OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Sorry to confuse you Sahm, but I put it in this thread here: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=24938

You guys did well to beat I and D. Seems you worked through the shoulder pain.

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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.

Ooopss... I mean A1. Keep us ( your fans ) updated Reb of your TT adventure!

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Enjoy the game. It is a never ending learning experience once you play and keep the ball on that 45 sq ft of space or should I say half of that space.

Well Red, we are in another heatwave right now, so I need all the fans I can get

Last night's TT was played in very hot conditions. It was still 35C when matches started, and the hall was boiling.

One thing that quickly emerged that cooled us somewhat, was the opponent team was missing a player. Oh, but hang on, so were we! Fortunately though, our youngster was just running a little late and turned up just as my first match was about to begin

The guy I was up against first gives nothing away in his demeanour. He wears a poker face. I've played him about 8 times now I think and you never quite know what you'll get from him. 4 of those matches have been 5 setters and he's won every one of those at either 11-8 or 11-9 in the last. The rest of the matches I've beaten him in 3 (one may have been in 4, but I won it). So I wondered what I would meet in this match.

As the first set got underway, it was obvious he was here to play. I often (even in the 5 setters) have beaten him 11-3 or better in the first set as he opens up firing with his fast BH, which is where he makes many errors in misjudging my pip shots. But not tonight. He just played patiently lifting the ball slowly to my BH, giving me awkward pip shots to play. If I gave him the right ball, bang..he put it away. I felt like this could be the first time I lose in 3 to him as he got on top of me at 9-8. I battled him though and made 9 all. The rallies were longer than usual and the next point went for a while BH to BH with the odd shot to his FH to change things up (but this could be dangerous as he was hitting his FH loop deep and very awkward to my FH). Finally, he gave up a shot to my FH that wasn't so nasty and I slammed it away on him. 10-9! On the next point after another rally he thought he'd picked the right ball to BH smash, but he netted it instead!

In the 2nd set, he played much the same game, but he picked off a lot more BH drives and got me 11-6. In the 3rd, I felt like I needed to be more patient than I'd been. I had been trying to hit some winners with the pips, but due to the lack of power, I was often giving him an easier attack. A lot of people don't attack these shots as they look like they are faster than they are, but he judged them well and hit back through me. So this time, the rallies went even longer as I just kept the ball honest and waited for him to lose patience and make an error. This turned out to be a good strategy and I took the set 11-6.

So I was up 2-1. I figured I needed to win the next set, given my 5 set history with him. No such luck though as he nabbed it 11-9! So, a 5 setter it was to be. I was weary not to get too far behind him or he could swamp me. I was also aware if I didn't build an early lead, I'd build his confidence in his ability of winning these close 5th sets. After going 3-1, then 4-1 I was looking for a good turn. He got back 4-2, but then I turned him 5-2. Good, but not enough. I needed to put this out of his reach or he would wear me down. I took it to 6-2, then 7-2. If I got 8-2 I was home! But no. he took 7-3. He has a look in, but he gets overzealous and goes for the BH smash and sends it way long. 8-3. I manage to put a FH smash down in the next point, but he's far enough back that he attacks it.....long! 9-3. It's my serve and I'm looking for something safe, but dangerous for him. Most the match I'd given him pip serves or topspin. Occasionally, I'd thrown in a short underspin, but he's too experienced to be troubled by them, and they end in little advantage for me. But I use it now for change. I send it to his FH, he's a little slow reaching for it and nets it! 10-3! Now I serve a topspin to him, going for as deep as I can...too deep...gave him the point. 10-4. That's the last thing I meant to do, encourage him. He serves on the next and I detect a feeling a interest lost by him, but I bolster cos I know he'll do this as a ploy. Try to make me relax and then win a point or 2 and make me feel overwhelmed. I played patient and if it was a ploy, he knew it didn't work. After a rally of 4 or 5 shots each, he got an opportunity to BH drive and mis-read the spin, sending it long again! 11-4 and match mine. And to think, that was just the first match

