OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Forgot to mention I saw a couple of scenes of table tennis on an episode of Utopia on the ABC on Wednesday night. They were just doing it to look like a hipster start up, not serious TT .

Went to the PCYC last night. L1C again won 1 out of 7-8 games, another I came back from 2-8 to win somewhere in deuce territory. Had 3 tables out and filled them for the first couple of hours.

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Retriever (sometimes golden, but often leaden)
Moderator, Inverted Retriever Technique sub-forum - http://ooakforum.com/viewforum.php?f=74

Had the usual Saturday afternoon at the community centre, a little down on numbers.

Sunday was the local association's closed championships with additional open singles and doubles. I had committed to helping the organiser so got there at 8am to help set up. Our household has 4.5 drivers and only 3 cars (.5 is a learner ). I thought that I had "booked" having one for the day weeks ago (on the calendar) but last Thursday was informed that son 3 needed a car and wife 1 ( ) needed the other. Son 2 has his own car and was going to be out with the RFS supervising hazard reduction burns in local bushland. I ended up leaving at the same time as I leave for work during the week and public transporting it. First world problems I guess. The upside was that I was already warm while setting up while others were complaining of the cold. I think it was around 6 degrees C. Coming home I scored a lift part of the way.

My first event was Division 1 singles. It started with a 3 person round robin. First up I played SG, a combination bat player who I managed to beat 3-0 with very little trouble. Next up was EC, a double inverted penholder. I think I won the first game then went down in a screaming heap for the next 3 games. He played very flat, with some very nice reverse pendulum serves that skidded in to me. Now I was hoping that SG would beat EC 3-0 so I could win the group on countback. Sad to have to rely on this. No such luck, of course. It did go to 2-2, but then EC ultimately triumphed 3-2.

Next up was Premier singles. It was played as 2 groups of 4 with the winner of each group playing the final. Unfortunately, although the association had gotten its event on the TT NSW calendar first to avoid conflicts and get the better players to be available for the premier open events, there were 3 other TT things happening - competing tournament in another part of Sydney (who had asked us to change our date), a Veterans round and an invitational event on the north coast. So much for planning and getting in first.

I umpired the 1st match in our group between BL, a top rating local junior, and J?, a recent arrival from Singapore who was here to be a student at the local uni. BL won 3-0, but the quality of play was very high from my perspective, loop, counter loop, no defensive play. I assumed that I was going to lose 0-3 to both of these players.

Next up was myself vs J?. I just played my usual retriever game, getting as much spin as I could on the ball when I could, and J? missing a lot of his shots. 1-0 to me. 2nd game a repeat, so 2-0 to me. 3rd game he stops spinning up his serves and other shots and gets a lot more past me, 2-1 to me. 4th game he even puts the ball up for me to attack but I don't fall for it but lose anyway, 2-2. Somewhere in there he calls a time out. 5th game i am down 6-10, grind it out to 9-10 on my serve and call a time out of my own. I towel down, have a swig of water and mentally compose myself. My serve at 9-10 I serve into the net. That time out and subsequent missed serve are arguably the worst decisions of my table tennis career. Oh well.

After the match one of the uni players complimented me on my play and then asked me which long pimple I was using on my backhand. I showed her the Tenergy 05 as per my and had to tell her that she was not the first to ask that question.

Then I played BL, the junior. Apart from taking him to deuce in the first game, he had my measure and indeed beat me 3-0 as predicted.

Last was PT a combination bat player with the long pimples on his forehand mostly but he twiddled a fair bit. I managed to beat him 3-0. I think I played him last year in this event, where he had beaten me.

I hung around and umpired the final of the premier singles between BL & ML, brothers. They appeared to play seriously which was good, but there was absolutely no atmosphere as the majority of people still there were players and some other events were still on. ML beat BL, which I am told is unusual. I also umpired the finals of Div 1 singles.

Div 1 doubles, I managed to pick up a partner on the day, SC. He is a Div 2 player, but has a very strong loop. We played a round robin, winning 2 and losing 1.

From discussions with SC, another committee member for the association (he gave me a lift part of the way home) we are dubious of what good it is to the association of putting up prize money ($A2000) for the open premier events that are made part of the association championships, which ensures that the tournament makes a rather large loss. However that will have to be discussed and debated at a committee meeting or brought up at the AGM.

