OOAK Table Tennis Forum

I think I understand why you prefer OX instead of sponge. Your movement is, like I already pointed out, too short. OX will forgive this, sponge not.

I'm curious how you'll fare against spinless players. Are there any SP hitters in your club? An alternative might be to ask your regular sparring partner to play as spinless as he can. If you're going to play competition, you'll encounter a lot of that kind of players.

Might be a good idea to post a video in which your "failures" are also illustrated. It might give us an idea where things still go wrong and so help can be on it's way.

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My blog on being a LP defender beyond 2000 USATT and the pips discrimination that comes along with that

There are no SP hitters at my club that I know of in person that comes to practise. But there are a couple of spinless players whom I have played against already, they both prem players average, 1 of them below average. Both play OX pips, 1 chops the other close to table blocking/chop blocking. I can now beat the lower lvl player but I find it's because when he bumps with his pips I open with FH or chop fast to BH sometimes FH. I use similar tactics against the chopper except I open more with FH as he is more BH dominated.
These players are not good prem players. In fact 1 of them plays in the division below prem in 1 of the leagues but has almost 100% win rate. He would have a very low % in prem. He is one of those players that go up and down, not quite good enough for prem but too good for lower.

Yeah I mean I think I just couldn't get to grips on being able to use the sponged grippy pips effectively enough therefore it was causing me more negatives than positives. The OX is a little more forgiving and seems to compliment my strokes. I am sometimes wondering if I should be doing a more horizontal contact though as when I watch Markus Grothe it seems as if he does it more than half the time.

With regards to my failures I will first explain what it is I love about playing Table Tennis and what I really want to achieve. I love to play reactively I just find it so much fun and it gives me a bit of an adrenaline rush. Even when opponent serves I usually don't even watch properly I just see the spin after contact and react. I am not really playing to become super good and go to bigger tournaments, win and get a ranking. I am really just trying to have as much fun as possible and enjoy the game even when I lose, I would like to join the local leagues and play when I have my days off. But otherwise I am quite happy to just go, practise and play matches with club members perhaps dabbing in a tournament or 2 if ever the opportunity arises in the future.

So with regards to my failures I find that maybe 30% of them are me just goofing around or not getting into position quick enough or even sometimes just lack of concentration lol. But I will bare it in mind and perhaps do a complete edit of failures lol. I did add quite a few in my latest video but if I add too many the video becomes long and probably annoying to watch.

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Sorry @Lorre I forgot to mention that there are a couple of other spinless players who both play close to the table and block/hit. 1 is in the 2nd Division and the other 3rd. The 3rd division lady I win very convinsingly and if I didn't take risks could possibly 11-0 her if I wanted. The 2nd Division player is pretty good but I beat him comfortably too.

By 2nd division I mean the league directly below Premier which some say Division 1. In some leagues its division 1

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Ok so I just had a solid 2 hour practise and matches with a Prem/div 1 player whom I played before a couple of times with inverted and couple when I first started using pips. He destroyed me before almost 11-0ing me a couple of times lol. He has a solid FH and BH but he is only as strong as he is due to footwork and speed. Today I had the best training with him and we played a best of 7 then a best of 5 after a rest and I WON them both!!! Right down to last set and point mind you but still I got everything on video too. Some fantastic footage of our loop to chop too. He is a premier division player in 2 leagues and division 1 in the harder league but he has a 90% win rate there.

Now my question is this, would you like me to edit it all together training and match (would be very long) keeping in most of my failures. Or split the 2 videos. We really didn't fail much in the loop to chop drill actually and after I was trying to learn to block/chop block close to table too which was interesting but I don't know if that would be good to watch as I fail a lot lol 'Edit' just watched it back and the first 10mins are really bad but I really pick it up and actually gets really good to watch! So I would definitely put it in.

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I would enjoy watching everything. After all, this is a place where you can share your progress and growth as a TT player. Besides, you’ll also be able to see what you did wrong in your mistakes, and we get to see it all Just kidding Although the wiser ones would be able to give you feedback

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Blade: Victas Koji Matsushita Offensive FL
FH: Victas VS > 401 2.0
BH: Victas Spectol S1 1.5

Rating: Recreational Player

Yeah definitely man. I will put all points of the match in. I will do it separate videos coz I really want to put in my misses and failures too. Feedback is always good

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you could do the 2 versions if you like
i also think its helpful to list your gear down as you are playing the better players
eg-played john-div 1 player 45%-used vkm and dtecs ox-tight match.
you can then come back to your thoughts months later.

