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PostPosted: 09 Apr 2015, 23:45 
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Retriever wrote:
I commiserate with your lack of time to play while still expecting to improve.

For family reasons I have had to cut back from playing a league match every week, 2 vets teams matches a month, 4-5 tournaments a year plus occasional training, to running (& playing at) a social 2 hour spot once a week where 9 time out of 10 I am by far the best player, and often it is doubles with a wide range of abilities on the one table. I am trying to retain some level of form doing this, but I don't face consistent loopers, so have probably lost my knack there, and social matches are very different to those in league and tournaments.

I also knew a player who used to play league locally and he confided to me that he hated the way he had to play to win. My speculation was that he preferred to win than to enjoy playing his natural way. He no longer plays league. Enough said.

Play the way you enjoy. There are enough threads here about people realizing that using pimples means that they won't ever be world champions, but they play with pimples to have fun.

By the way, I play the way I enjoy, that being a double inverted retriever. I was told in my earlier days that I would have to develop a smash to get anywhere, but I made it to the top league for a few years without expressly doing that.


+1

Thanks for the words of wisdom. I can fully appreciate the thought of your friend who use to play in league believing he had to play a certain style in order to win vs playing the style he loves. I get that and don't want to head down the same road where I don't play because it's no longer fun.

I think I will take your words of wisdom and just focus on play the style I enjoy regardless if I never reach X level in doing so.

Appreciate the feedback.

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PostPosted: 10 Apr 2015, 01:01 
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Hey, suds78,

One of the reasons why EJing is so popular and yet so underestimated by people with an overt focus on training and getting better is that you really must enjoy what you play with and how you play. There is no serious alternative to this - TT is not a paying job for us so it must be fun to sustain itself.

As someone who plays a lot and doesn't have the commitments you do, I agree with everything you wrote. I do plan to write at some point about efficient use of TT time for people with high TT goals, but in the end, improvement takes time. Your muscles and neurons have to adapt. They can be helped by being taught the right things immediately, but they still have to adapt. It never happens in an hour. It's harder to do if one is under stress and wants to continually improve. It's much easier if one is relaxed and wants to continually improved. Many of us take stressful shortcuts to play better in the short term, but don't understand the long term costs. Every 5 minutes, when I am coaching or when I am training, I ask myself or my students whether they are relaxed or not. This game doesn't reward stressed people easily.

I plan to write about some of this in the future and hopefully, it will be of help to you if you ever want to play better with double inverted, but give yourself a more realistic chance to get it done and have fun while doing so.

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PostPosted: 14 Sep 2016, 00:11 
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Over The Table Loop For Left Handed Penholders


If you watch modern table tennis on the pro level, you'll see just how much the over the table loop on service return has taken over the game.

Image
(over the table loop done to perfection)

And if you ask my training partners, I love this shot. However, being left handed I think there's a different dynamic in performing this shot as compared to the some of the top pros we think of when one mentions this shot. Namely Fan Zhendong or Zhang Jike. They're both right handed and largely practice this shot vs other right handers.

I first noticed how easy this shot was for me in doubles yet difficult in singles. The reason for this as I thought about it became pretty clear. In doubles, the serve is going right to where you want it. In singles, you have to be prepared for a serve anywhere on the table.

Here's something to consider....

When facing someone opposite handed from yourself, assuming that player serves from their back corner as most players do, if you want to backhand over the table loop that ball, it will most likely be curving away from you assuming they are performing the most common serve in the world, some variation of the pendulum serve. So what's that mean. Take a look at the gif above. FZD has this serve curving into him which I believe makes this shot easier. The serve is largely coming directly to his body. Also note on this pendulum serve, FZD's return continues the spin. If the sever here were to play a down the line serve, FZD can easily reach it with his forehand and if it's long, look out because here comes a powerful loop.

Now lets compare with how this works for a lefty.

Image
(gamble backhand over the table loop)

Here Xu Xin gambles and it pays off vs Ma Long. But lets look at what happened. First off Xu Xin likes to receive and play his forehand most of the time. That's why he's standing so far to the right. He has a further way to go to get this ball that's curving away from him. This is why it looks awkward in this case for even one of the best players in the world. Additionally, this ball is now spinning into his rubber when he strokes it. Not continuing the spin like FZD did above. What's that mean? That means the ball is probably going to bite or sink into his rubber a little more than what FZD did above. So it will be more reactive. XX will have to be careful of this.