My 2nd player S went into the next match and lost the first 2 sets before I knew it. I went and had a chat to him and explained a few things he asn't doing against the guy he should be. He said he knew what he was doing wrong, but had been asleep. I said well take this as a wake up. He did! He won the next 2 sets fairly easily. But then in the 5th he fell backward and went out to be 10-7 down, missing his big FH over and over to hand away points. But as he retrieved the ball from the back of the court, he looked at me and I think that was enough to bring back what he'd lost as he hit FH after FH on for winners. He passed deuce and won it 12-10 like it was never in doubt

Having a walkover in the 3rd, S and I played the doubles next. We narrowly won the first set 11-9, but then lost the plot and went down in the next 11-3. We pulled it together and won the 3rd 11-5, but then lost the 4th 11-8. The 5th was a close one, but when I served off in error to give them 9-7, it looked grim. But S senses he needed to step up and step up he did. He returned well on the next serve and they netted. His next return came back but I got him a setup and he put it away. 9 all. His next serve was netted. I got him another setup on the next return and he put it away for an 11-9 victory and we celebrated

So we were 4-0 on the card, but with 3 more game already won by walkover we were actually 7-0 up! We'd actually won the night after S's singles match, but hadn't really recognised it lol. We were just focussed on taking this as far as we could.

Our young C took the table next against the guy I played first.Not having played a role in the night yet, I think he was keen to contribute. He lost the first set 11-6, but then got into the rhythm of the guys game and took him down 8,9,8 in the next 3. He hit loop after loop on FH and BH with such style and class. Even under attack he kept his cool and counter-looped like a veteran. It was great to watch!

I played the old-stager next. I wasn't going to let this be as tight as S had let it. This bloke is 67, but moves like he's 50. He has a BH smash that is deadly and he plays it from all parts of the table. In fact, he rarely plays a FH. But he almost always manages to position himself for the BH and if its slightly high (heck it doesn't even have to be high at all), he smashes it and usually down your BH side, where its an awkward return (and so fast good luck getting a bat on it). His biggest strength though, is also a big weakness. His BH smash is so good, you can get him to go for it when it's just off key for him and he'll miss it. But in the first set that didn't happen a whole lot. So we went out to deuce. I snared him 12-10, but it was a battle on a hot night. I don't know if I'd just worn him out or what, but in the next set I just took point after point all the way to 9-0. I dropped a pip shot onto the net cord and it fell back to me to make it 9-1 and then finished it 11-1. The 3rd set went to 11-4 and that was me done for the night and we were 9-0 up for the round!

S had the chance to make it 10 as he played the guy I played first, but went down in a tight 3 setter 8,8,10.

Now the kid had to play the old-stager. C went out to an early 5-0 lead and I thought his class was just going to wipe the floor with him, but then the old guy discovered a few tricks that the kid couldn't cope with. A serve that looks like underspin, but is almost always top (trouble is, he sometimes make it under lol). C was letting it hit his bat and fly away. And another serve that was dropped short over to the FH with no spin that C was trying to loop and sending long all the time. These got the old guy the set 11-9. During the end change I told the kid what was happening on the topspin serve which was the main thing killing him and said he either needed to block it and loop it with a positive shot, but not just let it hit the bat. In the next set I could see him trying to employ my advice, but on some where it was actually underspin he blocked into the net and others he looped too low and into the net. Somehow he still managed to win the set 12-10. I let him go the next set without speaking to him as I figured he needed to work it out for himself now, but he continued missing the serve and lost the set 11-9. So I spoke to him again and told him if he was going to block, block with lift. And if he was going to llop, loop a bit slower with some lift and that way if he wasn't picking the spin he was overcoming it with a shot that still landed. Well, things started to improve from here and he began returning the serve more. He won the set 12-10 again. In the 5th set though, he really began figuring out what I'd said and added his own touch to it. He not only was returning the serve but blowing it through the guy on many occasions with a medium paced loop that landed awkwardly near the end of the table. The old guy did return a few and one went back so fast the kid didn't have time to get his bat angle right. But he won the set 11-5 and finally well and truly had the guy's number. He came back to me after the set and said thanks for the advice it helped a lot. (And that was pretty darned obvious lol, but it was nice to receive his gratitude).

