OOAK Table Tennis Forum

I'm going to start by echoing tabesamis sentiments - you played good enough to win and in the long term there will be times in close matches where you will end up on the winning side as you already know. At the same time, because you have progressed in certain ways, namely the improvement of your FH, that this might have consequences in the other areas of your "old" game (and I think you said that too), speaking of which, I still admire and watch and re-watch ad infinitum... I said this before and I'll say it again, it was your videos that helped me to win my houseleague championship last year, and perhaps, with a little bit of luck, this year. More than that, your "old" game and the well-worded philosophies that you have described in countless posts behind that style that you made famous on-line, have helped so many players including myself evolve and progress in so many directions... I thank you for all those videos of the past and look forward to any new uploads.

(And if reading this doesnt cheer you up, go out and have a beer and pizza!)

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A big bag full of blades and long pimples, donuts and coffee!

Hmmmmm, I am wondering if you were just lacking energy/stamina and were running out of steam later in the matches. Losing 70 pounds is a lot, and even just watching people play at that level takes a lot of energy.

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--- Push/Chop or Attack ---
USATT 1684 left, Lost it all by playing sick and hurt.
No legs left, no more backing up, just smash it!
Blade: TTPiet OFF-/ALL custom
FH: Spinlord Waran Short Pips
BH: Joola Badman Reloaded 0X

I haven't had a chance to videotape any of my recent matches.. My problem is still inconsistency and that I still miss too many attacks. In training, my attack works great but I still have problems with execution in matches.. Based on my performance at the clubs I play, I should be at least mid 2200 level right now but I'm suck at mid to upper 2100's... I hardly ever lose to anyone below 2200 and it's frustrating that I just seem to have bad luck in many matches.. I'm thinking in playing the St. Louis Open in May and I hope that I will finally get back at that tournament to where I should be based on my playing level.

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2010 Florida State Champion
Dr. Neubauer Firewall Plus with DHS G888 1.8 mm and Giant Dragon Dragon Talon OX National Team

I was down 74 lbs at one point.. Went from 253 lbs in March 2012 to 179 lbs last June 2013... Gained back a few lbs and was up to 206.6 lbs in early February.. Went on anoter diet and droppbed back down to about 185 right now, so I'm currently down 68 lbs from my highest weight ever..
I think that I was mentally more tired than physically. I'm very fit.. I don't get physically tired too easy but keeping focus for so many games becomes difficult..
My latest videos from Meiklejohn in 2013 show me at around 180 - 181 lbs..

Here's my before and after pics (before pic is from December 2011 and after pic is from May 2013)




A week ago...

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2010 Florida State Champion
Dr. Neubauer Firewall Plus with DHS G888 1.8 mm and Giant Dragon Dragon Talon OX National Team

Exactly.. last year they all went towards me, now they all seem against me

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Setup 1: S&T Unicorn / Secret Flow Chop 1.5 / Hellfire X OX
Setup 2: Dr. Neubauer Barricade DEF / Defence Master 1.5 / Desperado Reloaded OX
Setup 3: Dr. Neubauer Barricade DEF / Butterfly Tackiness Chop 1.5 / Palio CK531a OX

pushblocker wrote:

"I think that I was mentally more tired than physically. I'm very fit.. I don't get physically tired too easy but keeping focus for so many games becomes difficult.."

I guess I was right then. Mental fatigue may have lead to your lack of proper concentration...or focus as you said.

I'm looking forward to your new videos to see how you attack with the long pips (attacking backspin only I'm assuming).

James

In my experience with my own game and with advising others, this is almost always an indication of a paddle that's too fast. I did a little reading on your Dr. Neubauer Firewall Plus and while its speed is rated at 'only' 82, it's still a 10mm thick Balsa-cored blade that reviewing players describe as fast, or even 'too fast' for their games. I know some thick Balsa-cored blades can be very non-linear in how they project the ball which can lead to over-hitting during the heat of a point.

Since I know the BBC line of blades well, I'll reference those for illustrative purposes. BBC sells a blade called the CarboFlex DURO that's Balsa-cored with triple ultra-thin carbon and very hard playing surfaces. CW Smith makes then in any thickness his clients want, from a skinny 6.5mm for loopers up to 10mm for blockers. I started with a 10.0mm and absolutely loved it but soon found it was too fast. Dropping to 9.0mm was an entirely different blade and better than the 10.0mm.. until I tried 8.0mm and there I am still. CW uses a 6.7mm himself.

I like setting up identical paddles where only the two blades' core thicknesses are different, and did this one night with Xiom Sigma II Pro and Sanwei CODE OX on both an 8.0mm and a 9.0mm DURO. I was playing a single-sided Grass D.Tecs OX attacker rated at about 1750. I could loop his fast, mostly dead balls with the 8.0mm and win easily but I struggled with the 9.0mm. Yet the DURO 9.0 is the ideal SP/LP blade for 802 2.0mm. Point being, even a 0.5mm difference in core size make a big difference in play.

Now, I supposed you're 'married for life' to that Dr. Neubauer Firewall Plus. But if not, I suggest you give a BBC blade a try in something slower than your Firewall Plus. You won't find a DURO as light as 65g but low 70's is certainly possible (my 8.0 is 73g). The DURO is a low throw, high control blade with almost no Balsa bounciness or non-linearity. It also plays very crisply due to its rock-hard playing surfaces, which is the exact opposite of what I was seeking last year for OX LP but now I find that, with proper technique, hard beats soft.

I hope to be able to make some videos soon, including one of them working with my coach...

