OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Training yesterday, a couple of the best players came around. They came late and left early, so I didn't get much playing time with them. The few hits I had moderated my view of the "perfect bat" that I got previously, but I still think it's going to be the best setup for me. Most things work really well, and the control issues will be handled with training and proper footwork (regaining the use of my both feet).

I might try switching rubbers between the Yasaka and Galaxy blades to see if there's anything to gain, but right now I have a feeling that the (quite cheap) Mercury II is just as good as the Hurricane. H2 is supposed to be faster and less spinny than H3, so that may be a way to go... Darn! Here I am going EJ again and almost didn't notice. FAILURE
Have to remind myself to stick to one setup now, quit fooling around with my main axe. Make some videos of myself and publish in this place so I can get advice about my playing. (Yep, we agree about that, decoy. I'm looking at getting that WA adapter lens like you suggested by PM. Thanks for the tip!)

Also must try to generally have fun, which is possible also without constantly having something new to try (or so I have to make myself believe).

We've been given notice about the gymnasium not being available to us this summer. It is in use for exams in most of May/June anyway, so we must try to find other venues for a while. Tough!
Closing on May 7th, so saturday 5th will be the last club training. Luckily I have access to the place as an employee, so after the exam period I can arrange for some "private" training sessions.

with video

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Main: / secondary / LP
Blade: DHS Hurricane hao/ Blade- Ross Leidy Gauss/ Stiga Clipper
FH: Skyline 3(Blue Sponge)/ FH- Galaxy Sun/ Hurricane 3
BH: 729-Focus 3 Snipe/ BH- DHS Memo 3/ Cloud and Fog 3

When I first started out, I played with the T-11 with Mercury II for about 4 months, up until I was about US1700 or so. Eventually I just found it to be too bouncy in the short game, so I slowed down and used a Sanwei F3/Sanwei T88-I setup. Now I'm settled on the H-WN(it's like a slightly thicker version of the OC, P500, YE) with H3NP. Personally, I don't find that setup THAT great, but I made a commitment to stop EJing so I'm sticking with that. It's been 5 months thus far, and while it hasn't stopped me from buying new crap, I've stuck to playing with it 95% of the time.

Thanks dingyibvs! I have noticed that it's very bouncy, so I'll just have to see if I'm able to control it. Fun to play with though.

I guess I'll be going a bit back and forth between that T-11 and the Yasaka when I'm back to training again. That other bat does have less bounce.

On my experimental personality now (perhaps the two of me should have separate blogs - we'll just see about that), I received a few sheets from haggisv's "surplus store". Among those were some sheets of Air upupupup OX. He advised to use the most rigid all wood blade I have available for that sheet of pips, so naturally I had to go the opposite direction. It now resides on my W-1 (that is not a Galaxy W1, but Friendship W-1 which is a different beast entirely, labeled DEF+). Tried it against the wall, which gave some impression (alternating with the inverted side, so I got some feel of spin handling). Fantastic control compared to the 1615 (which I had to put a thin sponge under to control it) and the strokes have an "interesting" feel. Can't wait to try it against live opponents (specifically a few self pronounced pip haters). Too bad we are victim of imposed "TT summer vacation" (due to school exams using the gymnasium).

The 563 which came off that DEF blade went on a cheap ALL blade (paired with an 802 I had lying around). Also tried that against the wall. Less spin with dual pip setup so I couldn't test spin handling. Good control and speed though, so there's also an attack weapon to annoy those antipippers, in case I am not able to play defense.

There's a lot of fun even in the anticipation (then again, maybe I am imagining things ).
Can't invite the good players to the exam rooms, but I guess I'll sneak in with the kid on evenings some time.

New lineup
Sweet spot: Friendship 729-08 2,1 | Yasaka Synergy | Hurricane 3 2,2
My current main setup. Plain and simple, no surprises.