So in the wash-up we won the night 10-1 and this should place us at the top of the ladder after 2 rounds. How long we can stay there, who knows? We play the 2nd team next week and that will be a battle. Then we have the young teens who have come back up from A4 that were in A3 the season before last and they look in good form. So a lot of hard TT to come (but S is already putting us in the final ).

Personally, I remain on 100% win ratio after 2 rounds. Happy with that as I have played some tough players already. But I know there is tougher still to come. If I am still on 100% after round 5 I'll start getting excited

_________________
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.

That's a pretty good start!

You're obviously handling the heat quite well..... I tend to struggle with it.

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ok Reb , thursday you playing my team how do you feel , the odds are against you for the moment but you never know , you might get that spell off luck that you have been looking for against me

I dunno Sahm. I think I'll need more than luck in the heat there will be there on Thursday lol. I suppose where there's life there's hope and a win would be fantastic...but it seems fortunes have switched this season from Thursdays to Mondays hehe

_________________
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.

Well A1 is the tough road I expected it to be. Especially seeings as we've met 2 of the toughest teams in the first 2 weeks.

Tonight we were up against my old mate Sahm and his new partner PB. Sahm has lifted his weapons (and his rating) a lot in the last 6-12 months having trained like crazy for the National Vets last September, basically playing or training 7 days a week.

My partner L, played Sahm up first tonight and made a fair fist of it. I don't recall all the scores, but I know L was 2-1 up on Sahm in the sets before Sahm overtook him to win 4-2, but the set scores were pretty tight generally.

I then played PB, who I've only played about 3 or 4 times before and not for a couple of years since the last time. So I wasn't too clued into his game, although I know he's improved a lot since I last played him, and I've never beaten him before. I can happily say I improved with every set against him, but never managed to take one. The score was actually 2,4,6,8. So I got 2 points better each set lol. His BH smash and his FH loop were just a little too powerful and consistent for me, although I did manage to produce a few of my own weapons throughout the match, just not enough.

L played PB next and made slightly better progress against him than I did and actually got a set from him. But he was probably never in high contention to win the match. Missing a lot of his smashes made certain of that and he went down 4-1.

I played Sahm in the last singles of the night and as always I was going to throw a tough battle his way if I could. I served first and he won the first point, but then I got him with a pip serve to even things up. It went evenly out to 9 all, but I nabbed the last 2 points to get the first set 11-9. In the 2nd set he stepped it up and was hitting well with both anti and inverted off his BH and he got me 11-7. In the 3rd set he go out to a lead of 10-6 and then somehow I managed to peg him back to deuce and after going 11-10 up, I closed it out 13-11. The 4th set is blurry in my mind and I don't recall the score, but I know Sahm won it and took us to 2 sets a piece. The 5th set however was the crucial one that really decided the match. I got out to 10-8 and was looking to re-take the lead, but Sahm dragged deuce back and then won it 14-12. In the heat of the night I'd exhausted myself fighting to go this far, and that took the wind from my sails. I think Sahm sensed this (or maybe I just dropped my guard too low) as he went in for the kill on the next set. Try as I might to contain things, I went down about 11-4 in this set and 4-2 in the match overall. I wasn't too unhappy with this result, but a 7 setter would have been a grander finish to this deserving fight.

All that was left was the doubles, and while L and I made an almost unbeatable doubles pair at A2 level, the extra pressure that comes on at A1 has seen us struggle somewhat so far. L feels compelled to go hard for every shot and often ends with him missing. We did take a set off Sahm and PB, but they beat us very convincingly 4-1.

