Daily Table Tennis Chit Chat
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Mind + eye, then body. If you can't recover all the time, you are just playing against someone much better than you.No mate, in my mind I'm always so ready for the next shot but my body is nowhere near the right place
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The unstated problem in all table tennis complaints about many things related to performance... the other player jus reads the game faster than you do, it might not be about the pips etc....
I took some time off to host my in-laws (both MIL/FIL as well as my SIL/husband/toddler) a couple weeks ago, and had to work a bit extra afterwards to make up the hours, so haven't had too much time to play. I've also been dealing with a nagging left hamstring injury, which I know will probably require me to take some time off from soccer but I've been just trying to work through it. My guess is it probably won't heal until my China trip in Oct/Nov, when I'll be spending 2 weeks with no strenuous activity.
In an attempt to avoid aggravating my injury, I decided to focus more on my BH so I don't have to do as much lateral movement, as quick lunges to my wide FH is what really makes it hurt. My BH form has improved quite a bit, now I'm working on applying it to my BH loop. I tried it out in training against other players, but I think I need to start with a more structured environment, so I'm been doing a bit more against the robot. I'm focusing right now on just using the right form, with the right footwork, and getting good contact with the ball. Landing the ball is secondary right now, and I just let it happen naturally as my brain adjusts on its own. This strategy seems to be working, and I'll continue to add complexity to my drills.
On the equipment side, I just ordered a S968 lol. Just can't resist EJing. It's an expensive blade, so I'll probably have to do what I did with my W968 and Q968, which is commit to sticking to it for at least a year. I'll keep the same rubbers, though I'll consider an D09C/D05 combo if it truly plays like an outer blade as many have described. Like @Tyce and @Takkyu_wa_inochi were saying, I need to start working more on recovery, using smaller motions, and it's just a lot easier to do with Dignics. That's also part of the reason I decided to try out the S968. One of my coaches was telling me that I need to study the women's game a bit more, and I tend to agree. When I watch WCQ's games, I can't imagine myself playing a toned down version of his game, but when I watch say SYS's game, I can see myself playing a toned down version of her game.
In an attempt to avoid aggravating my injury, I decided to focus more on my BH so I don't have to do as much lateral movement, as quick lunges to my wide FH is what really makes it hurt. My BH form has improved quite a bit, now I'm working on applying it to my BH loop. I tried it out in training against other players, but I think I need to start with a more structured environment, so I'm been doing a bit more against the robot. I'm focusing right now on just using the right form, with the right footwork, and getting good contact with the ball. Landing the ball is secondary right now, and I just let it happen naturally as my brain adjusts on its own. This strategy seems to be working, and I'll continue to add complexity to my drills.
On the equipment side, I just ordered a S968 lol. Just can't resist EJing. It's an expensive blade, so I'll probably have to do what I did with my W968 and Q968, which is commit to sticking to it for at least a year. I'll keep the same rubbers, though I'll consider an D09C/D05 combo if it truly plays like an outer blade as many have described. Like @Tyce and @Takkyu_wa_inochi were saying, I need to start working more on recovery, using smaller motions, and it's just a lot easier to do with Dignics. That's also part of the reason I decided to try out the S968. One of my coaches was telling me that I need to study the women's game a bit more, and I tend to agree. When I watch WCQ's games, I can't imagine myself playing a toned down version of his game, but when I watch say SYS's game, I can see myself playing a toned down version of her game.
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Nah, mostly technique. The higher level players recover faster because every movement is done using their core muscles and lower body with good centre of gravity management.
you can actually test it - see if you can do FH loop at frequencies of more than 90 times / minute. The faster the frequency you can get with this the more time efficient your stroke is and the more "recovery time" you would have.
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Sucks to hear about the injury, man, take it easy and let it heal! But it is awesome that you found a way to keep training and work on your backhand. Focusing on form and ball contact against the robot without stressing about where the ball lands is honestly the best way to handle recovery.
