OOAK Table Tennis Forum

As I've mentioned elsewhere, I'm just returning to the game after having played it pretty intensely 20 years ago. I'm finding it very hard going and was wondering if other people had similar experiences - and if we could compare notes.

I think hookshot had a layoff of around 30 years, played his first game in a competition (!!) and still did well! Unfortunately, it's been a lot harder for me...

There seems to be a few phases I've identified in getting back into the groove:

A) The first time I played, I was all over the place. Most of my shots were sailing metres wide of the mark. Consistency was non-existent.

B) Within the first couple of sessions, I was able to consistently drive forehand to forehand, backhand to backhand quite sharply, quickly and consistently.

C) After 2-3 more sessions, I was able to brush loop forehands, and be able to adjust readily to different depths - but loop backhands are really struggling.

I'm getting to the stage now where I've got my CONSISTENCY back, but no MATCH TOUGHNESS (that keen frame of mind where you, without thinking, always hit the ball to the opponent's weakness, and where you force the opponent to hit to your strength - and where you play your best shots in the most crucial points).

If others are going through (or have gone through) something similar, I was wondering how long it took and how you managed.

I think the hardest thing for me is knowing I will never be as good as I was (for the simple reason that, aside from being older and less fit, I have too many commitments (job, family, etc...) to be able to play as much as I used to). It's not like playing something for the first time, and the fun of improving and blazing new trails.

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Blade: TSP Black Balsa 7.0 flared; FH Rubber - Donic Acuda S3 max sponge; BH Rubber - Speed Spectol 1.8mm

Match toughness builds up very slowly...obviously different rates for different players... Just play as many matches as you can to try and build it up... i think it will take a few months at least..

In practice you can similate it by playing with a handycap... not the same but it can help you win the tight points...

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Poor-knight,,,
I did come back strong with out much trouble BUT,,,I am trying to go up in level more. I went up over 500 points in my first tourney, (readjusted up 500) up over 200 in the next and this last one, even though I beat some good players, I lost points. I have beat 1900 level players that play a straight forwards game,,,loops and such and same with choppers, but I have lost to 1300 players that have unorthodox strokes. I am trying to reach 2000 level before my body says no more. I talked to the guys that won the last tourney and asked for advice. They all agreed I hit as hard as anybody, have all the strokes and touch over the table. They all also agreed my problem was "Strategy".
This might sound like BS but it is true. I do so much coaching that I tend to hit TO the person in a match. It has become habit! I am so used to feeding for people to keep the rally going, it carries over into a game.
At the last tourney, I wrote, "use angles" on my hand trying to stop this. It helped but not enough. I am going to go to Fans club near Seattle for a week or ten days for coaching to try and break this habit.
As far as time,,,I have lots. I think that is what caused this in the first place. I start a club at the college every year and coach as many as 30 people of different levels. I worked with grade school kids. Always feeding nice shots. Usually 5 or 6 days a week.
I have to get back the sneaky old man in me again. The hardest people I have to coach are the ones with bad habits and here I have one. I really think it is just a matter of getting the right frame of mind again,,,but once the match starts, it is hard to keep a level head. It would be nice to have a coach sitting there to keep reminding you of things.
For you,,, I think you could think of strategy before the game more. And if you have a friend, have him coach you between games.
My partner and I spend lots of time counter hitting and today he agreed to 30 minutes of letting me try hard angle blocks with anti. I think I need more of this to get my head on straight. We hardly ever play games but might start more to sharpen the nasty shots and angles.

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Shakehand, left handed.
Blade, Yinhe, W-1
Forhand, H-3 National
Backhand, Sriver FX Max

I hear you.

The thing is, in the heat of a game, you go by habit and instinct. I remember I used to play squash with my wife as an activity we could do together. Trouble was, she was too bad a player for us to have actual games. So instead, we'd do the silly 'see how many balls in a row we can hit' activities where we'd try to break our record. The trouble of course is that the skill to such a game is to ALWAYS hit the ball so that it lands and bounces just perfectly for the opponent to hit it back.

Of course, after doing that for a while - you can imagine what happened when I played a competitive game against my friend.....

That's one reason why I refuse to 'have a hit' with my wife in table tennis - she's already ruined me for one sport!

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Blade: TSP Black Balsa 7.0 flared; FH Rubber - Donic Acuda S3 max sponge; BH Rubber - Speed Spectol 1.8mm

Each day is relearning or unlearning something new. After a 25 year layoff (I was once a pretty highly ranked junior player in the US) there are at least two parts of my game now that are stronger than they ever were -- serve and return of serve (because I work on them with great concentration all the time, and I have had the luck of really good coaching on that). The rest will never be as good at 50 as they were when I was 18, my feet are like lead and I have no explosiveness in my lateral movements. Stepping around and looping my forehand from balls in the deep backhand corner, my specialty as a kid, is a pretty much suicidal move now unless I can hit an outright winner, which I can't really do against anybody decent -- unless they pop up a serve return .

Every time you play is a new discovery and some days you will really suck no matter what you do.

Anyway, most importantly, it is good for your health! So don't quit again.

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Butterfly Viscaria Black tag
2.2 mm Nexy Karis M on FH and BH

Poor-night,,,
Good to find someone that understands the problem. 5 or 6 days a week did make the habit and it is real. Most people don't think it would happen to them but I know different.

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Shakehand, left handed.
Blade, Yinhe, W-1
Forhand, H-3 National
Backhand, Sriver FX Max

Hey Baal, thanks for sharing your experience....it's interesting to see the parallels.

I'm getting myself coaching too, for the first time, and I am focusing on serve and return of serve. One of the reasons is because I see this as the one area that I CAN improve over where I was as a teenager. Back then, my all-around game was strong enough that even without a good serve or a good return, I could usually rally myself into the point. Now, I really need a good serve and return in order to be competitive.

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Blade: TSP Black Balsa 7.0 flared; FH Rubber - Donic Acuda S3 max sponge; BH Rubber - Speed Spectol 1.8mm