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PostPosted: 22 Nov 2021, 09:31 
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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.

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USATT Tournament: 1443 - USATT League - 1680 - Club: 1598


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PostPosted: 08 Dec 2021, 04:25 
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Week In Review

Tuesday - Junior Training
We had a smaller than normal turnout for our juniors, which ends up being good and bad in a few ways. The juniors that were in attendance got more hands on and 1-on-1 learning opportunity, but not everyone wants that extra attention. Either way, the slow day also allowed me to get in two practice matches against a fellow instructor and I was able to work a bit more on aggressive service return and point building. A recurring theme from this week is that when I'm patient I play well, and when I run up against an opponent who can create the feeling of needing to rush, well, I get beat pretty badly. I took video of the second match and tried very hard to focus on active feet and positioning, but even then I didn't really succeed. I've built up a plan of attack for January that involves quite a bit more footwork drilling as part of my overall fitness plan, we'll see if it helps.


Thursday - League Night
The night started off with a very narrow win over our top junior player, and that left my confidence slightly shaken as he isn't really at the level where it should be close yet, or at least that's how I feel. I followed that up with two fairly straightforward wins, but in the second of these I managed to tweak my left hamstring and that made the rest of the night rather uncomfortable. I ended up playing much more at the table regardless of if I wanted to, because I just lacked the quickness and stability to move in and out like I wanted. Still, I managed to survive an early 0-2 and win my fourth match. Then came the pay back for my lucky win last week, I got rolled in a very one sided affair 0-3. I couldn't find answers anywhere in my game and I wish I had taken video or streamed the night, because I'm sure I could have learned much about my games weaknesses in reviewing.

Saturday - Open Play and Travel
I pulled double duty on Saturday, playing for two hours at my home club before driving about 3 hours to play at my former club. Here I managed to get in some pretty good drilling work, and even had the opportunity to chop against two different players back to back. One plays everything with higher spin and safer, the other hits with more drive, and this made for a very good comparison as I worked at adjusting to the differences. My practice match went better than my league match against the same player, but I'm certain he too is working on things. I continue to find that I need to work on my short service game more. At my former club it is primarily doubles, and so that was most of the night. I did get in three singles matches, one of which was a brutal loss in which I realized how much I still struggle with short dead play. I'm definitely feeling better about long dead, but I can't seem to use my inverted well on the short stuff, more work to be done. I think I was in the gym for just about four hours, and I'd guess I spent at least three of those on table, so about a five hour table day - which is probably why my legs were so sore!

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Just the three days last week, I didn't make it back on Sunday for the open play here, which was probably good considering I'm still sore three days later! I've also picked up some strange bruising in a few places that makes me really wonder where they came from!

There was also a gap week there where I did play one additional Sunday, but otherwise we had closed for the week.

Anyway, a bit less focused today, nearly forgot to write up anything at all, and the new week starts tonight - I hope for a good junior turnout, but failing that, coach is back after his brief break, so maybe I'll pick up some good technical advice tonight~

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USATT Tournament: 1443 - USATT League - 1680 - Club: 1598


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PostPosted: 13 Dec 2021, 11:34 
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Week In Review
Whew! Quite the busy week with five solid days of at least two hours of play. The theme of the week was more or less to work on using more inverted strokes, more often, especially on 50/50 balls where no one has initiative and it isn't necessarily time to get defensive. I drilled more in this week than I normally get to as I had my good friend and his wife visiting for a few days, and this felt really nice – though one thing I've noticed about myself is that practice and match play seldom feel the same, maybe that's overall true for everyone. I've decided to adopt the approach of working as hard as possible on form when drilling though, with the understanding that a strong foundation can still be flexible? I'll find a better way to word that eventually.

I'll not be linking to any league footage this time around, as I continue to work at puzzling out what happened to the last video. If the issue with videos vanishing seems to persist, it will likely lead to me decided to do more individual recording – but the whole thing is a touch odd.

Tuesday
Tuesday was an evening of mixed youth coaching and personal work. I was in fact able to get some technical correction and begin to work on developing a backhand loop off of deep underspin in the way that I had hoped. I was also able to get in some very nice work on my forehand push, which still has a long way to go but felt better with the small correction to the paddle angle. I was also able to work on my loop, block, and chop with one of the better players I know whom I hadn't seen in a while. It's incredible the difference in consistency when I start working with someone who can block crisper, or loop better. I welcome it though, I absolutely do. Overall I came out of the day feeling good about the direction of my training, as well as about the theory I had been building in my mind about how to best utilize position two and three for backhand effectiveness.

Thursday
Week three of being in charge of league night and certainly there are still some kinks I need to work out in terms of how quickly I can get set up, get the sign in table situated, get the stream started, and still find time to get a good warmup! Fortunately I had a bit more help and did get in a pretty nice looping warmup, but notably I didn't do any pips work before match play. I think I regret this. I don't believe I have the feel yet to just use the pips, especially as I'm trying to transition to less and less 'keep it in play' and more 'create advantageous situations when you can' – I want to win more games rather than lose less games, etc.

In my first match I got immeditely rolled by the top player on the table, despite good showings recently against him. I struggled very much with return of serve with my pips and I basically feel as if I was never even in the match at all. I may have come up with 8 points in the second game, but this was bolstered by multiple service errors and free points.