Comp tonight rounds out a weekend (well Thursday night, Friday night, Saturday afternoon, all of Sunday and Monday night actually) pretty much devoted to table tennis. My wife is at least still talking to me rather than acting as the table tennis widow

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Retriever (sometimes golden, but often leaden)
Moderator, Inverted Retriever Technique sub-forum - http://ooakforum.com/viewforum.php?f=74

... And I wore my prized OOAK shirt yesterday too. Lucky for some ...

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Retriever (sometimes golden, but often leaden)
Moderator, Inverted Retriever Technique sub-forum - http://ooakforum.com/viewforum.php?f=74

Played pennant against juniors on Monday night to complete my long weekend of table tennis.

Attempted to get there by 7pm as requested by the opposing team, but a car accident (not mine) made peak hour traffic worse than usual so was late. Next issue, not having played at the venue before, had problems finding it. In daylight it may not have been too bad, but at night the first floor signs were not as obvious at all and the entrance was not in the street of the address given. Ended up that MD had arrived before me and phoned the opposing team captain and came to rescue me.

First up I played HB who had a standard top spin based game which I thought would suit me to spoil. Unfortunately he was relatively impervious to my spin and speed changes, so 0-3 to him. In the meantime, MD played SK and lost as well. Then MD & I played doubles against WB and JK. Together we were more competitive but went down 2-3.

Next AF played HB and lost, and MD played JK and lost as well, so we were down 05 in rubbers. Then AF & MD played doubles against SK & WB and managed to pull out a win.

My last match was with JK. I think I won the first, after which I told MD that I knew that I was alive. From there it was downhill, losing the next 3, but not badly. There was appreciation from the onlookers at various times, but whether it was for my good play or JK's misses I was not sure . Meanwhile AF played SK and won 3-2 for our first singles win. Then AF & I played the last doubles against WB & HB and I think we lost 2-3.

All up we went down 2-7 in rubbers.

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Retriever (sometimes golden, but often leaden)
Moderator, Inverted Retriever Technique sub-forum - http://ooakforum.com/viewforum.php?f=74

PCYC on Friday night. Usual games against L1C who won 0, although he is somewhat injured.

Community centre on Saturday afternoon, attendance was down, only 4 including me.

PCYC on Sunday afternoon, both L1C & I were late. Had less than a third of the full multi-function room with 3 tables in north-south orientation. Was better with only 1 table really affected by outside glare. Usual games against L1C who was still affected by injury but better than Friday, he still won 0.
Played a new (to us) player. He could handle my spin and speed variations fairly well. I went down 2-3. He may be coming back in a couple of weeks.
Had drilling with another left hander, a little backhand to backhand countering followed by a lot of forehand countering. He was better than me at this. Then we had a couple of games which I won very easily. My comment to him was that he needed to practice pushing a bit.

Went to the club on Monday night while my team played away in the local comp. They ended up losing 4-5 in rubbers with the loss only occurring in the 9th rubber in the 5th game. Anyway I played a couple of doubles, hit with a couple of lower grade players then SC from last comp was playing against our other team wanted a match with me. Remember I only just managed to beat him lat time 3-2, and he had watched me play at the local championships 2 weekends ago. Anyway I think we played 3 or 4 games and he didn't get very close to me in any of them (well maybe 1 of them), which I think shows that I have improved back to somewhere like I was 5 or 6 years ago. He is one of the few that keep notes on players, and at the championships he showed me the ones he had on me. They amounted to "Harmless". I wish I had told him he should update them to say "Mostly harmless", but instead I gave him some free advice to serve less or no spin so that he would get back pretty much only the spin that I could put on the return rather than the tricky resultant of his serve's spin plus whatever I did to it.

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Retriever (sometimes golden, but often leaden)
Moderator, Inverted Retriever Technique sub-forum - http://ooakforum.com/viewforum.php?f=74

PCYC on Friday night - have I mentioned that both the L1C & I are left handed? There is a regular now who is also left handed. He is actually interested in that rarity of left hand forehand to forehand drills. Had the usual incessant games with the L1C and didn't lose any.

Community centre on Saturday afternoon, we almost had enough to cover costs. There was a guy who came with one of the regulars who was from the other side of the city. He too succumbed to my awkward spin style.

