OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Thanks Haggisv and Vanjr. Some strong BH attacks and returns mate Like the opening BH topspin too

Nice.. were you using the Higher version on this video? looks pretty good on blocking and as good as well in loop drives.
So how do you compare it also to the Cream version?

I think I was using cream in this video. I do like cream a lot but I have gone back to 729-08ES on my BH. I is much better off the table and mainly I have some sheets for a back-up racket.

Its been a while since I updated this-

Played a small rated tournament Nov 16th. Lost a match in morning round robin-first one of the day which was best 2 out of 3 and went to the B level for the afternoon. There I won 3 and lost 1 so I got 2nd in the Bs. There is always room for improvement, but since I had not played at my club since mid October and had almost no practice time I was actually pretty happy. I played with rasant max on FH and 729-08 ES on BH and was pretty happy with how it played except I did seem to block a number of balls long. It likely is part of my lack of practice time but i will seek an equipment solution because practice time is what it is with life, family and work. I was very happy with rasant except I had a hard time with counterlooping-stuff went long.

Good result! I've never played in a tournament before. I'd want to play in some kind of swiss tournament - maybe I should organise one... in fact that's a great idea. I'd be really annoyed to set aside a day and lose in round one and be knocked out.

Are these common in table tennis? They are in Chess. Basically you start with a seeding, and create round 1 pairings accordingly. Then you pair up people on the same score for the next round, with a few rules to adhere to. It's very good fun.

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Yasaka Sweden Classic | 802 OX | C8 OX
Check out my blog - LordCope's Latest Learning Log - 10+ years of accumulate mistakes!

There are a lot of different formats. I generally do NOT play tournaments where it is single elimination (first loss means you are done). If you are in Great Britain I hope you are in a league. League play is much better in my opinion with the team aspect.

Yes - I captain a team in the local league. It's a team of advanced novices, with one slightly more experiened player. We're learning a lot!

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Yasaka Sweden Classic | 802 OX | C8 OX
Check out my blog - LordCope's Latest Learning Log - 10+ years of accumulate mistakes!

Recent EJ experiments-

Been trying two new blades-
Galaxy T8-a fast, stiff, hard blade with 5 layers wood and 2 of carbon-arylate. Much faster than the double fish carbon blade and the 729 Hao Shao blades I had been using
Dawei quattro limba-an all wood blade that plays similar to the double fish carbon blade.

The T8 is interesting. I am not sure if I can play rasant on it-at least not it max sponge. This thing is a rocket.

Recent match against the best player in my club (at least the best with regular attendance) with both the above blades. The T8 was with 729 sst pro on FH (max) and 729 cross (1.5) and I played more at the table chinese style with blocking and hitting on my BH. I lost 2-3 in games.
Right before that I played with the dawei quattro limba and played the same guy (who uses SP on his BH and hits rather than spins). Using a more off the table spinning strategy with sword maze (max) on BH and I think outlaw pro max on FH I lost 0-3.

Not sure which is best for my overall game but will continue to try different things. Next up in the quattro blade with thinner sponge on BH (tackspeed2000 on MRS in 1.5) and a different FH rubber on the T8-still chinese style with sanwei A+ tacky.

Update in equipment-

Dawei quattro-Really like 729 tackspeed 2000 with 1.5 sponge (MRS). It blocks well and attacks well. I tried the new sanwei A+ on my FH-it reminds me of giant dragon G4 a lot. It played ok but I was not thrilled with it. It occasionally would over react to my opponents spin while not always generating great power.

Long time no update...

Have been using rasant 1.9 on my Fh rather than max and tibhar evolution 1.7 on my BH. This combination works well for me. I did play one rated tournament in early May and had a small rating increase after dropping for about 2 years. This tournament did expose one problem to me that I think is somewhat unique.

At my home club I can play with most everything. In particular I can use very fast rubber and just blast the ball past my opponents. I am talking about loops in particular and not smashing high balls. Well I have found when I go to tournaments and play significantly better or higher rated players I almost never loop the ball past anyone and they can in general handle my spin. I do not win many points looping for winners. I do win by blocking, short game and general tactical play. This brings up the dilemma that at my club I can use fast, thick sponged rubber and get away with it, but when I travel I play better with more controlled rubber and even chinese rubber than can push, block and keep me at the table better but can't counter loop as effectively off the table.

