OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Yeah, that's my plan for now, find a happy medium and use a lot of variation.

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Have you tried DG with a thin sponge? That might help (they sell 0,4 mm BLutenKirche at eacheng).

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Def-attack's attempts to find balance between defence/attack | Getting better - health and game |
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I haven't tried that, no. However, I've tried a lot of other LP's with thin sponge and for playing close to the table I definitely prefer OX. I've never really felt that I've gained anything by adding a thin sponge, except for pure chopping, but for me that doesn't weigh up the losses at the table and the feeling in the blade. I like Dornenglanz so I'll probably continue with that, going back to D.Tecs is an option as well. I think I'll give them both a run at the next session, both on Defplays and then I take it from there.

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Had a practice session yesterday and tried a few different setups to get a feel of what will suit me best now. Dornenglanz definitely worked best, compared to D.Tecs and Hellfire, so I'll be continuing with that. I tried it both on my Defplay and on my Persson Powerplay though and the results where a bit surprising, the Powerplay actually worked better for my BH while the Defplay worked better for my FH. The reason I'm so much in love with Defplay is because of how it performs on the FH side, I've always loved the feeling and the control, and because of the flex it got lots of gears. However, I've always thought it's a bit soft on the BH side to play really really well at the table. The Powerplay worked extremely well on the more aggressive LP shots at the table, like side-swipes and punching/lifting against backspin, but it catapults a tad too much for my taste when chopping. In matches I performed better with the Defplay, especially due to the higher control on the FH.

What I would like is a defensive blade (I like the bigger head) that's as thin as the Defplay but quite a bit harder, and preferably faster as well, but that's not the most important factor unless it's very slow. I've been searching for such a blade before and at that time I ended up trying the NSD which was wonderful on the BH, especially at the table but I could never get the FH to work. I think I might take that out for a spin next session since I never tried it with Dornenglanz, and I would also like to try it with a faster FH rubber.

I think I need to evaluate this for a while to see which aspects is most important for my game and then choose a blade from that information.

PS: If anyone has any tips on a hard, thin (<6mm) and somewhat fast defensive play, I'm all ears, perhaps one of the doctors blades?

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Read about my adventures to perfect my style and the ever-present battle against the evil EJ virus!

Okay, so I've had a few sessions the last couple of weeks and have switched between Persson Powerplay, NSD and Defplay Senso. It's quite clear that I play the best with my trusty Defplay, mostly because of the FH but also because of the increased consistency in the defense away from the table. It quite obvious though that the dwell time is a lot longer compared to both the Powerplay and the NSD which results in less reversal and "higher grip". This makes chop-blocking and chopping better but the service returns and especially the fast lifting/punching stroke against backspin gets a lot harder to do, I have to adjust the blade angle a lot more.

All in all though the Defplay works too well for me to give up, even though there are strokes that I will miss. I've tried a lot of pips on the Defplay during the years and I doubt I will find anything on the market right now that works better for me than the Dornenglanz, the only one I found to work almost as well was Hellfire so I might give that a session or two to jog my memory.

It's kinda funny how this failed experiment took a complete turn into an EJ blog instead, haha. Nice to have a place to rant a bit on though.

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Read about my adventures to perfect my style and the ever-present battle against the evil EJ virus!

Well, you spent severla months using the same pips and blade, so you have some catching up to do

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Def-attack's attempts to find balance between defence/attack | Getting better - health and game |
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Haha, that's very true, didn't think of that!

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Read about my adventures to perfect my style and the ever-present battle against the evil EJ virus!

Where I play, the coaches always say that you cannot play defensive it's not the best way.

I played with a butterfly orthodox on both sides(pretty old rubbers) and had better results as a defender thant an offensive player with my butterfly sriver fx.

I see lot of modern defenders use tenergy 05 or 64, for example Butterflys webpage say Joo Se Hyuk uses Tenergy 64 2,1mm, how the hell can you defend with that? Isn't that just too fast for that?

Hey Auzcar, any update on your current TT-situation? I noticed you played a ridicolous amount af matches this weekend. Your "gatherings" (sammandrag) up in the north is a little more dense than what we do in the south . Five team matches in two days, and then no matches until next year. I feel sad for those teams who had a few players left out because of a cold or something, the whole season is ruined because of one weekend....
Anyway, it seems you played really good, are you satisfied with your game and setup? Did you miss the modern defensive style in any matches?

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Def-attack's attempts to find balance between defence/attack | Getting better - health and game |
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It's fun in a way with the big "gatherings" but also not so fun when you're not in the best physical shape haha, I can really feel it today if I put it that way. Yeah, it can really mess up the whole season if you get a player injured or sick.

My situation is that I haven't practised much at all to be honest, only had 4 sessions the last 4 months but it still went almost as planned this weekend, haha. Can't really complain even though the match I lost was really clumsy of me, other than that match I played really safe, nothing spectacular but it got the job done. FH was working really well but oddly enough I didn't really feel at home with the LP, a lot of easy errors. I will try going back to H3 on FH for starters, mainly to get some more weight actually since I had trouble really digging into the LP with a racket this light. I'm thinking of trying the Hellfire again as well since I really didn't give that a good go but had good results the short amount of time I used it.

Sometimes I missed the modern defence but I can still play that style to some degree with my current setup and all in all I rather win and play this style than play exclusively modern defence and loose more matches.

How are things going for you?

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Read about my adventures to perfect my style and the ever-present battle against the evil EJ virus!

Nice to hear, but you should practice more .

I am doing fine now. I have setteled for Victas VS 401 1,8 mm on FH. This allows me to chop and counter with FH, and still have enough power on loops and enough control for fishing, pushing and chopping. I have only made ½ session with 1,8 mm yet (practice more tonight) but it felt really nice. I used 1,5 mm for a few months, tremendous control but a little to hard/thin feeling. I had my best victory this far (highest ranked) last week (Bo Thorinsson, 75 years old lefty with AntiPower on FH), and I am thinking of trying Men Open class in a competition this weekend (hybris???). A few weeks left before my team starts its journey in div 4 this season.

Come to think of it, I tried 402 Limber 1,8 mm half a session. That could be nice for you (but thicker). Not heavy but grippy and lots of click ... But not tacky like H3 though... Perhaps you better go with H3, that is a very good rubber....

Will you be practicing more? How about some films to put ut here?

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

Sounds great! I hope to settle on a setup as well after this coming week, will practice 2-3 times and then I have a tournament this weekend on home soil, hopefully after that I will know what works best. Can't say that I know who Thorinsson is but the name do ring a bell. I don't think it's hybris at all, it's really good practice, especially if there's a group stage as well. I think that a H33 sponge would probably be too soft for my taste, I usually prefer a bit firmer sponges.

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Read about my adventures to perfect my style and the ever-present battle against the evil EJ virus!

Bo Thorinsson is one of our most active players in veteran champs, both Swedish, European and World. He is world champion in some form (in doubles perhaps) and has many medals from Swedish vets champs. He is bort 1939 and has probably been active for most of his life . He plays in division 3 (last year in div 4) and usually have a 50/50 ration and beats most youngsters. This season he plays in the same divison 3 as my clubs best team.
Here he is, against my team mate (Bo is the old bearded one ) from the same tournament last year (I play in the background): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fWf_rvI ... age#t=1911

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

I hope I can move that well when I'm 75! Hard to believe he is really that old when you see him move, his game looks nasty as well. I can really imagine him giving a lot of youngsters some valuable lessons at the table.

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Read about my adventures to perfect my style and the ever-present battle against the evil EJ virus!

He is a true table tennis hero !!!

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