Daily Table Tennis Chit Chat

[Takkyu_wa_inochi]

Good stuff. I have one point against Jian Li where he sidespin loops thr ball.and I kill it with my slow rubbers and thr crowd gore oooh... still my best point ever against a high level player and you out did that a few times here lol.

He’s coaching me so he’s not giving me difficult balls, he’s trying to let me play and let the point last and win by exhausting me

Actually we did a practice match later that day where he never attacks and only blocks rather passively (but with placement) and I couldn’t even win though it was very close.

—
Generally as I have an agressive attacking game and have rather fast reaction there will be always good looking points even against strong players . But as I’m not consistent and not strong at serve receive of course I lose

 

[Tyce]

I'm frustrated with the rating system in our leagues.
Currently I'm about 900-950, as is my teammate. We have been playing around in what I feel is the bottom league for people who can play the basics and it's been a frustrating experience. Our ratings are usually top 4-5 in the group, at the start of this season I was the highest rated player and we were the highest rated team.
Needless to say, we didn't end up first, again.
I dunked 60 points losing to a foreign student without a rating, and a few other losses to people whose bats would not have passed inspection. I'm not blaming them, of course.

So we asked if we could apply to play one level up. The response being, we would have to average about 1015 points for that to be considered. There's only two players out of our group who are close to that, and I beat one of them... Not a single team averages over 950, and recent promotions on merit (winning the group) have been the same, all teams between 900-950.
So as a 900-950 player myself, it's almost impossible to breach 1000 in this group. I'd have to win every single game just to not dunk massive rating points again.

I don't do well this way. I want to look up, not being afraid of losing to a 700 player with a horrible game. I think I need to move up so I can learn to play that level, rather than staying stuck in this one.

 

[Takkyu_wa_inochi]

I miss so many 3rd balls . I’ve been thinking for a long time that I’m too slow not dynamic enough and late at repositioning but it happens even when the ball is not so fast

So the explanation is just maybe I’m not paying attention enough to the ball. I focus too much on serve and get track on of the ball too late after serving ?

[I do practice 3rd ball and serve much more than before but fail to see meaningful quantitative improvement. Maybe I don’t practice well ?]

 

[Lazer]

I miss so many 3rd balls . I’ve been thinking for a long time that I’m too slow not dynamic enough and late at repositioning but it happens even when the ball is not so fast

So the explanation is just maybe I’m not paying attention enough to the ball. I focus too much on serve and get track on of the ball too late after serving ?

[I do practice 3rd ball and serve much more than before but fail to see meaningful quantitative improvement. Maybe I don’t practice well ?]

I know, this is one of my problems too. If my head isn’t 100% there I will react much slower and only have time to block. When my head is with me I have time to counter too, this makes a lot of difference…

Cheers
L-zr

 

[jk1980]

I miss so many 3rd balls . I’ve been thinking for a long time that I’m too slow not dynamic enough and late at repositioning but it happens even when the ball is not so fast

Do you actually use a wide variety of serves in a match ? If you choose a vastly different serve each time the return will also vary greatly not making you adjust to a specific return of the opponent, because you get thrown into a new situation every time.

So the explanation is just maybe I’m not paying attention enough to the ball. I focus too much on serve and get track on of the ball too late after serving ?

Usually you would know how your serve is returned most of the time and what happens sometimes, so you basically should have a plan A and plan B. If a given serve is returned in 3 or more ways by your opponent, that might not be a wise serve to use. Do you have a video of these scenarios ?

 

[Gozo Zyreruna]

You know you have an awesome fantabulous workout when you find your socks and shoes are soaked in sweat despite playing in an air-conditioned TT playing hall.

Luvin'it!

 

[Tyce]

Ugh, I'm getting so tired of second-guessing my choices of equipment. I should really just get one good blade that fits the rubbers I like to play and then chuck away the rest.
Of course it would also help a lot if I didn't have so much damn time on my hands.

 

[Gozo Zyreruna]

Ugh, I'm getting so tired of second-guessing my choices of equipment. I should really just get one good blade that fits the rubbers I like to play and then chuck away the rest.
Of course it would also help a lot if I didn't have so much damn time on my hands.

golden viz plus d09c fh plus d05 bh.

now go train until your socks & shoes are soaked in sweat.

 

[Tyce]

golden viz plus d09c fh plus d05 bh.

now go train until your socks & shoes are soaked in sweat.
View attachment 36397

Oh the rubbers are not up for discussion - I have Fastarcs here and love them, just need something that fits them, and me, really well.
Golden vis.... Who knows

EDIT: double checked the prices - well no. It'd better be made of actual gold for that price

 

[blahness]

For some unknown reason, I replaced one of my dying sheet of D05 with D09c.

After some adjustments to my FH loop technique (D09c is super high throw so I had to go a lot more forward than D05), i think I am liking this change back. The spin/speed ratio on the FH can be really disturbing with D09c which is what I liked the most. Weird thing is that it doesnt feel that spinny coming from my racket, but when it touches the opponent's racket I can feel the sheer amount of spin in it compared to my D05 side.

I couldnt do my prev high toss FH pendulum serves with D09c anymore - they all were served way too short lol, but hook serves were a lot easier to keep short now compared to D05. Also 09c short push is like heaven compared to D05, it was no problem at all keeping the returns short and low regardless of incoming spin.

But I'm liking the changes so far, in general I don't need to be so precise with it as compared with when I am using D05.