PCYC on Sunday afternoon - more fun with the automated louvres on the western windows. They went totally up then the PCYC guy came and put them down, and, wonder of wonders, when they went down, the louvres stayed vertical, blocking out the sun beautifully. Now to figure out how he did it. More games with the L1C, no losses. Then a guy who played in China but not since coming to Oz except at the PCYC the previous week when he beat me 2-3. This time I think I beat him 3-1, so revenge. He wore what looked to be the CNT uniform, red shirt and black shorts, both with the golden dragon on them both times.

The club on Monday night. AF, JC, PU & I played each other. I beat JC, AF beat me and JC beat AF. Style match ups are a funny thing. Also PU won the first game against me by playing very well, while complaining that he shouldn't be playing because of a sore back. I then beat him 3-1 fairly easily. We finished off the night with a doubles of myself & JC v AF & PU.

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Retriever (sometimes golden, but often leaden)
Moderator, Inverted Retriever Technique sub-forum - http://ooakforum.com/viewforum.php?f=74

Just for a change, had comp on Friday night. L1C was not able to make it to the PCYC either, so TT there was free for the 2 or 3 who turned up.

I played CW first up, a reasonably good looper with a solid backhand. after 3-11 and 7-11 in the 1st 2 games I was not holding out too much hope. Then I made him move a little, made my shots lower and more variable in spin and came away with 11-6 in the 3rd. 4th game I was up 9-5. i should have gotten it, but took the foot off the pedal and lost 14-16 .

JC and I lost our doubles. Meanwhile we had an increasingly wrongly graded Div 2 player subbing "up" for us. He won both his singles and both doubles he played.

Next (well last, the way the score sheet goes), I played GR, with normal inverted on forehand and anti-spin backhand. 3-0 to me with very little trouble. The anti-spin must have had some grip as my spins caused him a lot of trouble even on his backhand. Also this was his first comp match this year I think.

At the community centre I put up all 3 tables, but with a turnout of 4 counting myself, it was a bit of wasted effort. Hopefully more will be there next week.

I got a message that L1C couldn't make it to the PCYC on Sunday, so went it alone. Beat the guy from China 3-2 and fielded some inquiries, so there may be more next Friday or Sunday. Also did some forehand to forehand counter-hitting lefthander to lefthander as per last week.

Last night went to the club for practice. Played JC & MD and lost to both. Played some doubles then went home with the venue key as we are having our first home game on Thursday night for the current comp. That will be MD, JC & moi playing.

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Retriever (sometimes golden, but often leaden)
Moderator, Inverted Retriever Technique sub-forum - http://ooakforum.com/viewforum.php?f=74

Another long weekend where too much table tennis is barely enough.

On Thursday night played pennant at our home venue for the first time this season. I played singles against G? who had come to our club a couple of times between pennant seasons and who I had won a few, lost a few against then. Well, he was playing very differently and did me 0-3 very easily. The L1C from the PCYC was there and was astounded that I lost so easily.

In the doubles I played next with JC I remember being 9-8 up in the 5th and served a fault and then we subsequently lost.

In the final singles I played MK, formerly a top junior, who had had to give up the game more recently with back issues and apparently had also had a shoulder reconstruction. Well I would not have been able to guess that. To me he was playing as well as ever and did me 0-3 as well.

Coming in to the final doubles we were down 3-5 in rubbers, that could have been 4-4 but for my previous doubles serving. Anyway, MD & I played G? & MK. We managed to pull it out in the 5th, so we went down 4-5. it could easily have been that the other way. Oh well.

Friday night was helping run the PCYC session. A high school gut NW turned up. He was quite good, and I gave him a game, beating him with a bit of effort. Had the usual many games with L1C. I think he got 1 game with me winning the rest.

Saturday afternoon at the community centre I was perhaps 5 minutes later than usual but was greeted by NW and a lady who said that her father had been very good in Melbourne and remembered Albert Park as a venue. She had a very old looking Butterfly bat, red rubber both sides turning to black in places. On closer inspection it was a reasonable pre-made with Sriver both sides. It turned out that NW had gotten a bus just to play me. His rubbers were 729 RITC Tack Speed 2000. He was surprised when I told him that I used to use it for exactly the same game as I currently play. We had about double the numbers of last week, so that was good.

Sunday afternoon again at the PCYC session. It looked like it was going to be L1C & me only. We had our usual endless games and I didn't lose any. Then D turned up, the Chinese guy with the CNT shirt and shorts. We played and he beat me fairly easily. At the end of the session I got L1C to reglue my rubbers as they had started to lift around the edges. He thought the FXP was past its use by date while the T05 was still OK. As a result I got home a little later than usual.

