OOAK Table Tennis Forum

I know a good trick to finish the EJ virus once and for all. Just wear an electric collar and everytime you're doing the act of EJing, you just press a button and get an electric shock.

If you like hard blades for defense, why do you not try the Joo then?

Shock collar! That may work...maybe. I've never tried the Joo Blade...harder..but isn't it much faster? Literally after my post, I went to my lesson tonight and my coach scolded me for dumping the 755! Haha, I can't win! (you can see my question about 755 in the LP section as a result). My coach, who uses P-1R, was upset that I dumped the 755 as he said I was twice as effective with it.

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Blog: "Holy Chtchet!" ⇝

Projects: Player Equipment Grid ⇝ Comprehensive Thin Inverted Chopping Rubbers Grid ⇝ Please send me corrections or new submissions

It is faster than the Defplay, I suppose (I never tried the Defplay). I see you're using the Aurora? Doesn"t that have a slower and softer BH side?

You dumped the 755 for... P1-R?

Joo is a lot faster, harder and stiffer than Defplay. And also Defplay and Aurora have really nothing in common. Joo is a lot heavier than Aurora. Aurora has quite a thick balsa core and feels very stiff and odd, with FH side faster than BH side... but if you're used to it, other blades will seem odd, I guess.. I didn't like Aurora for chopping, nor for looping (two strengths of Joo). Blocking with OX was quite good with Aurora though...

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Initially, I was getting down on myself for EJ'ing as it was throwing off my game. You may recall, you asked me earlier why I had changed from a winning setup...the logic was sound.

I adopted the 755 as a hitting experiment, initially putting it on the Aurora, and then on the defplay. It's a very all-around pip on the Defplay, still hits good. But much to my surprise it was very controlled for chopping, and better close to the table than the P-1R, IMO. I really didn't feel like I lost much in terms of backspin generation, if anything at all.

Could be my particular stroke, but I rip underspin chops and manipulate spin better using the 755. (according to my coach). Personally, I didn't notice much difference other than the 755 chops stayed lower and tended to have a very floaty quality. When my opponents push those chops they often misjudged the underspin and put them in to the net.

I have to give it more time, and trust my coach. It's just so hard because everything you read says P-1R is the way to go for chopping. Tomorrow I have another lesson and some league play at the DC club. We'll see how that goes. There I'll most likely face the guy I beat last week that I hadn't beaten once with P-1R... hopefully my coach is right and my recent successes won't be an anomaly. I'll report back tomorrow.

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Blog: "Holy Chtchet!" ⇝

Projects: Player Equipment Grid ⇝ Comprehensive Thin Inverted Chopping Rubbers Grid ⇝ Please send me corrections or new submissions

Are you sure you and your coach are not targeting a different style? He might go for an allround style, while you want to become a chopper.That might explain his scolding.

No, he was very specific in talking about my chops. Nothing else.

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Blog: "Holy Chtchet!" ⇝

Projects: Player Equipment Grid ⇝ Comprehensive Thin Inverted Chopping Rubbers Grid ⇝ Please send me corrections or new submissions

Get us some videos, we'll help you out

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My blog: "Learning to play: as a modern defender": http://ooakforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=58&t=22254
My YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtazeX ... oICGS9bqNg
Join the OOAK Discord!: https://discord.gg/Yw2hYUdz3g

[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)

Good idea. Getting the camera isn't difficult, it's propping it up that's the hard part. I actually ordered a holder for the smartphone that will connect my phone to a tripod, but now I've lost the tripod. I'll get one up ASAP.

As the highest level chopper in the region, my coach is doing a great job with my stroke as well, but any input and help is welcome.

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Blog: "Holy Chtchet!" ⇝

Projects: Player Equipment Grid ⇝ Comprehensive Thin Inverted Chopping Rubbers Grid ⇝ Please send me corrections or new submissions

Last night we had a decent session. I've mentioned this on other posts, so it will be a bit repetitive. One thing I got from last night's session regarding the 755 is that it is much more spin sensitive to sidespin loops, and requires greater adjustment than the P-1R. I had primarily used it against guys who play straight topsin or mild sidespin/top. Against this particular guy (about 1800) I had to really change my target in order to get the ball on the table where I wanted it. Surprised by this, I quickly grabbed the p-1r blade (also a Defplay) and chopped for comparison's sake. P-1R handles sidespin loops much better. Surprisingly better, considering that it is considered a grippy LP as well.

As a group, we took turns feeding multi-ball and then played some matches. I am trying to really develop my loop vs. no-spin. I'm much more consistent against topspin (as everyone is) and even decently consistent against underspin. I had them feed me soft no-spin and lobbing no-spin. It is clear that this is a weakness of my using the inverted rubber. With my LPs, I have no problems with this, given that it is high enough otherwise all I can do is push the ball and concentrate on placement.

I played against a 2-winged Looper from Nigeria, very nice gentleman. Lost the first game, won the next 3. He was 1800. I am nowhere near that level, but took the match and was very happy about it. Then, I lost to another one of those soft lobbing LP players who was around 1200. It's so frustrating to go from a win against a higher level player (relative to me) and then lose to a lower level one.

I then played the LP player again, asking him to hit with me because I have trouble with this style, and he generously agreed. I played it safe, only attacking balls that were higher than the net with my LP. I won in 5 games all games close. This is a huge hole in my game that i will need to continue to work on. Chopping almost never happens against these players. And if I do chop, my coach yells at me for defending against soft "easy" balls. UGH.

Last game of the night came against a SP player, a gal from Japan around 1600. She beat me by only flat hitting to my backhand. I tried to avoid her backhand SP, but her footwork was too good. I won only one game.

