OOAK Table Tennis Forum

A wise friend once said, "A sportsman is not measured by his achievements but more so by how he conducts himself in reaching his achievements."

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Weapon 1: Andro Kinetic Supreme Hinoki/Zylon OFF-; Andro Hexer HDs (FH 2.1/BH 1.9)
Weapon 2: Ross Leidy 'Smokey'; Friendship 729-5s
Club1: Daylesford - since 2010
Club2: Ballarat - since 2011
Blog: A Naked Bear

No one ever explained this to me, but it's basically what I already do. It does help to be very clear on what it is I'm actually looking for. Besides, it's not just about me here, it's for anyone looking for answers how to boost their game as a developing player. Thanks for writing that up.

I'm glad that helped. It is an easy way to use the spin on the ball to your advantage to make an easy return. However as you know there are multiple ways to return all serves which include trying to impose your spin by hitting the side of the ball that is not spinning... ie a banana flip vs straight backspin.

As you progress the game should seem simpler and answers will come easier so that by the end of the match no serve will really be unreturnable (though they may still be uncomfortable as all great serves are to return). Also maybe since you know this method in your mind you can use your timeout more effectively.

For example in game 1 if you notice they have a serve you hate take time to see what the opponent is doing. Then in game 2 if you could possibly win the game and you know the serve is coming call a time out in order to remind yourself of what to do for that serve.

Good luck with the rest of your season. I think you'll be surprised to see how far you progressed this time next year.

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-Teddy

Testing- Valor American Chopper FH: Juic 999 turbo 2.0 BH: Bomb talent ox
Defense- Donic Defplay senso FH: Globe 999t 38 deg BH: P1r ox (currently)
Attack - Jack Miller Custom FH: Tenergy 05 2.1 BH: octopus ox

Somewhat off topic here and I don't want to turn this into an equipment discussion, but my coach wants me to use something that's standard, offers good control and allows me to top spin (euro-jap style) without too much difficulty. I agree with that sentiment. Chinese rubbers are not standard, if you look at the type of coaching and what rubbers most people here use.

I would have to disagree with you about chinese rubbers being not standard.
I originally was taught to loop in a european style. My first coach was the national coach of Lupilescu when he was a junior. The same stroke mechanics can totally be used with Haifu Blue Whale 2. Just select the softest sponge (preferably the red one). I tend to like hard sponges and learned with Donic JO Waldner 2.0 on both sides which was slower than Mark V yet firmer than Sriver FX.

I would say a big reason that china dominates is their equipment. A tacky forehand rubber mixed with something like Sriver fx allows for two different dynamics in speed and spin. Chinese rubber is easier to open with and has benefits in adding spin, and is great for the short game. The european/Japanese rubber is easier to smash with (Ma long often twiddles to his tenergy 64 to smash high lobs).

In the end I would just play with what you are comfortable with.
I can say when I switched to H3 and BWII a lot of my 3rd ball attacks stopped coming back, while players of my own level found it easier to block my european rubber forcing me to play more consistency vs power. Overall though what you like is based on your own personal feel. Post some matches so we can enjoy your development as well.

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-Teddy

Testing- Valor American Chopper FH: Juic 999 turbo 2.0 BH: Bomb talent ox
Defense- Donic Defplay senso FH: Globe 999t 38 deg BH: P1r ox (currently)
Attack - Jack Miller Custom FH: Tenergy 05 2.1 BH: octopus ox

What I meant (and tried to get across) was that it's not standard to the way my coach is used to coaching technique, and not standard to my club and the other clubs around here. Whether it's standard on a global level is another matter.



I disagree with you there. I would say it's more about having more players receiving a ridiculous amount of training (drills, drills, drills and then some more drills all day long) starting at a young age... a precentage of them will be talented and those players rise to the top..


So does the combination of short pips and inverted that I have been using thus far, but it's too complicated, too much to deal with for me at this point (if I have to say it in a few words). Having the same rubber on both sides is great for learning because you can directly compare the results of your FH and BH strokes.


This requires a chinese forehand dominated style. Otherwise you would be twiddling constantly and have the wrong side out quite often.



Thanks, will see what I can do.

Sounds like a plan with both sides the same.
Short pips is hard. I think it's the most difficult surface to be good with cause while it blocks great you have to be very very accurate.

_________________
-Teddy

Testing- Valor American Chopper FH: Juic 999 turbo 2.0 BH: Bomb talent ox
Defense- Donic Defplay senso FH: Globe 999t 38 deg BH: P1r ox (currently)
Attack - Jack Miller Custom FH: Tenergy 05 2.1 BH: octopus ox

Swapping one of the FX rubbers out for a chinese rubber would be on my mind once I get better at reading spin. I think a good property of japanese rubber is that, depending on sponge hardness, they aren't all that sensitive to spin in the short game (sponge doesn't get engaged much) compared to chinese rubbers, yet they allow you to top spin by engaging the sponge. Good for a "noob"...

After trying dozens of inverted rubbers (and even more LPs), I can highly recommend Nittaku Hammond Pro Beta. It is an awesome all-around rubber. Its speed is more-or-less completely dependent on the blade's speed and has lots of control...more so on a slower blade. This rubber is becoming increasingly popular at my club among intermediate players.

