OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Hi all! This is only my second blog so I'll try to make it as interesting as possible! It's just going to be a little piece on me as a player and also my exploits in my local league, and, more importantly, how I get on in my quest to reach the first division (although it may be slightly late - without sounding cocky).

I've now been playing for 3 years after starting at school. I decided to join a local club purely out of interest, progressing gradually to become the player I am now. Last year I reached my highest point in the game, becoming the 27th best U15 in England, county U15 number 2 and county U18 number three, despite being only 13. I also (somehow) managed to get to the last 16 of the National U14 Champs. This was also my 2nd year competing in the English Schools Nationals, having missed out on reaching the last 4 in England by 1 SET with 3 other schoolmates at the first attempt. With the same team we narrowly missed out on the last 4 once more in our 2nd year. However, at the end of last season I decided to take a break from the relentless tournaments miles away to concentrate on exams and local league. This is where it gets interesting!

A little information about my local league: We have a grading system unique to our league (I think) - the highest is 318 & the lowest 50, which hopefully gives you a good idea. My grading is 207 and (very) slowly on the up. I am now in my 3rd season, this year playing in divsion 2 of 5, having won divisions 5 & 3. The second half of this season has just begun, and at the moment, my average is 91.6%, having won 33/36. Our team currently stands in 3rd position.

More info to follow as the season reaches its climax
You can also follow our team in the English Schools again this year when "The Gutho Boys U16's Road to the National Final!" is finally posted!

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15 years old & hoping to become a half decent player!

Blade: Joola Flame Fast
FH: Joola Explode Sensitive
BH: Tibhar Grip-S Europe

Change needed dramatically!

As posts on this thread have been completely absent due to studies, I might as well start off again with a video of me playing recently.

Comments welcome and appreciated.

Sorry for the disruption at times, with people walking in front of the camera



I'm in pretty much all black with the short, red hair. Phazit is the other player.

Gin

_________________
15 years old & hoping to become a half decent player!

Blade: Joola Flame Fast
FH: Joola Explode Sensitive
BH: Tibhar Grip-S Europe

Change needed dramatically!

Gin,

looks good, from what little I can see from the video - first it is vertical and narrow, then it goes wider, but sideways! Can you sort this out?
cheers
PRW

Good to see and hear that you're passionate. From what I could see on the video you have a good, positive attitude to the game. Unfortunately, the 'smart phone' video is not ideal for table tennis, i.e. the portrait style hides most of what you're doing on the all-important sidelines. It's like watching the game through a keyhole. Any chance of filming your games with a 'normal' video camera?

Keep up the good work!

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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 watched the first 5 minutes - very impressive Gin! Your general technique looks pretty sound and your serves look handy. Also, your attacking shots have a nice crispness to them. You still make a fair few errors but they will gradually disappear if you spend a lot more hours training.

A couple of little tips. After many shots you often tend to momentarily freeze upright with you bat held fairly high (eg the rally at 2.45) and as a result you are slow to get ready for the next shot (especially if this next shot is a loop). This is a common problem with many players. A few times you were so slow that you ended up pushing long balls - a big no no! Try to recover and prepare much quicker. In particular, if you have played a strong attacking shot your opponent's return will generally be passive so quickly assume an aggressive postion. Otherwise great stuff. If you train hard I'm sure you could become a top player.

Listen to the man of carbon...he won't set you wrong!

I assume this is a vid from your phone set upright (portrait) as Oskar has eluded to. I think just resting the phone on its side (landscape) should be enough to get a decent vid, cos the vid quality is fine. If you get a plastic jar of the right size for your phone and cut 2 slots in it so the phone can sit in the slots, you have yourself a crude tripod that should do the trick.

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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 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.

Apologies for the bad filming guys - we're aiming to do a bit more so I'll hopefully have it sorted when I next come to post a vid!