Could Xu Xin play more in the middle before the serve making this movement less awkward for him? Sure. But then he concedes serves down the line to his backhand which Ma Long would take any day of the week and twice on Sundays.

So what's my final thoughts on this topic coming from a left penholder's prospective? If you want to attack short serves, develop a really good forehand flip. Here then you can continue to stand where Xu Xin does at the start of this serve ready to play either a forehand loop if it's off the table, a forehand push or flip if it's short, Or a standard backhand that will come right at you if the serve is down the line.

Image
(proper forehand flip)

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PostPosted: 14 Sep 2016, 23:47 
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The end of my EJ-ing… And after reading this hopefully yours too.

Go to any table tennis club and you will encounter at least a handful of club members who have bitten by the EJ bug. What is the EJ bug you might ask? I’ll tell you. It’s the cold, dark bottomless pit that keeps your game at the same level as long as you have it. :P j/k… A lot of truth in that statement.

Actually EJ standing for “Equipment Junkie”. It is one of the more fun parts of table tennis I’ll admit. There are so many different styles and rubbers to accommodate them all, the possibilities are endless. But ultimately switching equipment over & over will only hurt you in the long run as your muscle memory is ever constantly adjusting.

I have been guilty of this for some time ever exploring options. Off the top of my head I’ve tried the following rubbers. (Been playing consistently since 2010)

Inverted: (rubbers I’ve owned. Doesn’t not include rubbers I’ve hit with from a friend at club)
- 729 Super FX
- 729 Transcend Ultra Tack
- 729 Geospin Tacky
- Globe 999 National
- Globe 999 Standard
- Juic 999 Elite
- LKT Pro XT
- LKT Tracspeed
- DHS H2
- DHS H3 Neo
- DHS H3 35 deg
- Yinhe Big Dipper
- Dawei 2008 XP
- Gambler Outlaw
- Gambler Wrath

Pips:

Short
- 802 OX
- 802 1.5
- 802 2.0
- 802-40 2.0 standard 35 deg sponge
- 802-40 2.0 Air super soft 30 deg sponge
Medium
- Gambler Peacekeeper OX
Long
- Palio ck531a OX
- Palio ck531a 1.0
- CTT National Pogo OX
- Tibhar Grass d.tecs 1.0
- XiYing 979 OX

The truly sad part of all this is that I honestly feel that comparing inverted to inverted, it’s not all that different. Yes, there are differences but if you picked one and stuck with it for two weeks, it would feel normal to you. And I’ll even stand by this from my Chinese Tacky rubbers (sometimes I boost. Sometimes I don’t) to my buddy’s Tenergy 05. Yes they’re different but I could get use to either and play well with either in about 1-2 weeks.

The point I’m trying to make is that there isn’t one rubber that will magically transform your game. This is a skill based game where on the amateur level, consistency largely wins. Who can hit make the fewest errors. This comes with practice and training your muscle memory gets used to hitting with the same equipment for years.

Whatever rubber you choose, I'll bet you can find someone online who plays with the same equipment you do but plays it so much better. In other words, it's not your current rubber that's the problem. Don't switch. Get better!

So take it from me and stop right now. If you can do that? Great. If you can’t and are just too prone to trying something different when you feel like it because that other blade is sitting in your bag, then do yourself a favor and sell every extra blade you have. Get rid of your other spare rubbers. Get down to 1 blade, 2 rubbers and stick with it.

I titled this post the end of my EJ-ing. Well that’s my plan. Getting rid of the extra stuff. Hello ebay.

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PostPosted: 15 Sep 2016, 07:15 
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Wow kudos on u on ending that ej-ing path! Daunting task to say the least.


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PostPosted: 17 Sep 2016, 00:21 
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The Rules With Long Pips: Close to the table defensive & offensive strokes displayed.

This post will be a follow up to my "Just About Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About A Long Pip Penhold Twiddle Game" post. In that post I referenced several YouKu videos (it's like the Chinese Youtube) that have since been taken down. Shame. Here I will try to reference the rules or strokes to perform with Long Pips with animated gifs. Now you don't even have to click on the videos to see them. It's all right here. Lets begin.

I think it's common to run across people who play long pips who largely just stick out their paddle on service return or lightly chop the ball no matter what. This is common generally with newer players to long pips can can can work for a while but there's a much more fun & deeper level to long pips if you're willing to try. Lets explore the close to the table options available to you.

