OOAK Table Tennis Forum

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With how close you were to the 1830 rated person, I'd say you aren't too far off from being 1850 or 1900. The thing is, you just need more tournament experience. It really is a different thing to play at a certain level in a tournament than it is to play at a certain level in practice/club play. I've seen people who have a 200 or 300 point difference in their level of play. With the things you know you have to work on, and more tournament experience, you'll be over 1900 in no time.

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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

Thank you for the comments and encouragements. AS hookshot was saying, when is the next one?

Tat

OK, guys/gals, questions regarding warm ups during a match, forehand is fine with me but I use LP on my backhand, what should I do?

Forehand to forehand is fine but I have problems from backhand side. I did the following but I was not comfortable at all.

1. I stepped to my backhand side to use my forehand to their backhand.

2. I flipped the blade and use SP on backhand, but screwed up the blade angles and the ball was flying.

3. I used LP to drive with them but then I gave up my secretes.

4. I chopped with LP and they lost interest.

Questions are:
1. Can I chop on FH and BH during warm ups? I guess the reason I chop sometimes is I can't drive the ball consistently as some of you do. My training partners and I don't warm up like that.

3. What can a LP player do during warm ups?

Thanks,
Tat

This can be an annoyingly complex issue. I'll start with recommending that you just hit your forehand short pips to their backhand in most situations, and if they specifically ask to see the long pips then you either chop or drive with them.

The rules do not require that you warm up; you are allowed two minutes, but you can refuse. Personally i don't really care, the two minute warm up period is useless to me. I usually ask my opponent if they're ready to start right away, and if they want to warm up i'll do whatever they want me to do (within reason - i'm not going to wear myself out counterlooping for them).

Now, in your club round robin, since you joined the club and will be playing them a lot, i'm guessing you want it to be friendly and beneficial competition rather than cutthroat life or death battles. You may have an advantage in the match if you hide your secrets in the beginning, but you'll benefit more when you show people all of your shots, let them learn what they're like, and consequently learn how to beat them even after they're very familiar with your game. It just makes you stronger.

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Equipment: Matsushita PowerDefence, Spin Art 1.9 black, Xiying 979 ox red
Style: American | US Rating: barely 2000

Thanks for the advise, I guess I'll do what pleases me the most but not too annoying to them.

You are right, after last night, they already know I attack with my LP. By the end of each match, even the serves and most of the returned balls were all directed to my forehand, very annoying indeed.

I think in the past, I have concentrated so much on my back hand LP plays I have ignored my forehand, especially I have switched invert to SP on the forehand side. Now, I do need some more balance on both sides.

Wow Tat, you stacked up pretty well. Sorry I missed this until now. I have been exercising all day here. I can see your level of excitement and zeal to go back at 'em. I am happy you had a banner day of fun. I'll keep looking for the stories.

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

Status - Out of Business Janitor/Babysitter

Thanks, Der_E, I had just completed 4 hours straight robot training on forehand including,

1. FH service returns - short top/side spins, short side/under spins, long top/side spins.

2. BH service returns - long fast top/side spins, short side/under spins.

3. Hit a lot of forehand for warm ups.

4. Standing 2.5' back, chopping and hitting on both sides with feeder head oscillating. Backhand chopping and hitting is still a lot more consistent, FH sure needs practice more.

5. Serves on fh side with SP and LP, practice twiddling after serves. So difficult, my index ginger is always a problem. However, I did have some free points when I served with LP on FH side last night. They looped and out they go.

Thinking out loud of asking for help from a coach (but don't want to pay $80 per hour yet) and see what he can help. I think I am almost there, just lacking some important ingredients. TT is getting excited again.

The road to continuous improvement. Someone wins, someone improves, beat the other guy, the other guy...

Of course it gets exciting -- tangible improvement is always exciting. Glad you're enjoying yourself.

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Viscaria. H2 Neo 2.15. Tenergy 05 1.9.