Monday night was practice at the club. I played IF and beat him 3 straight. He looked at my rubbers and thought that the FXP was still OK. Both rubbers are almost a year old.

I then played JC and after losing the 1st game won the next 3. Then AF, but I lost that 1-3. Then we played doubles, MD & I v AF & JC. MD & I just managed to win that 3-2.

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Retriever (sometimes golden, but often leaden)
Moderator, Inverted Retriever Technique sub-forum - http://ooakforum.com/viewforum.php?f=74

Well, I've skipped a week. Our prodigal son landed on our doorstep without warning on Monday of last week, so things have been a little hectic.

Friday a week a go went to the PCYC as usual. Nothing to write home about, except that L1C nearly got me. It ended up 3-2. Phew!

Saturday a week ago at the community centre an eastern european guy turned up. He started against one of our garage style regulars and did relatively normal forehand serves with a little top spin which our regular put off the table. I later had a hit with the EEG to show that not all of us were so bamboozled by what he was doing.

Sunday a week ago at the PCYC only one guy turned up, left hander, so we had quite a lot of forehand to forehand counter-hitting before some games. If only he was as good in games as he is at counter-hitting. Conversely, if only I was as good at counter-hitting as I am in games.

Monday night last week at the club I played JC and won, and AF and lost. It seems as if I can only beat one of them on any particular night. Then we played doubles. Then I got home to a surprise.

Thursday night I thought that I had arranged it so that I didn't have to play pennant as I was going to the district committee meeting, but then on Tuesday JC told me he couldn't play. I sent a couple of emails to PU to get someone from out lower division to play instead. No answers, so on Thursday evening I texted him to find out that my emails had gone to his Junk email folder. Fortunately PU could play. As it was, as a result of the appearance of the prodigal son I had cancelled out of the committee meeting in the meantime.

Friday night no PCYC as we went out to celebrate my daughter's birthday. I found out later that L1C had not turned up either.

Saturday at the community centre was cancelled as it was being painted (hopefully not white again).

Sunday at the PCYC was me only for the first 45 minutes as L1C had told me he was sick. PU turned up and we had some forehand counter-hitting (he too is left handed, but penhold), then I went home as I was a little sick myself.

Monday night at the club I again played both JC and AF but managed to beat them both, 3-1 & 3-2 respectively. Then I went home a little sick still.

We have 2 pennant games next week, Monday away and Thursday at home. Hopefully by then I will have shaken this cold / 'flu' that I seem to have picked up.

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Retriever (sometimes golden, but often leaden)
Moderator, Inverted Retriever Technique sub-forum - http://ooakforum.com/viewforum.php?f=74

I have been reminding (annoying?) the journalist via email every little while that they had sort of promised to do another article on table tennis at the PCYC. I got a reply on Wednesday morning, then a plea to ring them as well. I did not see the email till evening, so replied with my work number. Yesterday I did another phone interview with the journalist. So today there is a small story in the paper with a photo of L1C and myself in a dubious pose. Enjoy.

http://newslocal.smedia.com.au/manly-daily/

That URL is good for today at least. Then on page 8.


As I have said in another thread, any publicity is good publicity.

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Retriever (sometimes golden, but often leaden)
Moderator, Inverted Retriever Technique sub-forum - http://ooakforum.com/viewforum.php?f=74

so that you may live on in infamy.....

Oh noes, the facial recognition pixies will get me, not to mention the de-anonymisers.

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Retriever (sometimes golden, but often leaden)
Moderator, Inverted Retriever Technique sub-forum - http://ooakforum.com/viewforum.php?f=74

After getting that piece in the paper we had heaps of people turn up to the PCYC on Friday night ... then I woke up. No-one extra. I think there were 4 of us - L1C, myself a Saturday afternoon regular and one other. I think I beat L1C 2-1 this time.

Saturday afternoon I was late to the community centre. Fortunately the other person with the key turned up for the first time in months to open up. We had 6 all up turn up.

Sunday afternoon - hope springs eternal - L1C, myself and a regular turn up. I beat L1C x-0. After the L1C & the regular left a mother with 2 children turned up and may turn up next week with her husband as well.



Monday night we played pennant away.

First up I played AC who I vaguely remembered from BM (before marriage) and beat him 3-1. He had inverted forehand with pimples back hand which he was still trying to get used to. I was able to make him play quite a few off his pimples and into the net with my back spin.