Overall, I was happy about the experience and training I got tonight. Always a learning experience.
As stated above, I'll try to get some video of myself chopping with a partner for you to critique. I'll see about getting a tripod today.

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Blog: "Holy Chtchet!" ⇝

Projects: Player Equipment Grid ⇝ Comprehensive Thin Inverted Chopping Rubbers Grid ⇝ Please send me corrections or new submissions

wonderful threads, Japsican

Something wondering me, you switch back and forth between

Hallmark Aurora, supposedly a slow and hard blocker blade, and

Donic Defplay Senso, supposedly a slow and soft chopper blade, and

You do chop and block on both?

Okay, that do amaze me. I dont think I can do that consistenly, they shall feel too different.

Bego, thanks for the kind words.

To answer your question, I started with LPs on the Hallmark Aurora. I started off pursuing a push-blocking style, but ended up finding myself naturally drawn towards chopping away from the table. I had success chopping with the Aurora, and then the chopper bug hit me, so I decided to try my hand at that.

I found a coach who is a chopper, and moved over to the Defplay, a more proper chopping blade. However, recently I discovered I could hit fairly effectively with the LP. It was such a success, I decided to experiment with a hitting setup, so I put a sheet of 755 on the hallmark to get a feel for it. So now I'm back to the Defplay, but with the 755. This a nice combination, however I think I need a stiffer chopping blade (Something 1/2 way between the defplay and the aurora). I'm considering the Matsushita Pro, Offensive, or the BTY JSH. I'm leaning toward the latter, but am a little concerned with the speed. I'm also thinking about 0.6mm sponge on the 755, so we'll see. (Incidentally, the FL handled Defplay is far less flexible than the ST handled version).

I'm finding that I'm primarily a chopper, but when I don't get the opportunity to do so I tend to hit more, so I need an decent all-around setup.

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Blog: "Holy Chtchet!" ⇝

Projects: Player Equipment Grid ⇝ Comprehensive Thin Inverted Chopping Rubbers Grid ⇝ Please send me corrections or new submissions

You don't need anything, Japsican, other than something you truly enjoy playing with. Just stick with what you have for all its limitations for at least 3 months, whether it is too fast or too slow etc. You will be surprised at how sticking with one setup for a period of time enables you to learn a lot about the equipment and your strokes. You will see that you underestimate equipment and yourself when you change so often - you underestimate your ability to adapt to the equipment and sometimes, you underestimate the ability of the equipment to produce the shots that you desire. Changing equipment more frequently than 3 months, especially complete setups, causes problems. Would be a slightly different still not ideal story if you at least kept the blade or the rubbers constant. In my experience, if someone who is training sticks to a blade/rubber for more than 3 months, it is often the beginning of rapid improvement for that period of time, after which they often change and ruin the learning curve... but at least, at that point, they have developed a thorough understanding that is so deep that they can usually tell what the impact of the change is and most of them don't change as quickly anymore.

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"We don't rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our training" - Archilochus

Next level, you are absolutely correct. And guess what, I am going to do just that. See my next post for my new plan...no more EJ'ing.

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Blog: "Holy Chtchet!" ⇝

Projects: Player Equipment Grid ⇝ Comprehensive Thin Inverted Chopping Rubbers Grid ⇝ Please send me corrections or new submissions

NEW GOAL: NO MORE EJ'ING (For a year)

This is it! I am embarking on a new journey! (See below)

The final purchase
As of last Wednesday (3/4/2015) I have slapped on my latest EJing purchase: the 755 in 0.6mm. I played it that night, and had great results with it. Much more manageable at the table than the 1.0mm, and chops are still great. It also hits as well as the 1.0mm. Counter topspin requires a slight angle change as expected, but the ball is just as effective. I think both the short game and long distance chopping will be much more consistent with this sponge size.

Chopping felt improved as it handled side-top loops much more effectively, so I didn't have to aim my chops 2-4 feet to the left of my intended target. And the spin generation was about the same, but the chops with the 0.6mm had more underspin, probably because I was able to more liberally execute a fully confident chop. I think a little more reversal was afforded, kinda felt more similar to P-1R in 1.0mm.

The Plan
I am going to initiate a new plan. I am going to put into practice the wisdom so many folks have given me on this board. Leatherback, NextLevel, Bogey, and others have imparted this wisdom to me, and while I logically understood it, I gave it more lip-service than anything else. I actually have stuck with a setup for 3 months (Aurora, Talon, Vega Europe) and that was the biggest jump I had in performance. And while I am glad I have tried a few different rubbers and blades, I think I am ready to go to the next level and stick with my current setup in order to improve. How long? I'm thinking, for better or worse, this needs to be for 1 year.

I will run a countdown for where I am in the year, and continue to blog and comment about my progress:
http://www.timeanddate.com/countdown/to ... sz=1&swk=1

My Setup for the Next 365 days.
Blade: DefPlay Senso ST, RITC 755 0.6mm (red), and Vega Europe 2.0 (Black).




I, Japsican, vow (for better or worse) to stick with one setup for the next year. From this point on in the blog I will write about my experience of table tennis as a non-EJer and stick to the philosophy of "stabilizing my equipment, so I can stabilize my game." Naturally I will continue to chart any progress/set backs I may have along the way.

Wish me luck! I'm going to need it.

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Blog: "Holy Chtchet!" ⇝

Projects: Player Equipment Grid ⇝ Comprehensive Thin Inverted Chopping Rubbers Grid ⇝ Please send me corrections or new submissions