Ah man just seen TT11 weekly specials are Dtecs and Mark V HPS
That is tempting me to get it with the Nittaku Shake Defense now lol. Or maybe I should just get a Dtecs OX for my JSH

'EDIT' Also just seen on Dandoy sports they have a weekly special on the VKMO! Guys, if anyone is from EU and interested, good time to buy hehe

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Maybe if I join the local leagues I will record all the games and scores. But I know I am lazy to do it in regular sessions but I will try to write it in future posts when I mention them.
I am just happy to play and give these guys a run for their money. I will play a lot more now anyway against these Prem players, I am not gonna be worried anymore that I don't give them anything to learn from me. I will make them all sweat now

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Ok guys so here is the match. All points except failure of service.
Equipment: VKM + Dtecs OX + Mantra S 2.1
Scores: 11-13, 9-11, 11-7, 12-10, 7-11, 11-2, 13-11
Marlon - Division 1/Prem player



The match starts off slow but gets more exciting in the later sets

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What is Marlon's UK ranking?

speaking of the VKMO, have you ever tried it? If yeah, how was it?

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Blade: Victas Koji Matsushita Offensive FL
FH: Victas VS > 401 2.0
BH: Victas Spectol S1 1.5

Rating: Recreational Player

He doesn't have one. In the harder league which he plays Division 1 he has a 90% win rate and he has played 30 games only losing 3. In the other leagues he plays Premier division and as far as I know he is about average but those leagues are weaker. They are weaker than my other local league too.




Never tried it before. Would love to try it though but I am quite content with the JSH as my faster chopping blade. I am considering to buy Dtecs OX for it too but I am trying to keep the FL2 1.1 on there to try now and then

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So tonight I played with an old friend who I haven't played with since I played 6-7 years ago! He has improved a lot and what a great session we had playing 3 best of 5s in the end.

Something to note was I glued my Mark V 2.0 on my Stiga ALL Classic paired with Dtecs OX to try and answer a few questions I had in the back of my mind. I really wanted to see if perhaps a more controlled rubber was going to improve my overall game.

Before my friend arrived I played for a good 30mins with a guy called Martin who is an average division 1 standard player but I believe he doesn't play league anymore, plays double inverted close to table blocker/hitter or (spinless) some might call it. He can spin the ball up if he knows he has to but its not his strong point and will always push a heavy chop.
I started right off the bat with my Stiga + Mark V and found him to be just as easy as last time except this time I actually done a few FH chops (not something to note lol).
After when my friend came I also stuck with the same bat and what I noticed the entire time is how much easier the serve return and short game was. I also found the close to table kill shot slightly easier. Surprisingly I kept my loops lower to the net too. But it didn't take me long to miss the sheer speed and spin I get for almost half the effort with Stiga Mantra S.
'I should note that my FH was pretty good today too compared to the match with Marlon where it was pretty bad that day'

The first best of 5 I played with this bat and lost in the 5th, close and competitive game, very fun. My friend Vuong has a solid FH and BH technique (due to being coached and playing almost every day at uni). He plays in tournaments but sticks to the 1 and 2 star entering only a couple of 4 stars. He won a 1 star I and gets to the semi's/finals of 2 stars. However he knows he isn't good at consistently looping chop so he would be very tactical and push some chops returning to loops after (his touch was surprisingly very very good). It was a fantastic game which led me to learn everything I need on all my capabilities and strokes. Anyway the 2nd game I played my VKM + Stiga Mantra S + Dtecs OX and I easily won 3-1, the set I lost I failed 3 serves trying new ones but very close 11-13. The 3rd game I went back to the Stiga ALL + Mark V and against lost but this time 3-1.

His comments after was that my chop was slightly better with the VKM but the big difference was my ability to fish with more speed/spin plus the counter loops and general attacking game were stronger.

My finding was that with the Mark V the short game was undoubtedly better but when the rally breaks out the Mantra S was miles better. Also the serving was better with the Mantra too. I don't know if I should bother bringing the Mark V bat with me again as I feel it answered all of my curiosity about it already. However it did spark up other curiosities. I wonder if a slightly more controlled rubber to Mantra S would be worth trying, or perhaps next time just try Mantra M perhaps Tenergy64 might also need to be considered although I really find Tenergy difficult to control. But for now until they go dead I will continue to use Mantra S and just git gd with it

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He would be about mid Division 1 in our local league by the looks of that video.

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My blog: "Learning to play: as a modern defender": http://ooakforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=58&t=22254
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[Other gear I've used]
Blades: Butterfly Defence 3, Butterfly Defence Pro, Butterfly Innerforce ZLC, Butterfly Innershield, DHS Power G7, Stiga Offensive Classic Carbon
SPs: Friendship 802 (1.5), TSP Spectol (1.3, 1.8, 2.1), TSP Spectol Speed (1.3), TSP Super Spinpips Chop Sponge 2 (0.5, 1.3)
LPs: Butterfly Feint Long II (1), Butterfly Feint Long III (0.5, 1.3), Tibhar Grass D.TecS (OX), TSP Curl P1-R (0.5, 1, 1.3), TSP Curl P4 (1.3)