OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Just wanted to see if anybody else was going to be at the St. Joseph Valley Open in South Bend next weekend, March 9-10. I'm going to be there on Saturday, playing in the U-2100, U-2000 and U-1900, all on Saturday. I feel like I should be competitive in my round robin in all of those events. It should be fun! I haven't played a tournament in about four months, and I'm very excited to try out my new setup in a tournament. I'm going to have a really good idea of where my game stands in the next two weeks, as the week after that I'm playing a tournament in Schaumburg. Should be a lot of fun!

_________________
"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

Nobody else going? Bummer. OK, I'll just have to be sure to let you guys know how it goes this weekend! I hope to have some fresh videos too. Been 4 1/2 months since my last tournament, and I have an all new equipment setup. Can't wait to see where I'm at!

_________________
"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

Good luck dwruck!

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OOAK Table Tennis Shop | Re-Impact Blades | Butterfly Table Tennis bats
Setup1: Re-Impact Smart, Viper OX, Victas VS 401 Setup2: Re-Impact Barath, Dtecs OX, TSP Triple Spin Chop 1.0mm Setup3: Re-Impact Dark Knight, Hellfire OX, 999 Turbo
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Thanks Haggis! Results weren't really all that great, but I learned a lot. Going into the tournament I expected it to be more of a case of figuring out the tactics and shots I needed to work on with my new set-up, rather than making a huge splash in terms of wins, and that turned out to be the case.

In U-2100, I lost to a mid-2000 player and a mid-1900 player 3-0. In both matches I was competitive, but their attacks were too good. I felt like I was playing well, but something in my game wasn't clicking. In my third match I beat a low 1700 rated player pretty much just because of my pips serves, long, fast and flat. He never adjusted in the 3 games we played, I must have won half my points outright off the serves.

U-2000 was a disaster. First match was against a lefty looper rated in the mid 1700s. He knew how to handle pips well, too. I always struggle against lefties and this was no exception. He kept me on the defensive the whole match, and went at my forehand with heavy pushes and spinny loops. I swear, through the three games I must have missed 90% of my forehand shots. I was just WAY off my game. It was disappointing. And to cap it all off, my blade snapped in half, and not because of my anger. I missed a push and let my hand just drop to my leg, and when it contacted my leg (not hard at all) it just snapped in half, with the handle breaking completely off. For the first time in 17 years of tournament play, I had to use my backup! Good thing I always carry an identical backup. Against the top seed in my group (and in the event overall, rated in the upper 1900s) he was a long pips player who I'd beaten a couple of years ago. But, his game has improved a LOT. He changed to using Grass D Tec S in OX, and boy, was it TRICKY. The first game I won, then after that he adjusted his strokes and blocks, and I simply could not get anything past him. He forced so many errors off of blocking with the pips, it was impressive. So I lost 3-1.

Going into U-1900, I decided that I needed to be more aggressive in looking to hit with the pips. The whole reason I got sponge underneath was to hit more, and I was being far too conservative. I could tell that having the sponge took away from some of the defense of the pips, so I really needed to make an effort to hit more often, like if I had short pips. First match against a kid rated just under 1500 it worked really well and I won easily. Next match against a guy in the low to mid 1600s was tougher than expected. He got on FIRE and it was a real dogfight. I stuck with hitting with my pips and it made the difference in the match! I won 3-2 after being done 2-1, winning the fifth 11-3. Against the top seed in my group (rated only a few points higher than me) I had one of the most fun matches in a while. My pips hits were effective, setting me up for winners or follow-up loops with my forehand. He was very good at dropping back and countering. So we had a number of long rallies. I lost in 5 games, but it was a really fun match and I felt good about my effort.

So, I learned a lot from this weekend. I learned that if I'm going to play with sponge under my pips, I need to attack. The good thing is, the sponge did indeed allow me to attack with a higher percentage of success. The practice I've been doing with it has been working. I also learned that if I decide to play more defensively, the Grass D Tec S in OX will be a very good option to try. I learned that I really need to continue to work hard at putting together a strategy that sets me up for the pips hits. I learned that the Juic forehand rubber gives a lot of people trouble on serves and loops, but with less power than Thor's more shots do come back at me, so I need to work on my forehand and be in position for the next shot that comes back.

