OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Thank Lorre. I know, and I told my teammates the same thing - only way is up .
Good newa is that we have a new member in my club, the little brother of tall blond Adam that I played in the vid above. But this new one is only 13 but in top 10 in Sweden for his age. He plays fast and hits hard without much spin. Here he is:
http://www.sportwire.se/stockholm/stock ... ept-2013-0
He is the one in red (different father ). He practices about 4 hrs 4-5 days every week and plays competitions and league on weekends. He has been to China and Japan for extensive training during summer holidays. In a year or so he will beat his big brother And he will hopefully make me a better player
Now, about the Victas stuff... I wrote a few lines over at Inverted and Blades, but to be honest I really can't say that much. I have about an hour of playing but when both blade and ruber is new it is very difficult.
But I do know that with this setup, chopping and fishing, in comparision to my current Joo-setup, feels very controlled. Like in The Matrix, when Neo can control the matrix and the agents seems to move in slow motion and he can pick the bullets from the air... That is what it feels like, like you can't miss a shot... I'll get back on that.

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New setup

Yesterday I used a new setup for a whole session for the first time (1,5 hrs). I have used that blade for some 30 min before but after my horrible performance at my local league match I felt I really needed to do something radical. It felt a little odd...

The blade is defentively slower than Joo Se Hyuk, and it has a lot more flex. This causes troubles for me now in the beginning. Some chops nevere reaches the net, some goes long. Attacking with BH inverted side is also a little difficult since the throw is a lot higher than my previous setup. But this is just about adjustments. Same thing with FH, the blade is slow on low impact and quite fast when I hit hard. Sometimes when fishing from FH side, guiding smashes and fast loops back to the table, I don't reach the table, sometimes they go long. Countering is more predictable but since the throw is higher than I am used to, I place many loops and counters high and long. Again, adjustment is needed.
The sound of this blade is so different from Joo... darker sound

For the moment I use Dawei 388D with a japanese BLutenkirhe sponge, I think 0,8 mm. I might change this later but for now it works. It is soooo much easier than DTecS . At least for attacking. But it is also a little more easy for opponent to read (but only a little). But it feels great to get back to Dawei avter DTecS. The grip of Dawei is perfectly balanced, just enough grip to impart some back spin at serves and pushes over the table and for even for attacking, but still it continues spin good enough for wobbles and other fun strokes. I still need to get used to it since I have been using DTecS for 4 months now.

The FH rubber Victas VS>401 is a different story. I am not sure about this. It is heavy and today, 12 hrs after the session, my wrist and shoulder can feel that... Control is good with this rubber but I failed to generate lots of spin with FH serve and pushing back no spin serves. I need a tacky rubber for this I think. Or I just need to get used to it. Looping works fine, even counters, but I need to close bat more. Same with blocks. Pushes is where it shines, here you have great control and I think I can do my pushes much better, I just need to dare to push harder. Chopping away from the table is sooo much easier with this setup than with my previous. It is almost as easy as with the pip side .

Well... I need a few more hrs of practice before I can tell you if my game will beenfit from this change, but for now it is at least more fun to play, since I have much more control and still can blast away fast loops and counters.

Please feel free to comment or ask about this new setup. After a few more sessions I might post a little more in these two threads:
viewtopic.php?f=43&t=19700
viewtopic.php?f=44&t=21009

Here is the last match of the evening. I had a little pain in my left knee and in my right leg, so my mobility was a little worse than normal. Also I made many easy misstakes because I was tired (slept bad) and because of the new blade that is a little different in balance (I hit the edge of the blade a few times). It still feels very promising

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I think the Victas rubber is more suited for a harder blade like the Joo. The Joo matches with perfectly with Chinese rubbers, so I think it might be good for the Victas. You might want to consider a tensor for the Matsu blade: a hard one. I think that would go well together. Or a hybrid Chinese one. Definitely hard sponge.

Is the Victas rubber grippy or tacky, DA? And how does it feel: like a tensor/hybrid or an "ordinary Chinese rubber?