(Note: While most of my examples will feature penhold, the same concepts can be applied to shakehand)

VS Topspin

Options:

Chop-block:
Returns a fair amount of backspin

Sidespin chop-bocks (in either direction)
Can vary the spin as far as amount of backspin while applying a little bit of side, which curves depending on which direction you go.

Full Chop:
Returns a massive backspin. Same as chop block but off the table enough to perform a full swing for generating more spin.

Counter Drive:
Returns anywhere from a no-spin ball to slight topspin

Inverted Tip: A Twiddle and standard counter drive or loop returning a lot of pace & spin can catch the opponent off guard.

Chop-block:
This motion should be like a stationary block with a very flat blade angle. It's essentially perpendicular to the table. The motion is downward. Very short & quick.
Image
(Done with shakehand but the blade angle & motion is the same with penhold)

Sidepsin Chop-block:
This is a nice variation where similar to the chop-block you move the blade to the left or right upon contact. Visually this can make your opponent hesitate and if your directional blocking is good, you can curve the ball away from the opponent slightly. Strangely enough I've found you can take quite a bit of pace off a ball if your blade is angled upon contact.
Image


Full Chop:
For this stroke the ball needs to come off the table when it is hit to you as your stroke will start high and finish below the table. It takes practice to get the feeling right but if you want even more backspin than the standard chop-block, try this motion. The ball returned will have a significant amount of backspin on it making it that much harder for your opponent to loop the ball in. Furthermore, mixing in this amount of very heavy backspin with standard backspin of a normal chop-block is what ultimately gets someone to make a mistake. It's all about the spin variation.
Image

Image





Counter Drive:
For some this might help but if you've every played short pips or hardbat, the stroke here is very similar IMO. You simply have a flat blade face and swing forward through the ball. You might have to lift it ever so slightly. It's very much like a short pips stroke IMO. Just be sure your blade face is not closed at all. I also recommend not trying to hit this ball too fast when first learning it. You will not have a lot, if any topspin to dip the ball in. It's largely a change-up in spin & pace from players used to you always chop-blocking topspin balls.
Image


VS Backspin

Options:
Bump/Attack/Swipe (has several different names)
Returns topspin

Inverted Tip: A twiddle here & push will keep the ball as backspin if you want to keep the rally going as backspin.

Bump/Attack/Swipe:
Truth be told I could split these up but the key thing to know that this is the part of the rally where you attack. IMO you should perform one of these strokes 90% of the time vs backspin The ball is coming to you with backspin and you will return it continuing that spin to them as topspin. They have done most of the work in getting the spin right for you. You are simply returning this to them either slowly or quickly. The angle of your paddle is again flat (possibly slightly open if really heavy backspin) and the motion is primarily forward and up. If you want to move the paddle to one side or another while doing this, feel free to try it. It seems for many, and myself, that this side motion helps in the attack.
Image

Image

Image


VS No-Spin
Inevitably, particularly in the service game, you will run into players who get frustrated not sure what spin to give you. From here you will see them either give you no-spin serves or float a ball up high in a rally to see if you have the ability to attack.

(I've seen a match between two 2200 level players where this happen so trust me).

Yes, you could play this with a long pips soft push where the ball will remain relatively dead and most likely they will then attack the ball completely knowing that it's no-spin. I recommend making them pay for that tactic by urging you to use your inverted to attack. This is why twiddling, or having an RPB that's inverted while your LP is on your forehand, is so important. These will be easy balls any decent inverted attacker could hit in 9 times out of 10. Be ready for this when it happens.

Last but not least.
Lets not forget the other side of your blade. The inverted section. use this to your advantage. Learn to twiddle. Do not let the opponent get into a rhythm of always knowing what's coming back. Mix it up.
Image
(Receive gives backspin, server attacks expecting another chop-block, instead an inverted topspin punch down the line)

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PostPosted: 19 Sep 2016, 23:44 
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Improve Your Table Tennis Service Game with this Tool

I am such a big proponent of making service balls to improve your service. It's easy to do. Check out this video to see how it's done.

Ask yourself sometime:
- Am I getting a lot of spin action on my serve?
- How do I know?
- Am I merely guessing based on the ball flight curvature?
(that can be misleading)
- Are my no-spin serves truly no spin?
- Are you taking into account that each of the two bounces on a serve with the forward momentum & friction from the table ever so slightly adds topspin to your serve?
- How do I know this? I use service balls to give me this information.


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PostPosted: 20 Sep 2016, 01:01 
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Great post. I have done this myself, but I free-handed it. I like the tip with using tape to make it more uniformed and even.