Moving into the second match I still had some mental hangups and my mood wasn't what it should have been. It was a very back and forth match, and included one unfortunate moment where my opponent went for the 'cho' after a big forehand, not realizing I had in fact made it over and was taking a crack at the ball. I ultimately decided that it didn't effect me and I missed not because of the yell, but because I just missed, but this was followed up with a rather unfortunate let call after what I felt was one of my best serves. I had to call my only time out of the night at this point, because I could feel the tilt rising, and I just needed to recenter . We made it to 8-8 in game four, and I was leading 2-1 at the time, when the most memorable portion of the night began. From this moment foreward, as far as I recollect (video review to come) I didn't return a single serve in the eventual 3-2 loss. In the moment this was crushing mentally, but with a clearer mind I'm looking forward to reviewing it and trying to learn from it instead. His services are very strong compared to my return level, and I should relish more the opportunity to work against it.

Game three was a more or less routine match win against a lower seed, though I did once again drop a game and the overall number of pip errors on the night continued to grow.

Game four I had finally reset mentally, but it was more so a carefree lack of concern at that point, like a resignation to how my game was going and a lack of competitive spirit that remained. I remember commenting to my opponent that I wasn't really playing to win, just not to be embarrassed at that point. It was a much more casual atmosphere than normal for a club match, because he matched that energy and was pretty relaxed as well. We had a tight match that ended in a 3-2 loss for me with a 17-15 deciding game. Looking back I might find that I had opportunity that I missed, but its hard to look at it with the knowledge of how I was mentally and not think that's the bigger thing to work at.

Overall a 1-3 night on a table where I feel I'm just about middle of the pack. I think I'll work on my warmup routine and habits a bit, and I'll continue to work on the mental side of things always. I know I can tilt, I know I have tools to help prevent it, but I also ultimately need to work harder at decided if we're trying to win – or trying to learn. As I'm working on things, like aggressive return, looping more, etc. it shouldn't surprise me if it isn't going well, accepting that drop in level as your refine things is important. I need to mentally approach it more so as what it is, rather than what I sometimes think of it as. Club is fun, I want to do well, but ultimately it's a smaller closed club and this isn't the rating that 'matters' though maybe none really should. I continue to improve, and I don't need to get frustrated so easily.

On a positive note, my best friend swept the second table, huzzah!

Friday
This was a long session in my barn on my personal table with my friend. We worked on assorted drills that worked on an aspect of both of our games – and the basis for that was actually the forum. I saw the recent post about recovery triangles, and Debaters comment about drills that work both sides, and decided to implement it a bit more myself.

The back half of the session was me trying to learn more about how he approaches his service game. It was pretty insightful, and once again showed me that there are so many ways to think about (and explain!) this sport I also got in some good service receiving practice against different spins and placements, though having an idea of what to do with what spin where won't matter until I can actually do a better job of gauging serves better. We're still in the thinking phase of learning.

Saturday
There isn't much to say about this day, despite more good drilling, because I don't usually go into the details of training. I seemingly use this blog more to document my mental approach, or tangible record training volume? Either way, instead this is a good place to talk about how I have been enjoying coaching the youth, and how I've been getting plenty of practice feeding multiball and assorted drills. It still feels crazy to me how much technique there is in this as well. Feeding looked very easy, and has proven anything but. My current trouble is removing my own sidespin from drop bounce heavy deep under feeds. I'd love to get better at this thing and it was nice that I had so many opportunities this week to work at it.

Sunday
This is the cherry on top, really. I got in fantastic drilling work and can really feel it in the legs. I worked on my inverted arsenal on both wings, worked footwork really well, had some match play simulation, and managed to get in one of the most fun doubles matches I've played in some time!

The drilling was lots of forehand/backhand transition, wide to wide, with the attacker looping to a set side and the blocker moving them left and right. This felt amazing good today, one thing I can say is that all of the looping this week has left me feeling very good on that side, the confidence is very high. The backhand confidence is a bit lower though, mostly practicing inverted focus has me feeling less consistent with the pips, and the inverted shots are all still very raw and thus can break down more easily. I've also added that element of 'which side to use' which I didn't have when I was playing predominantly pips shots only, and only using the inverted a few times a match. Still, in the intermediate and long runs, this will strengthen me immensely, and I can even see some short term impact already as well.

That match play showed mixed results, but I had the right mentality today and was willing to take the lumps and appreciate the valuable live ball practice.

The doubles match was surreal in a sense. Myself and our usual table one winner, against my friend and our clubs best* player (whom can't play regularly right now). My side ended up losing 3-1 in a tight fourth game. Wildly though, the next event that comes in to the facility after us was early, and we had an audience. I'm sure that was the most people I've had watching any table tennis I've played in my entire life. It was very much nerve-wracking! We also got a lot of questions about the rules of the game, and the sport at the Olympics, and so that was pretty neat overall. Not an experience I expect to repeat any time, but one I really rather enjoyed I think

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Looking ahead, its even more valuable that I played so much this week, as next week will be very light. Just Tuesday/Thursday if I'm looking at it right. I'll take the opportunity to rest and relax (it is an anniversary trip after all) and then we'll probably have a very sporadic end of month due to the holidays. Given that, this may be my last real week of training until the new year. If so, I feel I made it count.

