OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Lord Cope,

You gunna fly to Boston to see pgpg and inverted 2000 chopper Leonid??? I can fly over for a hit going on almost 10 yrs since we last hit... I got a place there and if airfare is reasonable, I can make it over there if I help out enough TT friends.

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Definitely want to make a trip stateside this year. Haven't been to Boston since we last met. Pgpg has been to London, so I've seen him, but would be great to meet up and have a hit. I've got to plan my travel this year, so if there are any conferences in the area, I can work something out. I'll be in NYC at some point this year, but would be nice to take a week to pootle up the east coast - have a friend in Rhode Island I owe a visit to too!

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Woodnut Dead Slow | DHS 651 | Spinlord Dornenglanz
Check out my blog - LordCope's Latest Learning Log - soon entering its 10th year!

So on Wednesday I decided to take steps about blade anxiety. I checked with another friend of mine who uses the same blade and asked if he had had similar issues - he said he had, both finding the blade a bit easy to damage, and not having a very consistent performance between blades bought.

Another thread on the forum reminded me of the Woodnut blades sold by Custom Table Tennis, so I gave them a call. The owner there also plays with SP/LP and has a similar game to me. He also used to use the DDS, but stopped for the same reasons as me.

He recommended the "Dead Slow" blade, and offered to send me one to try. It arrived on Friday - I liked how it felt, and the handle is very much like the Defence Alpha - chunky and straight and rectangular. I put the rubbers on on Friday and went to practice last night, and used it. I was very very impressed - had excellent feeling and control and was very comfortable to use.

I played a league match with it this evening, and again it was excellent. So decision made - I've ordered a second one, which I'm confident will be near as possible to identical.

I'm going to put the C8 / C&F3 experimentation on hold until the summer.

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Woodnut Dead Slow | DHS 651 | Spinlord Dornenglanz
Check out my blog - LordCope's Latest Learning Log - soon entering its 10th year!

First premier match of the year for me tonight - a rematch against DP, PG, NL. I went into the match feeling confident, and with some tactical ideas against NL.

First match vs PG I won 3-0. I didn't get off to a good start and had to come back from 10-8 down to win the first, but won the next two quite comfortably.

Against NL my tactic was to go for third ball attack, and to attack whenever possible. This was largely effective, but for three things. The way the venue is set up, when there are four matches, the non-playing people sit along one side, and on one end I find I have very little room to play a FH attack from the BH corner, which is my bread and butter. The result of this is that I needed to play more passively on that side, which NL has no problem with. Add in another night where all the luck went his way, and I just didn't quite get there. Lost 3-2, but a good scrap, and I feel like he's beatable. I think I need to have more confidence to attack with BH twiddle when in a space-constrained venue.

I lost 3-0 to DP. The first I just didn't get into the game and lost 11-3. I made a lot of mistakes against his BH anti, missed a couple of serves, and suddenly it was over. I played much better in the second, and was 10-8 up, but he got the finest of edges to go 10-9 and then a net for 10-10, and finally won that onr 15-13. The third was close - 11-9 to him. I don't have the right tactics yet, and he is playing very well - great attacking shots and some good controlled use of the anti - a deserved win for him, but I did feel a bit disappointed.

I played well in the doubles, and we over-turned a 2-0 defecit, and won 3-2. But we lost the match 7-3, so slip down from 2nd.

It was a very good natured match, and some great rallies. I was pleased with my mental approach in general - a few squeaks of frustration when critical shots missed by milimetres, but generally fine.

I have two tournaments at the weekend - a seniors on saturday and a veterans on sunday - looking forward to it!

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Woodnut Dead Slow | DHS 651 | Spinlord Dornenglanz
Check out my blog - LordCope's Latest Learning Log - soon entering its 10th year!

Hi LC,

Could you provide some insight on the Woodnut blade you're using? I can't find much about it. What are the characteristics like dampening, flex, spin reversal, etc. Particularly interested since I often use SP/LP. Thanks!

Regards,
Joe

I guess it depends if we mean the same thing by these words, and can agree on a meaningful way to compare them, but I'll try!