Then AF & I played AL & ??. AF & I had just played singles, while AL & ?? had not, and it showed. ?? could not handle my service returns at all. We took the 1st 2 games very easily and the third being back to the original order was comfortable as well.

Next I played GB who claimed to have also played me in a rep match also BM, but I didn't remember. He played every single shot as a back hand, and I mean every single shot, so I thought that I would have recalled playing him. I did not see him play a forehand all night. Anyway, we were both dreading the encounter, and I pitied the poor fool who had lucked out to be umpire for the match. I won the first game 11-5?, lost the 2nd, won the 3rd, lost the 4th. In the 5th we were 9-9 and my serve. Yet another fault for 9-10. I managed to get the next point for 10-10, then lost the game and match. We both played a similar type of game with lots of tricky spins, and MD commented to me after the game that we both tended to place our balls very long on the table, he was amazed at how long.

Finally (for me) MD & I played AC and ?? (same guy) and won reasonably easily through much of the same ways as the earlier doubles.

The night ended with us winning 6-3, me losing 1, AF losing 1 (also to GB), and AF & MD losing the final doubles.

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Retriever (sometimes golden, but often leaden)
Moderator, Inverted Retriever Technique sub-forum - http://ooakforum.com/viewforum.php?f=74

Last Thursday night we were supposed to play pennant at home. After 30 minutes and no opposition I rang the club contact for the opposing team as I knew the captain was away at the Australian Vets tournament. In the meantime our club secretary rang one of the team members he knew and so was that team member. Another team member rang me back and explained that they thought that they had a bye that week. I offered next Thursday as a deferred match, and repeated that offer in an email to their captain. He got back to me and OKed that and said he thought that was when the match was anyway. I played JC and lost horribly, then JC & I played AF & MD and lost that as well.

Friday night I gave my excuses to L1C in a text so no PCYC.

Saturday afternoon was relatively popular at the community centre - we covered the rent, yay.

Sunday afternoon I turned up late to the PCYC, and L1C then left as he had the 'flu'. I hit with A? and chatted about life, the universe and everything.

Last night turned up at the club and was stuck playing doubles with lower grade players for the most part. Then had a few games with MD who had new rubbers and was lethal. I lost all but only got over 5 in one. I then had a while hitting with J? a relatively new player and so I explained spin, some tactics, serving etc while countering & counter pushing.

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Retriever (sometimes golden, but often leaden)
Moderator, Inverted Retriever Technique sub-forum - http://ooakforum.com/viewforum.php?f=74

Skipped a week again - real life (tm) intrudes - issues with prodigal son necessitating evicting him from the family home + an AVO.

Thursday a week ago played the deferred match. I played CY who was just back from the Australian Vets and lost 1-3. Then I played LY who I took the first 2 off, didn't get over the line in the 3rd, lost the 4th easily and lost the 5th in deuce. We lost the night overall 3-6.

Friday night a week ago begged off the PCYC. Saturday afternoon a week ago at the community centre was quiet. Sunday a week ago at the PCYC was also quiet with no L1C. Monday night at the club I lost all competitive encounters.

Last Thursday in comp we were playing away and I scheduled myself not to play because of the issue in the first paragraph. Our 3rd player for the night could only turn up an hour late, but that was OK and we won 6-3.

Friday night begged off the PCYC again.

Saturday afternoon at the community centre was quiet though better than the previous week. A high schooler went over on his ankle so after RICE treatment we all packed up and went home early.

Sunday afternoon at the PCYC was also quiet, but then a couple of young Korean kids came. They are both quite young, and the boy has a habit of putting his free hand on the table while playing and his younger sister was almost cuteness personified. Then at pack up time an older gentleman turned up wanting hints on how to play against spin. I gave him some, and we had a brief hit which made me late home.

Monday night at the club I played better, losing one and winning one against comp team mates, and organised both team and venue for our last comp night of the season on Thursday unless we make the finals. Just looked - we are coming 5th and at best could come 4th and at worst come 7th (if the current competition table is accurate ). There is an extended finals for this comp with the top 6 included.

I have been looking for if and when the Bennelong Cup will be on again but have found nothing that is what I call definitive.

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Retriever (sometimes golden, but often leaden)
Moderator, Inverted Retriever Technique sub-forum - http://ooakforum.com/viewforum.php?f=74