Aside: I don't seem to have much of an EJ problem anymore, maybe? I've been on this blade/pip combination for just around ten months now, and within that I've been using this blade for at least five years. I did however change my inverted recently, at first only because I was interested in color, and that has been a very positive change. Still, that success hasn't made me feel like changing anything more, so yeah, maybe I'm free of it!

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USATT Tournament: 1443 - USATT League - 1680 - Club: 1598


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PostPosted: 31 Dec 2021, 16:48 
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Breaking format due to the weird nature of the last two weeks, and to account for my gap week that I just realized I missed for no clear reason!

Anyway!

Just played the last league night of the year, my first night playing in two weeks, and overall a night where I was absolutely not feeling it. I had trouble finding energy the whole night through, my already subpar footwork was actually humorously bad at points tonight. I generally felt more like I was flailing that playing for long periods of time. And yet, I'm glad I got to play. I'm not good enough to take breaks without feeling it, so it was expected.

All that said, I got something of a precious gem tonight. Rather than recount the entire night, I'll just share this one video, where coach was commentating into my recording. Fun stuff! I wish I had played better to get more insights, but alas, still super neat for me.

And also, sharing a video from the normal perspective helps me see how I need to get back to managing my weight, yikes. Or at least managing my fitness, the falloff from November to now is actually pretty severe. That's what new year resolutions are all about, right?



I suppose of note, I don't think coach is against the pips, and actually I've been getting more pip technical advice of late and I'm super hyped about it. Coach just knows that I can let them become crutch like, especially the higher up I play right now. He wants me to use inverted more and work through it, and I unfortunately can't always get the mentals right when it comes to play to learn not to win (or in my case 'not to lose embarrassingly')

Again, not my best night, not my best match, and Ronnie was on fire. 18-0 in games for him tonight, so I wasn't the only one to get burned! But even so, a nice cap to the 2021 that saw me jump from 700 to 1400 in my first full year of being at a structured club. I have a new five year goal that I still dare not speak aloud, but I'm certainly more optimistic about my room for growth coming into 2022 than I would have been had I never moved here!

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PostPosted: 25 Jan 2022, 02:04 
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Well how about that, I guess I haven't updated this yet this month, oops!

I spent some time in the early weeks of January to come up with a fully ramped up training plan, which once I get fully into it will call for something like 11 hours at the table a week, with an additional 3 hours of TT specific agility/footwork drills, and an additional 4 hours or so of general fitness. It's a pretty robust goal, and thus far I haven't been able to hit the full 18 hours. Still, I wanted to schedule it out in such a way that I could accommodate it once my body catches up with my goals. I've been prioritizing table work, followed by agility, and what I've been cutting most frequently is general work - in this case swimming (because winter weather has me really against leaving the house) and cycling (because indoor cycling is somehow even less fun than the treadmill).

In the previous week I was able to catch all of my table time hours, two of my agility hours, and two of my general hours - so that's getting really close to the full load. Unfortunately, somewhere in the process I've managed to maybe pinch a nerve, maybe just end up with a sensitive spot in my lower back? I tried acupuncture for the first time last week to try to help, and while it did seem to ease it I overall decided that it wasn't the correct healing path for me. I also established care with the best massage therapist I've ever dealt with - that made a much more immediate impact on my back/hip and just the whole of me. I'll be visiting him every two weeks as part of the preventive care and to ensure I can keep pushing myself. Still, this back thing lingers a bit, so this upcoming week I'll be giving the chiropractor a go just to see.

Because of the way our Sunday practice is structured now, I'm getting a ton of technical work on my forehand loop, as well as my overall inverted game. I also usually get in small hitting sessions with coach at junior training events, and early in warmups on league nights - so I feel very much like I'm getting enough feedback in those areas to continue to grow. However, as this is the case, I've decided to additionally work with our top rated player on Saturday afternoons to develop my chopping game and feel. I'm really excited to have some structured practice and drilling for this purpose, as I've really felt my defense lagging behind in shot quality.

Groundwork aside, I also played some pretty telling practice matches last Thursday. As we work to integrate the students whom are now participating in our league it allowed me more chances to play against first time matchups, and overall I was content with my adjustments and ability to find the ways to play my game and drive play - though in my single match that was with a club regular I realized that I'm not playing fundamentally sound table tennis so much as I'm playing the matchup - trying to hit to perceived weak points rather than taking easier shots that would extend points or pressure the opponent to move more, etc. I think this is something that can happen pretty easily when you play people regularly, but as a mental point it is something I'll want to focus on moving forward.

I've also been getting feedback from a number of players about my serves and my service rhythm. I need to be more deliberate in terms of creating timing inconsistency and also need to continue to develop serve variations. A work in progress that is trending well, but my short serves are still higher than I want, and my overall spin levels will hopefully continue to improve as I get more feel through repetition.

So weeks ahead will looks somewhat like this:

Monday - Agility/Cardio/Robot Work/Service Work
Tuesday - Junior Class/Strength/Cardio/Robot Work/Service Work
Wednesday - Light Cardio
Thursday - Light Cardio/League Night
Friday - Cardio/Strength/Agility/Robot Work/Service Work
Saturday - Agility/Chopping Work/General Table Work
Sunday - Strength/Cardio/Fundamentals Work

And then every other Monday will be a full rest day which should coincide with the same week as my massage appointment, hopefully.

