OOAK Table Tennis Forum

I played this tournament as two-winged chopper with little firepower (Tackiness Chop 1.3mm FH). I'm 1650 rated player. I played under 1750 and under 2100.

Best of 7 games tired me out quickly. I'm in pretty good shape. I felt like my BH was a liability (Feint Long 2 0.6mm). Not confident enough to hit with much power. Looped with the FH often, got a few points. Chopping long range with this 1.3mm rubber didn't give me enough power. Struggled to get it over the net.

Got sick of running back and forth, left and right. Felt like I wanted to stay at the table and play offense. Lost to a couple of 1650 players due to my inconsitent and lazy play. Beat a 1950 player b/c he didn't like choppers.

I left the tournament discouraged with the lack of ability to attack BH. My BH is actually quite good, so I don't use LP as cover for poor BH. I felt frustrated with running back all the time, and having my opponent loop wide to my FH and I couldn't get there on time to chop it back effectively. If I stayed at the table, I could've simply blocked it back.

I'm trying out the following combo: Donic Cayman with Andro Plasma 2.0 FH and 802-1 1.8 short pips on BH. I can hit well with these and chop too. Can't chop well with FH yet, maybe after some practice.

My friend was annoyed that I'm changing (again!). He thinks I should stick with the classical Defense. I was thinking of trying Feint Long 3 which might give me some more ability to vary and create spin. Or I might just learn to chop well with the SP.

Any thoughts?

Key word there is "learn". You sound just like one of my team mates. A really great guy but constantly changing his equipment. Bottom line - and I don't want to seem rude - be honest with yourself. Is it the equipment that is letting you down or are you letting your equipment down? It can take a long time and a lot of hard work and disappointment before things start to turn round. LP's win a lot of points at lower levels because opponents don't know how to play them. Some players will rely on the rubber to do the work for them and are surprised when they lose. I've heard many times now "the LP's aren't winning me any more cheap points, they're no good" when in reality it's the person using them who needs to learn how to use them and make them work for them effectively. Switching to SP's won't be a quick solution - they too require much practice and training to become really effective.

I'm afraid there is no easy answer. If you play for fun, then sure switch around until you find something you enjoy playing with. If you are not sure what style you want to play, again I'd say switch around and experience the fun of using different types of rubbers but if you are serious about progressing I'd recommend getting some proper coaching from someone who knows how to use LP's and stick with them - it's the same with what ever rubber you chose. There is no substitute for practice and good coaching. There are plenty of members here who are ranked higher than the players you played and who are effective with LP's, which suggests changing the LP's might not be the answer.

Thanks, Debater. Your honesty is appreciated! Very good advice.

You seem to be getting to that level where defensive play is more and more difficult. Below the 1600 level, just keeping the ball on the table once or twice can get you a lot of points. but above 1700-1800 you will run into a lot of people who won't miss nearly as much, or where you'll have to get 4-5 shots back to force an error, instead of just 1-2.

It really takes a lot of physical endurance to play that style at the intermediate and above levels, because you do end up having to do a lot of running around. I'd suggest really working on your anticipation and footwork if that's really the style you want to play. You'll also need to be very fit, as well.

It took me 6 years to learn how to play LP without any coach, 2 more years to learn how to attack with LP, again, without coach. You are lucky you found this forum of so many LP players who can share and with so many LP pro videos to watch and copy from.

Classical defense game with LP chopping is tough for older, no, mature gentlemen, like us, the physical demand is way too much for us. Yes, the in and outs, the left and right dashes are tiring. I had that experience before and that's who they play classical defense players, just tiring you out. They would love to give you floating balls to your back hand, testing your abilities. I had that experience also, constantly.

Solution, try to find a balanced attack with your LP, chop with a purpose, attack with LP, don't back up so far. Your LP attacks are useful most of the time if you use it occasionally. Learn to attack all kind of balls with LP, preferably with a sponge. Some players prefer a thinner one with 0.5, 0.6 or 1.0, I prefer 1.1 to 1.3.

The LP attack will give you another dimension to play defense.

I've only been playing LP for about a year, but I was playing 18 hrs a week, training with a robot, coach, etc. I think I have the basics down well, but lack in the finer, subtler points of spin variation etc.

In the tournament I used .6mm. When I use 1.1, I can hit and attack pretty well. I need to be more patient, and not take a bad day as an invitation to change my whole game. I'll probably try a faster FH rubber.

Thanks for the advice, guys.

I agree with Tat. What a lot of players will try to do to you is attack your backhand with fast, deep serves. If you're able to counterattack those, it really throws them off. Not to mention, sometimes opponents get lazy and figure they can just put a weak shot to your backhand and get away with it. Punish one of those, and there will be a lot more pressure on them, so they'll make more errors.

I don't give up the table unless I have to. I can go back and chop away if necessary, but I prefer to stay up at the table for hits, pushes, blocks and chop/blocks primarily. Any long, backspin or dead spin shot to my backhand, I try to attack most of the time, unless I know my opponent clearly can't handle playing against pips. But against 1900 and above, those are few and far between.

Good advice from Debater, I especially like the line "Is it the equipment that is letting you down or are you letting your equipment down?" as it actually says a lot.

I also wanted to ad, I constantly read about how tiring it is to defend all the time, running from side to side, back and fourth and while this is true, it is nothing compared to staying close to the table looping everything that is thrown at you as that is by far the most tiring style there is, at least if you are looping properly. The advantage with the close to the table style is, you can chose to block some and cheat some by not bending the knees, hitting with the entire body and stuff like that, but it is hard to cheat by not running side to side, cause if you don't you wont reach the ball.

Hi Josephs, If I was you I would be working at your forehand just as much maybe more as this is where you will win the points rather than gather them with your LP's .
You said you are thinking of changing to a 2mm rubber for forehand chopping? I think maybe less than 2mm and more than 1.3 so you can a least loop when then chance arrives

Thanks for tips, everyone.

Right now I've gone to a thick tensor on the FH and will attack and block more. Plan on staying at the table as much as possible. Have Feint 3 1.0 on the BH which hits well, almost like short pips.