I'm hoping to eventually be able to report some kind of winning tale (even if its just one match) in this A1 journey, but at this stage we remain bottom of the ladder. Although I think we have played 1st and 2nd so far, so hopefully there's a few "easier" nights coming our way...not that there will be any easy nights this season

_________________
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.

Well as you said Reb there are no easy games in A1 and the difference in the level of play between A1 and A2 in big.
As you said L was missing a lot of shoots and I think he was to impatient in the selection of his shoots, he has to remember in A1 the ball comes back with interest and any loose ball will be put away.
I think your game against me was good but in crucial points you were missing some depth .
The fifth set was crucial and could turn the match around , the games were close Reb but I didnt fell the pressure I got from you the last time we played.
The sixth set was over in no time as I didnt get any resistance from you....
The same situation a found in the doubles ,L was making most of the mistakes and his game wasnt on .
Best of luck in the rest of the games Reb
See you monday

Its been a strange week of TT. Monday night, my team met with the team second on the ladder to us and we got trampled. Maybe I should really say I got trampled My teammates did roughly what they've been doing...winning one match each. I lost all 3 of mine instead of winning all 3 as I'd done the previous 2 weeks and we lost both doubles (I only played in one given we hadn't tried the other 2 guys out together yet). We hadn't lost a doubles until then either! So we went down 9-2. And its not like I even felt that I played all that badly. I just had a night where I couldn't push the 11 line enough.

So then we switch to tonight's A1 Masters where we expect very little of ourselves. The team we were playing has 2 quality players in it, but as far as this grade goes, they are not the cream. Having said that, I still wasn't sure of winning even a set, certainly against one of them who plays A1 Seniors on Mondays also (I play A3 on Mondays). Anyway, it turns out the "weaker" of the 2 players isn't coming and they have a fill-in coming who is stronger than both of them!

In this grade there is no complaining though, you just have to grin and bear it

So, I go into bat against their first player, M...the guy who plays A1 Mondays. I told my partner L if I get a set I'd be wrapped. This guy used to be a teammate about 3 years ago, but since then has improved so much he left me in his wake. He is a VERY strong looper from both wings and he plays the game I HATE most...you pip players know...the one where he serves topspin to your pips and then tees off on the underspin that comes back at him. Generally, I have very few answers to this type of game, and the last times I'd played him, he'd killed me every time. Even when he had a sor back and couldn't move he beat me using a pip nullifying game until he got easy putaways.

So I figured I'd do what I could to find cracks in his lining, but I wasn't expecting much. To my surprise though I actually started out pretty well with him. He was serving his topspins and I was sending him back fairly heavy underspin just as he likes, but I was trying to get it into awkward spots on his BH side that made him decide whether he would BH or FH loop it. Now the spin he generates on the serve is REALLY hard to control anyway, so getting this right wasn't easy. But he hadn't got into his "zone" yet, so I was troubling him into some misses. I sensed I might pick up the first set if I could keep him off-balance. And that's just what I did and I got him 11-9. I was happy with that! In fact, I was happy enough that to lose 4-1 wouldn't make me unhappy lol

We got into the second set and again I was keeping with him, even though he had started to hit his loops a little more, and had started to remember how to nullify my game and shut down my FH power. I recall he hit one sizzling loop passing me on the wide FH and I got the bat to it for a fast FH block back past his FH side This time the set drew to deuce and I felt like that might be all she wrote. Surprisingly though, I got him to net my underspin serve that was very short to his FH as he lazily reached for it. On the next point he went for a BH loop and missed and I won 12-10. 2 sets to nil, and I was doing a little dance lol.

