OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Last day of the U.S. Open. I slept horribly. Sore muscles, tired, upset stomach. Starting to feel better, waking up slowly. I was just taking a look at the draw that I'll have today and things could be interesting for me in U-1800.

Looking at my round robin and the results of the players in my group in their previous events, it appears as if I do not have any really underrated people. All of their results seemed to hold form for the most part in their other round robins. So I'm feeling good about my chances of getting out of my group.

Looking at the round robin for the group that I would play the winner of, this is where things get interesting. The top player in that group is the little 10 year old kid who shot up to over 2000 from America's Team Tournament that I beat. Granted, all of the games I won were at deuce. And it's likely that he's gotten better over the past couple of months. But a kid that age, I think I would hold a bit of a mental edge. I know he'd probably be happy at a chance for revenge, but if I get out of my group and play him, if I can throw him off with my pips early in the match he might get down mentally. If I would somehow move past him again, I could very well play Arcot, my teammate from Rockford who beat me 3-2 in Wheeling.

This could be a really fun day if I can play well. Plus, my dad is coming down to watch me play for the first time, so that will be fun too. Wish me luck!

_________________
"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

Naturally!

Play short in the middle a lot (to make looping hard) and moving him around the rest to the kid if you play him.

_________________
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.

Well, my U.S. Open journey is now over. Had a fun tournament, really enjoyed seeing old friends and meeting new ones. I had a lot of fun playing, there's just a lot of down time between events and between round robins and playoff rounds that made the days longer than the really should be.

Anyway, in the U-1800 event I was fortunate and did not have any underrated kids. The #2 guy withdrew from the event, so I only had a 1500s player and a 1300s player to beat. They were both solid at or a little above their rating. I had no problem with the 1300 guy. The 1500 guy says that he plays against another long pips player all the time. I could tell, my pips shots didn't bother him much. I won the first game easily, then in the second he got 3 points off nets and edges to beat me. That was frustrating, because he was playing very well and I wanted to put him down quickly. The third saw me trail most of the game, only to come back and win at deuce. I won 11-8 in the fourth to advance out of my round robin. Waiting for me in the first playoff round was, sure enough, the same 1920 rated kid that I played in Rockford when he was just in the 1600s. This time, though, he had an older gentleman with him who was a new coach and he received a lot of instruction from this coach about playing against pips. I could tell that the advice helped him out because he played more conservatively and had far less trouble with my pips shots. Most of the match was him serving hard and long to me and looking to give me hard pushes or very soft, high arcing loops so that I didn't have a lot to work with. I stayed back and chopped most of his shots and was doing a very good job of dropping many of them short, just over the net, and alternating them with longer chops into his body. The first game was his 11-7. I could tell he was improved, like I was, in the last 6 weeks. I snuck out a win in game 2 12-10 thanks to keeping him guessing about the placement of my chops. In the third he really got on a roll and crushed me 11-5. I returned the favor in game 4, picking up the attack a little bit and changing up my placement a bit more. In the fifth he started out with the serve and hit a couple of very nice third ball attack combinations right away. At 3-1 he got an edge ball that made it 4-1. There's a big difference between 4-1 and 3-2, especially in a fifth game. He was out to a 6-2 lead when I started fighting back. I got it to 9-6 and then we had a long rally, I knew I needed to get the point. But it wasn't to be, he hit 7-8 shots in the rally that were patient and well placed, then finished it off strong when he had the opportunity. So, whereas last time I won 3-1 (all games I won at 12-10) he got his revenge 3-2. It was a good, well played match that was fun and had attracted a bit of a crowd. Nothing to be ashamed of there.

Overall I'm pleased with how my new modern defense game of chopping and counter-looping is going. I've only been playing with this setup and this style for a little over a month, so I think I'm doing very well very quickly. A couple of experienced pips players told me that they were impressed with my shot placement, which was nice to hear and meant a lot to me. The tournament ended up being a lot of fun and a great experience. Now, if they'd only ban anybody under 20 from entering it would be even better.

Thanks for sharing the experience with me! And, for all of the Americans out there, Happy Fourth of July!!!

_________________
"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 posting. lots of work, but i sure enjoyed it!

Great! It's worth the work to post the info when I know people have enjoyed it. It was a great experience that I won't forget. Wish I could have won a title, but that's tough to do. Especially with all of the underrated people (especially kids). It was 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

Kudos from me too. Great job!

_________________



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Happy 4th to you Dwruck . I enjoyed your blog as well, maybe you'll get a title next time.

_________________
"Success is on the same road as failure; success is just a little farther down the road."

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Thanks guys! I hope you're right, that sure would be a thrill, to win first place at the U.S. Open or Nationals. I've won first place in events at 4 star tournaments, but this was my first 5 star competition.

Looking at the live results, the little kid from Canada that won the U-1950 group that I was in made it to the finals before losing. The kid that knocked me out of U-1800 is still in the competition, after winning another 5-game match in the round after he played me. He's a tough little kid!

_________________
"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

Dwruck,
Thanks for posting.

Ditto from me DW, a very enjoyable mini-blog full of intelligent content. Thank you.

_________________
Timo Boll ALC ST
FH Tibhar Evolution MX-P Max
BH Tibhar Evolution FX-S 1.8
185g

Thanks guys, really, it's great to know that you enjoyed my write-up. It's good to know that it's of value.

The online results are updated. The kid won another 5 game match in the quarterfinals (that made 3 straight 5 game match wins!) before losing in a 5 game match in the semifinals. The winner of U-1800 was the guy that was in my U-2250 group who was rated in the 1700s but beat the almost 2100 rated guys. I can't say that I'm surprised that he won U-1800. Looks like most of my losses were to some of the most underrated people in the tournament.

The best part is that I know what I need to work on and that my game is coming along quickly. I only changed to the Dragon Talon pips at the end of May. And I only really changed to a chopping/counter looping style about a month ago. The fact that I can play so tough so quickly means that this could really work for me. With some work and improvement on transitioning from offense to defense, footwork, and consistency, I believe that I can continue to improve. I'll probably lose a little in terms of ratings points, but I know I can get those back. My next tournament will be at the end of July in Schaumburg, I'll be playing U-1950, U-2150 and the Open. So, plenty of chances for 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

Careful Doug, blogging can be addictive!

Was nice to read your extended tourney activities . Will your rating change from it? Up or down?

_________________
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.

I think that it will go down a little but stay above 1800. Most of my losses either came from players rated well above me, or juniors that were rated below me but are no doubt going to get significant readjustments. I did beat a couple of guys whose ratings were almost identical to mine, which will help. The only "bad" loss was to a guy in the 1730s in the U-1800 O-40, I'll probably lose about 20 points to him. If I'd been able to pull off the upset over the 2000 guy when I was up 10-7 in the fifth, I probably would have gained a few points. Oh well, given how many underrated people I played and how many tough matches that I had, only losing a slight amount isn't bad at all.

_________________
"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

Just look at it this way: next time YOU will be the underrated player...
 

_________________
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

Exactly!!! My next tournament is at the end of July in Schaumburg. U-1950, U-2150 and Open. I'm hoping by then I can get the improvements that I need to start closing the deal more often against the 1900-2100 types that I keep losing to in 5 game matches.

_________________
"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