Victas feels similar to Thors but not tacky and perhaps with a thicker rubber layer. Soft top sheet and hard sponge just like Thors but more japanese top sheet. Very grippy but can't lift the ball but plastic sheet stays on. It might be more tacky later, like DHS Neo Skyline 3.
I want to break it in properly before trying other rubber. First thing to try is Thors, then maybe H3 Neo or Skyline 3 Neo.
I need to change my looping from smashlooping to more arc-looping. I need a very grippy rubber for this.
By the way, Victas is more easy to loop agsinst back spin than Thors /)

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I think there is nothing Chinese about the Victas rubbers. It's a full Japanese brand with a high tension technology (tensor-like, but not ESN).

About rubber-blade match, this is mostly a subjective matter. I have a soft sponged and fast Stiga Calibra Sound on my VKM and I like it, although I must admit that I would like to trade some speed for some extra spin/grip. I tried a hard & tacky Apollo III on JSH blade and didn't like it.

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I only read the advertising and they stated the sponge was quite hard in addition to being tacky. That's why I made an analogy with Chinese rubbers.

Isn't soft sponge with soft, flexible wood too mushy?

Agrred, and Thors isn't that Chinese either. Well, German sponnge and Chinese topsheet, but the topsheet doesn't feel very chinese apart from being tacky, it is softer and thinner than H3 for instance.
And I agree that matching blade with rubber is very subjective. No one can help you here

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I don't think Calibra LTs can be called mushy on any blade. It will always be quite lively and fast with a strong glue effect. Besides VKM is not extremely soft, nor flexible. It's Limba-softish and has a good feel with some little vibrations at harder impact. What I do notice with LT Sound's soft 1.8 sponge is the tendency to feel the wood when powerlooping or hitting, giving a hard (woody) impression and an even louder sound than it usually gives. That should be better with harder sponges.

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Inclined to agree. Must be the hard top sheet? Calibra Tour S feels disgusting on any soft blade, in my opinion.

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[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)

Now I have decided. This is my setup: Victas Koji Matsushita | FH: Victas VS>401 2,0 mm | BH: Dawei 388D 0,8 mm
I trained one session more Saturday and then played a League match Sunday. Works fine. I already plays as good as with my previous setup (after only a few sessions with new blade and new FH rubber). It is much due to the LP - Dawei 388 D. I have Always loved that LP, the perfect balance between spin reversal and grip for me, but it was a tad too fast on Joo for me. With VKM it works sooo nice, I just need to get used to the blade and higher throw. FH works very nice also, I only have a Little problem with slow spinny loops, when the ball diggs into the soft top sheet it is a Little difficult to keep it on the table. I need to be more Active on those strokes. But that is OK. I see a lot of potential with his setup

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A few more sessions, a league match and a competition later everythin feels great about this setup. Well, not everything - I have a little pain in my right wrist after playing. I gave had it before but it got back when I changed blade. I need to strengthen my muscles there in some way.
Besides from that I love this setup. It has changed my game a little. I value the balls more careful now, I feel more confident in waiting for the right opportunity to attack. I still struggle with some strokes though, like fishing (I need to ve more active on slow spinny loops) and chopping (they can be a little high or a little too short or just too easy to kill. I am thinking about changing to a slightly thicker sponge but I am not sure. I don't want it heavier.
On Monday next league match is comming up, against our league's best team (by far). I played them in august. One of the player did a few matches in Sweden's second highest league last season (Superettan). He is ranked around #300 in Sweden. He beat me in three straight last time (I got like 5 points in each set). Whish me good luck

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Def-attack's attempts to find balance between defence/attack | Getting better - health and game |
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Good luck! Break a leg (not literally)!

Thanks. Hopefully I'll be able to record the match.

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Def-attack's attempts to find balance between defence/attack | Getting better - health and game |
My Youtube

So "break a leg" is not just an expression in english?

I would love to see a video of you playing Superettan.

Haha.... I won't be playing in the league Superettan . He (my possible opponent) used to do that (but he lost all 7 singles) but he palyed more mathes in division 2 and but now he has changed back to his native club (Erik Lind's native club also I believe) and plays in my team's league, division 4 (6th highest league).

His ranking point is 1947
My ranking point is 1268
The best player in my club has 1752 points
Fabian Åkerström has 2544
JO Waldner has 2519
Mikael Appelgren has 2332
Most player in league Superettan has ranking points above 2000. I am amog the lowest ranked player in my league

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Def-attack's attempts to find balance between defence/attack | Getting better - health and game |
My Youtube