OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Equipment update... I have received 2 things in the mail yesterday.

Stiga Classic Carbon Allround blade with x2 Vega Asia 1.8. Very allround with TONS of control. I'm impressed. This will be my double inverted setup for a while. Initial impressions are wonderful. Not too fast, not too slow....chops well, loops well. Flexes just enough without being obnoxious like the Defplay. But most importantly, very light and very balanced. (My elbow will love this). The T-7, was very balanced and lightish, but this blade is more so. This is all vs. a robot, I will need to see how it does in the blocking game vs. a real human, which is key. The T-7 is the best blocking blade I've ever used.

ALSO, I got in my first sheet of Dornenglanz II. I'll slap that on the defplay and test it there. I'll give my impressions here later. Not completely abandoning my LPs just yet, especially since I have teammates depending on me being at my best for the Capital Area Teams events.

Stay tuned!

_________________
Blog: "Holy Chtchet!" ⇝

Projects: Player Equipment Grid ⇝ Comprehensive Thin Inverted Chopping Rubbers Grid ⇝ Please send me corrections or new submissions

One final tip: Consider the LP chop block.

USA rated 2000+ LP players use this to great effect. The stroke involves catching a looped ball just off the bounce (yes, over the table) with your LP in BH block position and giving the paddle a quick "down-up!" motion just as the ball contacts the rubber off the bounce. The result is a slow, short ball with massive backspin that is very difficult to return. Most opponents will push it long to which you'd respond with a loop. Opponents who try to re-loop the ball will be surprised by how badly they underestimated the amount of backspin on the ball.

So, i played with both setups today at practice. The Stiga Classic Carbon Allaround with Vega Asia is great. I absolutely love it. Light, controlled, and perfect for a double inverted defensive style. I'm really tempted to put pips on the back to see what it's like since Gustaf Ericson plays with DG on that setup, but I'm going to leave it as a double inverted setup for a little while. I won all of my games, against some guys that hit more than loop, both around about 1400. Good competition although I didn't get to play much defense against them. One thing, I definitely loop better with the Stiga/Vega Asia vs. the Defplay Omega Asia. Feels more controlled. Also counter hits much better. But I can see why Ericson uses this blade, it's about as fast as the Defplay. If I end up abandoning the X2 experiment, I'd definitely slap some DG 1 or 2 on the Stiga and see how that goes.

Meanwhile, I glued the DG 2 on the Defplay. I really like the DG 2, wrote a write-up on it. I'm definitely a better chopper with DG than Double inverted, and won my games by huge margins as an LP defender. But here's what I learned. My chop with LPs is SOOOOO much better now! I think using the x2 inverted has really polished my LP BH chop. Having to cope with spin using smooth rubber, there is no room for error. I also find that I had been ignoring sidespin when using LPs...I had no idea. Now I adjust to the sidespin when chopping with LPs. Both of my opponents noted that my chop felt much better. Could have been the grippiness of the DG 2 (it's grippier than DG 1) is better for adding spin, but it's slippery enough to maximize the incoming spin. The thicker base sheet also adds dwell.

I'm so happy I'm playing with smooth rubber, it's certainly improved my LP game in a lot of ways. More to report on both next week.

_________________
Blog: "Holy Chtchet!" ⇝

Projects: Player Equipment Grid ⇝ Comprehensive Thin Inverted Chopping Rubbers Grid ⇝ Please send me corrections or new submissions

More Satoshi Aida...this time in Japan. Nice angle gives me a better idea of the spacing and footwork. For those of you who haven't seen him before...he's a double inverted chopper/modern defender...all-arounder...sometimes retriever.

[Youtube]http://youtu.be/jrjYFw_jVFY[/youtube]


Sent via Tapatalk

_________________
Blog: "Holy Chtchet!" ⇝

Projects: Player Equipment Grid ⇝ Comprehensive Thin Inverted Chopping Rubbers Grid ⇝ Please send me corrections or new submissions

Everyone has to go through a phase like this when we have the means to splurge on equipment and lack the time to work on our game. The sooner it ends or is replaced by more time getting familiar with techniques for putting spin on the ball, the better. This is assuming one wants to play significantly better. If its just about the fun, you should focus leas on the results as they are far more likely to be driven by your inconsistency than any serious variation in the performance level of the equipment.

_________________
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

Yes, of course! And i've been through this before. I ordered the the DG2 before I decided to start this experiment with inverted, it's just that the rubber wasn't released until after the new year (preordered). I had the LPs sitting around for quite some time and never mounted them, not until my new Stiga with x2 Vega Asia came in anyway. Since I no longer needed my other paddle for this journey, I decided to give the DG2 a try.

