Daily Table Tennis Chit Chat

[jonol]

You know, I wonder if training like that was a part of my problem. So I had been seeking power, wanting to get a good crack on every loop. Once I managed to do that against single point backspins, I set my robot to random points, 3 different speed/length balls, and then tried to do the same. Basically I was trying to do the drill you suggested...except doing a big swing with every shot.

I was never able to accomplish that, and now I'm thinking I probably shouldn't have tried because it's simply not the right way to approach it.

Yeah, I think these drills are good for learning how to 'build' a point.

Early in rallies often both players are close to the table, so you simply don't get the type of ball that you can load up for.

Learning to creating quality with timing and efficient movements, loading up when appropriate.

As you become more efficient, you can start to feel when you can really rip the shot.

 

[dingyibvs]

Had another training session today, this time with a better player (than me, that is). My coach was giving someone else a lesson, and afterwards he watched us a bit and gave me some pointers. As mentioned before, I've been dealing with a wrist injury. I was trying to make some adjustments, but besides limiting my wrist's range of motion I wasn't sure what to do.

My coach pointed out that my adjustments have led to me brushing too much on the FH side. He showed me some adjustments but then had to leave. My training partner then worked with me for a bit and finally was able to help me make the necessary adjustments. Basically, I didn't really need to limit the backswing in my wrist, I just need to limit the forward swing to merely tensing up the wrist to return it to neutral position and not letting it swing overly forward. Also, the flaring out of the racket should be done passively, by letting my arm leading a loose wrist, and not by actively flaring my wrist out. After these adjustments, I was able to get much better contact and control on the ball, though if I used power even just tensing up the wrist still hurt. That's probably just a function of my wrist having still not fully recovered though.

I then did some more BH opening loop practices, which went pretty well. My new BH rubber, Rxton 9, is really super easy to open up with. I'm pretty impressed with its capabilities, as it's got plenty of power if I can get a good whack as well. I think I feel pretty good with my BH opening loop now. Next up I need to work on the next shot. As I need to be able to kill a soft block, loop an active block, or enter into a BH rally against a counter.

 

[J-fed]

So. What's your approach to rubber damage. I took a chunk out of my FH rubber today whilst practicing FHs on the BH diagonal.
It's near the edge and won't affect my play but dang, it's there every time I look at the bat now. Just taunting me like a big unburst pimple.
How much do you care about such things and what are your guidelines for acceptability on damaged rubbers?

 

[Tyce]

Anything that's not in the outer 5mm I replace ASAP. If I notice it makes me uncertain or uncomfortable, I replace it ASAP.
Basically the sweetspot needs to be good, with some extra margin, and of course the specific areas used to serve.
If I hit the ball on the outer edge of the racket, fair chance it was going to be a bad shot anyway.
I have also replaced rubbers with damage outside the sweetspot and put the old one on my backup to use in practice, but usually that leads to me still trashing the rubber sooner than later.

 

[J-fed]

Anything that's not in the outer 5mm I replace ASAP. If I notice it makes me uncertain or uncomfortable, I replace it ASAP.
Basically the sweetspot needs to be good, with some extra margin, and of course the specific areas used to serve.
If I hit the ball on the outer edge of the racket, fair chance it was going to be a bad shot anyway.
I have also replaced rubbers with damage outside the sweetspot and put the old one on my backup to use in practice, but usually that leads to me still trashing the rubber sooner than later.

Yeah, it's about 2 or 3mm in so I'll not replace it yet, I'll wait until I see a rubber I'm fascinated with and then use it as an excuse.
Was practicing 4 to a table and it was unusual for me to do the inside out FH drill so I lost my bearings a bit. You live and learn eh.
Overall extremely fun session and the blocking practice against a real loop monster made good learnings. I compared the P3V to the Yinhe 955 and found the P3 to be way better from my POV. I could aggressively block most anything with it, but the 955 I could not block the real zingers. It is surprisingly confusing for a rubber with not much rep for big reversal though. He seemed totally perplexed by it, could barely string 2 loops together but against the P3 he could hit 4 or 5 until he made me miss or I got some nasty cut on one.
This makes my decision tough, but I think I'll go with the one I feel I can dictate with, not the one I feel like neither of us have a clue what's going on.

 

[Archosaurus]

So. What's your approach to rubber damage. I took a chunk out of my FH rubber today whilst practicing FHs on the BH diagonal.
It's near the edge and won't affect my play but dang, it's there every time I look at the bat now. Just taunting me like a big unburst pimple.
How much do you care about such things and what are your guidelines for acceptability on damaged rubbers?

No care at all unless it's a hole or bubble right in the middle. The only times I've ever replaced a rubber are due to sponge fatigue, topsheet wear or a bubble. Never because of a scuff or tear. They're cosmetic most of the time anyway.

Hell, I badly glued on my current FH rubber and it has a little bulge in the top corner, but I don't care about stuff like that anymore, I re-glue too often for it to warrant correction.

In competition the covering has to be 100% completely undamaged and 100% completely even but that's not really something that is checked around here in amateur competition nor will it affect the performance, so I'd try to have a spotless, perfect backup racket on hand but otherwise I think minor damage on the edge would pass for racket control.

 

[kindof99]

Basically, I didn't really need to limit the backswing in my wrist, I just need to limit the forward swing to merely tensing up the wrist to return it to neutral position and not letting it swing overly forward. Also, the flaring out of the racket should be done passively, by letting my arm leading a loose wrist, and not by actively flaring my wrist out.

Most of the time, your arm/hand/wrist/finger should be relaxed when backswinging, and then tense when swing forward. That relax to tense momentum is good enough for all the need from wrist.

The pause from backswing to forward swing is kind of a way to backswing your wrist as your body starts to move your arm forward but your wrist is still delayed due to the relaxation.

 

[RPB Enthusiast]

I think I've come to conclusion that Zyre-03 works much better on my backhand than forehand, but since I play penhold, I will stick with Zyre-03 on forehand until the beginning of November. I ordered Dignics 09c and Dignics 05 so I'm looking forward to trying those out, but if I don't like D09c, then I might just consider going back to DHS Skyline 2 Blue Sponge or Hurricane 3 Neo Blue Sponge. With my Viscaria Super ALC, I think I will enjoy it more with 09c and even H3N/S2BS since I've always enjoyed playing with Chinese rubbers and feel like I come back to them 🙂