Miracle of Long 5

[TensorBackhand]

I gotta hand it, this is a great blade. My friend let me borrow it this week, so I put my usual Bloom Power on the fh, and a borrowed Tenergy 64 on bh. I tried it for the first time, and with almost no practice, I finally beat the 2200 penhold player 3-2 that I thought was unbeatable 2 months ago.

I just looped every single ball to get on offensive. Forehand, backhand, short, long, i just never let him loop first. Maybe this was the best match of my life. I feel like I came a long way from 2 years ago when I was maybe 1400.

Long 5 has a nice soft touch, more crisp and less dwell that my usual F3 pro. But more dwell and touch than the Atletico Power. Distinct trampoline meshy feeling. And it really suits my Bloom Power tacky style rubbers. It has a great looping feeling.

 

[Gozo Aruna]

Play with the HL5 for a little while longer and if you really like HL5 then just bite the bullet once and for all and get the W968 with PB2BS on FH with T05 / D05. I guarantee you will cure your EJ disease forever.

PB2BS = Provincial Battle 2 Blue Sponge

NB: I on the other hand am a lazy player and hate to do the looping work and prefer the ESN trampolinish sponge do the work for me. Hence a super bouncy ESN rubber is my go to fix.

 

[Migzkulit]

na we will continue to look for HL5 alternatives until we end up buying the HL5.

 

[TischTenniser]

Play with the HL5 for a little while longer and if you really like HL5 then just bite the bullet once and for all and get the W968 with PB2BS on FH with T05 / D05. I guarantee you will cure your EJ disease forever.

PB2BS = Provincial Battle 2 Blue Sponge

NB: I on the other hand am a lazy player and hate to do the looping work and prefer the ESN trampolinish sponge do the work for me. Hence a super bouncy ESN rubber is my go to fix.

Is this the W968 you refer to ? - https://www.tabletennis11.com/other_eng/dhs-w968-hurricane-long-5-national

 

[PaddyPolar]

Is this the W968 you refer to ? - https://www.tabletennis11.com/other_eng/dhs-w968-hurricane-long-5-national

Not really familiar with DHS equipment, so i am inclined to say; WHY IS THAT €750! The Long 5 is less than £180!

 

[Gozo Aruna]

Not really familiar with DHS equipment, so i am inclined to say; WHY IS THAT €750! The Long 5 is less than £180!

With W968 you immediately get transformed into Ma Long. ( I have the Power! ) Euro 750'00 is a small price to pay.

 

[mihalichtheone]

Now play 10 matches against different styles with F3 and then 10 matches with Long 5.
That would be much more interesting to see.

I feel like I came a long way from 2 years ago when I was maybe 1400.

This game is probably just result of your 2 years of training, not Long 5 magic.

 

[PaddyPolar]

With W968 you immediately get transformed into Ma Long. ( I have the Power! ) Euro 750'00 is a small price to pay.

Why can't you just get the Long 5?

 

[Gozo Aruna]

Why can't you just get the Long 5?

Why drive just a regular Impreza?

 

[jk1980]

Why can't you just get the Long 5?

Long Story short, These are different blades. The w968 has had historically different handle, different head size and different artificial fibre weaving.
Allegedly the new 2022 HL-5 have a similar weaving like w968 now.

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

With W968 you immediately get transformed into Ma Long. ( I have the Power! ) Euro 750'00 is a small price to pay.

W968 with ESN/JPN rubbers? time to change to DHS H3

 

[Migzkulit]

I prefer to make my blades out of the corpses of my beaten opponents.
Gives me +5 intimidation but -10 aesthetic.

 

[SlowPower]

I prefer to make my blades out of the corpses of my beaten opponents.
Gives me +5 intimidation but -10 aesthetic.

Those blades are not ITTF legit!

 

[Gozo Aruna]

W968 with ESN/JPN rubbers? time to change to DHS H3

Mine is Chinese Tacky Ready only problem is I am not ready. My FH looping still sucks to be able to use this. In the mean time super bouncy ESN rubber to save my skin in the game.

 

[TensorBackhand]

Now play 10 matches against different styles with F3 and then 10 matches with Long 5.
That would be much more interesting to see.

This game is probably just result of your 2 years of training, not Long 5 magic.

Yes, 10 matches with each blade would be an interesting test.

I think this game shows that I have some of the techniques required to be a genuine 2200 level player. I can play at that level on occasion, but not as a average level. I think my biggest issue is confidence. I don't start a game with the mentality "this guy is going to eat my power loop" or "watch me dominate this guy with my spin".

My mentality is always very defensive and worrisome: "I'm not going to know how to return his serve", "I'm going to throw away easy points on the loop", etc.

How can I improve my confidence? Even when I play a 1600 level player, I don't "think" i'm going to win or dominate. I always think i'm going to mess up.

 

[mihalichtheone]

Partly, confidence comes from equipment you use. Imagine, you've trained with this exact setup for a year without changing anything, you'll be so much more confident in your strokes, controlled shots, more loopkills, etc.

And, like in anything in life - experience will give you more confidence. Play more, win more

 

[Scarfed Garchomp]

My mentality is always very defensive and worrisome: "I'm not going to know how to return his serve", "I'm going to throw away easy points on the loop", etc.

These things may be true, but are by themselves not helpful to playing. When you have these thoughts, I think it might be helpful to follow them up with constructive approaches to these seeming quandaries of yours. Even if it is a simple approach like "I'm not familiar with the serve but I will try to do one of two things" and you will know pretty quickly if these two things work in the situation you tried to apply them in

 

[cytivrat]

I think this game shows that I have some of the techniques required to be a genuine 2200 level player. I can play at that level on occasion, but not as a average level. I think my biggest issue is confidence. I don't start a game with the mentality "this guy is going to eat my power loop" or "watch me dominate this guy with my spin".

My mentality is always very defensive and worrisome: "I'm not going to know how to return his serve", "I'm going to throw away easy points on the loop", etc.

How can I improve my confidence? Even when I play a 1600 level player, I don't "think" i'm going to win or dominate. I always think i'm going to mess up.

1. Change your thoughts, force your self, if that is a problem, you can write down proper thoughts and read them before match. Personally, I like visualizing the way I'm going to play a night before tournament
2. Watching some favorite top player games, might help
3. You can find some music that switches you to right condition
4. You mentioned it, but the thing that worked for me really good, playing agaist lower level players, which I know quite good, so I'm for 200% sure that I must win that match. This way I was relaxed and was controlling game flow and could be as aggressive as I can, still feeling confident despite some mistakes. Somehow that transitions to games against stronger players, you just getting a habit playing that way. But it worked for me, only in case I played tons of matches against them in the past, not agaist somebody new.

 

[Gozo Aruna]

I took my Long V out from my drawer and brought to my club tonight. I played horribly with it. I cannot play without a super bouncy ESN rubber specifically thin topsheet max sponge thickness type rubber. My ball just does not want to launch over the net. Many ball hit the net.

View attachment 26373
Mine is Chinese Tacky Ready only problem is I am not ready. My FH looping still sucks to be able to use this. In the mean time super bouncy ESN rubber to save my skin in the game.
View attachment 26374

 

[Lazer]

I took my Long V out from my drawer and brought to my club tonight. I played horribly with it. I cannot play without a super bouncy ESN rubber specifically thin topsheet max sponge thickness type rubber. My ball just does not want to launch over the net. Many ball hit the net.

Make sure to take Your vitamins.... 😉

Cheers
L-zr