And of course, buying an expensive new blade is the ultimate cure for the injury blues! The S968 is absolute legendary gear. Since it is actually Sun Yingsha's personal line, it fits right in with your plan to adapt her style. Running a D09C/D05 setup on it should give you great control close to the table without needing those massive, full-amplitude swings.
Get well soon, and definitely keep us posted with a review once the S968 arrives!
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Whoa that's weird how your quote of my post added a 4th paragraph. Does anyone else see it, in my post and his? I can only see the 3 paragraphs I wrote.
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Anticipation and recovery are two distinct and important elements of getting to a ball. The fact that the original complaint from @Tyce spoke about recovery but the point was really about anticipation is the disconnect. Many people recover fine but fail to anticipate where the ball is going but that failure to anticipate (or determine early in thr opponent's shot where the ball is going) is costly. Of course technique can improve your ability to recover but by itself it doesn't improve your ability to anticipate. And there are also shot selection elements built into it as well. But the main point is that while the complaint used the word recovery, the issue was unlikely to be about recovery since he was nowhere close to the ball.
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but you had that in some draft version of your post? or not? (should be deleted, if not, as it contains a link)
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It's been taken care of, just wasn't sure whether it was a one-time thing or whether @dingyibvs would get an explanation, but I decided not to wait much longer.
No, definitely not! It seems like an AI read my post and then dovetailed a promo segment to the end if my post. I'm concerned that @MaxBeckwith or TTD itself was hacked if these types of things are being added to posts.
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Ready position and anticipation are indeed some very important factors when replying to incoming balls and i am on a journey to change my "after-serve" ready position from a forehand dominant approach (where i would pivot for balls to my backhand) to a more neutral one, because i want to actually answer balls to the backhand with my backhand loop.
Unfortunately i instinctively adjust my left leg behind when a receive ball comes to my backhand which makes me automatically these 10cm too far away and the ball often enough drops before i can hit it. It's really awkward because somehow i must have ingrained that right foot in front stance because it worked in some kind of way in the past (otherwise you would not "save" it to become basically muscle memory). Its hard to get that out of my system. If i do and basically imagine my left foot to be ankered closer to the table corner with my right foot a little back or even on the same level the backhand loop works properly, but somehow this experience does not override the bad instinct.
On another note i had a few training matches where i focussed on that exact pattern. I serve diagonally long into the opponents backhand and reset to a position with the left leg closer to the table, but that actually makes every ball played to my forehand more of a reactionary rescue shot. My training partner even said that my forehand loops had way less quality and that i did move much better into position in the past. Thing is, he really only pushed to my forehand which made my focus on the backhand stance a bit stupid. when i then just focussed to recovery to a wider and lower stance my forehand loop quality instantly improved.
The rescue shots before where kinda bad though and i attributed that to the battle 2 gold prov °40 to be to hard to play out of position that much, so the EJ bug bit me. I just wanted something easier to activate (for those rescue balls) and found myself replacing the Battle 2 gold with a Battle 3 '39. Since i had a few other setups lying around i compared it loop against block with spinsight and found the battle 3 °39 acoustic to be the best performing for me. Even better than the Dignics 09c on an TMXi and the Battle 3 on a W968. I guess it is really my technical limitation that makes me get more use of the softer battle 3. We are talking about quite big margins (D09c 119 avg spin, B3 on W968 115 avg spin and B3 on Acoustic 125 avg spin).
Now robot tests can be misleading so i am curious how it will work out for me in tomorrows training. Reviewing the training footage of thursday with the Battle 2 Gold i gotta say that the loops where i stood propery and looped hard were all having a great trajectory (low over the net), but when i am not in position it's a totally different story. In training matches i know my opponents so its not that often that i am out of position but in the league that will be a totally different story.
Thinking about ordering a few Battle 3 °39 for the season, but i guess i have some time still, since this old one that i reglued on my blade is sticky again after using the rubber rejuvenator/cleaner. I could even lift the ball for several seconds.