In the 3rd set, once again I held strong and kept pace with him out to 5 and then 6 all. Then he hit 2 blindingly good loops and hopped straight to 8-6. On the next point after a short rally he completely missed the ball on a pips push that he was looking to loop. I thought it was my point, as he'd made a few misses like this before. I was happy with getting back to 8-7, when he said it was a let. A ball had come into the back of the court at the time he went for his loop and he said he was distracted by it and had pulled the shot. My teamy umpiring hadn't seen the ball come in. I had and I wasn't sure of the exact timing, but given I know the feeling of hearing a ball bouncing in behind you, and that he is generally an honest guy, I felt compelled to allow the let and not push the point. It did however, slow my momentum, and he took the next point to go 9-6. I wasn't done though and I fought him out to deuce. This time though he was getting his loops zoned in and easily took me 12-10.

The 4th set was now my best hope to push this match to somewhere where I might stand any hope of carrying off a win. His loops were really hitting up though and I had to be ultra careful of my placements of every ball I hit. I mean he can literally just tee off on anything "loose", and by loose I mean a MUCH tighter definition of loose than most people would think is loose lol. Fortunately, he was still teeing off on most things though as he still wasn't totally shutting me down and waiting for the truly "right" ball to tee-off on (although he had begun doing this more than he had earlier just the same). So when I was aiming to advance this to 3-1, and feeling like I just might...he sent me reeling back by taking the set 11-8. So it was 2 all and he was poised to move for the kill.

The 5th set though, I began to change my play. Instead of sending his topspin serves to his BH, I sent them to his FH. Far harder to do, given there is more distance to keep them on the table going to his BH. But he was kill looping me way too much with his FH down my FH line by now, so I had to throw a spanner in his works. Now more than a couple of these FH-delivered serve blocks came back and past me like bullets down my BH line, but he also missed quite a few too. Meanwhle, on my own serve I was trying to keep it tight and safe as I'd made some serve errors earlier (but mainly in the sets I won, so hadn't been too costly). On balance, my change in strategy worked and I won the set 11-8 and got back a lead.

So now, could I close it all out and cover myself in glory by winning the 6th set? He even said to me, "finish me off". I'm not sure if it was a taunt, or "permission" in his mind for me to win...but I took it as the latter The set started badly though, with him winning his serve on the first 2 points. Then he won both of my serves and the next of his again to be 5-0 up. This wasn't going to plan! I won a point finally to get going and then moved along to 6-2. He got out to 9-3, but I managed to mount a comeback that saw me back to 10-7 when he closed it 11-7. So it was 3 sets all and coming down to a 7 setter. You have to remember though, I was happy taking ONE set from this guy. Going to 7 sets with him was miraculous!

Into the 7th, I served first and he teed the first long pips serve to his BH straight back through me. So I served him another to a slightly different position and he tried it again and netted it. From there though, he took it to 3-1, then 4-2 and then had us change ends with him 5-2 up and commanding the match now. I managed to snatch the point at 5-3, but he got away to 7-3 on me as his loops were just blasting me away. Most of them now were from his BH side with his FH across my BH, and I couldn't get a bat to them. He made it out to 9-4 and I sneaked another one to be 9-5, and then another to go 9-6 thinking I might put some pressure on here when he blasted another loop by me to go 10-6. Well that was it, I figured I'd just go for broke from here and see what I could conjure. Most of it is a blur, except for a couple of very clear things. One was a big FH smash past him that I'd worked my pips butt off to get. Another was a loop he sent long from the mis-read of my pip spin, to give me deuce. And the pen-ultimate climax to the match where he hit a BIG FH kill-loop down my FH side. He put so much on it he, and with such certainty of a winner he let himself over-commit. No way would I get a FH to that...but an out-stretched arm BH pips block to the FH side (one of my favorite emergency shots btw ) gave me just enough time to put bat to ball and block it back across deep to his FH side and all he could do was watch it land 11-10!

