OOAK Table Tennis Forum

I have never blogged. But I think it may be a good idea to chronical my endeavors on my road to being a adequete player. I also appreciate the fact that on alot of the other blogs I see alot of feedback and posts from other members. So here goes.

First paragrah will be some background. I live in the United States, Where Bowling is more accepted than table tennis. I play currently at 2 clubs in florida, just recently have I been playing at the second one. Tradiitionally I play play once a week but now have moved to twice a week. However I do get some playing time at work, where I taught a friend to play pretty decent so he gives me good practice. I am currently at a usatt rating of 1813. I am 26 which I feel like is on the wrong side of the hill when it comes to improving in table tennis. my favorite player is timo boll. I mimic my game very much after him. I am a very strong forehand looper with real decent serves I believe anyway.

So I have been in 2 tournaments in my table tennis lifetime, the very first one I came in second place to a long pips user which I had never played against before, I had a preliminary rating of 1500 for that tournament. Once that was completed I moved to 1618 or something like that. The second tournament I played in I came in first place and moved to a rating of 1813. I am eagerly awaiting my next tournament which will be this month. I am also planning on video taping my play to post it here but also to dissect my game and find weaknesses. Also my friend will be comming to his first tournament with me this month and that will make it more fun. The car ride is 2 hours to get there.

Currently my equipment is a Mizutani Jun Blade with Omega IV Europse rubber max thickness, This setup seems to very real fast with great spin. Tenergy would be ideal however I dont want to pay that cost.

So here are my goals. the next tournament which is february 25th I want to come in top 3 and move to a 1900 rating. by the end of the year I want to be 2200 and I think I can do it. I have been progressing very fast.

My strenghts: strong side and top spin forhand looping, Serves, and my speed and ability to get to every ball no matter what.

My weaknesses and this is where you the reader and poster and hold me accountable. I have been working hard on my backhand flip which I feel is strong but my forehand flip needs help. Also I need help being able to block and return strong sidespin loops because I dont play against that to often.

If I get some posts there will be more to come. lol thanks guys.

Good on you for starting a blog here Michael4ster

Do you have a coach? With a coach you will likely progress a lot faster, and reach those goals, even if it's just a few lessons to make sure your strokes are right.

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I appreciate your Blog idea, michael!

Being in Canada, I find USA TT to be very interesting, after all you guys are our neighbors!

I will follow your blog.

Your post was very well written.

Good training and good luck!

Hi Haggis,

Great website here by the way, it creates a great community for table tennis. I have no coach nor have I ever had a coach, I feel that i can recognize and isolate my weaknesses fairly well, however I do feel I am missing multiball training which I wish I had.

Glennholder, Thank for you following me. No doubt you will contribute good insights with your posts. What table tennis rating does Canada use, like we use USATT, what do you use? Also curious where is your rating?

thanks.

Well done on setting some tough goals - I look forward to reading of your progress.

I still think you should at least have some coaching.

For a blog title what about "BREAKING 2200" - a reference to the recent TT book "Breaking 2000".

Thanks Carbonman,

I must also put that I have looked for coaches around my place of living, however the closest I can find is an hour away. Also even an hour away in Orlando Florida I havent found one with the credentials I would like in a coach. If someone knows of 1 thats real good I would appreciate the info.

Also my wife and I just had our first baby about 1 month ago and she is already at her limit of allowing me to play the amount that I do. So it may be a hard sell.

thank you.

Fair enough. If you are aiming at 2200 you probably need a 2400+ coach anyway and it would appear that this isn't available to you.

Try and get your strokes correct with good control/consistency and then as you move higher up keep in mind that your serve, receive and opening loop will become increasingly important.

Good idea.... are you wanting us to suggest title names Michael4ster?

_________________
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
Recent Articles: Butterfly Tenergy Alternatives | Tenergy Rubbers Compared | Re-Impact User Guide

Michael4ster asked:

Michael, we have the same type of rating here in Canada.

I have not pursued any type of rating, I have played twice a week for 18 months, once in my own club at the University, and once in a Manitoba Table Tennis Club (government sponsored club)

At both clubs, we have recent immigrants from Asia and Eastern Europe who lead the way in playing skills. I face some deadly RPB backhands and spinney loops from many of these players and it is good for my learning curve!

I'm taking it fairly seriously, for an old guy (53). I practice serving at home and I have bought and glued over 40 different types of rubber in the last 18 months!

I'm very interested to see how your progress is!

