Review of my 2013 / 2014 season.
Well, it's over. Looking back at the targets I set myself how did I / we do?
Expectations at the start of the season:
“Team targets:
As a newly promoted team, we are favourites for relegation. The gulf between playing division 1 and premier division is just that big - we went straight down last time we played in the premier division and had a record of drawn 2, lost 20 won none. That losing mentally carried over in to the start of the next season back in division 1 when we didn't win any of our first 7 games. In other words, we carried big mental scars from playing a season in the premier division and had got used to losing.
Our team target is simply to be positive when we play, both tactically and mentally; believe we have the right to play in the premier and try our hearts out.
My goals:
This time round it's to do myself justice, learn and play with confidence not an air of apology for being at the other end of the table to my opponents. Doing myself justice will be measured by achieving a 33% win ratio. May not sound like much of a target, but last time round I averaged 16%.
In between matches I'll continue to practice hard and constructively.”
Reality:
Team targets:
We were relegated. But this time we didn't finish bottom. We had a record of won 2, drew 2 lost 18 and a points total of 60 points – our number 1 player accounted for 30 of those points, me 13 and our number 2 player 9. The remaining 8 pts were doubles wins by me and our number 1 player.
The third from bottom team had 83 pts so there was a 23 point gap between us and staying up. Sounds a lot and it is except the third from bottom team won 3 games this season and 2 were against us – scores of 8:2 and 7:3. Reverse those scores and we would have finished with 70pts and they would have finished with 73pts. That's what has hurt us this season. Our biggest win has been 6:4. Winning big like 8:2 makes a massive difference to a teams chances of survival and we could never quite give our number 1 player the support he needed.
My target
That said, our number 2 player won 1 match in the first half of the season and 8 in the second half. Improvement was there as was an increasing confidence – we just ran out of time.
My final averages were a win percentage of 20.63%. My averages for the first half of the season were 15.15% when I won 5 games. For the second half of the season they increased to 24.14% when I won 8 games. Of those 8, 5 were against players who'd beaten me first time round. And only two of the players who I beat first time round played me second time round – one I beat, one I lost to. Again that's positive progress – beating players I'd never beaten before.
Another positive factor for me were matches that went to a decider. In the first half of the season, 12 of my matches went the distance and I lost 9 of them (75% loss rate). My average points won in that deciding game were 9.33 and my opponents 10.75 so I lost a lot of very tight matches. In the second half of the season I'd reversed that trend. Four matches went to a decider and I won 3 of them (75% win rate) with me averaging 10.25pts in that deciding game and my opponents 6.5. This would suggest my concentration, tactics and determination are improving when it gets tight. I'm pleased with that.
In terms of which game I was most successful in winning, in the first half of the season, I won 42.42% of the first game in a match, 21.21% of the second, 24.24% of the third, 36.84% of the fourth and 25% of the fifth. In the second half of the season, my first game win % had dropped to 24.14%. That makes me think my opponents knew a bit more about me second time around having worked me out from the first time we played. But my second game win rate was up to 31.03%, third game 34.48 and fifth game 75%. Unfortunately where as I had problems with games going to five in the first half of the season, now I was losing a lot more games in 4.
In terms of defeats:
3:0 was the most common score line for me- happened 25 times in the season. 3:1 happened 15 times and 3:2 happened 10 times
In terms of wins:
3:0 happened 4 times 3:1 happened 2 times and 3:2 happened 6 times
I was credited with a forfit on one occasion after a team turned up with only 2 players – I've not recorded that game otherwise it would throw out points averages.
These results show that there is still a huge gap between my ability and regular premier league performers. I tended to have to win the hard way, good players could brush me aside in 3. But again it's not all gloom and doom. My average points won per game (ie game 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 (when a match went that far) was above 8 in every game so it wasn't like I was getting hammered 11:2, 11:4, 11:6 on a regular basis. I was usually competitive enough for my opponents to have to take me seriously.
