OOAK Table Tennis Forum

What a night! I started out by going to our club and playing just awfully. I was terrible, no flow, no touch, nothing. I lost a match to a 1300 level player. Then I went to Spin Milwaukee, and the lights coming on brought out my "A" game! In the semi-finals I beat the guy who I played in the finals two weeks ago, except this time I won easily, 3-0. In the finals, I played a 1900-2000 level player who is a former state champion, who beats me pretty regularly and has beaten me in the finals before. From a tactical standpoint, this might have been one of the smartest matches I've played in a really long time. In the first game I gave up too many balls to his forehand loop, which is really good and he won. After that, I really focused and locked in on pinning him to his backhand, playing tough defense and occasionally surprising him with a quick ball wide to his forehand, just to keep him honest. I was also being sure to vary the pips between balls that floated more with balls that had more backspin on chop-blocks and that really crossed him up. Still, he was up 2-1, but I won the 4th 11-7 and in the fifth I won 11-9, when he mis-read a high ball as having spin (when it was just a dead floater) and he smashed it off the end of the table. I think in the whole match I only hit about 6 or 7 winners, winning the rest of my points on tough defense, forcing errors through deception and mixing up my serves.

This was really thrilling for me because of who I beat, and because there was a great crowd there. The small bleachers were pretty packed for our match, and I felt more intensity than I had in a really long time, so I was pretty loud with my excitement. Afterwards, a casual patron who only plays in his basement came up to us and told us how great he thought we were. That final ego stroke was the cherry on top of the night. This was truly a special night that I'll never forget.

JimWeiland, if you read this it was Graham that I beat. You'll understand how tough that is, for a pips player to do.

_________________
"The greatest teacher, failure is"
USATT Rating: 1725
Blade: Stiga Cybershape Carbon
FH Rubber: Butterfly Tenergy 19 2.1
BH Rubber: Dr Neubauer ABS3 1.5

Damn Doug. Your on a roll. Great job.

_________________
Equipment:
Victas Koji Matsushita, Yasaka Rakza 7 2.0, TSP P1r Curl 1.5-1.7

USATT Rating: 1869

MOLON LABE!!!

Thanks Joe. I really feel like the change to an all-around plus blade, from an offensive blade, has had a big impact on my control with my pips, which has been a big part of my results lately, and my forehand hasn't lost much effectiveness. I'm really excited to play in some of the upcoming tournaments, I'm hoping for some good results and rating point gains before the end of the year.

Any chance I'll see you at one of them? I know you go to the Seemiller tournament in Hammond, IN. I'll be there next weekend, in Rockford tomorrow and in Schaumburg in November.

_________________
"The greatest teacher, failure is"
USATT Rating: 1725
Blade: Stiga Cybershape Carbon
FH Rubber: Butterfly Tenergy 19 2.1
BH Rubber: Dr Neubauer ABS3 1.5

Twice in a row! Niiiiccceeeeeee!!!

_________________
instagram: rokphishtt

I've changed twice now in 3 months to a slower blade with the same observation and I too am playing better than ever.

Congrats on the great win!

 

_________________
Giant Dragon Kris Special : RITC 802 w/Dawei 2.2 35d fh : : Donic Blue Fire M3 2.0 black bh
Member of Charlotte Table Tennis Club, Charlotte, North Carolina, USA
Visit Charlotte Table Tennis Club on Facebook

Thanks Cyber. Got my first USATT tournament tomorrow with the new blade. Got an uphill climb, playing U-2000, Open and U-2400. Don't expect a lot of wins, but if I feel like I'm more competitive I will be happy. Really gearing up for next weekend, when I'm playing the Highland tournament run by Seemiller. I'm hoping to go deep, if not win, the U-1875.

_________________
"The greatest teacher, failure is"
USATT Rating: 1725
Blade: Stiga Cybershape Carbon
FH Rubber: Butterfly Tenergy 19 2.1
BH Rubber: Dr Neubauer ABS3 1.5

I'll be at the Highland tourney. As far as you winning the U-1875? You have to get passed me first. And I'm not sick this time.

_________________
Equipment:
Victas Koji Matsushita, Yasaka Rakza 7 2.0, TSP P1r Curl 1.5-1.7

USATT Rating: 1869

MOLON LABE!!!

Bring it, OOAK Warriors!!!

