different often in doubles people aim for the middle of the table and put much less side spin.

Against this specific opponent, (that leftie guy) I could see the impact, but it didn't help much , as im very bad at judging spin (and length) from the impact, so I try not to play the ball too early and watch for the bounce when receiving. But its true that a lot of players hide the ball when serving hook serve. I remember complaining (always early in the match) a few times recently but fortunately the opponent did comply.

As a fun note, I've seen my coach (GC Foerster, an expro) lose to a leftie Youtuber (Yuji) who's got a really excellent hook serve (can't tell if he is hiding or not). GC seems lost like a beginner against this serve. so its not just me ! Its really a serve id like to learn both to receive well AND to execute !
actually i can see myself in not so old videos doing it from time to time, certainly way more often than i do recently. but it lacks a bit of quality and deception

Haha there was no advice in my post. I struggled against that serve from lefties too esp if their sideunder and sidetop was really subtle. Even if I had an OK read of the spin it was really unfriendly to try to get an advantage receiving that particular lefty hook serve to the FH corner too. I guess now that I have anti on my BH that is probably a lot easier to deal with but it is still a pain in general.

Fortunately, I also have a very good hook serve and I always abuse these serve patterns against lefties too, and they too struggle against it. Lol so it's about who can disgust the other person more at this point.

See this game from Sun Ting - he barely lost any points when he was serving, this serve is just nasty af.

 

[dingyibvs]

I'm finally starting to get the new FH form down. I'm at a point where I'd I focus on the form I can execute it quite well. Next is to be execute it without thinking about it. It's been quite a pain to develop it, as it's difficult trying to change so many things at once with each change mandates changes to everything else from the foot to the racket.

My BH is gradually getting better too. I actually feel comfortable when a ball comes to my BH side now, and I feel confident in opening up on the BH side without thinking, even driving on the BH side. I'm now working on more advanced shots. Super spinny loops from way back, drives from close to mid distance, counters off of opponent opening loops, transitioning from defense to offense, and all to both corners.

I also ordered a Q968 🤭 I'm practicing right now with a Viscaria as it's less fault tolerant on the FH side and I wanted to develop using that. Later on I'd like to try out the Q968 and see if that can give me something in between the W968 and the Viscaria. I feel like in another month, I'll be fully transitioned to my new techniques on both sides and I'll start playing more matches.

 

[backspacer]

Reached my personal goal of 1400 TTR before the end of the year.

 

[Wrighty67]

I'm finally starting to get the new FH form down. I'm at a point where I'd I focus on the form I can execute it quite well. Next is to be execute it without thinking about it. It's been quite a pain to develop it, as it's difficult trying to change so many things at once with each change mandates changes to everything else from the foot to the racket.

My BH is gradually getting better too. I actually feel comfortable when a ball comes to my BH side now, and I feel confident in opening up on the BH side without thinking, even driving on the BH side. I'm now working on more advanced shots. Super spinny loops from way back, drives from close to mid distance, counters off of opponent opening loops, transitioning from defense to offense, and all to both corners.

I also ordered a Q968 🤭 I'm practicing right now with a Viscaria as it's less fault tolerant on the FH side and I wanted to develop using that. Later on I'd like to try out the Q968 and see if that can give me something in between the W968 and the Viscaria. I feel like in another month, I'll be fully transitioned to my new techniques on both sides and I'll start playing more matches.

Keen to hear your thoughts on the Q968. I’ve got Q/S and recently a player version W968 and they all share a lot of similarities. Of mine I’d say the S is closest to Vis and the W between the S and Q in terms of speed and dynamics. For me the Q has been the most controlled and slowest of the three. My W968 is fairly new to me so need more time with it whereas I’ve played the Q a lot.

 

[Gozo Zyreruna]

As mentioned before, I will post a video of my latest game when it is available.

Yes, you all may critic. I lost 1-2 to this high school kid.

 

[riemsesy]

Reached my personal goal of 1400 TTR before the end of the year.

Welll done!

My goal next season is to win two matches 😊that’s one more than last season. No ambition then to only have fun and understand the game better.

 

[NextLevel]

As mentioned before, I will post a video of my latest game when it is available.