So to sum up what have I learnt about playing in the premier division:
1. Serves are much better both in terms of disguise, variety and amount of spin variation 2. Returns need to do more than just get the ball back if you don't want to eat celluloid third shot of the rally 3. Depth and placement of the ball is much better in the premier division. Balls are landing deep and in to corners or straight in to your pocket, very few land mid table. 4. Speed / power. This is a big one. It is much more powerful and faster game in our premier division than division 1. Often you don't feel like you have time to compete and that can panic me into trying to win things too quickly myself. 5. Consistency. Players are far more consistent. The ball comes back a lot more and that puts a premium on footwork and recovery. Both areas I'm improving on. 6. Players expect to beat us. If we could manage to get our noses ahead rather than just keep it close, we could see the pressure it put on some of our opponents. Lot's are great front runners but it's a different ball game when the unexpected happens and we start to do well. 7. You can't be passive playing in our premier division. Even if you're blocking or defending, you've got to do it with a purpose rather than simply getting the ball back and waiting for a mistake. If you get the chance to be positive and the shot is on, you must go for it. And by go for it I don't mean try and hit a clean winner, I mean take the initiative. If it's a winner fine, but set up the next one for a winner, and if that comes back set it up again for a winner. I've lost a lot of games this season being too passive, passing up the chance to be aggressive for fear of making a mistake and hoping instead it will be my opponents. Or doing the reverse and being wreckless and rushing to win a point with a low percentage shot for fear of the rally developing. 8. Don't be bullied. Players tend to play quickly when they are winning and in the zone. There have been a few occasions where I've felt myself speeding up my own game, especially in between points because that's what my opponent wants me to do. I'm not saying deliberately waste time, but I am saying, especially on your own serve, learn to compose yourself before you serve and know what you're trying to achieve before you serve. Once the point has begun, don't overcomplicate it – you won't have time. 9. Have a better awareness of what you actually do as opposed to what you think you do. I spoke to one of my team mates after I posted the videos of our match a couple of weeks ago. He didn't realise that was the way he played. He thought his forehand had more power and he never realised how much he played a chicken wing shot with his backhand. The length of serves is also another big one. The number of times I've asked kids if they can serve short – which they invariably say yes to but when I ask them to demonstrate their short serve it's at best a half length serve and typically the second bounce is a foot or more past the end of the table. Perceptions and reality can be totally different things. Be aware of the reality of your game
Equipment:
I changed my forehand rubber from Yasaka Rakza 7 to Xiom Musa at Christmas. The pace of the games was simply too fast for me. The faster I hit it, the faster it came back and points were passing me by. The Musa gave me some more control but it became hard work to hit through people, even with better placement. Finally, I treated myself to a full equipment review. Got all my blades out, narrowed them down to four and then tried a couple of different types of rubbers on them and listened to the feedback I got from someone who's opinion I respect when he knocked with me with each setup. I now have a setup I'm comfortable with for the style of game I want to play. Normally I'd say don't mess with equipment mid way through a season, but this time I'm glad I did and did it properly.
Highlights of the season:
Beating some players who beat me in the first half of the season and who I've never beaten before. Passing my first for sport level 1 coaching course and getting through a season riddled with injury and illness missing just one match. Enjoying the commaradarie of my team mates. It makes it so much more fun when you're playing with people who don't judge you but do support you.
And the future:
Being involved with coaching Mondays, helping out with our social sessions Fridays, playing a match in between, all the video work and Committee work is simply too much. In our economic climate with work targets and pressures and family commitments all the table tennis stuff is simply too much. Especially when I add on my own KPI and targets for table tennis. What is supposed to be a hobby ended up being more like a job with self imposed targets and time lines and review periods. I managed to turn what should have been fun in to unnecessary pressure and disappointment and frustration. I wasn't able to train / practice like I'd planned and I felt the pressure of failing to achieve what I considered to be a realistic target of 33% win rate.
For me, from now on, I'm not setting any other target than to enjoy my table tennis. That doesn't mean to say I'm not going to try and improve, or train better or sort out the fact I stand too tall and try and do too much work with just my arm. But it does mean I'm not going to tie myself down rigidly to targets and time scales like I've done this season. Table tennis is a hobby intended to help me relax me, not a a career with the associated pressures and demands. Next season I'll be structured for sure and I'll work to improve but I'll not be anal about it.
As for committee work, that's got to go and in May I'll step down. There are other good people in our league who can take on the work I've being doing.
It's been a long, hard season and I've thoroughly enjoyed our journey with my team mates. Right now though I need and want a rest.
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