OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Be carefull with those knees - they are pain in the a**
I would suggest you do some quad stretches and some calf stretches - for me those help tremendously (I do them at home a couple of times a day and very important - always after TT training too). At least for me these stretches work better than any strengthening exercises. I figured it's because most of my time I sit behind the PC (work ) and my quads are compressed basically for a lot of time..

On the side not - I'm not surprised about the TTR-Killer too Probably if I had it in lesser thickness and on a def blade.. maybe then it would be nice..

The Trick Anti is my anti to go for quite some time now (since 01.2022 with some occasional tests of other stuff and with the trauma period).. So it works very well for me. I can pretty much do everything with it and the change of pace that I can introduce using it and twiddling the racket is great. The grip it has is great too.. Maybe if it was a tad faster when fully engaged - it would be even better.. But for me personally - I've had my current biggest wins with it.

_________________
My ooak blog.

Thanks for your tips and answers!

Best wishes and kind regards!

_________________
Forehand Rubber: Yasaka Rakza Z (black, 2.0 mm thickness)
Backhand Rubber: Der-Materialspezialist Scandal (red, 1.5 mm thickness)
Blade: Stiga Allround Classic Cybershape (flared handle)

Today was the last leg of the club championship. So our team plays in the A division (second division from the top in Bulgaria) but I haven't played because of my knee injury.
Although I'm recovering I decided not to play today too - the matches are hard and I would easily be able to push myself too much.. So yep - I was on the bench - mostly cheering, advising and sometimes practising with the guys before their matches. The practice felt really well, also some fun games where played and I was rather sharp. We even though that I could play one match (and that would be the decider of a very important match for us..) but luckily the guys won without before that so there was no need for me to play
So yep - not much of an update. The team managed to stay in this division and I hope that next year I'll be able to help the guys and maybe we'll improve our standings

_________________
My ooak blog.

Had a 2 hrs sparring session today.. Some great rallies, the game seems to be returning to me Currently I feel not confident enough to take the initiative at the end of the game if the score is equal.. I think when I feel a little faster I'll break through this problem (didn't have it before the knee so it's probably mostly connected to the big time skip and still not having enough security in the shots).
Also I definitely feel (although I play with knee support) that continuous chopping currently is a no go for my knee. It's fine to chop once in a while, but not as an exercise.. definititely Because of that I'm rapidly improving my over the table game with the Anti (becoming more confident in different types of blocks).. and the twiddling of course
The session was pretty intence - will see how my knee feels tomorrow

_________________
My ooak blog.

Yesterday participated in the regular League.
So basically 3+ hours with a lot of matches.
I'm definitely not confident enough to start playing from the beginning with power and mobility. It's a psychological problem it seems. When I feel warm and am ready to play with more amplitude - everything's fine. So yep - recovering my game bit by bit.. still a long way to go. The important part is that today a feel absolutely fine. So the knee can take it and probably in a couple of weeks I'll start to play twice a week and not only once.. who knows

_________________
My ooak blog.

Had a 2hrs training session with my friend who's a couple of levels above me. It's pretty evident how much I've regressed.. but what can you do
Still - the session was nice. My legs are very lazy currently - I'm absolutely not ready for 5 or 7th ball. Also my serve receive is currently very weak.. I somehow stopped watching at the server's motion and do not anticipate even the direction of the serve.. well.. need to fix that (as it was not like that before..).. It is what it is - injury is not the simples thing to recover from

_________________
My ooak blog.

So after the last intense 2hrs training session it became obviuos that such sessions are (for now) a no go for me. The knee felt them - it just hurt for a couple of days after that but for now I'll then just continue to play once a week in local leagues. I think the amount of repetitions in training sessions is too big and it overloads the knee.
So yesterday slapped a fresh National Battle 2 - when it's fresh - it's so crisp And that sound when with every hit almost any new opponent asks isn't the ball broken
But yep - played at our league, played really well - moved well, anticipated the ball well. Had a couple of good matches where I was fast and concentrated - very pleased with those. Lost somewhere in the semis but by that moment I felt fatigued and didn't want to overdo it. And the guy in the semi was not an easy opponent so I didn't play to my max and lost (makes sense ). That's not important - what's important that I had two good matches.