Well the match was not over yet. It was his serve and he chose not to topspin into me, but put a short tomahawk to my FH. I sent it back off the pips to his FH and he looped at my middle and I chop-blocked it back to his FH again. He knew the spin was heavy, so he lifted it back to my BH and all I could do was push it back at his tummy deep. He moved and went for the big loopkill from his FH, but hadn't made position well enough and sent it long! Now it was my match!!

I was jubilant! This might well be the best player I ever beat. He had a few excuses, saying he was trying to extend the match until his fill-in turned up and that he had new rubbers on his bat, but he did at least concede I won the last set which wasn't sposed to happen.

In the end the fill-in didn't turn up, so he got another guy to fill-in who was a much lesser player that L and I both beat in straight sets, although he did manage to support the opponent to win the doubles 3-2 (A1 has this odd quirk where they only play to 5 sets in the doubles if the match is already decided - weird when no other grade does it).

L lost his single to the A1 Seniors player in 4 sets 11, 6, 6, 8. He had an off night really, as we only really lost the doubles due to a raft of mistakes he made (especially serving faults and rushing shots and missing ), which were uncharacteristic for him. Luckily, we already had the night in the bag!

Winning 2 matches tonight takes my personal ratio from 0% to 33% too Thought I might stay on zero the entire season. This win may also lift us off the bottom of the ladder even too

_________________
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.

This week was the last round of the Summer season at my club and my teams have finished it in style. Hasn't been a season of sterling performances, so I haven't been highly inspired to write my blog too much, but given the season is over for me, I thought I'd make an update.

In A3 Seniors on Monday, we faced the possibility of finishing 5, even though we began the night in 3rd place. We were playing the top team and had no chance of making the final. Fourth place was playing 2nd and 5th playing 6th. Only one player turned up from 6th, so 5th had a huge 9-2 win and potentially raising them to 3rd. 4th had a fill-in who is much better than the regular he was replacing. they had a 6-5 win over 2nd. Our second player won nothing for the night, but fortunately our youngster had his first night of 3 wins and he and I won the 2nd doubles. I'd lost won singles and won one and was left with playing the decider at 5 all. The teen I was playing had slaughtered me 3-0 last time we met. I won the first set very easily 11-3, but he was lashing at everything and nothing much came off. In the second set he calmed it down and took me down 11-7. I figured if I was going to win this I had to pull out every trick in the book and tease him back into going for his shots when he shouldn't. Its a risky game if you end up getting his eye in. As an 18 year old playing his last match of the night his eye was probably better than mine Now you have to consider this kid has one of the best BH's you'll ever see, and while he's not the most consistent with it, he's not bad. And his FH is not far behind. I did tease him into missing enough though that I took the last 2 sets 11-7 and 11-6 and we won 6-5 and finished in 3rd place for the season with 5/10 wins - not a bad result!

Tonight was the A1 Masters and we played the same team as I last reported on up there ^^. I played the guy I beat last time first and I took the first 2 sets 11-6 each, but then he got his gear together and started smashing me, going 5,6,7,6 on me.

My teamy evened the score winning 4-2 against their regular 2nd player who was not playing when we played them first time. I was then up to play him and now he had his eye in and warmed up I was concerned he could tear me a new one. I've played this guy pretty much twice a season or 8 times a year for the last 4 and a half years give or take a season or 2. So doing the match, we've met around 30 times. I think I've beaten him 5 times in all that. To my surprise though I got away to a flyer and was 8-2 up on him. Then he started coming back and came back to 8-7 before I got another point But from 9-7 I carried on to 11-7. 2nd set was more evenly played, but I still won it 11-9. 2 sets up, if I could get to 3 I figured I'd find a way to close it out. Well I took the 3rd set 11-7 and kept my game solid in the 4th set to hold a lead out to 8-6. By this time he was playing a game of safety, working me around on angles trying to get me out of position. I countered that with my own angles back at him though keeping it honest and making him come off 2nd best. I won the set 11-8 and gave us a 2-1 lead.

My partner lost the next match and left the result up to the doubles.