For double-inverted, I'd put the "thick" version (appx 2.1-2.2) on the fh and the "thin" version (appx 1.9) on the bh. Nittaku is top-of-the-line quality (I think better than Butterfly) for about 2/3 or 1/2 the price.

 

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Giant Dragon Kris Special : Nittaku Hammond Pro Beta 2.1 black fh : Spinlord Dornenglanz Ox red bh
Member of Charlotte Table Tennis Club, Charlotte, North Carolina, USA
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What i would do if I was you:

- Practice more, once a week is nothing in this sport!
- Quality practices, try to practice with someone who's better than you.
- If you play aggressive and loose this much, I guess you are missing a lot of shots because you are hitting to hard. Placement of the ball is so important. Don't attack everything!
- Develop several good serves. The service and return game is 50 % if not more of the game!

If you wanna become good, train more and harder. Watch the best players in the world on youtube, everyone can learn ALOT from them! Good luck mate

Where did you read that I play just once a week?
I practice twice/wk and play competition once/week.
That's a lot for me, as an adult with other responsibilities. I wouldn't have the time, the money (for fuel!!!), nor the will to play more often. Outside of competition season I'll just play twice/wk. I may have to go back to once/wk depending on if I have other things to do that need to come first. My life does not evolve around table tennis.


No-brainer.


I am aggressive because that's my style and it's how I play best. (Stronger opponents tell me that.) I am not reckless, but being aggressive means taking some risk. I just play in a league that's too high for me and my opponents are better in most aspects of the game because they've trained for decades and I have not. Playing a more controlled game wouldn't change that imbalance one bit and I'd get destroyed because I would be letting the opponent play their game too much + not playing my game. Regarding the *unforced* errors I was referring to the short pip rubber alone - don't get it twisted. I do attempt a few too many topspin openings sometimes. It's a learning process to know when to loop and when to simply return the ball (taking into account the quality of your technique) but I'm getting better at it.

Another no brainer. I am happy to announce that I can now check off another one of the things listed in the OP: find a regular training parter to do drills with. My coach plays one of the top players at our club regularly, to stay in good shape. It gets quite busy (noisy and distracting) on the night they normally practice so they've decided to switch to another night when no one else will be at the club. I've arranged for me and my practise partner to be there once/wk on that same night so the coach can help us with our practice drills. Not sure how long my partner will keep that up for (he mostly plays once/wk, so he'll miss out on talking to the other people that he's used to seeing at the club), but it's a start.


I want to work on this more. My coach tells me that aspect of my game is pretty good for my level already, so he has me focus on other things.

Thanks

Sorry for the non-brainers

I understand that your life don't evolve around table tennis! But I have to say that it seems like you take it quite seriously when you say you get tense in the last set. Another non-brainer, but that is a sign of mental weakness! You play for fun, no reason to get tense and nervous, especially when you play better players!??

Obviously you are gonna struggle against players that have played much longer than you, what do you expect if you don't train more than you do? So don't complain if you don't have the time to train, that is the only way to get better mate.

I used to, but with the help of contributions to this thread, this was recently (mostly) fixed.


I'm not complaining.

Good news guys, I finally won my first singles match!



Won the doubles too today, we played 5-5 as a team.

My opponent wasn't in his best shape, but what really did it today was that I knew from last time that his barely OK forehand is much weaker than his backhand, which is super strong. He's clever enough to not show you that at all during warmup, but I avoided his backhand during the match, sending most balls to his forehand, and made him play awkward shots with his backhand that were just about uncomfortable to reach. I almost always attacked to his forehand. This resulted in forehand-forehand rallies, but he'd also then target my backhand, knowing my weaker side is my backhand, so I made sure to step around to continue using my forehand. I won 3-1. The sets I won, I won comfortably. The one I lost, I lost 9-11.

I would not have won this match if I hadn't learnt to, quote from the first post:
"Lock in on your opponent's elbow and keep hitting it there." because having done that (not constantly of course) in prior matches, I could now direct the ball to make it awkward for my opponent to play his backhand.

I didn't really want to look at why I lost the other 2 matches today, just celebrate the one I won, but it's become automatic to analyze, so I already know why: The other 2 guys are good pushers/choppers and I just don't do well against those yet, me being an attacker (with a painful shoulder this week, from topspin practise). One of them played lots of backspin and I couldn't lift them. The other guy gave me a mix of backspin and dead balls that gave me a lot of trouble. (Hitting over the end of the table or in the net etc.). I should practise pushing so that I become less forced to open up the points before I make a pushing error, and learn how to make them play an easier ball to attack. My teammate that won all his games today, can attack well but also has a good pushing game. It was hard to concentrate because it was a very busy, noisy place, lots of sound echo.

The things listed in the first post are vital. I highly recommend developing players to check them out. Thank you so much for your contributions, guys.

Well you are truely at that grade now 1 out of 200

(don't worry Im not being sarky lol, but I would kick you out of my team so we could win)

I do believe you are on the right track and you really to putting positive steps in so you can improve, and going down a grade
should only be looked at as being positive in your case as playing against better players who will be doing their best to stay ahead
will only happen for some time yet.
There is nothing better than winning to lift the sole so going to a place where you can win and develop/ achieve and then come back stronger and more competitive

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Blade |Joola Kool| FH Stiga LT Sound Max Black | BH 729 755 .6 red
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