It's not like i'm going to leave the x2 inverted for LPs...at least not until I'm satisfied I gave this a shot by giving it enough time. But I also owe it to my teammates not to abandon the LPs until after our team league championships in February.

I was just noting that I'm indeed much more practiced in LP play than I am inverted play on the backhand. Afterall, you can't compare a month of experimentation to a couple years of LP play. Just not comparable. But still, this blog is to chronicle my experiences and that's what I'm doing. Noting the growing pains of transition from LP to inverted is an expected part of this process. I'd imagine that if you decided to becoming a Modern Defender you might have similar experiences .

I went through a similar experience to this when I decided to change from Jpen to Shakehand Chopping with LPs. That was way more painful than this change...WAY.

_________________
Blog: "Holy Chtchet!" ⇝

Projects: Player Equipment Grid ⇝ Comprehensive Thin Inverted Chopping Rubbers Grid ⇝ Please send me corrections or new submissions

I think I'm going through this a bit right now, EJ-ing a little, that is. But, if I were to guess, Japsican is in the middle of play style exploration, not necessarily purely equipment tryouts.

So, everyone has their EJ phase, some become TJ (technique obsession...), and then you also can be a SJ (style explorer).

_________________
USATT: 1807 | League: 1887

Haha, pgpg, indeed! In another thread I mentioned that "EJ" for me is "Emulation Junkie" where I latch on to a player or style for a while, until I see something else. But rarely is it such a big change like this one to double inverted. I tried it once before for like 2 weeks, and gave up..for my entire SHAKEhand career, I've been a LP defender. Jpen I was one-sided attacker. It was an enormous leap to go from Jpen one-sided attacker to LP defender. That was frustrating as hell...

_________________
Blog: "Holy Chtchet!" ⇝

Projects: Player Equipment Grid ⇝ Comprehensive Thin Inverted Chopping Rubbers Grid ⇝ Please send me corrections or new submissions

I could see how switching from J-pen to shakehand modern defense might be frustrating - very different styles, with so much to learn and change. Interestingly enough, I always wanted to try J-pen, we have a couple strong players in our club (both from Brazil somehow...)

_________________
USATT: 1807 | League: 1887

Yeah, that's because there are a lot of Japanese folks in Brazil, and it's pretty popular out there. There is at least 2 nation team players (or were) both Jpen.

I actually play, for fun, Jpen at the club every now and then. I'm absolutely terrible now with Jpen. When I switched initially, the throw angle on SH vs. JPEN was TOTALLY different. It's breathtakingly different. When one first switches, it's as if the throw is far too low for SH. Everything goes into the net. And you take everyone's advice and go with a slow rubber, fogettaboutit!

Now it's the opposite. I feel Jpen has far too high a throw angle, and in order to keep the ball on the table you really have to come over the ball. Otherwise it'll fly off the end of the table...it's weird.

_________________
Blog: "Holy Chtchet!" ⇝

Projects: Player Equipment Grid ⇝ Comprehensive Thin Inverted Chopping Rubbers Grid ⇝ Please send me corrections or new submissions

Having never actually tried J-pen, I can't comment on throw angles there. But - every time I try to twiddle from LP to inverted on BH I am amazed how different it is now - all my blocks/hits/loops/pushes on BH suddenly go long. Same if I try to do anything with LP on my FH - automatic lost point.

_________________
USATT: 1807 | League: 1887

Haha, I know this feeling well! I've gotten used to the throw on the BH and use that often, but the FH...no way! Can't do it.

_________________
Blog: "Holy Chtchet!" ⇝

Projects: Player Equipment Grid ⇝ Comprehensive Thin Inverted Chopping Rubbers Grid ⇝ Please send me corrections or new submissions

Everything starts out this way. But over time, even 5 mins a day can change the brain and make it respond. I am sure though that you are experienced enough with the training process to figure it out.

_________________
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

I guess. But it pains me to see someone write so much about equipment while still losing to players under 1500. Or maybe you have not played for that long and I missed that. You are a busy guy and I know you are thinking about this in terms of changes between setups and LP vs inverted, but it's largely technical instability. And I don't mean that you need to develop great technique. Just stable technique.

_________________
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

I'm sure brain can adjust. What I find, however, is that for now I am consciously staying away from twiddling (except when serving backhand). Instead, I find that I am beginning to hit more with LP to take care of loose balls on BH close to the table - success rate is steadily creeping up there.

P.S. I'm not really that well versed in training process - that is I do almost no dedicated drills, practice sessions etc. Instead I seem to learn by osmosis, trying things here and there (club matches, just hitting around...) - and eventually some of new things stick and gradually improve. Probably not the most efficient way and likely does not lead to perfect form either.

_________________
USATT: 1807 | League: 1887