Week In Review So this is gonna be my new format, though how in depth I go with the league review each week is to be decided. After thinking about it I realized that there is enough information about me available here to figure out who I am if someone really wanted to, so I feel comfortable enough using our clubs FB Live video here to show my matches. I might now link the matches each week, I might not write up in depth reviews each week, but for this one glorious week I've gone all in. I have the green rubber, I'm wearing black and green (style!) I don't love the way FB videos work in this format, but with luck we'll be on YouTube soon as well and it'll be better.
A note about our club, we currently have league results for something along the lines of 65 players! But many of these players only pop in on occasion or maybe once a year and we keep them on the list anyway. So all of the club positions are a bit weird, but I'll use them as reference anyhow. Ratings are rounded to the nearest 50 and are Club (USATT). We're in the Midwest, which might mean our ratings would be lower on the coast, I have no real idea. So yeah, mileage on the information may vary. We're also still in a weird spot post covid and so our top player attendance is on the low side, thus I get to be a Table 1 player despite the fact that with a good showing I'd still be firmly Table 3.
Thursday - League Night First I'd like to talk about some very general trends from all five of my matches. I have very slow feet off of service, off of forehand push, and after turning to chop. I think this is mostly attributed to shot watching, and I think that'll be a hard habit to break, but also a big part of anticipation is that ability to immediately get ready in response to your own shots, so worth the time. I also notice that I have a habit of entering flamingo stance on big forehands, by which I mean I end up on my left leg with my right inexplicably kicked behind me. I think this due to reaching and being too perpendicular. My serves were generally higher than I wanted all night, this is easy to explain as I'm still adjusting to the rubber. They were markedly improved, but still too high. I'm still too hesitant to hit attacking inverted backhands, and that leads to some awkward forehand run arounds that I'd like to eliminate also. Something I noticed in film review is that I was a slow starter in every match as well, need to hone in my focus sooner. That just above covers the general stuff, I'll do some match breakdowns next, though I don't know that I'll write this up every week!
Match 1 vs Inverted/Sponged LP – 1400 (1400) – Club #25 – Win 3-1 – 14 minutes – 5:08 to 19:20 This is a matchup against someone I've only recently started beating. My offense is enough to overcome his defense most nights now, and I usually get the better of the pip to pip battle as well. Still, he's aggressive with his pips and I have to play a patient game to win. Outside of the generally applicable notes above, one thing I liked in this match was that I was able to overcome the 0-6 start to steal the game and get some early energy for myself. I mostly serve into his pips and he doesn't twiddle, so I get to control that very well.
Match 2 vs Double Inverted C-Pen w/RPB – 1500 (1400) – Club #19 – Win 3-2 – 20 minutes – 24:50 to 44:30 This is the first of two matches from the night that were first times for me. You don't get many first time playing opportunities once you've been in a club for a while it seems, so I relish the opportunity to get in and treat it like a tournament match. In this match I had a strong 2-0 lead before I somewhat let myself down in the 3rd. The tape shows that I had opportunities, in fact the number of smashes I missed while firmly in control of points is quite disgusting to me. This is also where some of my mental weaknesses showed strongly. I can lose points in a hurry sometimes, twice in this match I went one 4+ point loss streaks. I play too fast, I try too much on the serve, impatience grows as all I want is to re-establish momentum. Something to work on, for sure. I thought I'd be able to break his RPB down, but overall that wasn't the case and so I had to work angles more and move him around. His forehand was undoubtedly better than mine and that pressured me some as well.
Match 3 vs Double Inverted C-Pen w/TBH – 1300 (1100) – Club #31 – 3-0 – 11 minutes – 55:53 to 1:06:57 This is a matchup I've played dozens of times, and one that I shouldn't lose. Every once in a while he'll sneak a win on me, but only if I self destruct. I like to try playing mostly inverted on both wings against this player because it feels like a good opportunity to work on that aspect of my game, but this night I had another slow start that made me want to focus in and just get the win, so that's what I did. Not much else to say here, I can serve heavy under, pip the returning push to his backhand, and hammer the popup with above 90% certainty that it'll go down that way. I do like how he's adjusted to me over time, I just readjust faster at this point.
Match 4 vs Double Inverted Looper – 1800 (1800) – Club #7 – 3-1 – 17 minutes – 1:14:55 to 1:32:08 So, knowing that I had a chance at the upset because of some early week practice got me in the right mindset right away in this match. Easily the match where my feet are most lively, easily the match where I was most dialed in and hit my best shots. Even with that, I don't beat this player, he beats himself and I help him do it. He's transitioning from Seemiller to shakehand, and that means right now he has to think more and doesn't get the advantage of all of his training. I played into that, got him to doubt the backhand and run around for more forehands, chopped just enough back, and let him make enough errors to get the win. After going up 2-0 he shifted to playing more defense and easily beat me to make it 2-1, but he says his nerves got to him in the 4th game and he started attacking again. I had a big point at 8-7 where I actually took a decent swing at a deepcourt forehand and surprised him that will stick with me for some time. He wasn't happy with the loss.