Will see how long this D09c lasts!

 

[Tyce]

After a week of absence I finally went to play again last night. Had a good time playing while testing potential setups to move forward with, particularly Pro 05 which was a lot easier to adjust to with euro rubbers on it. I tried it quite a few months ago when I was using H3 and I couldn't get used to the power curve, basically going between nets and overshooting.
Now I tested it with Rakza 7 and Fastarc C1 which was pretty good! Focused a lot on the moment of contact, and getting good engagement, resulting in a couple balls that were so powerful I could feel the KLC layer reverberating into my bones
I definitely felt like the margin for good contact is smaller with this inner fiber blade compared to the allwood Korbel, but it's still enough to work with. I just wish it was a little less stiff and head heavy.

In other news, I played without my elbow brace, and haven't had more than a tiny niggle. Really happy about that

 

[dingyibvs]

Just came back from a long trip, had a short training session vs the robot. The new FH form is looking good, so working on cementing it now. I was only able to get medium power single position shots with good consistency, so a lot of work still needs to be done. I'll be doing 2 positions next, then from BH corner, then multiple position, then FH/BH, and then add in loop vs backspin as well.

In addition, I recently noticed that the pros try their best to hit the ball a consistent distance from their body, not just in terms of how far to their right/left, but how far in front as well. I OTOH have been focusing more on a consistent swing. When the ball is faster and/or wider than expected, pros would shorten the swing while I try to make a full swing and end up taking the ball way late and behind me. So that's something I'm working on as well, always hitting the ball in front of me, especially when I have to move.

I'm also finding that TT is not exactly like riding a bike, you do forget how to execute things if you stop practicing them. By focusing on the FH for just a few weeks I seem to have lost some consistency on my BH side, so I'm now mixing in a bit more BH practices as well, especially the opening loop. In particular I'm working on looping down the line and taking the ball with different timings so e.g. I'm not caught off guard by a surprise long push.

 

[NextLevel]

@Tony's Table Tennis, what are you doing?

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

@Tony's Table Tennis, what are you doing?

What happened?

Haha, well done in finding me.
I was swamp that time, so couldn't really hosted him for more sessions

 

[Takkyu_wa_inochi]

after years of trying unsuccessfully, im managing to do (my own version of) the YG serve. not mastering it yet, but enough to try it in training and competitive matches.

it is quite spinny, i find it easy to put sidespin, while on hook serve i don't know how to put sidespin. the problem now is i get my own (heavy) spin back and i need to learn to deal with it !

 

[dingyibvs]

Just musing a bit. After practicing the new form and thinking about it a lot, I've come up with a bit of a new approach to my "complete" BH and FH forms. On the FH side, I think the general feeling should be finding the ball with my right leg and then hitting the ball with my leg. It seems that I'm able to execute the shot with the form I want the best when I basically try to loop the ball with my right leg. Everything else kind of just gets propelled and goes along with the leg as it swings the rest of my body from right to left.

On the BH it's basically the same thing except I'm using the left hip/abdomen instead of the right leg, that is, find the ball with my left hip/abdomen and then hit it with my left hip/abdomen. For the activation sequence, I find that for most shots I have the optimal blend of power and recovery if I keep my core just tense enough to follow along with my lower body, though for full power shots I'll relax my core a bit and make it part of the activation sequence as well.

 

[banbekas]

I miss so many 3rd balls . I’ve been thinking for a long time that I’m too slow not dynamic enough and late at repositioning but it happens even when the ball is not so fast

So the explanation is just maybe I’m not paying attention enough to the ball. I focus too much on serve and get track on of the ball too late after serving ?

[I do practice 3rd ball and serve much more than before but fail to see meaningful quantitative improvement. Maybe I don’t practice well ?]

Your practice is great, but you can't bring it to your game means your mental game is still not up to par. A common mistake when your mental game is not good.

You don't know the effect of your own serve, the receive placement, and you are slow in deciding what to do after. You did good in practice, so does everyone. You'd better focus on trying to do 3rd ball attack when you spar instead of just practice. Slowly adapt it to your game.

 

[blahness]

after years of trying unsuccessfully, im managing to do (my own version of) the YG serve. not mastering it yet, but enough to try it in training and competitive matches.

it is quite spinny, i find it easy to put sidespin, while on hook serve i don't know how to put sidespin. the problem now is i get my own (heavy) spin back and i need to learn to deal with it !

If you do a YG serve to the BH, it almost forces them to push or flick with BH against the spin. This results in a ball with clockwise sidespin as if you are receiving a FH pendulum serve from your opponent. It is very easy to go with the spin and loop the 3rd ball with the BH, very difficult with FH unless you can pivot ultrafast due to the sidespin dragging it more towards BH side. If they push it to your FH, it is easier to do a fade loop or a straight loop, hooking it is a bad idea.

 

[Takkyu_wa_inochi]

If you do a YG serve to the BH, it almost forces them to push or flick with BH against the spin. This results in a ball with clockwise sidespin as if you are receiving a FH pendulum serve from your opponent. It is very easy to go with the spin and loop the 3rd ball with the BH, very difficult with FH unless you can pivot ultrafast due to the sidespin dragging it more towards BH side. If they push it to your FH, it is easier to do a fade loop or a straight loop, hooking it is a bad idea.

What if I serve to FH (short)

 

[dingyibvs]

What's the YG serve?