Yes, you all may critic. I lost 1-2 to this high school kid.

Your forehand is winning and costing you a lot of points. I don't know whether you felt the kid was so much better than you that you had to take so much risk. What you need to work on is either increasing the consistency of yout putaway shot or to build out the in-between game with more consistency and better placement options. Your forehand is essentially an arms stroke and that will continue to cost you stability until it improves. But you missed a lot of backhand shots and is am not sure why.

The good thing is that you want to do something with the sitting ball. But you are taking too much risk against such balls for your playing level. Better to develop a reliable shot you can place somewhere and then play off the return from that ball.

 

[Gozo Zyreruna]

Dear Mister NL, sir!
Some assistance required:
1. What is sitting ball? Sorry, I am not familiar with the term.
==========================

2. This kid is about the same level as I am, maybe just a wee bit lower than me, perhaps 50 - 100 pts gap?
3. I had just beaten him a week ago, 3-2 and previous to that; 4-1.
4. I was not in the mental zone so to speak. This is a internal friendly and I was more in the friendly mode. Too much laughing and horsing around amongst the crowd I guess.

==========================

5. With regards to the backhand, I have this problem, when my mind is too focused on using the FH as my main weapon, it tend to forget how to do backhand and vice-versa. It is like I have difficulty getting my mind to switch around and if I do that I get worse, my mind will be distracted with split second indecision. So, if I focus on BH, my FH will suffer, needless to say. Not sure if this is a peculiar problem to me or is this a common noobie problem. This means, I can only focus on side at a time.
6. Now, onwards to something in my chest I want to get off and is related to point Nos. 5.
7. Since I tend to be only a one side looper, I want to make my FH the main weapon and my BH will mainly be of a supporting role. That is why I look up to like Aruna / Ma Long and et al as my idol.
8. I know very well that I do not need to win in TT to put food on my table, so my main motivation is to hit big powerful shot, get it on video and enjoy it later. What better than having those big power-loop from the FH? Better yet, FH powerloop from pivot at the BH position. You see where I coming from and where lies my main motivation.

========================

OK, now onward to something that is at the back of my mind, that is, what do you guys think? Putting all my points into consideration, should I:

a) continue to use easy to use offensive rubber like Vega Europe and play controlled looping

or

b) Buy myself the ultimate FH rubber, that is Tenergy 05 Hard in my opinion and learn how to use it by hook or crook or die trying? I know I will lose many many matches and I should adopt a mental attitude: So What! I want those beautiful FH shots and other things does not matter.

Please help, fellow TT enthusiast.

 

[Lazer]

Dear Mister NL, sir!
Some assistance required:
1. What is sitting ball? Sorry, I am not familiar with the term.
==========================

Since NL didn't answer yet, its a very easy ball, little spin, little speed , relatively high. Compare it with the expression "sitting duck"...

Cheers
L-zr

 

[banbekas]

Dear Mister NL, sir!
Some assistance required:
1. What is sitting ball? Sorry, I am not familiar with the term.
==========================

2. This kid is about the same level as I am, maybe just a wee bit lower than me, perhaps 50 - 100 pts gap?
3. I had just beaten him a week ago, 3-2 and previous to that; 4-1.
4. I was not in the mental zone so to speak. This is a internal friendly and I was more in the friendly mode. Too much laughing and horsing around amongst the crowd I guess.

==========================

5. With regards to the backhand, I have this problem, when my mind is too focused on using the FH as my main weapon, it tend to forget how to do backhand and vice-versa. It is like I have difficulty getting my mind to switch around and if I do that I get worse, my mind will be distracted with split second indecision. So, if I focus on BH, my FH will suffer, needless to say. Not sure if this is a peculiar problem to me or is this a common noobie problem. This means, I can only focus on side at a time.
6. Now, onwards to something in my chest I want to get off and is related to point Nos. 5.
7. Since I tend to be only a one side looper, I want to make my FH the main weapon and my BH will mainly be of a supporting role. That is why I look up to like Aruna / Ma Long and et al as my idol.
8. I know very well that I do not need to win in TT to put food on my table, so my main motivation is to hit big powerful shot, get it on video and enjoy it later. What better than having those big power-loop from the FH? Better yet, FH powerloop from pivot at the BH position. You see where I coming from and where lies my main motivation.

