OOAK Table Tennis Forum

I want to get your opinion/experience/strategy when you play against club mates in tournaments. There are times you cannot avoid them during tournaments.

Since it is normal to play and be familiar with your club mates during practice games, how do you deal with them during tournaments? How do you ensure a win if you are the top dog? How about if you are the under dog?

Do you let them win during practice games and blast them without mercy during tournament?

_________________
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.

The advantage : you know how they play , disadvantage: they know how u play.

Be a more complete player day by day, dun think of overcoming a player based on their style alone. SO that no matter who comes you will have a chance against them

Tough question.

I've lost TT buddies to this sort of situation. My general rule is...don't play matches close to a upcoming tourney with people who you will likely face. If that's unavoidable, perhaps just play 1 serve and drill something in the game.

Multiball, drills, play points with rules like short serve only.

In the end your mates at the club will know your game to some degree but probably best not to remind them about how you don't like the long push to your backhand after that one serve just before an event.

The reason I asked this is because its working against my advantage.

It is taking me more effort to beat them, although I still come out winning.

What I try to do is play against their strength during practice. My serve is simple and no variation. However, they can anticipate my attack during tournament thus, I have to work harder...

_________________
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.

see like in this case, you know one of your weakness in this game, like serve variation. Maybe take a 30 mins to train serve every day ( i do this last time when trying to master the pendulum serve) add some sidespin, short , long , no spin serve. if u practice your serve, it will show in game later on ( hide it in your club not useing the serve, only use it during tournament would help)

Thanks for the advice kim.. I will try to work it out

_________________
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.

It's a bit different for attacking players but as a chopper I work hard to have a couple of different styles at my disposal. All out chopping, modern defense, all out forehand offense with little to no backhand, etc. It's actually more beneficial to play someone you know very well because you don't have to spend your game 1 on discovery.

I would also not start with my usual game if I were to play my good friend. I would change things just a bit from the get go, i.e., serve down the line vs cross-court, start with no spin vs a more traditional pendulum. These little things will cause a lot of discomfort for your opponent even if he/she knows you very well.