OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Get a slower blade. You are probably unaware that the Viscaria light is likely too fast as well. What faster blades do is support shorter strokes which is very beneficial on fast counters and topspin rallies but that is not where you are right now if ever. Your focus should be on having high spin balls leave your racket and that happens when you develop the timing and technique to spin the ball. And in the absense of good technique, a blade in the All+/Off- range is your best friend.

It will seem slow when you first use it but the short term benefits show up very when your game becomes heavily spin based.

To put in context, my current blade is slower than yours.

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Cobra Kai TT Exponent (Mercy effs up your Game)
One-Loop Man: One Loop... Again????
Lumberjack TT Exponent

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

Hi Russ,
great story and it's nice to read that table tennis is helping you to in improving your fitness.
Concerning the last discusion I think NextLevel is right, using a fast blades will hamper improving your game. A fast setup will in general result in less control (.. feeling) and you will get a smaller amount of feedback in your strokes.
I used many blades in the past 30 years (not I'm not that old, just started at 8 ) and I only gained consistency in my game after switching to a slower setup. On good days I could play really well with a faster setup however on bad days my performance would drop like a rock as there were no strokes anymore I could rely on.
Trust me even with an allround blade your should have plenty of power for a powerfull loop.
cheers,
G

Thanks for the suggestions. In the end I just took an angle grinder to the viscaria light and went back to practice with it. It might be too fast for me also, but I also know it's slower than the TB ALC setup and I feel like I have much more control. The Viscaria light has a pretty thick outerply before meeting up with the ALC. I suspect that's why it is slower. It also has a lot more feedback, but not too much. Too much drives me insane.

I'm starting to get into the mindset of getting stable before the Nationals in December, so no more EJ until that's over.

On a very positive note a co-worker I don't see very often asked if I was losing weight.

The impression I got looking at the Viscaria light was that it was OFF- so that was good. I just don't think ALC is good for adult learners because its biggest benefits come when you spin the ball hard. For you, the real challenge is spinning the ball and you want something that releases the ball slowly - I tell people that you should always watch how slowly the better players get rid of the ball. That said, you do have a tournament in two months and it's best to stick with the Viscaria Light and work it out after - an OFF- blade is not the end of the world.

_________________
Cobra Kai TT Exponent (Mercy effs up your Game)
One-Loop Man: One Loop... Again????
Lumberjack TT Exponent

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

I'm a strong believer in using a slow blade until you learn how to place loops to win points.

Having a fast setup will retard your progress immensely - as it has mine in the past. In match situations you'll tense up and play half strokes because you don't have the confidence to control your strokes, and that half stroke will become your actual stroke. You want a setup that allows you to go for all of your strokes, all of the time.

If you gave Timo Boll an ALL blade with Mark V, he'd still be able to beat any player in England.

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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)

I agree, but you are preaching to the choir here. If wilkinru had consistent coaching, he would figure this out already or at least learn to play better with what he had. The problem here is that he has to own the decision and he doesn't want to play with something he is not comfortable with at the Nationals in December. I would rather he feel comfortable using what he has and then address the issue after.

Many users of faster blades even at the USATT 1800 levels don't know how much harder their life is being made by using faster blades. Even right now, there are times when I loop and get mad at myself, but when I block and counter with short strokes, I remember why I did this.

_________________
Cobra Kai TT Exponent (Mercy effs up your Game)
One-Loop Man: One Loop... Again????
Lumberjack TT Exponent

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

Well I'll have time to get some blade suggestions and even get to learn the blade over the Xmas season.

It's also tough to explain to the wife why I need even more equipment

NL you bring up an excellent point about the coaching. I honestly don't have ANY options for quality coaching here in Vegas.
There are lots of good players and a couple of coaches but I'm not entirely sure I would learn a whole lot from them.

The person I know who does regular coaching has kids with Tenergy ALC/ZLC blades and 05fx on both sides.
That's pretty much my setup and they're still grasping the basics.

Other coaches (ok 2 other guys) I've talked to generally want to have me flat hit the ball almost all of the time...