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PostPosted: 27 Sep 2016, 03:24 
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Teaching Table Tennis To Your Kids

I've recently seen a trend among people at club I've talked to. They're generally in the same age/life range with me being middle aged with young kids. To my surprise, I've heard the same comment multiple times.

"I want to teach them how to play but I don't want to teach them bad habits."

I can't hep but disagree with this common mindset. It is paralysis by analysis at its finest.

While your kid could be developing eye-hand coordination simply by playing, instead they're not playing at all because Dad isn't a professional table tennis coach... Hey few, if any, of us are.

Put yourself in the shoes of your say 8 year old boy or daughter and imagine this scene.

Dad - "Okay son, today we're going to learn about table tennis! I have a coach coming over at 1 pm to teach you technique. He will come over twice a week for one hour each visit. Have a good time."

Doesn't sound all that fun does it. If I didn't know any better, that sounds kinda like a job. Stranger coming in to be the boss X times per week.

Now lets picture something very different.

Dad - "Hey son. Lets go downstairs on the table and hit some."

Then while training encouraging him on good hits keeping it fun & positive.

I'm sure you can see the difference but I think the first way is a perfect recipe to have them burned out & hating table tennis in no time flat.

Kids simply want to do things with their parents/guardian. Developing that love for the game and forming those fond memories will have a far greater impact than what any professional coach could do in teaching them the proper footwork.

I can think of at least two hobbies, table tennis being one of them, that I am into because it's something I remember doing with my father and brother.

This post is not meant to be anti professional coaching. I think that has a great place if your child already likes to play and indicates they want to take the next step in getting as good as they can. There I think it makes sense.

So if you're in this position with your kids and you would like to share a fun activity with them. Not because you want them to be the next Ma Long but because you'll enjoy seeing the smile of their face when they hit the ball, grab a bucket of balls and start feeding them. Give them general guidance but keep it light.

Most importantly, have fun.

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PostPosted: 07 Oct 2016, 03:46 
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How Much Do You Use Tactics In Your Matches?

I am beginning to realize just how big tactics come into play in my table tennis matches.

I've recently had a decent string of winning a higher percentage of my matches and one thing that has stood out for me when I think about the ones I won vs the ones I lost. I'm largely using tactics & exploiting weaknesses to win.

Before you say "Well of course you need to use tactics to win." let me explain.

I know players who simply like to hit and are very good at it and getting into their game or style of points. Perhaps these players hit with a lot of speed and/or spin and it's simply hard to deal with. They overwhelm you. Those players exist. But for myself, I'm finding if I play more to a players weakness, even if it means playing shots that are not necessarily my strengths, I'm having more success exploiting that.

KISS: KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID.
I am finding the more I simplify the game and try to give myself easy shots while trying to maximize the number of hard shots my opponent has to deal with, the better are my chances. What I mean by giving hard shots for my opponent doesn't mean difficult shots to hit in general. It means shots that player isn't as strong with thus are more difficult for them at that point in time. Perhaps a year down the line that player will no longer have a problem with that situation. Doesn't matter. The key thing is targeting what they struggle with now. What is tough for them might be easy for another. It's all about that individual matchup.

Example: I was playing a developing player at our club who is coming along nicely. Last time we played, he got the better of me in my EJ days, (see post here) which left me less than pleased with myself at the time. Today was payback time. While the serve is usually a big weapon for me, he's starting to play me enough times to be able to neutralize that more & more. Then it happened. I realized this player is simply struggles and/or has little confidence in his backhand. Why should I try to get fancy with my serves trying pendulum serves, reverse pendulum serves, etc when I can simply put the ball in play to his backhand and good things will happen?
So that's what I did. In our match, i would switch it up and often stand middle table and simply start the rally to his backhand with speed serves of slight varying spin. You would have thought I was starting warm up if you didn't know a match was going on. Sure enough his inexperience & lack of confidence in his backhand showed and I must have got 7-8 easy points that way in a match that's best 3 out of 5. That's a big percentage.

I am a big believer in trying to acquire easy points here & there in a given match. If you can find what the player really struggles with, why not take a freebie? You don't have to hit every ball as a winner to get a point. Again, "keep it simple stupid."

You can use this approach to avoid weaknesses in your own game as well. I myself personally have never enjoyed, when i was playing the duel inverted, the push to push game waiting for someone to open up. I simply never had much confidence in my ability to outlast my opponent in this area thus i use to often opened up too early or at the wrong time going for tough shots. However in playing the style that most suits me, the short pip/long pip twiddle game, I like how I can opt to push with the short pips or twiddle with the long pips and attack that backspin giving my opponent topspin. For me it's an easy open up. So why not take it?