Hey Michael4ster, good to have you on board. You say that being 26 is on the 'wrong side of the hill'. I say, don't be so hard on yourself. In fact, I don't think there is a wrong side of the hill, unless you have unreal expectations, like wanting to represent your country in the Olympics. Of course, starting anything at an early age will be of great benefit, but it's certainly not that critical, as long as your expectations are reasonable. From what you're saying, I think your expectations are more than reasonable.

I agree with some of the posters here about looking for some coaching. It's one of those things that you don't know how valuable it is until you do it. Like having a baby, I suppose, which of course will probably be the major hindrance in the short term. Been there; done that. On a positive, when your child grows old enough to swing a bat you'll have a TT buddy who you can coach.

I suspect, like most of us here, you've really caught the TT bug. Best thing to do besides whacking balls is to learn as much as you can. There are plenty of good resources available (books, DVDs, YouTube videos, OOAK Forum). Another useful tool can be video taping yourself and posting it into your OOAK forum blog. Admittedly, I haven't done it yet, but it can be a great way for others to see how you play and many offer good feedback. Well, you do mention that anyway, so I reckon it's a good thing to do! It might even inspire me to do the same very soon.

Keep up the blog - I know I need to get back to mine.

_________________

Weapon 1: Andro Kinetic Supreme Hinoki/Zylon OFF-; Andro Hexer HDs (FH 2.1/BH 1.9)
Weapon 2: Ross Leidy 'Smokey'; Friendship 729-5s
Club1: Daylesford - since 2010
Club2: Ballarat - since 2011
Blog: A Naked Bear

Hi Guys,

Sure Haggis suggestions for blog title would be appreciated, I did think of breaking 2200 however I am not ready to commit to that.

You can expect video early next month of my playing in a tournament.

Also I will playing table tennis tonight. at the new club I started going to there is a previous state champ of florida along with many many other players its a fairly large club, there was about 40 people there this sunday. However, There is a small few of the club that are probably the best which includes the previous state champ along with a couple other 2000 rating players, since playing with them for the last couple weeks they invited me to come play with them on friday evenings. so this will be my first friday evening with them. I do believe it will be extremely beneficial to get to play such good players exclusivly for an extended amount of time. So I think I will do a blog update on that in the next couple of days and let you guys know how I did.

Also Oskar I will not be trying to represent my country at all, however I am hopeful that with my knowledge mabye that will be an option for my son. Also I failed to mention my wife is from the Phillipines and I started playing because of her and she is very good, so he will get good knowledge.

Michael4str said:

Lucky Guy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Does she still play? If she does (and once your son is a little more independent), it sounds like TT can be a great activity for all of you.

In 'my' subject line above is a suggestion for your blog title ...

_________________

Weapon 1: Andro Kinetic Supreme Hinoki/Zylon OFF-; Andro Hexer HDs (FH 2.1/BH 1.9)
Weapon 2: Ross Leidy 'Smokey'; Friendship 729-5s
Club1: Daylesford - since 2010
Club2: Ballarat - since 2011
Blog: A Naked Bear

I am extremely lucky. She hasent played in a long time. Shes the reason I started playing in college. I thought she was so pretty I had to get to know her, lol.

But yes I believe TT will be great for us all to enjoy for a long long time.

Second installment.

I played last night with 3 other guys. All of whom are higher rating then me. I didnt actually play the third guy who I believe is the best. However I played a 2030 rating, hes a great player and I learned alot from him last night. This was the third time I played him. I already feel I imporved. I went there with the hopes of beating him in a match, However the first match we played I took it to 5 games and we deuced on the fifth. So I had a real good chance but I couldnt close. He capitilized very well on one of my weaknesses which is my forehand flip, I kept thinking I could do it but it was just very heavy backspin and I always put it right into the net.

I am encouraged and discouraged at the same time. The fact that I took a great player to 5 games is very encouraging. But after speaking to him last night, I realize just how far away I am from the elite players in the state. I just dont have the training capabilities to compete with them.

On a side note, the player rated at 2030 or some where around there, signed our club up to participate in a usatt league, which is exactly what American Table Tennis needs to get better and more widely accepted. I believe its new to the USATT, just the fact that its starting is very encouraging I think that will be the funnest thing I can imagine. However there probably isnt a ton of support and I think it will remain in the baby steps for along time before it actually takes off to where we will play other teams. I think it will really take someone who steps up and takes the reign on that level. I just hope its soon.

I probably wont post until after my tournament on february 25th because there will likely be nothing to post about until then.

Once again thanks for following. if people post I will still respond.