So yeah, that's the plan through mid March, at which point the morning junior class will be done and I'll have to think about what small changes I need to make. It's always good to revisit and structure workout/fitness every six weeks or so anyway.

That's about all for now, but maybe I'll regularly update again after this, orrrr maybe not. We'll see!

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PostPosted: 04 Nov 2022, 12:55 
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A short update while I've magically been thinking about this:

Looks like it's been nearly a year, and this one has been pretty interesting. I've now finished five of what will be seven tournaments this year, and am currently in the midst of the first of two camps - needless to say this means the last two months of the year currently project to be very busy.

In the past ten months I thought I had been training pretty diligently, and the hours put in would seemingly back that up - however what I recently realized is that at some point I lost focus in how I was training, and so probably there's a good chunk of time spent working on this thing that wasn't used as well as it could have been. I'm ok with this setback, because right now I'm refocused and I still feel pretty good about where I'm at against the timeline I set for myself.

Playing is a touch weird right now, I've reached this point where I feel more like a collection of strokes than a player. If I go out and work on any individual skill or drill I'm ok, but when I try to turn those pieces into a structure I get a bit lost still. Overall though, I can't possible look at my game now and not think I'm in a significantly better place than January!

We'll see moving forward if I remember to think about this more; and certainly I could go back and detail a bit more of my year at least for my own sake when I revisit this down the road.

Next tournament is just next Friday, so maybe I'll even get some video in (for the first time in what feels like forever - further proof of the lack of focus in training, perhaps)

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PostPosted: 16 Nov 2022, 09:46 
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Ok! So now a bit more on expansion on what's been happening this year.

I've done six tournaments and a camp so far this year, on top of maintaining weekly league play and two-three practice days a week.

I'll kinda outline where I was and how I did below:

Davison - Interesting tournament due to being played in racquetball rooms, performance was roughly as I would have expected for the time. Early enough in the year that I haven't really kicked off my new training enough to see anything. Fun overall because it was a tournament I didn't travel to alone, as well. As a location this tournament could be fairly regular, but I had issues with the way sound echoed and don't think I'll head up this way very often.

South Bend - Results were positive, started to see more growth in recognition of when to attack with inverted and also played some very tight matches. Unfortunately this is also the first tournament where I ended up withdrawing due to fatigue/injury.

Akron - An overwhelming experience at first, due in large part to being the first tournament I'd traveled to completely alone. Started playing fairly well, but fell during a rally on the first day and the injury caused me to drop about half of my matches for the weekend. I liked the experience still and planned to come back to the venue, etc.

Columbus - My first attempt at playing less and visiting more, I took my wife alone and had a better balance of matches to being a tourist. This helped me finish the tournament without missing any matches or getting any injury flare up. It also helps keep my wife receptive to the time I invest into the sport to have experiences like this once in a while.

Libertyville - Worst I've played since moving and starting to train in earnest. I'm realizing now that there was something of a break in my focus and how I was using the hours leading up to this one - but also this was a tournament where the space between my ears led to incredibly bad decision making the entire time. A really good wake up call.

Camp - This was pretty exhausting but had an immediate impact on at least my confidence in basic strokes and execution. The work I got out of this was really really good, though in some ways it's a bit of a shame because the outcome of this camp led to the decision to start trying to do twiddle shakehand instead of using Seemiler shots - so much of the foundational backhand work is of a bit less value. Still, the emphasis on basic skills translated really well for me in the short term.

Akron - If you exclude my day two 9 AM event this was maybe the best I've ever played. I melded aspects of my game together really well across a variety of matches and saw myself using stroke combinations and moving my feet quite well (though still not well enough!) I was more comfortable with the venue and even knew a few people and that helped as well. Someday I have to figure out how to get myself going for a 9 AM event though - I don't know that outcomes would have changed, but the lack of compete and energy in video isn't great.

-

So where I'm at now is starting to adjust to hitting shakehand backhand counter/block/push and I'm expecting a brief (maybe not brief?) step back while I get adjusted to that. I'd like to give that change at least 6 months to see what I can do with it. As I already didn't employ the Seemiller inverted as much as I'd eventually like, it isn't replacing that many shots for current me. In fact in practice so far I've doing more inverted while I try to get adjusted, ironically enough.

I've got another trip to Columubus at the start of next month, and might be doing team even in Indy in December as well, and then I'll finish out this year with another camp. After which I'll probably take the start of January off to a degree while I plan the year to come and start trying to implement a few more healthy habits in training and life.

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PostPosted: 06 Jan 2023, 12:44 
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Welcome to 2023, eh?

Gonna try to update this somewhere around four times a month as part of my updated review and note taking plan, but as usual there's absolutely no guarantee that will happen. Keeping a physical notebook now, and that should in theory make it easier to transpose, but it's still effort that I may or may not want to expend as the year progresses.

I'm in what I'm considering my off-season right now, and I expect to resume regular tournament play in March with the return of the St. Joe Valley Open. What this means is I'm putting a greater emphasis on physical training and worrying a bit less about being able to be 100% for some weekends, this will be something that I'll of course need to balance, but hopefully with some of the changes I'm making I'll hold up. More on this below.