One penholder at our club is very talented in the fast pace topspin to topspin game. Thus, he serves long, spiny & fast the majority of the time. That's suicide right? Maybe for the pros but not on the level 99% of us will play. The returner has little choice but to be forced into attacking that ball getting into the exact style of point he's looking for and excels at. Simple approach that works for him on the recreational level.

If I were playing 2200 level players routinely, perhaps my approach of targeting an opponent's weakness vs trying to overpower them would have to be different as those players do not struggle with too many areas in their game. However that is not, and most likely will never be the case for me in playing that caliber of player. Most people you play have some sort of weakness. Exploit it. And if they don't, then at least stay away from their strengths to maximize your chances.

Evaluate your games and let me know if you feel you do the same. Do you currently evaluate your tactics during a match? Looking for weaknesses to exploit? Or are you the type of player that can turn their mind of during a game (which has its own benefits) and freely hit playing your game regardless? Let me know which approach you believe to be best.

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PostPosted: 07 Oct 2016, 03:47 
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Understanding how learning works: Expect ups & downs

I had one of my best practice sessions last night. The type where not only are you executing what you are attempting at an astounding rate, I had a breakthrough in service in what will be a very dangerous serve for me. However, it has always been hard to execute well and of high quality. But not last night.

The old me in the past would have been all pumped up to go to club and show off my new skills. Not even factoring in the psychological differences in practice play vs games where there is naturally a little more tension and/or adrenaline running. However, in trying to work on the mental side of my game (tactics, mental approach, knowing how learning works, etc) I am better prepared for what is likely to happen... Early failure and inconsistency.

That's because progress is not a steady curve of upward mobility. if you think it is, you're in for a rude awakening.

Image
What progress IS NOT

Image
What progress IS

I will give you an example of what happened to me about 2 months ago. One night at club I found that my RPB over the table loop on service return could not miss. I was flat out on. I thought I had cracked the code and would largely be able to perform it on almost any serve. After all, that's what was happening that night. Then the very next week at club I found the exact opposite. Time after time I was sending the ball long or into the net. In the end I told my training partner later that night "I think I fell in love with that shot that one week and maybe it's just not for me." So I essentially gave up on it or put it in my back pocket for a while. What I didn't realize at the time is that this is what learning looks like. You will have times, for reasons you cannot explain, it simply does not work.

Don't give up. maintain your technique and keep at it. Maybe you won't figure it out that night or the following night. Shoot you might find it seems like you've plateaued for weeks or longer. Then all of a sudden something will click and all of a sudden you're performing that new skill at a higher level than you ever were before. Now it's onto trying to take that skill to even the next level higher. Wash, rinse, repeat.

This is the learning process. Recognize it and don't let it discourage you from where you're headed.

As a follow up, I encourage you to check out this podcast I'm a big fan of on experttabletennis.com ran by Ben Larcombe.

Here is an interview between two table tennis coaches, Ben Larcombe & Sean O'neal where they are talking about students they've had and what the learning & improvement process has been like. While I encourage you listen to this entire interview, if nothing else take note and listen to the 45:65 mark through 50:35. Their stories & comments echo what this post has been talking about with improvement.

http://www.experttabletennis.com/sean-o ... e-players/

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PostPosted: 28 Oct 2016, 00:00 
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Who says you can't attack with long pips?

For probably at least a couple of years now, I have developed a penhold twiddling game where I've gone from inverted/long pip to short pip/long pip seeing the benefits of both. Generally when I play these styles, I play with the attacking rubber on my forehand occasionally twiddling to the long pips for say a chop-block vs topspin or an attacking stroke vs backspin.... Then it happened.

I asked myself "Is it possible to play an attacking forehand long pip game full time?"

And what I mean by full time is to say playing the long pips on my forehand 95% of the time. Furthermore, not just chop-blocking which has it's purpose. But to counter drive back most shots. Can it be done?

That question was answered thanks in large part to my training partner Ben coming over to my place to find out. You see I had been hitting well vs the robot over the last few days. However I've been down this road enough times to know just because it works vs a robot, doesn't mean it'll work vs a real person.