I'm going to try and get a lesson during Nationals, as so many coaches will be there. Who wants my $50?

I don't think I will be at Nationals though I might skip the Butterfly teams and do it.

If I coached a kid, I would let her use composite blades too. The goals there are different once they have mastered the basic strokes as the goal is to let the kid make as few changes as possible but to have them using what they will use at a very high level.

That said, this isn't/wasn't always the case. In countries with national training programs years ago, some coaches used to force the kids to use 5-ply all wood blades to develop their strokes. This may have changed but not to my knowledge.

Adults in general fall for the illusion of table tennis and try to hit the ball hard. Anything that discourages this and encourages spinning and consistency is good. Stiffer blades reward hard, stiff and fast contact and short strokes and this creates a feedback loop where adults hit harder to get that feeling (they are not mimicking better players like the kids do nor are they hanging around coaches often). What you want is a blade that rewards your feeling for spinning amongst other things.

_________________
Cobra Kai TT Exponent (Mercy effs up your Game)
One-Loop Man: One Loop... Again????
Lumberjack TT Exponent

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

My partner, Raul and I played some doubles today. We played the usual suspects at the club and once again won with tactics we planned out. After the first match we then forget about the match / communication part and more or less mess around. We tend to lose those games.

At the end of the matches I offered to tell them our specific plans, how we were preparing for the first 3 balls. They declined to listen - they wanted to "figure it out themselves". Ugh. They are the only people who we practice with and they don't want to get better.

Male ego I guess. I'm always willing to listen to suggestions. Anyway I told them next game for $10 then

I doubt they'll take it, but it'll make the match more intense next time.

Finally some video.
No sound. I'm the guy in the black/orange.

I'm sure there is plenty to not like - but I'm happy with my improvement in bending my knees and staying forward. Since July that has been a focus and will continue to be a top 3 focus. I was pretty much always standing up during the US Open in July.

Also this guy likes to push with his forehand (likely his biggest issue) but it lets me get some looping practice in.

<-why isn't this working?

My TT training center.

Lighting isn't great. Yes that's a child's swing. Swing baby, practice serves

You have to take off the "s" in the "https". Here ya go:




I haven't had time to really look too closely at the video, but one thing I did notice is that I like your relaxed, whippy serves. Your serve is a lot better than mine. You have good potential to be a strong 3rd ball attacker.

One thing I might say is that you tend to push against a lot of long balls instead of looping (like at :42 seconds and 1:26 for example). I think a "loop everything" mindset would help you alot, even if you miss and lose a few more points in the short term.

The sequence in here I like best is at 3:34 or so, quick feet to move around the corner and then a very pretty slow loop. Good decision not to try to power the ball there, and you finished off the next ball.

Of topic a bit, are they ever going to make orange poly balls? I can hardly see the ball in my own video because I painted the garage walls white. Against off-white backgrounds like this one an orange ball would show up so much better.

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Smile in the mirror. Do that every morning and you'll start to see a big difference in your life.

Yoko Ono

Did a little update on the first page. I'll post them here.

My backup is now my main and my main is now my back up. It's slower and gives much more feedback, without being too much.

My hip/butt issues continue but I am now following a runner's technique to strengthen that area. For those who are interested I'm doing these exercises:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWGpbxbJ ... ib&index=5
I find them to be remarkably table tennis related!

Weight hasn't really changed lately, but that's okay because I'm still working hard. On a related note my blood pressure has decreased back to healthy levels. Yeah 35 and high-ish blood pressure wasn't a good situation. Anyway my home cheapo machine said im 117/77, which is MUCH better than 18 months ago when I was around 135/90.

Thanks for the help on the URL and suggestions. Loop everything is very challenging for me. Errors pile up really quick. I'd like to think I'm in the mentality of "loop" more things. After doing some review of the footage I got (and the partial games) I think you are right, I need to attack even a bit more. Honestly a couple of those balls were really heavy back spin and my success rate is going to be down to 20% or less. Still I should try it and work on it, be even more active.