OOAK Table Tennis Forum

By flash photography serves you mean the kind of lollipop grip like one of my fh blocks? I played two consecutive matches yesterday with a guy who used those. It was hard to read top vs back, the trajectory was very low, and a lot of them fell half-long just off the end.

By competing I just mean that you seemed upset wih yourself, which I think came from a misperception that the balls you were missing were easy. You might not get frustrated like that if a 2250 power-looper was blasting the ball by you. But remember that this opponent is every bit as good as that. Respect his style and be kind to yourself.

_________________
Smile in the mirror. Do that every morning and you'll start to see a big difference in your life.

Yoko Ono

BRS,

When I am not kind to myself, I get in the face of my opponent. I do agree that I missed balls that I often miss against medium and long pips players but I don't think I was frustrated as much as I know that I do make those balls too. If a looper hit the ball by me, it would depend on what set him up. I did a pretty good Job keeping topspin on the ball and that was my main target for the match. I know if I can return his serve even.50-50 that I play pips well enough to upset him.

Flash photography means rapid pendulum motion. His is unique but I have decided to make this coming Sunday a video weekend where I do a lot of editing for the whole day. No TT. Just cut serves from all the best servers I have played against and analyze them. Brett's app has inspired me to believe that this stuff really has an end and a solution.

_________________
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 was just watching the Ma Lin video of him practising his serves (posted by Brett in the Executing Shots thread: http://ooakforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=28641). Looking at how Ma Lin prepared himself for each serve made me think again about how much more quickly NextLevel gets through his practice. I then went and watched the clip where NL is practising his reverse pendulum serves.

Ma Lin takes approximately five seconds between picking up a ball and striking it.
NextLevel takes approximately two seconds.

Birchamboi,

Do you have any video of you practicing your serves? Just curious. I find that many people who like to mock others don't put themselves out there and just enjoy making fun of those who do. I am okay with equal opportunity mocking.

On a more serious note, I have tried practicing while slowing down before and since I wasn't always sure what I was trying to do, I never felt it was going to make a difference. I now have a better idea of what I am trying to do so I can now put in things to make me slow down and focus on things other than the spin.

_________________
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

NextLevel, I'm not mocking you! What on earth makes you think that? I'm sorry if you think that's what I'm doing, but I wouldn't dream of mocking. I genuinely just made the connections as I described them: when I watched Ma Lin serve I was just really conscious how much time he takes. That triggered my memory about the serving comments in this thread and I went to double check what I was seeing. No intent to mock.

The very first thing you say in this thread is: "Table Tennis matches are a pain to win. So I need your help to win them." I sincerely thought that meant you wanted us to comment! I'm sorry, but I thought you would want the feedback!

Understood, man. But it helps when you can show it in a way that explains how it helped you. Ma Lin is at a level where what he does now may or may not be the reason why he is good - all he has done in his life is play high level table tennis. I am at a level where I need to know something makes a huge difference to do it immediately. Because with limited time, there is something about building up muscles through reps that instinctively appeals to me and which I may be wrong about. Maybe I will pose the question to Brett sometime.

_________________
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

That's a scary thought NL....you're not a small bloke. Reminds me of the first season I played at my current club when I started there in 2008. I was playing this guy (who I think was Lebanese). He was a big guy and I didn't know him very well. I was beating him, but I hit a smash and hit the net and trickled over. He's in the middle of running down the side of the table to retrieve it when he realises it's double bounced. So he keeps on running down toward me with anger on his face and a low roar in his throat. I was taken aback, not knowing what he was going to do. He stopped about 5 or 6 feet short of me, but he had put intimidation through me and I went from being about to win 3-0, to losing the match 3-2. His antics distracted my game which was a lot less bulletproof then than it is now (and its not even bulletproof now lol). Its a tactic that may win a TT match, but I don't think its a good one I did get to know that guy and beat him many times subsequently and got on well with him, with no repeats of his poor behaviour.

_________________
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.

When I am frustrated, I start pumping myself up and cheering my makes and my opponents misses, especially when playing in a hostile crowd. It's an outlet for my frustration. BRS makes a point that I am usually far more placid when playing. But I am just saying that it was more visible than tangible. I also loat another match earlier in the day to a flash photography server so that annoyed me more and left me more accepting of things than apparent here.

_________________
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 watched with no sound (work), so i lose some information that way.

Generally about this thread, you can't start this and then be really sensitive about whatever people say. It's not unsolicited feedback, you asked. I'm sure a lot of it is stupid and useless, mine predominantly is. But then please just ignore it. Everybody here appreciates the effort you put into helping others and trying to share your knowledge. So it's natural that when you ask we want to try to return the favor, even if we don't truly have anything insightful to say. So take the advice in the spirit it was offered.

Not to call anyone out, but genuinely rude and mocking sh!+ has been posted on my blog and i just say thank you and ignore everything they post.

_________________
Smile in the mirror. Do that every morning and you'll start to see a big difference in your life.

Yoko Ono

Thanks, BRS.

_________________
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

OK - I am going to reboot this blog with the new format.

_________________
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

NL, I finally managed to video a set of the kid I was talking about that I'd call ~2200US. Not at his best unfortunately, but glimpses of it. He's at the closest end.

https://youtu.be/mIpdJrfozSM

_________________
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.

He's clearly a strong player and playing a strong player. Not sure whether his serve game will keep him comfortably at 2200US but ratings are earned in matches and he fights pretty well.

Here is me practicing my BH vs. LP. I wouldn't do this in a real match, and the blocker built his set up to be able to chop block heavy topspin double bounce short, but it's practice so what the heck...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agEmusfq9y8

_________________
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

Watching you looping to this guy reminds me of one of my matches tonight. The guy I played was a lefty looper and I was playing primarily to his BH to keep him away from his attack weapon. His BH loop was super consistent and he moved the ball around on me a lot, but it wasn't potent enough to put me away. I'd played the first 2 sets trying to outplay him all around the table, but that didn't get me far and saw me 2-0 down. So I pinned him to the BH side for the most part of the rest of the match. He was no easy touch still this way but it got me through the 3rd set with a 14-12 win and then another 14-12 in the 4th. So I kept at him and won the 5th 11-9. The last point of this set was pretty amazing. It must have gone for about 20 hits or more each and had it all, including nets from both of us that were salvaged, a loop that got me on the index finger that went high-ish and still landed just over the net on his BH side that he tried to put away on me, which I got back and we continued the rally until eventually he put something into my FH side that I smashed for a winner. Anyway, there was a lot of what you are doing with this LP blocker here involved in our match

_________________
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.

It's interesting, but I noticed too that NL serves very quickly, when I played him in London, and especially when editing the footage. I've been thinking a lot about the ritual before serving, and what the optimum approach is. If I take too long, I lose some energy and momentum. Too fast and I am more likely to make a mistake, but I'm also more likely to be psyched for the next point. It's worth watching the routines of a range of top players. I've done this, and pretty much all of them have an identical, repeatable routine that takes several seconds.

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Yasaka Sweden Classic | 802 OX | C8 OX
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