The blade is pretty slow - not the slowest I have ever used, but I think it does feel like it has a braking effect if I play a cushioning, shot on the BH.

Not sure about flex - I play with max sponge 651, and it doesn't feel "bendy" if I hit a hard shot, but nor does it feel particularly stiff. I'd say just "average".

Compared to the faster blades I used to use, it has a lot less spin reversal, but I optimise for control and placement over reversal. That said a good chop-block or side-swipe does result in a difficult ball for the opponent.

I would say my general impression is that it is exactly what it claims - it's very very controlled. It has a reassuring feel in the hand, and while it's not very fast or penetrative, what I lose in speed I gain in the ability to place the ball where I want with a high degree of confidence.

Increasingly my style of play is around putting the ball in the most difficult place possible, and avoiding mistakes, so it's perfect for me. Where I would struggle with this blade would be against a very skilled lobber who can get the ball back reliably against a flat hit. In such a case I again go for placement, or a twiddle and hit with LP to cause a variation and possibly induce an error. But I don't often play such people, so it's a very good fit for me at the moment.

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Woodnut Dead Slow | DHS 651 | Spinlord Dornenglanz
Check out my blog - LordCope's Latest Learning Log - soon entering its 10th year!

Update on the last week:

I played in two tournaments over the weekend, had a 1:1 on Monday, and league matches on Wednesday and Thursday.

Tournament one I pretty much performed as expected. In the first group stage I came 4/5, in line with ranking. Lost 3/2 to the person closest above me, and beat the lowest ranked player 3-2. Lost 3-1 to the second-best, and 3-0 to the best. Generally played pretty well, and enjoyed myself. The next stage was groups of 3 made from the bottom 3 in each group of 5 - so I played someone who finished 3rd and someone who finished 5th. I beat the weaker player easily, and was well beaten by the better player.

Tournament two I played a bit better than my ranking - one max win and another win against someone a bit higher rated. One expected win, and three losses to the top three players. One loss to someone with no ranking points, but clearly a very good local league player, who, looking at his results, should be a bit above me on paper, so not too bad.

Mentality was pretty good all weekend. I felt a bit frustrated for a couple of points against the unranked good player, and I was pretty disappointed in the result - I felt like I played badly. But I didn't make any kind of fuss, and after a bit of reflection, I think I was just getting tired, and he is a genuinely decent player.

1:1 on Monday was really tough. I was stiff and tired and made a lot of mistakes. Session was 100% multiball, which was a bit gruelling, but was good quality table time. Stuck around and played some top table afterwards, with my top 150 friend, a couple of players of similar level to me (one of whom I played with for a few season), and one a bit stronger than me. Lost 2/2 vs strongest, got 2/4 vs the stronger, and 2/2 vs one of the similar and 0/2 vs the other. Worthwhile session, but was very tired after.

Wednesday night was also tough. I decided not to play on Tuesday, and I was feeling really sluggish and wasn't moving well at all, and motivation was low. Opposition were one of the two best teams in the league, but still not very challenging, and I won 3-0 3-0 3-0, and the team won 10-0. On reflection was happy not to lose a set, and we remain top of the league, unbeaten.

Thursday played in the premier again, vs GM (again), IW (again) and DM (first time in years).

Beat IW comfortably 3-0. Tactics worked again. Serve short to fh or middle, and play into his BH (he's left-handed). His FH attack is much stronger. I never felt in danger.

Haven't played DM for a long time. He has been coached by my coach for many years, and played in the same team that TH and I plaeyd in for a few years. When he plays well he's a solid upper half of the top local league, but he lacks consistency. I beat him 3-0 - again, not really threatened, and I defended well.

Beat GM 3-0 as well - again, good tactics. Her FH hit is excellent, but her BH attack is not threatening, and she's not fast enough to move and play a strong FH from BH, so playing into her BH nullifies her.

CC and I won the doubles, and we won the match 9-1. We're still in 3rd... 2nd not out of reach, but I can't see us knocking the top team off their perch.

A good week, and looking forward to practice tomorrow.

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Woodnut Dead Slow | DHS 651 | Spinlord Dornenglanz
Check out my blog - LordCope's Latest Learning Log - soon entering its 10th year!