_________________
Goof-off chopping bat
Gambler All Rosewood
Aurus Soft / Gambler GXL .6 sponge

Status - Out of Business Janitor/Babysitter

LOL, Joe, I'll take that challenge!

Had decent results in Rockford today. Barely lost to a 1900 player in the U-2000, he ended up winning the event. The last two games I lost to him were 17-15 and 13-11.

In the Open I held off the lowest seed in our group (who had upset the #2 seed in our group) 11-6 in the fifth, thanks to three net points and him completely whiffing on an easy smash. I guess maybe I can stop whining about having bad luck in fifth games now.

In U-2400 I played a tight match with a 2100 player, losing 3-1, and beat an underrated kid 3-1 who had beaten a couple of 1900 level players earlier in the day.

My hitting and defense with my pips are still better with the different blade. I think I'll be sticking with that one.

_________________
"The greatest teacher, failure is"
USATT Rating: 1725
Blade: Stiga Cybershape Carbon
FH Rubber: Butterfly Tenergy 19 2.1
BH Rubber: Dr Neubauer ABS3 1.5

Geoff Graham is not only a very good player, he is fundamentally one of the best players I know. His strokes are textbook perfect. I've taken a few games from Geoff, but never a match. He beat up on me at a few tournaments when we were kids (that was 40 years ago!). Great win against him, Doug!

_________________
USATT rating - 1999

Blade - Rendler Smart FH - Hurricane 8 hard black BH - Grass DTechs OX red
Blade - BBC 9/10/9 FH - Hurricane 8 black BH - Dragon Talon OX red
Blade - Hallmark Aurora FH - Hurricane 8 black BH - Joola Badman OX red

Gotta hand it to ya Doug! I lay down the challenge of doing it again to prove it wasn't a fluke and you've knocked the challenge over like it was a bunch of daisies! I guess that 1300 player set your dander up for the night...perhaps you should share the prizemoney with him? Well done!!

_________________
I'm always in the dark, but the Dark sheds lights upon everything!! Beauty is only pimple deep! Beauty is in the eye of the pipholder!
S/U 1: Blade: Bty Gergely . FH Black Andro Rasant 2.1 . BH Red Tibhar Grass Dtecs
S/U 2: Blade: Bty Gergely . FH Black Hexer+ 2.1 . BH Red GD Talon
S/U 3: Blade: Bty Gergely . No rubbers...thinking of adding Red Dtecs and Black Rasant
Aussie Table Tennis Shop / Aussie Table Tennis Facebook Page / Equipment Review Index / Read my Reb Report Blog: click here.

Awesome by the power of two, Sir dwruck!
Winning once is tough but twice is just something.

Ddddddouble kill

_________________
GFoT |Blade : Timo Boll ALC • FH : DHS 3 Neo Provincial MAX • BH : Tenergy 64 MAX
Crossover to Takeover!

You rocked dwruck!

Winning two in a row is tough.. more wins to come!

_________________
Enjoy the game. It is a never ending learning experience once you play and keep the ball on that 45 sq ft of space or should I say half of that space.

I sure hope you guys are right! I think you are, it really did a lot for my confidence. I'm hoping for some really good results at the big tournament in Indiana this weekend, I feel like that breakthrough is going to come!

_________________
"The greatest teacher, failure is"
USATT Rating: 1725
Blade: Stiga Cybershape Carbon
FH Rubber: Butterfly Tenergy 19 2.1
BH Rubber: Dr Neubauer ABS3 1.5

Got a pleasant surprise when the ratings from the Rockford tournament that I just played in were published. I can't believe that the tournament was Sunday and the ratings are already online!

Anyway, I was thinking not much would happen to my rating. But the good news is, one of the guys I beat got readjusted and I gained 22 points, instead of just a handful. It's not a big jump, but the best tournament result I've had this year, so I'm headed in the right direction.

The guy that I beat in 5 games (I got some good luck in the fifth that helped me out a lot) ended up beating people rated in the 1980s, 2020s and 2150s in the same tournament and got readjusted from the low 1700s to the mid 1900s, giving me 20 points for that win. Given how well he played that day, that is a really good win for me, and I hope to get a lot of good wins this weekend in Indiana!

_________________
"The greatest teacher, failure is"
USATT Rating: 1725
Blade: Stiga Cybershape Carbon
FH Rubber: Butterfly Tenergy 19 2.1
BH Rubber: Dr Neubauer ABS3 1.5