So, overall I will lose a few rating points and drop just below 1800 for the first time in a couple of years. No big deal. I'm looking at this long term. Plus, I have a giant round robin tournament coming up this Saturday where I can regain points. I'll turn it around, it's only a matter of time.

One thing I have done, is order a setup that's the total opposite of my current one. I'm going to start messing around with a super slow, blocking setup. I ordered a Toxic 3 blade with Air Illumina 1.8 mm on the forehand and Xiying 979 OX on the backhand. I saw how effective the long pip player rated around 2000 was with a slow setup where he blocked, so I figured that I would order it and have some fun with it at the club sometime. Heck, if things go poorly at the tournament on Saturday maybe I'll even throw it in and give it a shot. It's a pretty cheap setup ($48) so I figure it will be fun and maybe give me an option to explore in the future.

_________________
"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 went. Long story short. Played like crap on Saturday. Bounced back Sunday and took 3rd in the U-1950. Always a fun time.

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

USATT Rating: 1869

MOLON LABE!!!

Congrats Joe, that's great! Who beat you in U-1950? I have to admit, I was really impressed by your chopping. As you noted, the conditions were fast, which made defending difficult, but your shots were better than I've seen from you in a very long time. Things look to be moving in the right direction for you, I'm glad you did well on Sunday!

_________________
"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

Sounds like you guys had a better day for TT than we did. Well done on getting so far Joe. Better luck next time Doug!

_________________
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.

Hi Doug,
There's a steep learning curve to use the DtecS well. It is simply too fast for many kind of shots, so you have to incorporate some side and pull-back motions that are not needed when you use slower LPs like Double Fish 1615, for example. In other words it's hard to stroke through the ball with a myriad of techniques unless you are at some distance away from the table. It is a fantastic rubber to use during practice and other no-pressure situations, but in sanctioned matches it is really hard to control against seasoned opponents because of its extra speed. With a 1.2mm sponge it's designed for away-from-the-table chopping and nothing else. There's not much reversal if you block at the table with it, and there's not enough speed to kill seasoned opponents when you attack lightly with it (which is "most of the time" since the balls will come to you pretty low when you face good opponents). For your style I'd recommend DtecS in ox version, or use Talon with a very thin sponge (0.6mm) like I did.

Thanks for the tips! I can definitely tell there is less reversal on the blocks. I need to make very active strokes to get the kind of reversal or disturbing effect that bothers people. I do have to say, it hit pretty well for me, I feel like I can continue to get better with it and hit consistently enough to be an effective strategy. I'm just not sure if I can beat the 1900 and above group consistently enough with it. But I'll find that out over time. I'm having fun working on it, anyway.

_________________
"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

All of you OX players should visit Korea and play Achuma style while dancing to Gangnam Style.

... so many OX Grass D-Techs players here it will blow Ur mind.

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

Status - Out of Business Janitor/Babysitter

That makes a lot of sense RR. I used Dtecs for part of my tournament on the weekend and in 40C and like 95% humidity. It failed dismerably under pressure as the heat and humidity increased. It started out ok. Worked great against my first opponent (~2000US) who didn't understand it, which made it a low pressure match (8,3,1). Then I played someone who would be 2400US who is experienced with and against pips and it became something of a liability. I then played in the peak of the heat against someone who was similar level to the first guy (although his official points were lower) and it was again a liability. After that I went back to using Pogo and felt immediate control benefits. Of course, these were extreme conditions, and it seems Dtecs is known for its instability in high humity or cold.

_________________
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.

Hopefully I'll have some videos for you guys from the tournament coming up in Schaumburg this Saturday. Last weekend it was my intention to take a lot of videos but my batteries ran out, and the couple of matches I did get were awful, so I didn't feel like sharing.

_________________
"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