OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Although I had some ups and downs, I feel like I made some good progress with my game at the Badger Open this weekend.

The bad came early. I advanced from my U1900 group but lost to a low 1700 rated player that I really should have beat. I lost 3-2. Early on in the day I was trying to be more conservative with my strategies and I think it hurt me in that match. I lost my first playoff match 11-8, 13-11, 11-8 despite missing a number of serve returns. I felt like I was back on my heels too much, not looking to be aggressive. So for my next event I decided to be more aggressive in looking to get my forehand in, and looking to hit with my pips.

In my first match in U2000 I lost to a really underrated 1600 player. He went on to beat the other 1800 player in my group and I found out he beat other guys above 1800 earlier in the day. After that I got on a roll.

I beat the other 1800 rated guy in my group pretty easily, 3-0. Then in U2300, I played my best matches of the year. I played a guy rated over 2100, and had the win in my grasp, but had some awful luck. I was up 2-1, 11-10 in the fourth, hit a loop down the line to his backhand that he popped up in the air. I was on the verge of taking a huge victory...when his return came back and hit the edge of the table. Major heartbreak. I went on to lose the match 3-2. However, that gave me some strong confidence and I went on to beat a player in the 2050s 3-1! I finished it off by beating the 1700 guy in my group, and when the #2 guy beat the top seed, I advanced on a tie breaker! I lost my next match to a 2150 player but it was competitive.

On Sunday, I got beat by the guys over 2000, barely lost to a guy in the mid 1900s and beat another guy in the 1800s. Changing from the conservative strategies to my old style, being more aggressive in looking to hit with the pips and move to loop with my forehand, made a huge difference.

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"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

Always good to get a good win. Congrats.

Thanks. If I would have gotten the win against the guy rated over 2100 that would have made it probably my best result ever. But talk about bad luck at the worst time. Instead of getting down, I just took confidence in it, and that helped carry me through to beat the 2050 rated player.

In total, I played 16 matches over the weekend, 11 on Saturday and 5 on Sunday. I'm a bit sore today, but it was fun and worth it.

_________________
"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

Come on, Doug! You can tell everyone that I was the 2050 player that you beat. It's not going to hurt my feelings. Besides, many players on this forum know that you and I have a good-natured rivalry going. You DID play absolutely great in our match and against the top-rated guy. Looks like DTechs is your rubber!

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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

Congrats dwruck. And Jim is such a classy player! My respect for both of you! Keep spinning!

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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.

Thanks Jim! Didn't want to call you out, but yes, I did play great against you and the 2100 player, those were definitely my two best matches of the week. I know you'll be out to get me next time, and I'll have to play even better to win when we meet again! You had some great wins yourself, you proved you deserve to be above 2000!

_________________
"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

Thanks Jim! Didn't want to call you out, but yes, I did play great against you and the 2100 player, those were definitely my two best matches of the week. I know you'll be out to get me next time, and I'll have to play even better to win when we meet again! You had some great wins yourself, you proved you deserve to be above 2000!

_________________
"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

that is a LOT of matches. ouch. I hurt just thinking about it.

I typically have no problems with doing at least 7-8 in a day in giant round robins. But I think that I found that once I get into double digits it starts getting tough. And actually, my legs felt fine. It was my shoulder, side and back that was sore on Sunday, and is still a bit sore today, I imagine from all the twisting to loop. Good thing I'm leaving for a Southern Caribbean cruise and won't play for a couple of weeks, plenty of time to recuperate.

_________________
"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

WTG Doug !!

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

Status - Out of Business Janitor/Babysitter

Final update, I ended up gaining 23 points from this tournament. Not a bad result, considering my early struggles. Got a couple more tournaments coming up this month, including one this Saturday that's a giant round robin. Hoping to be towards the bottom of a group to try and poach some rating points. I've played a couple of times this week to shake off the rust from being on vacation and not playing for 2 1/2 weeks, and I feel like I'm in a decent spot to play well.

_________________
"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