Unfortunately i instinctively adjust my left leg behind when a receive ball comes to my backhand which makes me automatically these 10cm too far away and the ball often enough drops before i can hit it. It's really awkward because somehow i must have ingrained that right foot in front stance because it worked in some kind of way in the past (otherwise you would not "save" it to become basically muscle memory). Its hard to get that out of my system. If i do and basically imagine my left foot to be ankered closer to the table corner with my right foot a little back or even on the same level the backhand loop works properly, but somehow this experience does not override the bad instinct.
On another note i had a few training matches where i focussed on that exact pattern. I serve diagonally long into the opponents backhand and reset to a position with the left leg closer to the table, but that actually makes every ball played to my forehand more of a reactionary rescue shot. My training partner even said that my forehand loops had way less quality and that i did move much better into position in the past. Thing is, he really only pushed to my forehand which made my focus on the backhand stance a bit stupid. when i then just focussed to recovery to a wider and lower stance my forehand loop quality instantly improved.
The rescue shots before where kinda bad though and i attributed that to the battle 2 gold prov °40 to be to hard to play out of position that much, so the EJ bug bit me. I just wanted something easier to activate (for those rescue balls) and found myself replacing the Battle 2 gold with a Battle 3 '39. Since i had a few other setups lying around i compared it loop against block with spinsight and found the battle 3 °39 acoustic to be the best performing for me. Even better than the Dignics 09c on an TMXi and the Battle 3 on a W968. I guess it is really my technical limitation that makes me get more use of the softer battle 3. We are talking about quite big margins (D09c 119 avg spin, B3 on W968 115 avg spin and B3 on Acoustic 125 avg spin).
Now robot tests can be misleading so i am curious how it will work out for me in tomorrows training. Reviewing the training footage of thursday with the Battle 2 Gold i gotta say that the loops where i stood propery and looped hard were all having a great trajectory (low over the net), but when i am not in position it's a totally different story. In training matches i know my opponents so its not that often that i am out of position but in the league that will be a totally different story.
Thinking about ordering a few Battle 3 °39 for the season, but i guess i have some time still, since this old one that i reglued on my blade is sticky again after using the rubber rejuvenator/cleaner. I could even lift the ball for several seconds.
says
Fighting the EJ bug again...
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Fighting the EJ bug again...
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Won my first "tournament" yesterday. A few years ago my company started holding an annual ping-pong tournament. It's just rec players so probably ~U1000, with most folks being sub-500, but the guys at the top are real competitive. I made it to the finals the first year and lost to a tennis player that just attacked every serve I gave him, which is what drove me to join a club and actually start training. Had a new, better player join the office a couple of years ago and lost to him back-to-back, but I took him down in the finals this year. We play regularly at work and have a friendly rivalry going, so it felt especially good.
I was just starting to feel a change in my level playing at the club, but the ease with which I won via serve and serve-receive alone really sort of drove it home that yes, I'm getting better. But also watching recordings of the matches shows me how much room for improvement there still is. 😅 Looking forward to getting smoked by real ballers in Düsseldorf in a couple of months!
I was just starting to feel a change in my level playing at the club, but the ease with which I won via serve and serve-receive alone really sort of drove it home that yes, I'm getting better. But also watching recordings of the matches shows me how much room for improvement there still is. 😅 Looking forward to getting smoked by real ballers in Düsseldorf in a couple of months!
Haha, I started playing with a similar story! I was in med school at the time and there was a table at our lounge. I was getting my butt kicked left and right, so I bought a premade racket off of Amazon and started playing at a local club. There was just this one old guy there the first time I went, he was ~1700 rated so crushed me easily. In my apartment complex there was also a table, and I would push it up against a glass wall, serve balls against the wall and then practice looping it back. In a few months, I was able to defeat that 1700 player.
Then during the last year in med school, I played in our annual "Tournament" against the law school. We'd crush them in the TT event every year, but this year they thought for sure that they'd win. That's because their top player that year is a 1700's rated guy who was also the reigning intramural TT champion of the entire university. Well, turns out he was only the champion because I didn't participate, 'cuz I really kicked his butt an dashed their hopes!
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