Reb, thank very much for that crafty piece of knowledge! I'll be trying that out ASAP

_________________
15 years old & hoping to become a half decent player!

Blade: Joola Flame Fast
FH: Joola Explode Sensitive
BH: Tibhar Grip-S Europe

Change needed dramatically!

Carbonman, I really can't thank you enough for your great insight as it's been a bit of an annoyance to me lately and for someone to point out how to improve it helps me out A LOT!

And, yes, as you picked up on earlier in your post, it's a lack of training that's causing me to make quite a few mistakes. These darn qualifications take up too much time!!!

But thanks Carbonman, all the advice is really appreciated

_________________
15 years old & hoping to become a half decent player!

Blade: Joola Flame Fast
FH: Joola Explode Sensitive
BH: Tibhar Grip-S Europe

Change needed dramatically!

I'll try my best, although these phone cameras can be a bit of a nuisance!

_________________
15 years old & hoping to become a half decent player!

Blade: Joola Flame Fast
FH: Joola Explode Sensitive
BH: Tibhar Grip-S Europe

Change needed dramatically!

ok, had 15 minutes spare at work, so I watched the video! Only issue is, I may not be able to play tonight, with such a twisted neck!

Was the opponent playing with LP on the black? I noticed he twiddled to serve on the BH.

First, the good points that I see:
>good foot movement
>good serve placement and variation - although most were long
>good FH spin

possible improvement:
>I was going to say (at the start of the video) that you look to push long serves to the FH, instead of looping them. Against a more aggressive player, you are unlikely to get the 2nd chance. An example - at 1.09 - you had 2 chances to loop, didn't take either... - but later on, I think 3.49 was the first time you attacked the long serve to FH, and then you mostly kept doing this - although slipped back eg at 5.09.
>I agree with carbonman re the arm staying high after the loop - I think this may have something to do with balance, if you were slightly lower, and feet slightly wider, you could recover faster.
>Your serves are very good, although you could drop some short as a surprise against the type of player you were playing. Against a more aggressive player, your long serves could be attacked, so a better mix of short serves would be wise in this case.
>and finally - take a bit more time before serving! Taking a bit of time to work out what your followup shot will be provides huge benefit, and adds more pressure to your opponent...

oops, sorry maybe the video should come with an injury warning sort of thing



Yes, he uses TSP Curl P4

Thanks for all the advice - I'm going to make sure I implement what you're saying next time I come to play. It's appreciated greatly

I play Phazit quite often so I'll try and post another vid of us in a while so you can see how I've tried to put these things into practice

_________________
15 years old & hoping to become a half decent player!

Blade: Joola Flame Fast
FH: Joola Explode Sensitive
BH: Tibhar Grip-S Europe

Change needed dramatically!

just had another thought...
against a lefthander, LP BH player, I find that a kicking topspin serve, deep to his backhand from your FOREHAND side is very effective - keeps him back, the topspin means he can't attack it, and as you have a lot of time, you can really wind up on the loop... just have to ensure that you move in position correctly..

Yeah, I think I need to practice that more because the only reason I don't do it is down to my reluctance to attack a return from pimples :/

_________________
15 years old & hoping to become a half decent player!

Blade: Joola Flame Fast
FH: Joola Explode Sensitive
BH: Tibhar Grip-S Europe

Change needed dramatically!

I don't want to sound like a wet blanket but just a word against complacency...15 is not young in TT years and you really need to train hard over the next 2-3 years or there is a good chance you will miss the boat. If you are keen enough you will find a way to effectively organise your time so that you can both study and train effectively. For starters, if you play computer games then don't!

Well I've been playing for about 4 years now and to start with, I strived to play as much as I could but found that I came to really dislike the intensity of training and tournaments. I think I reached about 20th in England U15s but now just train and play locally for the love of the game

_________________
15 years old & hoping to become a half decent player!

Blade: Joola Flame Fast
FH: Joola Explode Sensitive
BH: Tibhar Grip-S Europe

Change needed dramatically!