_________________
My ooak blog.

Still playing with anti? not many people play with Trick anti.In fact, nobody does in my region,I guess not many in National leagues .Some flantis have been appearing in the second highest National division over the last years though

Hi - yep - still with Anti and still with the Trick Anti.
Makes sense that flantis are more popular - the ball is much more difficult for the opponent. I somehow like to have some grip on the Anti - my technique from the BH with it is more inverted-like so flanties are not very good fit for me. Also my level is nowhere near those high level players so twiddling combined with the Trick Anti still can get the job done for me

_________________
My ooak blog.

Yesterday played around 2.5 hours with my friends.. Playing better (but far from the form I was a year ago ).
Not moving fast enough is a big problem. The head thinks that I'll be there.. but I'm not
The fun thing is - somehow introduced the reverse pendulum serve and I feel comfortable with it - the quality is better than it was - I can control the length and the spin pretty well and it became a good serve.
Also I'll start filming soon probably cause althoug I'm not in top form - each time I play there are some very nice points (probably because I mostly watch TT compared to how much I play that I sometimes try some rediculous stuff and it sometimes works (it's like being more inspired by the TT I watch on youtube and not limited by my actual TT (playing once a week is .. meh.. - can't take this seriously) so it's really more for fun))

_________________
My ooak blog.

Another week - another league
Started prioritizing streching before the league (I now always stretch everything 5-10 minutes and if I have time - warm up over the table, if not - only the stretching) - this obviously helps to feel better after a day behind the computer too.. I know this is obvious, but still...
So the B2 played as it should (finally - it broke ), I played well, moved well. Everything seems fine. Some laps of concentration where obvious.. Like I could mostly play either 90-100% or 10-30%.. the middle range is missing and this way the game becomes very awkward.. need to find this middle range of quality play. It's important for tournaments..

_________________
My ooak blog.

My concentration swings too. It mainly depends on how calm my life is currently. I'm having loads of exam in these days and table tennis somehow helps me staying calm and relaxed, while also gives me some motivation or doing something and for a purpose. It somehow enhances my concentration and durability. Table tennis is hell of a good sport, it maintains literally everything.

_________________
Forehand Rubber: Yasaka Rakza Z (black, 2.0 mm thickness)
Backhand Rubber: Der-Materialspezialist Scandal (red, 1.5 mm thickness)
Blade: Stiga Allround Classic Cybershape (flared handle)

Yesterday participated in the league again.
There where a lot of nice opponents and I found myself playing more for fun.. so not very effective. I understood that really around the semi-final because I thought I want to win it fast but somehow found myself smiling and not playing very effective (as I know the opponent and I have an idea what would work). So another 3:2 victory and I realised that yep - I currently don't care much about effectiveness and it's all about having fun. Another 3:2 in the final against a good friend of mine. Physically I was aboslutely drained (as even in the groups I played a lot of 3:2 or 3:1 with opponents that are much weaker) but mentally I was in a very positive mood
The important thing is that today the knee feels fine (although while playing yesterday I had some concerns as I the game plans where non-existent and I often was doing some physically demanding stuff). So yep - hoving fun is what matters when you have limitations and I pretty much finally felt that

_________________
My ooak blog.

So another time skip..
From 1st of July had to go to the country side for almost a month so no TT there, and before that didn't play well the last three times - had zero power (probably too warm and couldn't adapt to that).. So overall didn't finish on a good note and when I played for the first time last Thursday I felt slow and that I unconsciously was protecting the knee again so my my game was not good and I was playing more BH oriented.. FH was a mess - very bad, I was going for shots that I'm not ready for.. and a lot of misses. Mentally wasn't in the right place too.
So for now decided to play more sparring/training sessions and took a slower blade as currently mine is too fast for me. So opted for Xiom Fuga - it's much more flexible and definitely slower. Not the same direct feeling compared to the Xylo but this is good - it makes me play safer with more spin and control - for now this is what I need. Also a new blade helps as a distraction too.
So had a 2hrs session with a friend of mine (a defender) - that was very nice cause it helped me find my rhythm and put more strength into the leg (I hope my knee will be fine tomorrow though). For now - lots of edges cause the blade is 7gr lighter.. also it was rather sharp around the handle so it hurt my fingers (already sanded it after the training) but yeah - emphasizing on the spin more currently sound like a plan for recovery.. hopefully

_________________
My ooak blog.

Played another 2hrs session today. Moved better, FH was better but BH was a struggle. The blade (Fuga) being so flexible makes it really hard to attack with the antispin. Cause on slow shots the blade does not help and the anti does not have the speed, and on faster shots the ball catapults from the anti.. So normal blocks and attacks where a big-big problem. It really felt like I couldn't control it at all - like even in a training session.. Also the freaking Fuga yesterday cut my fingers and today tried to cut my wrist When I serve it's a little wider at the base and it grazes the wrist.. slowly digging into it Overall I'm at a loss - should I try to continue with the flexy blade or should I return to the Xylo and just train more.. I also have the N11 somewhere.. but I don't remember it being slower than the Xylo, so is there a point in changing to it.. not sure.
What I really like is that I can definitely impart more spin with the B2 with this blade. On all shots - chops, short game, serves and topspins. But also it's slower than the Xylo and more non-linear.. It's very hard for me to counter slow topspins with this blade.. I can easily guide-block them, but countering with forse is problematic - the flex of the blade does not help in this.. at least does not help me with my technique

_________________
My ooak blog.