OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Hi Ben, it's only now that I realized that we actually met at BTTC; I don't remember whether we hit or not. I wasn't using SP at that time; I think neither were you or maybe I just wasn't paying attention.
Are you planning on visiting BTTC any time soon? the Dec tournament, perhaps? Would be great to hit with you and learn a couple of SP tricks... that is, if you don't mind

I would love that. I'm stuck in DC at least into January. But when I finally get back to the sunshine state I'll be playing at Broward as much as I can. I'll PM you next time I can get down there.

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

Yoko Ono

Oh, he says a lot worse stuff than that. He gets so angry over nets and edges it feels borderline physically threatening. This is independent of how many lucky balls he got himself. Anger management issues.

That doesn't bother me. Like I said, I asked him to play. What upset me was my failing to convert enough opportunities to completely send him over the edge to where he would lose it and not be able to play any more. That's always my goal when an opponent gets upset. So getting upset at myself was a major fail on my part.

I made some in-game and between match adjustments (we played twice and he won 3-1 both times). Very quickly I flipped my short-long serve ratio from 80:20 to 20:80. He's a defender, so why expose myself to funky lp returns over the table. Then between matches I decided I should play mostly down the middle. He is tall with good reach, and playing wide wasn't helping me. But I couldn't solve the problem of not seeing the spin.

I rarely make playing conditions an excuse. But there are three choppers in this area at my level, whom I have played multiple times in different venues. At a Saturday daytime club in Virginia that seems well-lit to me my combined record vs them is 6 - 0. At two other clubs with darker conditions (and weeknights), my match record is 1 - 9. So either I suck vs chop at night after work, or I need blazingly bright lighting to have a chance. Either way choppers have long been my favorite style to play against. They are so rare now. And I like the challenge they apply to my movement, spin awareness, and decision-making. After losing twice to Mr. Anger Management I played the next four matches really well.

My new favorite style to play against is one-sided jpen. If choppers are rare, fh-only jpen is non-existent. I played one lots of times in Portugal (Miguel, a great guy), and then an older asian guy last night. What I love about jpen players is they absolutely punish any lousy softballs. If I put back a low-quality ball anywhere on the table I might as well turn around now and start walking to the barriers. Excellent discipline for trying to win every point, and not just hoping he will miss.

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

Yoko Ono

Have you tried the orange DHS ball? I've been using it in some situations where a white ball(or grey as they can get) is a little tricky.

Quite the woooosh moment for you eh?

BRS- "All he can do is chop".

Is it generally true that BH footwork is more difficult and error-prone than FH footwork? I feel like on the FH wing if am not positioned perfectly, I can adjust my arm and make a shot with reasonable quality and rotation. While on the BH side if I am not right in front of the ball, I am in trouble. It is possible to make a microadjustment, but it requires almost acrobatic dexterity.

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Tactics Enthusiast

No, I haven't even seen an orange dhs 3* in person. But I use the white dhs at home, so I should order some orange ones. There were some posts about bad quality on the earæy orange batches and it kind of put me off. But maybe those are over now.

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

Yoko Ono

Yep, it's all true. Forehand is much more versatile against a variety of balls. Backhand requires better position. PTTP06 will kind of be about this topic.

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I've got recently a pack and can't tell the difference between orange an white ones (besides the color, of course).

People are somewhat reluctant to hit with them in a club, because none of the tournaments use them yet. They are awesome if you are playing next to training area, however - never have to look hard for your ball again.

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USATT: 1807 | League: 1887

I recorded some loop v loop from a distance. If you look at the logo on the front of my shirt, it's coming up and around (just slightly up), so it's different than a counterloop when the opponent opens off a push.

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ttEDGE.com Professional online coaching

ETTS53 is really REALLY good. I see my own mistakes in it. I also see my successful shots.

It's also remarkably difficult to do this shot in competition, at least for me right now.

Against a ball where I have a little time yes I can do it and yes it's pretty awesome with the cracking sound even (a great way to identify if I did it well).

I'm often out of position or out of time. If I was a better player I would be in position more often, I suppose. There is probably a huge lack of anticipation on the backhand side for me which leads to leaning and awkward sidespin shots.

My general rule of thumb: If I get my backhand in strong, I'm going to pivot (I'm just going to assume my shot was good enough to get a block response). No need to do more than 1 of those backhands. This is probably because I just do not trust myself hitting consecutive strong backhands in a row.

I was thinking about the backhand a little bit. Previously I was trying to play backhand using the logic of LL Beary's forehand: the body propels the body back on the back swing, and then forward on forward swing. If I apply the same thing to backhand, than it makes sense to push the shoulder back and down as it follows the body back and down. To create the "arm structure" and keep the elbow forward I have to actively resist the body movement with my shoulder, which is a bit unnatural.

It is easy to make a teddy bear play a very good forehand topspin. Now try to imagine it playing a backhand...

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Tactics Enthusiast

Were you talking about the USA here? You don't have to answer.

I doubt USA can be called "an emerging table tennis powerhouse"