Custom: Kokutaku 911 0,8 | Re-Impact Dream Perfect 995-2-Si-WRZ-6x6 | Stiga Innova ultra light 1,8 Unusual handle shape with triangular end, but I like it.
Somewhat extreme test blade from Achim. Combination blade.
Started with a moderate rubber setup (dual inverted allround), to have some reference point. The 729 General was slow and spinny, but nothing special except very sensitive to incoming spin. FAILURE
Tried briefly with the Innova on slow side and a SP (Kokutaku 119) on the faster side. With that I got too much bounce on SP and too sensitive to spin on inverted. FAILURE
Innova back on fast side and LP (Kokutaku 911) on 0,8 sponge for the slow side. Simple bounce feels good. Will see how it plays today...

Backup: Air upupupup U3 OX | 729 L-5 | Kokutaku BLütenkirsche 868 2,2

... and then some ...

Friendship 563 Mystery III 1,8| HRT 2076 | Friendship 802 2,2
Reactor Corbor 2,2| YinHe T-2 | Double Fish 1615 0,5
LKT pro XP 2,2| YinHe T-11 | LKT pro XP 2,2
XiYing 999 2,2| HRT 2076 | XiYing 999 2,2
Friendship 729 General 1,8| YinHe Y-4 | Friendship 729 General 1,8

... and a small store of other blades and rubbers, with glue and chopping board at hand, just in case ...

I've been playing mostly with my Re-Impact setup, and starting to learn. Yesterday quite a few newcomers turned up for club training, and I used the Perfect exclusively. I tried, I mean really tried, to return nicely from both sides, just to keep the practice going, but it was hard. Whenever a newcomer hits a spinny ball to my pip side, I return it fairly high and slow over the net, trying to put a little topspin on it so it behaves in a familiar manner, but no way! Sometimes spin reversal cannot be avoided, so the newcomer had a hard time dealing with wobble, float, and generally unexpected spin. I told some of them that they were victim to their own spin, but I could see that they didn't believe me...

Sort of a FAILURE (attempting to go easy on the newbies), but certainly rewarding. I did need that "easy" training to learn the basics of how this setup works. I had no idea that the effect would be so prominent. Quite similar to some of the balls I saw in Jonas' video from his gold match.

With thin-sponge LP on the slow side and medium-sponge inverted on the fast, the speed difference is significant. Gives me a lot of trouble whenever I switch sides FH/BH. Learning curve FAILURE, have to focus ...

Perhaps time to try SP on the fast side, with those LP still on the slow. I have a few red sheets of 802 ready (0,5 and 1,5 sponge, at least), and perhaps a few others too. Could try the Pluto I have on 0,8 sponge, but I have cut it a bit too small for that oversize Perfect head so it is going to look weird. (I have to restrain myself from that EJ vibe. Not quite going cold turkey, but I'm not buying new rubbers right now. Just don't tell the wife that I asked for those freebies from so_devo. ...)

If I were you I'd brag about the freebies to your wife to show you saved money...and then when you do need to buy some more rubbers, you can just pass them off as freebies too

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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 National Pogo Ox
S/U 2: Blade: Bty Gergely . FH Black Hexer+ 2.1 . BH Red Tibhar Grass Dtecs Ox
S/U 3: Blade: Bty Gergely . FH Black Hexer+ 2.1 BH Red Dornenglanz Ox
Table tennis directory / Equipment Review Index / Read my Reb Report Blog: click here.

Oh, well...

It's just that the issue is mostly "this TT stuff is EVERYWHERE!" and not so much "What did you pay for all this?".

Aha! In that case, you need a tidy box of good size to keep it in. Outta sight outta her mind!

_________________
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 National Pogo Ox
S/U 2: Blade: Bty Gergely . FH Black Hexer+ 2.1 . BH Red Tibhar Grass Dtecs Ox
S/U 3: Blade: Bty Gergely . FH Black Hexer+ 2.1 BH Red Dornenglanz Ox
Table tennis directory / Equipment Review Index / Read my Reb Report Blog: click here.

Come Saturday we are playing our first matches in the series. 5th division doesn't sound too impressive, but it seems that none in the teams take it lightly. It will be good.
We go with two teams, 4 hours to travel, then each team playing 3 matches which means 9 to 12 individual matches for each player. Everyone looking forward to it. At last we get a proper opportunity to test ourselves against real opponents, not just each other.