The short answer to a tricky question is simply "Yes. It is possible." Truth of the matter is if you dig deep enough, some players do it. Take my current idol Wang Qiu Yi (王秋伊) for example. She plays this very exact same style.... Just 100 times better. ;)

She's in the red here. Her black is inverted. Her red is LPs.



My setup was the popular Palio ck531a on a 1.0 sponge. I find the sponge very important as on slow balls are easy to counter-drive into the net. You have to supply all the power yourself. So having a sponge there helps propel that ball over the net. Faster balls are actually easier to counter-drive as you feed off the speed of your opponents shot.

Honestly the stroke on a counter-drive vs topspin with a sponged long pips isn't that far off from a very thin sponged, or even hardbat short pip rubber. If you can drive with a low friction rubber, you can attack with long pips. You have to guide the ball a little and pick your shots. But anybody familiar with short pips will be quite familiar with that concept. As long as you think "swing forward with almost every counter-drive stroke you have, you should have confidence that good things will happen." As you might imagine, it's a nightmare for the opponent to handle.

There is perhaps nobody better, I'd argue in the state of Nebraska, to handle long pips play than my training partner. He has routinely seen it for the last two plus years. He doesn't struggle with them on the same level as virtually every other player I've encountered. The great thing is that I could tell the added aggression & pace of driving through topspin vs always chop-blocking offered him a challenge as he has to constantly adjust to the pace and/or spin variation. If it can challenge him, I've got to imagine virtually everyone else will hate playing against it. As we move forward he will be a great training partner as it will be important to train with someone who can keep the ball coming back on the table. This way I get good practice in.

On the backhand I have Globe 999. I tend to prefer Chinese tacky on my backhand for RPB. This style simply does not work if you do not have a weapon to put away the easy balls. Inevitability, players will either purposely or mistakenly, because they're confused, will fish up a high bouncing, relatively spin-less ball, almost saying "okay see if you can put it away with those pips". That's where the inverted comes in.

I'm finding that perhaps twiddling too often can mess up your feeling and muscle memory. If I am hitting with a 1.0 long pip sponge on the forehand and then twiddle to hit a kill shot with inverted, that inverted will feel like a trampoline and I'm guessing it would be easy to hit that ball long. Furthermore, then I have to adjust back to the feel of my regular long pips. For now I think it's best if I can play more middle of the table and simply play those attack balls with the RPB, which is a very natural shot for me, I'm better served doing that.

I will wrap up this blog post for now and I am looking to post club video match play soon here with this new style to track my progress. The next time club plays is on November 6th so it will be at some point shortly after that.

I think this has a ton of potential. Now I just have to be willing to put in the time to master this unique style.

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PostPosted: 08 Nov 2016, 04:42 
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http://chroniclesofgossima.blogspot.com/

Here is a match from my first steps playing a twiddling but primarily long pip game on my forehand.

Xiao plays better than this usually but I imagine this style will become somewhat of the norm of making players look worse than they really are simply because they are not use to hitting these type of balls.

After watching this I would like to play even more attacking long pip shots and a fewer pushes or chop-blocks. But overall I am happy with my performance.


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PostPosted: 08 Nov 2016, 05:34 
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Wang Qiu Yi's twiddle isn't very smooth (it's like two-stage). Did you ever notice that? Yours is much quicker. Yours is ready for battle, congrats. :-)

I just noticed that you, suds79, are also Chronicles of Gossima. I hope you stick to your recent resolution regarding your equipment, as my equipment and favorite players are similar to yours.

You were happy to find weishi. There's a lot more if you can navigate, just as you said...


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PostPosted: 09 Nov 2016, 00:18 
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Zhaoyang wrote:
Wang Qiu Yi's twiddle isn't very smooth (it's like two-stage). Did you ever notice that? Yours is much quicker. Yours is ready for battle, congrats. :-)

I just noticed that you, suds79, are also Chronicles of Gossima. I hope you stick to your recent resolution regarding your equipment, as my equipment and favorite players are similar to yours.

You were happy to find weishi. There's a lot more if you can navigate, just as you said...


Thanks Zhaoyang.

Yes, I have parts of my game I wish were better or came more naturally but twiddling isn't one of them. :) That one feels pretty natural to me. Honestly it's just a practice thing. When I was first learning, if I was at home watching TV, I just had my paddle in my hand twiddling while I watch a show. Doing stuff like that in your free time makes it get quick pretty fast.

Yes I love the weishi site. I can't thank you enough for that.

Yes I'm not changing equipment any time soon. Just finding my range for this playing style in what works and what doesn't. See next post for an example of that.

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