Here is Thursday night again and I played my second club round robin. Since most of the top players are back in town (most went to Las Vegas for the US Open) and I rating now dropped to 1830, so I had the pleasure of playing in table 2, at the bottom. Top player is a 15 year old kid that I played last week and lost 1-3; they other two were different players but one is a 1980 and the other is 1858.

Since I missed a lot of easy forehands last week using SP, I have switched to invert starting late yesterday using Tackfire 1.7 in forehand, back hand being FeintSoft 1.3 with my favorite blade, R*1. Still missing forehand but I think I will do better with practice to get back to form.

I have never missed so many balls in backhand erving, I have counted roughly 10. I missed two against the top seed when I was serving 10-8 consecutively. I think the nerve just gets to me. I lost to him 1-3 again, very close match, I should have won. Oh well, my second true matches after 15 years, so close and yet so far.

The other two matches were one sided in the first two games, I just can't return balls. BH is correct, there goes two points already. By the time I figured out their serves in the third game, it was too late, however, the third games for both matches were went to dues and lost.

Am I sad? Of course not, I just need more match experience playing different kind of players and I think joining the club and playing the weekly round robins against players better than me will get me there faster.

Question? Why do you think I missed so many balls when serving? Some were served out, some just painfully missing the blade. Two balls like that in a game is way too much.

How much serving practice do you get? I think you mentioned in another thread that you are practicing about a thousand balls a day. If that's true, what's the difference between your practice serves and your game serves? Are the differences technical or is it just a matter of nerves?

I know for me, who has very little experience playing in a club round robin tournament, just being able to get a serve over the net is an accomplishment given the nerves that I am suffering from. Pure experience is the best cure for this. After your tenth round robin down at SDTTA you will probably be having a very different experience.

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Currently playing classic defensive style (a la Chtchetinine)
American Hinoki Single Ply 9mm Bald Cypress
Palio CJ8000/1.2mm Dawei Butter
Saviga V 0.6

After 15 years of not competing and the last Thursday, they put me in the first table and this last Thursday, I was in the second table, I think it most probably the nerves and the atmosphere of competing got to me. Remember that I have always played in my garage, my rules and my own table. I can always blame the lighting, the bounce of the table, the people walking around, the interruptions after 2 or 3 balls, etc, but these are just excuses, I know I can do better than that.

Well, George came over just now and he help me block and hit mostly my weak forehand, and my serve returns. I am going to ballroom dance party tonight in about 2 hours, I hope I won't be too tire tomorrow because the +60 singles starts at 9 AM, +50 singles starts at 1 PM and Open Singles at 2 PM.

If I can get some videos of the matches, I will, otherwise, I will just report how I did.

Good luck tomorrow, Tat!

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Currently playing classic defensive style (a la Chtchetinine)
American Hinoki Single Ply 9mm Bald Cypress
Palio CJ8000/1.2mm Dawei Butter
Saviga V 0.6

I always like to warm up, if I can, at the start of the day by just hitting serves with nobody on the other side, so that I can watch where it's landing and what kind of spin I'm getting on the ball. It really helps me to get a feel for the ball, table, and the touch that is needed on the serve, and helps me to hone my serves before going on to a traditional warm-up with another player.

I think that I always play better if I play a practice game or match before my first event as well. It gets me in the serve/return of serve mind-set. If you just warm up by counter driving and looping, you don't get the feel for "real" points.

_________________
"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 idea, I can practice serving a little before I drive down to the club tomorrow. Once there, I don't think I will be able to warm up with anybody unless Bill U decided to warm up and hit a few balls with me. Other than Bill, I really don't know anybody in the tournament. I am nobody yet.

Anyway, I am going to have some fun tomorrow, and hopefully not too nervous. No matter what, it is another first for me in a long while. I have been watching my son compete in tennis matches throughout his junior and college years (from 8 to 21), and now it is my turn to compete in table tennis. Well, watching is really cheating because I was so nervous I let my wife watch and I peek at the score sometimes and when he won, I jump out to congratulate him.

I can tell you though, my son is a lot better than me in tennis than I ever will be in table tennis.