OOAK Table Tennis Forum

I've restarted playing tabletennis in September 2016 after +-12yrs time-out.
Me and my family moved to another country in 2003, an extremely stressful job with unpredictable working shifts, the new language and another new familymember in 2005 has been at least influential for the time-out.

Now, kids are forced to do sport, and to improve their willingness and commitment I've entered the ring as well.
To be honest, it's me who's the most committed and most ambitious, but I hope some of the enthousiasm infects the kids as well once their skills improve.

My history so far:
I've started to play at the age of 13 and played consecutively for about 7 years; in these years I moved to another town but kept playing at the old club
Then I had to stop for about 5-7yrs before I reentered a club not too far from my place of living, there I played for about 4-5 years but I was unable to reach the level I had before the time-out.
I then switched the club and went back to my first club for about 1-2 years, up to the day I moved to the other country.
Skill at that time still wasn't satisfying, I'd say it would compare to 1250+ on Dutch/German TTR.

In the meantime I figured out that bad visuals (-1.75 and -3.75, or nowadays -2.50 and -5.25) with distorted 3D-visuals could be one of the reasons for not beeing able to catch up. Seriously, I wasn't able to see 3D and up to as late as 2010 I even had no idea I was missing something.

So, here I am. A few weeks back I decided that together with the restart I also could analyze my strength and weaknesses and restructure my setup and strategy.
Well, I underestimated the bad shape I'm in - I had pain everywhere after the first training day and I was absolutely exhausted from 1hr of playing - but this is improving day by day.
Next thing I'm a little worried about is my backhand; I switched to pips which should allow me to block, smash and prepare the ball in order to finish it with the much stronger forehand.
I still have about 4 month to learn using it appropriately before I have to make a decision. I have lots of bad habits left to work on, a result from years of backside-rubbers on the backhand I've mainly used for block, smash and push.
Today the pips do give headaches to my (training)opponents, but there's a lot of room for improvements; trying a drive above or near the table doesn't really work yet, I'm unable to give some lift into the ball at the short distance and I need to train backhand smashes the month to come.

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Red is blogging here >> http://ooakforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=58&t=30522

History of materials used since (afair):

Blades: Hanno 2*, Hanno Bernd Janssen, Imperial Allround, selfmade, selfmade, Banda Dorada 2005, Joola Wosik Off-, Banda Dacota, Stiga Clipper, Stiga AR classic, Stiga Oversize WRB, Stiga Tube WRB Alu, Stiga Graphite, Palio TCT (actual)
Rubbers: Hanno 2* (green, no grip after 6+- month), Hanno Nagoya SE, Butterfly Sriver S+L, Tibhar Speedy Soft (pips), Mark V, Nittaku Magic Carbon, Butterfly Feint soft, Sriver FX, Donic Slick CSS, Yasaka Do, Palio CJ8000, Palio CK531a, Imperial Crash, Butterfly Ekrips, Mark V GPS, Stiga Mendo Energy, Stiga Magna, Friendship 802, Friendship 729, Palio WP1013, Kokutaku 110

Current setup:
Palio TCT and CJ8000 Biotech 36-39° works great, topspins are extremely dangerous and spinny, near and off the table, it gives enough confidence for shots.
Pips (Kokutaku 110 and WP1013 have been used so far on the TCT) on the backhand are hard to control if it's not a block or smash. Pressure pushing works good, standard pushes aren't different to backside rubbers (albeit less spinny), retrieving and chopping from off the table works and with sufficient underspin. Blocks with the 110 are better than the WP1013-one, I guess it's because it offers more bounce and speed. I additionally have Kokutaku 119 and RITC 563-1 which I plan to use in 2017 or next season.

I may need to add that the material chosen is on purpose quite cheap. I'm absolutely fed-up with pricings of >$50 for rubbers and >$100 for a blade, especially if rubbers need to be replaced after 6 month or even earlier. So, my aim is to show and prove that using cheapo can still be very competitive and successful.
I got the Palio TCT for less than $20, the CJ8000 Biotech for $8.50 and the Kokutaku 110 was sub $6. That's $34.5 for the whole blade. I am very confident to stay sub $50 (worth) for the next 2 years.
Another worry I did have is the kids: What if they show talent and skills, needing more refined rubbers? Spending $100+ a year on a single racket is one thing, needing to spend money for 3 rackets on a regular basis plus costs for shoes, clothing and contributions would have made it mission impossible. I could have used some 2nd hand rubbers with AR-blades but decided against it, buying advanced premades for +-$20 each. So, kids already get some feel for China-rubbers and -blades and there's a lot of room left to the upside. For now they're still nowhere near the limits of their rackets.

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Red is blogging here >> http://ooakforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=58&t=30522

I wrote in for a special training for groups (which may end in personal training...) last week. Actually, we're 3 who attended the training last week on Thursday, the 2 other enthousiasts aren't really in my league technically but I don't complain. Actually it helps my discipline and concentration, and I still can improve footwork and positioning while sticking to the scheme. I also successfully supressed the impulse to immediately kill reasonable balls - mostly.
Best part of this training is multiball - I hadn't done it in years, last time it was around 2002 for a single training session backhand topspin (unsuccessful) - which also was the 1st time since I've entered the youthteam.
Did I mention my bad shape? It took me about 5 minutes multiball to become overly exhausted, I almost wanted an ambulance and oxygen... Good, to be fair I also had some sort of flu the days before and I was still coughing and sneezing that day. Let's see how this week works out.