Does anyone else have this problem? I may post this to the general board since it is a question I do not see asked very often.

I have not updated this in over 6 months. I thought a comprehensive review may help me, but I am feeling lazy. Here is too looking forward. Executive summary, I steadily lost rating points this year, even as I developed a better overall game. Why? I think it is because I got away from my best shot, ie backhand defence chopping.

For 2015 I am going to give SP on my BH a significant trial. My goal is to bring back my chopping defence) which I used with LP before, but to keep some of my BH blocking and attacking skills and not allow my opponents to take advantage of some of the limitations of LP (particularly serve return and flat hitting against them).

More later.

I have the same problem as you. At my club my topspin gets me points but when I travel I do better close to table blocking and flat hitting against pushes. Am going with a slower blade will be using a donic applegren allplay instead of my hunter venom. I think we get used to playing the same opponents at our own club and almost forget how to play when we travel.

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Hunter Venom, elp max both sides

Last night was my second day using SP. A few observations (mainly for my benefit!)

1. Ordered a sheet of 799 and 802 in 1.5 sponge. Both are the same size but are far too short (vertically-from handle to tip) for some of my defensive blades (galaxy LQ-1 and LQ-2). THey do fit well on the galaxy De-1 and probably on my darker defence blade.

2. The weight of the De-1 with the 799 and with ventus max felt way too light.

3. Chopping. I had several new set ups to try. My first realization is that going back to chopping will be very hard.
a. I do not move as well as I once did (for a number of reasons I can't really control).
b. My LP chopping technique was learned purely from feel. One of the better players said that chopping w SP requires a different stroke (particularly racquet angle). He felt I was "blocking with an open angle" so my chops were sailing high and long.

I played a couple of better players last night and felt like my level dropped a whole lot. Like 300 or more USATT points.

Going forward I have more to try-
I have a couple of sheets of TSP spin pips 2 to try.
I can always stay with SP on my BH and not do a chopping game.
I kind of liked 799 more than 802. I did try some medium pips (563) but have no plan to try that any more. It is not for me.
I still have boat loads of LP I could try, but I am concerned my mobility may prevent a total retreat to back to my prior game.

Initial impressions:

First the De-1 blade felt terrible to me. Particularly on my FH where I had to really swing hard to have a good loop against my opponent. Against one I often win the FH to FH slug fests off the table but recently with this blade I was overpowered. The blade also felt too light or not "head heavy" enough. I am sure this blade will not work for me with this style, although it worked OK w LP a few years ago.

I have enjoyed using 799 on 1.0 Cole dead sponge on a LQ-2. This blade is actually lighter than my De-1 set up and has 2.0 sponge ventus on my FH rather than max ventus on the De-1 but had a much more powerful FH. The only problem is 799 and 802 do not fit this blade length as mentioned earlier. I am not sure how Coles custom sheet worked-maybe in gluing it there was some stretching.

I do seem to like 799 for chopping over 802 and 799 gives a funkier dead ball block and hit compared to 802. I do have some TSP super spinpips 2 for chopping to try on my LQ1 and 2 blades and have a darker defensive blade to try. The testing clearly has a way to go.

I don't think it has anything to do with going away from your best stroke, per se. I lost points from July 2013 to July 2014, all the while improving, primarily for two reasons - I hadn't matured in the game that I planned to play, and the game I planned to play took some things away from the game I used to play.

Sometimes, it is good to give up your best stroke if you cannot integrate it into a game that you can see taking you further. I gave up my backhand smash so that I could backhand loop - I have not regretted it since, especially against backspin. I used to get compliments on my backhand smash, but I don't miss it anymore.

Immediately I got more comfortable attacking serves and using my forehand, my rating started to go up, but I still had a tendency not to stroke freely when playing lower rated players. I have changed that and accepted that as long as I play smart and do good strokes, competing is more important than winning or losing. I just want to feel that when I lose, I wasn't losing because I didn't go for my shots. I accept losing that way much better than losing while trying to play it safe.

My guess is that you enjoy the chopping game, but I can't move around, and I don't like letting people hit the ball at me at their own discretion.

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Cobra Kai TT Exponent (Mercy effs up your Game)
One-Loop Man: One Loop... Again????
Lumberjack TT Exponent

"We don't rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our training" - Archilochus