One thing I have been and will continue to mess with is my blade and maybe my inverted rubber choice. I've very tempted to shake up my LP as well, but the DG has been very good to me - and after only a year with it I don't think I'm at all close to maximizing it, if I do though it will be to try the Lion Trapper Pro or the SpinLord Strahlkraft, both of which I think could be somewhat better for the attacking strokes and active game I'm now working on. Still, the DG doesn't feel bad attacking, maybe more challenging that the Blitzschlag but also a much higher quality ball because of the demanding execution. After messing around with the Stiga Cybershape and Gambler Balsa Knight, I somewhat think I have a feel for what I'm looking for in a blade change, and thus I'm going to try moving to the SpinLord Ultra Carbon. I'll once again be sticking with a standard head size rather than the defensive size - which is something I often debate with myself, but am not ready to try changing. For the forehand, I'm really missing the Marder IV Special and the standard Marder IV isn't doing it for me. So! I'll be trying the Ocelot Medium, which is I believe the sponge that was on the Marder IV special, and I'll be revisiting SpinLord Tanuki, both in black and both in max, with the OX DG in blue. I feel like I enjoy how the carbon feels on the DG, but am interested to see how it will translate to a slower carbon. I'm moderately confident that I can adjust to the speed increase on the forehand side as well, but I will certainly be monitoring.

Anyway, general preface aside, let's get into the week.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

To start talking about this year I need to touch on the final Seemiller camp on the 29-31 of December. This was my second camp in the last month or so and coach generally follows the same format, so I knew what to expect, and I somewhat knew what I was shooting for in personal goals. The easiest of these goals to tangibly explain is getting through the weekend and being able to push myself and give strong effort across all three days. Happy to say this was a success. I've started doing programming through Peak Performance Table Tennis, which came about rather naturally after finally getting around to getting the book, and I think this is going to be really helpful in helping me stay on track a bit better in 2023 compared to last year, where injury was one of my major derailing factors.

This camp was also very interesting for a second reason, after last camp coach mentioned that I should give up on the Seemiller style and simplify my game by going to shakehand, and so I took that and ran with it for the month between, focusing on twiddling and learning inverted backhand strokes. Now, much to my surprise I had misunderstood somewhat, because at this time he doesn't want me twiddling at all and instead wants me to focus on being able to handle all kinds of balls with the pips themselves. This is somewhat contentious, as many of you can imagine, but in a way I feel like it makes sense for the me of right now. It's a further simplification that get's me somewhat closer to playing more and thinking less, and also I generally feel like using pips in the situations I would primarily twiddle isn't worse, though the biggest exception to this feels like the push.

The camp went well in terms of growth, I really honed in the technique and ways I can practice my loop, something that's going to be a key to continued growth as I'm not even sure if I'm a defender in mindset anymore. I also picked up a new service which I absolutely adore, for the first time I somewhat feel like I have a viable short serve option that really opens up the rest of my BH service game. This is something I'll be continuing to hone in the coming months. Every fundamental stroke is also feeling sharp right now, there's nothing quite like that right after camp feeling where you have absurd levels of confidence in each stroke because you've committed hours of each day to them.

Following the three days of camp, we also decided to get together and play on the 1st in an open practice, and I even held up nicely through that. It's really a nice sign, because I have some really physically demanding goals this year, but I think I've really stepped up both my preparation and my recovery practices, and will continue to add things as they make sense. In 2022 I relied on regular visits to a massage therapist as well as a healthy amount of rolling, but didn't do too much else. In 2023, with the additions of focused strength training, a shakti mat (which is a fantastic thing, even if a bit intimidating (I'll be forever grateful to the gentlemen whom suggested it to me in Columbus last month), and additional icing tools, I really think I'll be able to push myself and keep the momentum through the year. I'm hoping to make at least two week long trips to Akron this year as both major growth opportunities and checks on my physical fitness, and then my year end goal is to be able to do both of the winter camps, fingers crossed but also lunch pail ready.

As for the open play itself? It was a very nice week for that, we had a good variety of our more serious players attend and I was able to get really nice underspin loop practice in with our clubs not me chopper, and I got to start working on drilling my BH pips counter in earnest as well. This was also a good trial run of the new BH service and 3rd ball patterns. In the short term it felt like changing my loop form led to worse counterloop drilling, but there's an expected adjustment period here.

I'm trying to make sure I get a incrementally increasing amount of table time as I build to this, and so this month I sat down and planned out where all I can play, what days I can pick up time, and even been checking the weather for opportunities to slide out into the barn without needing much kerosene. It just so happens that this last Tuesday was that kind of day, and so I got in a nice hour and a half of footwork, service, FH loop, and BH pips counter practice in. I'm hoping that when the weather is nice this time of year I'll be able to lure some people out for better work than this, but I'm not turning down time at the table even alone. Need to make sure I'm doing a good job of using the random speed and oscillation when practicing longer sessions so that it's better drilling, but also ok with stationary drilling wile I'm trying to build consistent form on new concepts.

The only other play time I'll be getting this week was tonight, because I'll be doing more holiday travel this coming weekend. Due to some conflicts in my perceived schedule, I ended up missing Wednesday's gym session and so I did it this morning instead, and also I foolishly forgot my glasses at home when I left tonight. Still, I can't say I played poorly, while I'm once again building the loop and looking for what situations I can handle using it, I expect losses, the key is if the reps were good. I'd say in 4/5 matches there were good, and I feel overall positive on the night, but I am surprised at how poorly I was moving in my 5th match of the night. It feels strange to feel so tired, even after lifting, when I wasn't feeling that kind of fatigue during the camp. Perhaps just my general level of hype for the camp made it easier to push through, and it's a matter of missing focus at regular league night? I'm not sure, but it's not going to be a common thing I imagine, I've always had nights like this here and there. Saw some really good success with attacking different balls with the pips tonight as well, the error ratio isn't great, but I don't expect it to be at this time. Generally felt good about the shots I was trying, decision making at the end of the night could have been better, but I was deep in my head about my legs not listening at that point.