Doubles took an immediate and very grim look as they massacred us 7, 7, 2! But its a best of 7 and we wanted to take it up to them as best we could. I think we'd made it so easy for them when we got our act together, we gave them a bit of a shock and won a set 11-4! Their skill as a pair is very daunting as the stronger player loops whippy loops from FH or BH with speed and consistency. Very difficult to return. Still, we managed to grab another set 11-7. Despite our efforts though it all seemed done with as they took a 10-7 lead in the 6th set. Not sure how, but we pulled off a 12-10 win from there So it all came down to a 7th set!

We got away to the flyer against them this time with a 4-1 lead, which then was 5-2 at the change. They were far from done though and were back with us by 7 all. We got out to 9-7, but they pulled us back to 9 all. We went 10-9 and I was so hoping we could snare the last point to steal this 11-9, but no such luck, DEUCE! My teamy was serving and as the return came back I sent it deep back to their BH and caught the back edge 11-10. Now could we grab the win? Nope, teamy screwed up going for a shot that simply wasn't there! We played a cat and mouse game with them as they took over the advantage and it looked curtains for us again, but we resurrected ourselves like we were the cat and we had 9 lives It was out to 13 all when my teamy repeated what I'd done at 10 all and got the back edge to go 14-13. Could we finally bring this to a close? A rally kicks off. Maybe the longest of the deuce....one of them, I think the strong looper goes for his loop and drills it into the net! 15-13 and we had the night 3-2!

This was the 4th win (from 10) for us this season. That still saw us finish in 7th place (from , so second bottom. The bottom team only won one round though (and it was their 2nd season in A1). So if they keep 8 teams in A1 next season, we get another season there. But its a tough gig in this grade, and there are very few chances to celebrate compared to the lower grades I've played. So you have to celebrate whatever you can

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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.

Always good to finish the season on a high!

Do you think you've improved much since playing this tougher comp?

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OOAK Table Tennis Shop | Re-Impact Blades | Butterfly Table Tennis bats
Setup1: Re-Impact Smart, Viper OX, Victas VS 401 Setup2: Re-Impact Barath, Dtecs OX, TSP Triple Spin Chop 1.0mm Setup3: Re-Impact Dark Knight, Hellfire OX, 999 Turbo
Recent Articles: Butterfly Tenergy Alternatives | Tenergy Rubbers Compared | Re-Impact User Guide

Tough question! I think my ingenuity in the game has taken an upturn as I look for more "sneakiness" to be competitive with. Against the older guys, this doesn't help much as they've seen it all. But the younger ones it can pay off with. I think it will take more than one season to really get the benefits of the experience. When I shifted up to A2 for the first time I felt I didn't belong there for a long time, even though I would win some matches. I felt like I wasn't really at that level. Now I've taken the step to A1, its a similar feeling. I'm hoping that the longer I am there, the more it will force my game to improve. I'm sure it will still look like an ugly game though

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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.

I'm sure you'll improve mate... you've got the right mindset and sneakiness to go a long way!

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OOAK Table Tennis Shop | Re-Impact Blades | Butterfly Table Tennis bats
Setup1: Re-Impact Smart, Viper OX, Victas VS 401 Setup2: Re-Impact Barath, Dtecs OX, TSP Triple Spin Chop 1.0mm Setup3: Re-Impact Dark Knight, Hellfire OX, 999 Turbo
Recent Articles: Butterfly Tenergy Alternatives | Tenergy Rubbers Compared | Re-Impact User Guide

Well this knee seems to be getting progressively worse, which means movement becomes worse, which means I'm often out of position to hit my FH which means I rely on the pips more which means my game looks uglier and uglier which means I have to become sneakier and sneakier which probably means you are right

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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.

Did I hear snake? Try to get some rest. Do not bust your knee.

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Enjoy the game. It is a never ending learning experience once you play and keep the ball on that 45 sq ft of space or should I say half of that space.