Actual TTR (dutch) should be around 1150, I guess. A few weeks back it was way below 850, so there's quite a lot of improvement per week.
Target for January is +-1350 and another 300pts are to be expected at the end of June 2017, rocketing me into the top 5 of the club, from zero to hero...

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Red is blogging here >> http://ooakforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=58&t=30522

Good to hear that you're coming back. Keep it up!

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instagram: rokphishtt

Welcome back Red!

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OOAK Table Tennis Shop | Re-Impact Blades | Butterfly Table Tennis bats
Setup1: Re-Impact Smart, Viper OX, Victas VS 401 Setup2: Re-Impact Barath, Dtecs OX, TSP Triple Spin Chop 1.0mm Setup3: Re-Impact Dark Knight, Hellfire OX, 999 Turbo
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There's been so many Reds on this forum. Is this the Pinoy Red?

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I'm always in the dark, but the Dark sheds lights upon everything!! Beauty is only pimple deep! Beauty is in the eye of the pipholder!
S/U 1: Blade: Bty Gergely . FH Black Andro Rasant 2.1 . BH Red Tibhar Grass Dtecs
S/U 2: Blade: Bty Gergely . FH Black Hexer+ 2.1 . BH Red GD Talon
S/U 3: Blade: Bty Gergely . No rubbers...thinking of adding Red Dtecs and Black Rasant
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Red Adair?

Can't count them... stopped at 1.

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Red is blogging here >> http://ooakforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=58&t=30522

Red Adder would be more appropriate, the littil cousin of Black...

Small update: I had the option to do some bodyworks today or to attend a training with players around 1000pts, which is 4th and 5th division. I chose the latter and tried to get some more control with the pips. And indeed, I am able to drive and attack-loop now.
It turned out that my major mistake was to try to give enough pressure on the ball in order to get more grip. Turns out it's not necessary, a softer touch works much better and gives a weird ball with a nice arc but very little spin.
On the other hand, footwork wasn't satisfying and switching between offensive backhand and offensive forehand will need additional work, too. It felt as if the upper arm had some resistance today and it did hurt a little when topspinning.
A practice-match did confirm my level-estimate so far, albeit I don't care much about results at the moment.

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Red is blogging here >> http://ooakforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=58&t=30522

Welcome from another one of the Reds.

The Palio TCT seems extremely stiff and hard.
Sounds like it might work well for disruption on the BH, but may be a beast to try to control on the FH.
I don't use pips, so I don't know.

Do you prefer to hit ( flat ) or loop ( with more spin ) on your FH?

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Viscaria
FH: H3 Provincial Blue sponge
BH: Omega VII Pro

your signature damn! destroyed by being a pussy lmfao made my day.

Thanks Red Roar...
The TCT is indeed quite stiff and hard, especially lateral. Directional it seems to have some flex, otherwise off table loops and shots wouldn't be this powerful.
Bounce is less than that of Banda Dorada but definitely more than that of the Stiga Graphite. I remember the Stiga Tube Aluminium to have a similar bounce. The TCT has one of the weirdest sounds I've had so far, somewhere between the Dorada and the Tube - as if it's a hardbat. The first 3 weeks opponents regularly checked the ball on cracks.
I consider myself to be a hitman more than I'd call me a looper, near table I try to loop with less shoulder, more elbow and wrist, resulting in a quite low arc. Off table it's a more open stroke. Someone said on Monday it looks like a tennis topspin-stroke. This may have developed due to my time with the Stiga Graphite.
I wouldn't recommend using the TCT with pips designed for allround or defence, dwell time is short.
I can't say how it would behave with harder rubbers on forehand nor how it works for (real)tensor rubbers. The combination with CJ8000 works for me and obviously a few others quite well with good control and speed.

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Red is blogging here >> http://ooakforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=58&t=30522

Red .Is your avatar from an overkill cd

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igorponger wrote:

Day -by-day inhalation of the speed glues is not any good for health..

It's almost everywhere, webpage and several cds, lps...
Iirc mine is from 'taking over' or 'under the influence'

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Red is blogging here >> http://ooakforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=58&t=30522

Update:
Today has been a groupstraining day and I've been early enough to have done some warm-up against another player.
I had some success in using the backhand-drive and backhand wrist-loop on Tuesday and I'm more confident to use them in in-game situations. Today I also tried to chop-block and stop-block topspins with the pips.
It's still in an early stage and the topspins I received weren't strong nor fast. I expect it to be a different story once faster, stronger topspins in a match occur.

And yes, it's been multiball-time again, with forehand-topspin&footwork and fh-shots from the backhand side. I definitely prefer flat-hitting...
And I'm quite scared now because I've been exhausted again after about 5 minutes, respectively +-3 minutes in a fh->bh-move sequence.
The flu is gone but it seems as if I'm unable to absorb enough oxygen and/or pO²/pCO² is out of balance since I'm able to exhale 3+ litres of air without problems.
It took me at least 30 seconds to come by. Medical checks so far have been negative (all o.k.) albeit they didn't check the situation after behaving like a boar let loose for +-5mins. I see no chance to let a specialist check it thoroughly unless I pay big bucks or having something really serious, like a stroke.
It's of course perfectly possible that I'm just a tad too impatient. Ideas/tips, own experiences are welcome.

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Red is blogging here >> http://ooakforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=58&t=30522