Key points from this week, per the notes I took along the way: Continue to put emphasis on grooving new loop technique, continue to find opportunities to drill and use the new BH counter stroke, remember that playing faster doesn't help you beat better opponents, be especially mindful about when you turn the corner and FH down the line - this has to be played at the right time or it's an instant loss to anyone with a block

Highlight of the week: I seldom get to practice looping against chop, so this week that was the most fun and interesting drill for me.

Week ahead: Travelling to Indy for their Monday league, and then the regular Thursday league here, and open play on both Saturday and Sunday.

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PostPosted: 18 Jan 2023, 10:45 
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So I actually made it home just a bit earlier than I expected on Sunday the 8th and managed to sneak in about 45 minutes of table time. It's always really nice to find moments like these, and to my surprise a former club mate whom has since moved was in town as well, so I got some match play I've been missing.

The next day I did travel for the league and while it's about two and a half hours one way, I think it's a very good sometimes food. My goal is to do this once a month, but as I went out and played well enough on their table C to win, I decided that if at all possible I'd come back the next week to try and move up and help better situate myself for future one off visits. My notes from the night are primarily on my serve setups and which worked and which didn't, against whom, and somewhat of why I think that was the case, and I also noted that at that level I was happy that I didn't sit back and play down like I sometimes tend to. Good levels of controlled aggression and continued work on looping even when maybe a safer consistent playstyle would have made for more comfortable wins. Wins are what we're after, anyway. We want good lessons in our losses and good reps in all of our game play. This was the last night I played with the Ultra Spin as well.

Next up was my club's regular Thursday night league, we had a fairly unfortunate number of nine, so I requested/offered to play both tables and get extra matches in. This was accepted and thus it was an eight match night. I ended up winning the first table tonight as well, and overall was 7-1 on the evening, though not without many a near miss. I got both of my new Ultra Carbon's in prior to this league and tried both while warming up. I got Tanuki and Ocelot Med in max, and it didn't take long at all to realize that Tanuki felt absolutely terrible and the Ocelot felt absolutely great. I've been playing strictly the Ocelot since and will continue to use this rubber and blade combination through this coming year. Notably faster FH, but not so much that it's felt like I'm forced to play tentatively, better action off of loop blocks, and seemingly a bit easier to counter and attack with the pips as well, time will tell how much of that is real. I made a note here about how I needed to get good drilling work in on the coming weekend. Foreboding?

On Saturday I was able to get four matches against my favorite practice opponent and spent the rest of the session doing mixed drilling, both with him and my coach. I worked on looping, blocking, 3rd ball attacking off of a pushed serve, going from underspin to topspin looping, falkenberg, and a drill that helps with my decision making with a set opening three balls and then random, all played at lower speed and with a focus on shot recognition. It was a pretty great day of table tennis, honestly.

Sunday was a better turnout than our Thursday league, which just never happens, and is awesome. We ran a mini league where I played four more matches, I also picked up a match against my coach, and one of our rarely seen better players who happened to stop in. I also did some work on counter loop and chop. In all I think I should have gotten more drilling in on this day, though the quality of the matches was good and I'm certainly still working on things, given I had even more matches coming on Monday, it just feels like maybe I could have been more intentional in how I used this time. Still, I have notes in my book about feeling good on the BH attack progress, though I also have a warning note about not getting snappy with the stroke in an attempt to chase speed and power. Gotta build the stroke and believe in the process!

Monday I went back to the Indy league and played mostly out of my mind. That's really the only way to describe it I think, I was looping well, serving a good mix, defending well, and my errors were way down. But! I also lost two matches in brutal 0-3 fashion where I couldn't be patience and play good points, and those experiences somewhat sum the whole of me up right now. I need more consistency, but it's nice to see what I can do with the top end, just need to move that average up to match. I got nice feedback about patience and how crucial it is. I also had a fair bit of luck in a match where I was down 0-2 and managed to come back through a mix of tenacity and the nerves of my opponent. Good experience.

Key points: Be patient, both in how we assess our growth, but also in how we play and build our points. Keep looping, this is a valuable time to gauge how and when I can loop and what that looks like, it's all about experience right now. Continue to build off this new serve, the early returns are looking nice, it has good synergy with how I like to setup.

Highlight of the week: It was only a practice match, but I took my first ever game off my coach, so that was pretty cool.

Week ahead: Frighteningly barren, I'll miss my club's league and both weekend open plays for the last holiday trip of the season, and then I don't have any other long distance trips planned in the month either. My hope is for a day or two of 40+ outside so that I can get an hour or two in my barn between now and the 25th or so.

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PostPosted: 01 Feb 2023, 13:10 
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And thus January is in the books, unfortunately that bleak table time outlook was exactly what came to pass and so I've only played three additional times to finish the month out.