Match 5 vs Double Inverted Looper – 1400 – Club #27 – 3-2 – 25 minutes – 1:43:13 to 2:08:06 This was my second new matchup of the night, and honestly this match was very very difficult for me. It was the last match of the night, it turned into the longest match of the night, and it was tightly contested from start to finish. We traded games the whole way, and I snuck out of the 5th game with a 11-9 win. He played spinny and consistent, not much drive to his game and plenty of patience on his end. That meant I had to win more points, which is good practice, but also tough because I still mostly live on errors. I started the match a bit slow again, but I could also somewhat feel the fatigue and can see it in the depth of my squat for service receive. As the match heated up I found that second wind and got back into, but there are numerous energy lapses throughout this one. Despite his steady play mid points, he made a number of service errors going for this tomahawk serve that he saw me struggle against. He probably netted more than he got over though, so it worked out in my favor. There was a crucial point in the 3rd game where I called a time out after losing 3 or 4 points of the last 6 to edges. I felt my composure slipping and just needed it. I also got good advice from my friend who was corner coaching to really pressure his backhand. He had a nice backhand loop, but without my realizing it he had gotten afraid of making errors on it and was playing it safe and setting me up for big forehands. If he wins that game and I'm 1-2 after the 3rd, I'm sure he beats me in 4, so I think it was a really good time call.
Saturday - Open Play Two more matches against #7, one 2-3 loss and another 3-1 win. I can definitely feel that his level is lower in these early transition stages and those additional errors help me get into positive situations where I can control the game more. We also had some good hitting practice for loops and blocks on both wings, and he helped me work on my lobs – I think I fish too much or too weakly and feel my mid and deep court forehand can be exploited, so I want to get more top spin on those balls to push people off the table a bit more. The focus in all of this was adjusting and getting to a more balanced position off both wings, more hitting from near parallel and less getting my body perpendicular. I also worked with two other players whom are developing and wanted me to play all out against them. We had some pretty good conversation at the end, one of the two and I, about how he feels its hard to get better because all we do is play games. I told him that was his imagination, he could have easily asked me to feed multi or drill him, but he asked for games instead. I hope that moving forward he's more willing to ask for such. I think sometimes players think it isn't worth my time, but I think I get just as much out of instruction as I do playing when it comes to players who can't return a pip shot.
Sunday - Open Play Today I was fatigued, and honestly if I had the option to not go in I might have skipped, but since I close up the gym it wasn't really possible to go that route. We had a pretty good turn out, I hit around early with players I'm familiar with as well as one player I was meeting for the first time, mostly just casual. I did play matches against our #7 again and was absolutely destroyed. I also lost a match in five to someone I would say I usually beat, and I dropped a few games against a fellow player whom is making the switch to short pips on the backhand. Not too much to add other than my footwork was again terrible. Even when I tried to will myself to move tonight it just wasn't happening. I did get in a bit of lobbing and smashing drilling, which was nice. I leave this week with some knee pain on my right knee again, and that's got my unhappy, but most weeks aren't quite as intense as this one, so hopefully it is a problem that ultimately handles itself through care and rest.
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Additional Table Time
Tuesday - Junior Training Junior training is mostly, as one would expect, about the juniors. I won't go into that aspect much as it isn't relevant to this blog, but we did have a nice turnout and I thought it went well. As the session winds down and we match the kids off to work on point play, I usually sneak in games with the other coaches. This week I got to play a total of three matches, two with our clubs current #7, and one with the coach currently filling in, whom is ranked just above me at #21, at least this week. The matches with #7 were losses, as one would expect, but because he is transitioning to full shakehand play, I was able to use these practice games to build the strategy I used to sneak my win over him in league. Yay. Playing the #21 is always interesting because he is very good at finding and attacking weaknesses, and a few months ago he would still beat me soundly. Of late though, I don't find him difficult to play because I can use my control to move him and exploit his limited mobility. I feel bad about it though, especially in matches that are more or less meaningless...
Friday - Barn Hitting Spent the first half of the session feeding multi-ball to my friend whom is working on some adjustments to his forehand and backhand technique after getting feedback from coach. I find that I like getting practice feeding multi, because it comes in handy with the youth coaching I assist with. Following some drilling on different forehands and backhands off of different spins, as well as a fed footwork and transition drills, we moved into playing points out. My footwork was overall poor but the feedback I got from my friend as we worked through different points, 3rd ball set ups, etc. was pretty useful and is helping me form my game plan moving forward. It is worth noting that it's quite chilly in the barn and I'm currently out of kerosene, so my lungs eventually said they were done and then I got even more lethargic. Overall it was a pretty good session where I got to play mixed strokes with no pressure for the outcome and thus just a little more freely
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Additional Thoughts: I'd like to be more fluid and constantly in motion, I feel like I come to rest on my heels far too often and while my movements can be explosive and quick, I think fluidity is part of the anticipation that's really missing for me.
I also think I'll work at playing five days a week again, though it probably won't pan out that way until January. As it is I think I can do something like, Tuesday Junior Training, Thursday League, Friday Robot/Footwork, Saturday Open Play, Sunday Open Play. It feels kinda weird to have my break days on Monday and Wednesday, but that's how the club schedule works best right now. If I stopped helping with the junior classes on Tuesday I'd probably play on Monday in my barn and let Tuesday/Wednesday be my table tennis weekend.
The Rasanter R48 is faster than the Marder IV, and that made me think I wouldn't be able to play it well. Over the course of this week I felt my touch grow and my ability to hit all of my normal shots start coming around. I did briefly try to play with the Marder again on Sunday, and I couldn't handle the pace difference. I think I'll keep playing this Rasanter even though it looks like the SpinLord Ibris is now available in blue. I think the Ibris would also feel much too slow coming off of this Rasanter. The brand loyalist in me is screaming in outrage, but I just don't see a SpinLord inverted that can compare, so this is the path we'll be forging ahead.
_________________ Blog: Thinking Octopus ThoughtsUSATT Tournament: 1443 - USATT League - 1680 - Club: 1598
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