========================

OK, now onward to something that is at the back of my mind, that is, what do you guys think? Putting all my points into consideration, should I:

a) continue to use easy to use offensive rubber like Vega Europe and play controlled looping

or

b) Buy myself the ultimate FH rubber, that is Tenergy 05 Hard in my opinion and learn how to use it by hook or crook or die trying? I know I will lose many many matches and I should adopt a mental attitude: So What! I want those beautiful FH shots and other things does not matter.

Please help, fellow TT enthusiast.

Get that ultimate rubber and powerloop everything!

Of course you must record your play everytime to re-enjoy the satisfaction later on when you watch the recording.

We play TT for the fun of it, and if fun is powerlooping, you should die on that hill and enjoy!

 

[NextLevel]

Dear Mister NL, sir!
Some assistance required:
1. What is sitting ball? Sorry, I am not familiar with the term.
==========================

2. This kid is about the same level as I am, maybe just a wee bit lower than me, perhaps 50 - 100 pts gap?
3. I had just beaten him a week ago, 3-2 and previous to that; 4-1.
4. I was not in the mental zone so to speak. This is a internal friendly and I was more in the friendly mode. Too much laughing and horsing around amongst the crowd I guess.

==========================

5. With regards to the backhand, I have this problem, when my mind is too focused on using the FH as my main weapon, it tend to forget how to do backhand and vice-versa. It is like I have difficulty getting my mind to switch around and if I do that I get worse, my mind will be distracted with split second indecision. So, if I focus on BH, my FH will suffer, needless to say. Not sure if this is a peculiar problem to me or is this a common noobie problem. This means, I can only focus on side at a time.
6. Now, onwards to something in my chest I want to get off and is related to point Nos. 5.
7. Since I tend to be only a one side looper, I want to make my FH the main weapon and my BH will mainly be of a supporting role. That is why I look up to like Aruna / Ma Long and et al as my idol.
8. I know very well that I do not need to win in TT to put food on my table, so my main motivation is to hit big powerful shot, get it on video and enjoy it later. What better than having those big power-loop from the FH? Better yet, FH powerloop from pivot at the BH position. You see where I coming from and where lies my main motivation.

========================

OK, now onward to something that is at the back of my mind, that is, what do you guys think? Putting all my points into consideration, should I:

a) continue to use easy to use offensive rubber like Vega Europe and play controlled looping

or

b) Buy myself the ultimate FH rubber, that is Tenergy 05 Hard in my opinion and learn how to use it by hook or crook or die trying? I know I will lose many many matches and I should adopt a mental attitude: So What! I want those beautiful FH shots and other things does not matter.

Please help, fellow TT enthusiast.

Usually, at the lowest level the sitting ball is the very easy ball. Not moving fast, we'll placed in your strike zone and esst for you to read so you can attack it and put it away with a good shot. Table tennis attacking in my opinion is about playing to get such sitting balls and expanding your options for dealing with sitting balls or expanding your options so that more balls.become sitting balls. Table tennis defending is the other side of that - preventing your opponent from getting sitting balls or expanding your options for playing after thr opponent attacks the sitting ball. If you are missing so many smashes, you need to learn to stop smashing and to spin the ball so that when the opponent blocks, you get an easier ball that you can attack with more power and placement.

The transition between backhand and forehand is a common issue that most people have to do footwork and transition drills to get to their own solution. It is clear that you don't know how to play a powerful shot and deal with what happens when the ball comes back. That is what good training is supposed to teach you. Though to be fair, your opponent isn't bringing the ball back in this video. But that is offset by the number of times you missed the shot.

 

[blahness]

As mentioned before, I will post a video of my latest game when it is available.

Yes, you all may critic. I lost 1-2 to this high school kid.

With how much you like to slap the ball, i feel like double inverted is not gonna be your forte. The power of inverted is in the power of heavy topspin which cannot be generated with slap shots. I feel like your mentality is much more suited to SP hitting especially on FH. BH LP given how much you like to push the ball.

Double inverted is for spin happy ppl.