Aside from table time I was able to get in nearly the number of lifting sessions I'd hoped, very close to my weight loss goal for the month, I hit a few of my fringe performance goals like traveling to another club and magically winning my clubs top table, and generally feel good about the whole. It's worth noting my diet changes are coming along a bit slower, not hitting all of my protein goals and still not balancing the food groups great, hopefully just being more routine in February is going to help stabilize this. I had either been gone or had guests staying with me 16/31 days in January. With the holiday season over I'm going to be much more able to get into the training groove, I hope.

Onto the table time.

The first night was our weekly league, where I came out very weakly and playing too fast in my first match. It's not a match I'm winning any time soon, if ever, but there are plenty of things I wasn't pleased with myself about. I still play too fast in this type of situation and I don't always get as much value out the experience as I should as a result. This should be a match I can play relatively freely in, and instead I get tight pretty frequently when playing up up.

The rest of the night though worked out in my favor, and I got some valuable match play in. I was able to play our clubs short pip pen player and felt I handled the type of ball he gives better than I have in the past, I was able to work my forehand in more as well and get into some fun rallies. Not all pips are equal and not all players use them the same, and I don't think much of this matchup transfer to another short pip matchup I face that's been troubling me, still I could see some progress.

I also got the rare chance to play against a slick anti, and this is actually a very interesting thing - I've lost badly to other long pip users who have better control over the dead ball rally than I do, but in this matchup I was the one coming out on top of the dead ball exchanges. I think we play somewhat similarly, and it's nice to see some of the shots he can pull off, his forehand is also well above me, but my stability won the night.

In one of the more familiar matches I face each week I was able to come away with a win after employing good use of spin variation in backhand to backhand rallies as well. My opponent in this match is able to spin up chops to hid backhand pretty consistely without giving me extra spin to work with, and I don't have the confidence to hit through that return well on that wing yet, so instead I scrubbed spin and by about the third exchange he would make a mistake. In looking at this, I know what I need to to find the time and attack there, because I'm getting the type of ball I want back from this and it's not reliable to hope for an error in this.

My second to last match was the previous weeks table two winner, and I played a strong game here, I didn't play down like I have sometimes tended to do in the past. He also wasn't his best self, I play with him fairly regularly and I really like the direction his game is going, but tonight my ruthlessness and his poor form gave me a pretty quick match.

Finally I snuck in an elusive win over our clubs second best consistent player. There's not much to say about this match other than sometimes tenacity pays, it was a lot less about me than it was about his self destruction. He rolled me over very easily in the first game, then mentally checked out for the next two, before once again just letting the fourth slip by with little fight. I think he had some other tough losses in the night and some additional fatigue, but in the fifth he got a bit tight and ultimately I snuck in the win. I'm expecting this to go much differently next week.

For the weekend I had my good friend visiting and he came along to both sessions. We got in quite a bit of quality fundamental work on Saturday and also got to do drills with the coach. I'd give Saturday a very high rating in terms of energy level, effort, and quality of the practice. Drills were for alternating type of topspin shot, and a heavy emphasis on the forehand push and looking for balls to open against in the push game. I also worked a bit on my out of hand loop, of course on service, and got in a Bo3 practice match with my coach where I was able to feel some things click a bit. Playing him on the weekend he usually gives more opportunity to attack and let's more points occur.

Sunday was a bit of a different story, started out strong and energetic or so I thought, went through fundamental drills, was more or less in the swing of things, and then we had an important club meeting in the middle of the session. I was unable to get my energy back after it ended and just felt so very heavy. We played the table game and my performance was just all over the place, not a consistent effort, fairly disappointing focus, you name it. I think these are important experiences because you have to learn how to rediscover that focus in a tournament setting sometimes, and I didn't have it this day. I'll have to think about some more ways I can try to get back into it.

Key Points: Continue to focus on the reset between strokes stay very active and engaged in the game at all times, continue to put emphasis on the turn while looping until that feeling becomes more natural, be faster on the forehand push

Highlight of the week: Getting to work drills with my friend again, it'd been too long

Week Ahead: Blessed Normalcy, league into open play.

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PostPosted: 09 Feb 2023, 03:21 
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Another week or so in the books, and maybe we're back on track (not that we were very far off of it, but it still feels nice)

Started the previous week on the wrong foot when I accidentally tweaked something in my neck/shoulders while doing pull-ups, which I'm going to go on record by saying this is the most innocent way I've ever hurt myself. This pain somewhat tempered the rest of the week, wasn't terrible, just ever present and it got to the point where it was making me quite irritable by the time Monday rolled around. Fortunately I was able to manage it by moving workouts around, using the shakit mat and foam roller, and finally getting into a massage yesterday. We'll find out later today how much it's still lingering when it comes to lifting, but my sleep is back to where I like it and so I'm optimistic for the week to come.

Last Thursday league I felt like I was in very poor form, I was still able to win when expected and also lose when expected, but throughout the entire night I just felt off. I'm also messing with a different pre-workout and haven't quite decided if I like it for table time/drilling or not, and that could have played a roll in that feeling as well. I was feeling a bit hard on myself and my effort levels and this is reflected in my paper notes. It's somewhat hard to toe the line of wanting to work on particular shots but also playing right point to point. I didn't look for enough forehands and that's a mental error I need to control better. I don't have much else noted, but from memory I really was just flat.