Have to practice doubles today, like we did yesterday. That's the most important thing we never do.

Note to self: Driving. Do not forget coffee!

Some control issues with the Kokutaku 911. Trying the Palio CK531a instead, I think. Not so different. A bit less spin, better control and some more reversal, if I read the reviews right.

Played in the series last saturday. 3 teenagers on team 1, and me and another adult with our two youngest players on the second team.

Two of the opposing teams consisted of teenagers, and the third had players aged like our youngest (9-12, I guess). Good mix in playing level, as may be expected in the lowest division.

A bit nervous start for our two youngest, but a strong recovery loosened it up for my son (first set he was behind 1-10, and he came back only to lose the set 9-11) and a word between sets ("have fun", essentially) seemed to crack it for the other one. After that they played above par, as far as I could tell. Competition is good!

For myself also a bit nervous start. I haven't played any real matches with the Re-Impact, and also changed my LP from the Kokutaku 911 to a Palio CK531a right before this weekend. It turned out to be a fortunate change. Very similar response but with improved control, so I could return most serves low and short, keeping the speed down. Looked like our opponents were used to offensive play, and hated the breakup of dead and short balls. If I blocked long with LP, the return would go in the net. Blocking short or "pushing", and there would come a popup. My reflexes were a bit off, though, so when the playing speeded up I had a lot of bad hits. FAILURE
Twiddling confused my opponents, but confused me as well. FAILURE
I took it as a training session, seeing that I get little practice from most of our training nights. As such it was an excellent workout, physically as well as technique-wise. Also reassuring that the response of the blade is predictable. Quite fast on the fast side, and with excellent spin capability. Slow side in the allround range, damps a bit on passive shots, and also has some power on hard strokes. Sufficient control for low chops and the short game, and still good putaway power. Can't get much better than that. I have a new primary setup. Now for reprogramming those reflexes...

Everyone pleased with the trip and the outcome. Team 1 won two matches and lost one. My team 2 won one, had one draw and lost one.
My last singles match was a very tight loss (3-11/11-6/11-9/9-11/12-14), and we won the final doubles. The set count was in our favour, so if I had won that singles, in theory we could have won instead of losing that last team match. FAILURE
I suppose they could have mustered a stronger doubles pair, though, so I don't feel too bad about it. (I'm rather good at making excuses for myself, aren't I?)

Main axe: Palio CK531A 0,9 | Re-Impact Perfect 995-2-Si-WRZ-6x6 | Stiga Innova ultra light 1,8 Unusual handle shape with triangular end, but I like it.
Somewhat extreme test blade from Achim. Tried a few rubbers on the slow side. The Palio is clearly better for me than anything else I had on.

Backup: Friendship 729-08 2,1 | Yasaka Synergy | Hurricane 3 2,2
My old main setup. Plain and simple, no surprises.

... and then some ...

Air upupupup U3 OX | Friendship L-5 | Kokutaku BLütenkirsche 868 2,2
Friendship 563 Mystery III 1,8| HRT 2076 | Friendship 802 2,2
Reactor Corbor 2,2| YinHe T-2 | Double Fish 1615 0,5
LKT pro XP 2,2| YinHe T-11 | LKT pro XP 2,2
XiYing 999 2,2| HRT 2076 | XiYing 999 2,2
Friendship 729 General 1,8| YinHe Y-4 | Friendship 729 General 1,8

... and a small store of other blades and rubbers, with glue, cutter and chopping board at hand, just in case ...

I bet your 'main axe' is very light!

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A lot lighter than it looks, for sure! I think I weighed the blade alone at 84g, and around 175g with regular 729 rubber on one side, the current Stiga Innova UL on the other. I think it lost perhaps 20g after changing to LP, so my guess is around 155-160g. Will weigh it when I can.

It is still noticeably heavier than my son's bat (119g with Innova UL 1,8mm on both sides), but the typical comment from an unsuspecting player who tries it is "it weighs nothing". It is as thick as three other blades, so perhaps they expect a weight to match the dimension.