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2010 Florida State Champion
Dr. Neubauer Firewall Plus with DHS G888 1.8 mm and Giant Dragon Dragon Talon OX National Team

I'm happy with the speed of my blade.. Those missed attacks were bad technique on my part and not the speed of the blade.. Balsa is fast if you play it active but slow if you play it passive.. I love everything about the Firewall Plus blade as also my Dragon Talon pips.. I have no complaints about my material.. I'm happy with it.. It's not quite as good as the "old" Dtecs but probably about 90% as good..
One of the reasons why I've always played faster blades is the low throw on the pips. On slower blades, the trajectory tends to be higher which is bad for my game as it makes it easier for my opponents to attack my blocks.. My blocks must be low..

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2010 Florida State Champion
Dr. Neubauer Firewall Plus with DHS G888 1.8 mm and Giant Dragon Dragon Talon OX National Team

PB, have you thought hard about the final critical points of those matches and what YOU did in them? Yes, there was some luck involved, but even luck doesn't get a look in unless you give it a chance to. Is there any common pattern to what you did when you could have closed out the matches at critical points? Was there a particular serve you revert to under pressure that gave openings? Did you take unwarranted risks just to try to close it...or conversely did you try to play too safe? If you can remember enough (which I know is difficult, and video reminders would help), then you may be able to find a strategy that will help you employ better tactics at these critical junctures.

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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.

With my style, it's often very difficult to come from behind, so if I get behind early in the game, it's often difficult to come back. In 2 of those 5 losses, I was actually leading but my opponents just had lucky points at the right moments (edges/net)
My problem is that I often get frustrated if at a critical moment, and especially at the 5th game, I have bad luck or the opponent has good luck.. Let's say that it's 1:3 in game 5 and my opponent hits a edge, making it 1:4.. At that score, it could've likely be 2:3 instead of 1:4, but now, instead of a 1 point lead, my opponent just got a 3 point lead due to the lucky point.. If I'm leading and they have luck, I usually don't get too irritated but if it happens when they are leading by 2 and then have a additional lucky point, I get frustrated with it.. In the match against one of the players, it was 9:7 for me and I got 2 consecutive lucky points against me, making it 9:9, then the opponent made a good point to 10:9 and the match point was another lucky point.. 3 out of 4 consecutive points were lucky shots.. It's hard to win against that..

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2010 Florida State Champion
Dr. Neubauer Firewall Plus with DHS G888 1.8 mm and Giant Dragon Dragon Talon OX National Team

Sounds like such a close match that luck on a few points became the determining factor.

When you are making a technical change, such as working doing more offensive shots, there is the technical practice needed to perfect the "new" shots, and there is the fast mental processing needed to use the "new" shots quickly in match play. In my opinion the mental decisions are harder to incorporate into your tournament game than the physical skill. At first the decisions will naturally be a few milliseconds slower than they will be with more matches under your belt in the "new" style.

What I'm saying is the choice to attack or defend each ball has to be correct and almost instantaneous. This choosing the proper shot was probably automatic and very perfected in your "old" game. Now your shot selection is more complex, because of the new shot available, and a little slower because it is a new choice for your eyes and brain. You will make the perfect choice more often as you play more tournament matches, then that same match wouldn't be so close that luck decides.Then you will win against these current players.
You will always have the luck barrier but it will only be an important factor with a new higher level bunch of players.

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OSP Ultimate cpen
Acuda S1 Turbo
Hallmark Phoenix ox

Focus is what wins points at crucial times/games. Don't throw away any points during crucial times, play your high percentage shot, so not to disturb your concentration. It is better emotionally to have an opponent hit your high percentage shot than for you to throw a point away with an attempted low percentage kill shot.

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Panda Drive / 4H Xiom Sigma Pro 2 2.0 / BH Xiom Omega IV Elite Max / Play right-handed
XVT balsa carbon 10mm / 4H Xiom Sigma Pro 2 2.0 / BH Globe 979 Long Pips OX / Play Left-handed shakehand
Stiga Def Wood / 4H Xiom Sigma Pro 2 2.0 / BH GD CC LP OX .. Play Left-handed
Cpen SOS Wood / 4H 729 802-40 2.0 / BH GD Talon use righthanded shakehand grip
HARDBAT / Shakehand Hock 3 ply / Friendship Dr Evil OX .. Play Right-handed

I think you need to tape a tough match and analyze shot by shot.

A possibility is that as the match wears on, your opponents are making adjustments to how they are playing, and you aren't finding ways to counter those adjustments so as to make unclear what adjustments will work or won't.

I don't think changing equipment is likely to be the answer. You wouldn't have won the first two games if that was the problem.

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--- Push/Chop or Attack ---
USATT 1684 left, Lost it all by playing sick and hurt.
No legs left, no more backing up, just smash it!
Blade: TTPiet OFF-/ALL custom
FH: Spinlord Waran Short Pips
BH: Joola Badman Reloaded 0X

This is significant. In my observation, most players become more careful (conservative) when they're behind, and more aggressive (risky) when they're ahead. And I'm referring to your opponent's behavior here, not your own. This is really evident when a player is up 10-7 and has two 'free' match points to blast away in. Human nature at work, I guess. But playing conservatively against your LP pushblocking style is exactly the wrong approach because it lets the LP player control the game. So the objective might be.. how do you obtain more early leads? One idea is to use your 'secret serve' in your very first service and not at 9-9 the way many players do. You could also scout your opponents before your match and exploit a discovered weakness early on (which they'll likely compensate for) to gain another early game advantage. You could also make a deliberate style change at the onset of each game, e.g. serve only BH in game 1; then open game 2 with a few FH serves.. anything to gain an early (albeit short-lived) advantage.