Saturday was an absolute anomoly where we didn't have our regular players and at the last minute our coach had to deal with some unexpected situations, so I ended up mostly helping coach our junior players and also did a bit of work with a fellow adult player who regularly gets lessons as well. At the time I was frustrated, though I don't think I let that show, especially when working with the kids. Honestly, it went well. The juniors had a good time and we worked pretty much the entire back half of the day, focus levels were good, they listen well, and in hindsight some of the emphasis I put on showing the basics as I understand also helped me as well. As long as situations like these aren't the norm I'm pretty comfortable doing it. Having said that, without the hindsight I was feeling really low, it was three straight long table sessions where I didn't feel like I'd gotten enough work in, and I'm in a period of the year where I get anxious somewhat easily.

Sunday was a great fix for all that mentally was bothering me. Got in really good drilling, got in some match play, the club had solid turnout and it felt like a good atmosphere as well. We have more of these days than not, and the trend is absolutely positive. In particular I was very happy with a topspin all over drill where I was countering with the pips and got into a really nice groove for a bit. Of course this was immediately lost in practice match play, the stroke just isn't there yet. Also finally got to drill the backhand I was excited to try. Progress! Matchplay felt good, lighter on my feet, a bit more bounce. Need to get back into the habit of recording practice sessions so I can check how well I'm resetting between shots. That and the turn are my two biggest points of emphasis until such time as they're more automatic.

Lifting through the week went well, strength is coming along, flexibility is feeling pretty good. I miss some of the long form cardio I was doing before I started training with coaching, but maybe soon I can pick up a bit more of that. Can't rush. Really battling the 'I need to work harder' feelings while also trusting the process.

Key points: Bad days are gonna happen, keep a nice big picture view. Play practice matches more intentionally. Continue to work hard but without injury.

Highlight of the week: It was a rougher week, but I did enjoy Sunday quite a bit.

Week ahead: League, Open Play x2, Indy League

_________________
Blog: Thinking Octopus Thoughts
USATT Tournament: 1443 - USATT League - 1680 - Club: 1598


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PostPosted: 09 Feb 2023, 03:21 
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Another week or so in the books, and maybe we're back on track (not that we were very far off of it, but it still feels nice)

Started the previous week on the wrong foot when I accidentally tweaked something in my neck/shoulders while doing pull-ups, which I'm going to go on record by saying this is the most innocent way I've ever hurt myself. This pain somewhat tempered the rest of the week, wasn't terrible, just ever present and it got to the point where it was making me quite irritable by the time Monday rolled around. Fortunately I was able to manage it by moving workouts around, using the shakit mat and foam roller, and finally getting into a massage yesterday. We'll find out later today how much it's still lingering when it comes to lifting, but my sleep is back to where I like it and so I'm optimistic for the week to come.

Last Thursday league I felt like I was in very poor form, I was still able to win when expected and also lose when expected, but throughout the entire night I just felt off. I'm also messing with a different pre-workout and haven't quite decided if I like it for table time/drilling or not, and that could have played a roll in that feeling as well. I was feeling a bit hard on myself and my effort levels and this is reflected in my paper notes. It's somewhat hard to toe the line of wanting to work on particular shots but also playing right point to point. I didn't look for enough forehands and that's a mental error I need to control better. I don't have much else noted, but from memory I really was just flat.

Saturday was an absolute anomoly where we didn't have our regular players and at the last minute our coach had to deal with some unexpected situations, so I ended up mostly helping coach our junior players and also did a bit of work with a fellow adult player who regularly gets lessons as well. At the time I was frustrated, though I don't think I let that show, especially when working with the kids. Honestly, it went well. The juniors had a good time and we worked pretty much the entire back half of the day, focus levels were good, they listen well, and in hindsight some of the emphasis I put on showing the basics as I understand also helped me as well. As long as situations like these aren't the norm I'm pretty comfortable doing it. Having said that, without the hindsight I was feeling really low, it was three straight long table sessions where I didn't feel like I'd gotten enough work in, and I'm in a period of the year where I get anxious somewhat easily.

Sunday was a great fix for all that mentally was bothering me. Got in really good drilling, got in some match play, the club had solid turnout and it felt like a good atmosphere as well. We have more of these days than not, and the trend is absolutely positive. In particular I was very happy with a topspin all over drill where I was countering with the pips and got into a really nice groove for a bit. Of course this was immediately lost in practice match play, the stroke just isn't there yet. Also finally got to drill the backhand I was excited to try. Progress! Matchplay felt good, lighter on my feet, a bit more bounce. Need to get back into the habit of recording practice sessions so I can check how well I'm resetting between shots. That and the turn are my two biggest points of emphasis until such time as they're more automatic.

Lifting through the week went well, strength is coming along, flexibility is feeling pretty good. I miss some of the long form cardio I was doing before I started training with coaching, but maybe soon I can pick up a bit more of that. Can't rush. Really battling the 'I need to work harder' feelings while also trusting the process.

Key points: Bad days are gonna happen, keep a nice big picture view. Play practice matches more intentionally. Continue to work hard but without injury.

Highlight of the week: It was a rougher week, but I did enjoy Sunday quite a bit.

Week ahead: League, Open Play x2, Indy League

_________________
Blog: Thinking Octopus Thoughts
USATT Tournament: 1443 - USATT League - 1680 - Club: 1598


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