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Bad connection and the stream dropped after first set. Ended up loosing 1-3.

Chop wasn't working today, but happy to reach the round of 16

Sent from my CLT-L29 using Tapatalk

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Blade: Victas Yuto Muramatsu
Forehand: Dignics 09c 2.1
Backhand: Curl P1V 1mm

My blog

which is a great result, anyway. Congrats!

Uploaded the Rd. of 16 match since the stream broke (from the other camera that I used for recording):



All in all, it was a good tournament. In the doubles, we were a bit lucky with the draw and got a w.o match then reached the quarterfinals where we lost 0-3 against a good pair from Czechia that later won the final.

This was my first international Veterans tournament and I can recommend joining if you would like to combine a vacation and tt tournament. Depending on your interests you can play only on the tournament days or like me go to the hall 7 days in a row : ). With the consolation system, it is suitable for a wide range of players. Some of the participants had only played for a few years. Hope to see you next year at the European Veterans in Sandefjord, Norway (https://www.evc2023.com/, disclaimer: I'm on the organising committee)

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Blade: Victas Yuto Muramatsu
Forehand: Dignics 09c 2.1
Backhand: Curl P1V 1mm

My blog

I am thinking of going... For someone say 40+, how many matches can one expect to play? It's not like the world tour where you get eliminated and goodbye, correct?

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Attackers: "All pips players are cheaters who can't loop, move, or read spin"
Me: I beg your pardon?

For the singles tournament there is a group stage with 4 in each group. 1-2 in the group go to the championship single elimination and 3-4 go to the consolation single elimination.

So you get at least 4 singles matches. If you get a tough group and end up third you still have a good change to win several matches in the consolation draw.

And its the same system for the doubles: group + main draw or consolation tournament.

These are spread over multiple days. This year it was roughly like this:
Day 1-2: Singles and doubles group stage
Day 3: Rest
Day 4: Main and consolation draw (until round of 32)
Day 5: Round of 16 until quarter finals
Day 6: Semi and finals

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Blade: Victas Yuto Muramatsu
Forehand: Dignics 09c 2.1
Backhand: Curl P1V 1mm

My blog

The European Championship for veterans 2023 has been awarded to the Norwegian Table Tennis Association. The championship will be played in Oslofjord Convention Center in Sandefjord, from Monday 26 June to Saturday 1 July 2023. Denmark and Croatia were also candidates to host the Championship.

I've been planning to restart the blog for a while. Seeing the comeback of Leatherback and the thread about "why did you stop posting" finally motivated me to do it

Since the European veterans last summer I've played plenty of tournaments and league matches. Also tried switching to the Nexy Joo blade but didn't like it all and only used it for a week or so. I'll get back to a few technique things I've learned the last 8 months in a follow up post.

In other news my channel got a big boost from the European Veteran Videos. There seems to be a large interest for veteran table tennis and one of the videos got over 100k views. Unfortunately most of the viewers went away and didn't return for my World Veterans series.. :S

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Blade: Victas Yuto Muramatsu
Forehand: Dignics 09c 2.1
Backhand: Curl P1V 1mm

My blog

Looking forward to hearing more from you! I also didn't like the Nexy JSH...though I REALLY wanted to!

Your current blade is discontinued, right? Hope it's in good shape!

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I like the old Joo blade except that its too heavy and I got the nexy joo blade to see if it would do something for my offensive game. It felt okay for looping but chopping was pretty hard as I'm used to the much flatter/linear feeling of the Yuto Muramatsu. The Nexy feels "hollow" in comparison. Luckily for me the Yuto doesn't seem to be discontinued as you can get it from tt-japan. That would be a big issue since I have two rackets that i alternate between to keep the rubbers in the same condition and replace the blades after 1-2 years when they get too chopped up on the edge (even with extra thick side tape).

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Blade: Victas Yuto Muramatsu
Forehand: Dignics 09c 2.1
Backhand: Curl P1V 1mm

My blog

Here are some pointers that I've noted lately. Much of these are things I've thought about before but keep forgetting. It would be a good idea to have a table tennis diary as a reminder for training and tournaments.

- Warming up chops
I've previously mentioned focusing on rotating the body, but even more important is to focus on using full strokes. Fully extending the arm and not stopping until the arm stops by itself, like if you were trying to chop through something. This improves chop speed and stability.

- Brushing under the ball
For a while I was trying to improve the depth and speed of my backhand chop by not letting it drop as much and hitting more down/forward. I couldn't get any consistency and I think its because I wasn't brushing the ball, instead hitting it more flat making the shot sensitive to incoming spin and with less margin for error.

- Moving between shots and in-between steps
I'm often just standing still waiting for the next shot. This makes me slow and miss balls to the pocket and wide corners. Its like the difference between a flying start and standing start in sprinting. I became more aware of this after watching Florian Bluhm. Take a look at how his "bouncing" between points and is able to retrieve balls to the middle and sides for example here:

https://youtu.be/yLEqkyBimRw?t=311

- Chopping slow heavy to backhand
I have issues with left handed players and players with heavy topspin. Need to brush the ball more, hitting the underside. But to do that also means being better at moving in to the table and sometimes take the ball lower by bending down.

Here is a pretty exciting match from the last round of league matches showing the issue:


See for example the two points at https://youtu.be/L3MOAdcFnd0?t=567 were my opponent loops heavy spin to my backhand and the chop going out or too high.

- Backhand loop

Defenders often get a lot of easy pushes to the backhand and it would be great to have a consistent backhand loop to get some easy points. I spent some weeks training backhand loop every training session and got a bit more consistent but still not able to use it much in matches.

- Serve return

Still struggling with the quality off serve returns. For long spinny serves I'm experimenting with taking a step back to have more time. Also using the inverted side and side spin pushes but its hard to get consistent. For some opponents I think that switching to a serve return stance like an offensive player and just looping long serves could be an effective deterrent.

- General
I think I need to play a "simpler" game, not switching so much between tactics/playing styles. Looking at most good defenders they mainly play defensive far from the table and only occasionally switch up their game. I probably vary my game too much and after missing a few chops stop trusting the defense and rush to play offensive.

Looking forward the main goal this season is of course the European Veterans, but already next weekend is the Norwegian Top 8 tournament. I had a good tournament in January with a lucky draw and managed to qualify for this tournament were the 8 players play in a round robin format.

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Blade: Victas Yuto Muramatsu
Forehand: Dignics 09c 2.1
Backhand: Curl P1V 1mm

My blog

Really nice and enjoyable match magnuseffect!


I totally understand about brushing the ball, but what's the reasoning behind hitting the underside? When I chop I tend to brush more the back of the ball, and as long as I'm brushing fast enough, I feel that I get the control and consistancy, as well as the spin.

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Setup1: Re-Impact Smart, Viper OX, Victas VS 401 Setup2: Re-Impact Barath, Dtecs OX, TSP Triple Spin Chop 1.0mm Setup3: Re-Impact Dark Knight, Hellfire OX, 999 Turbo
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The other option would be to chop the ball slower with the intention to just return it rather low with not the most amount of backspin(even using the spin of the opponent as some aid). I mean in the two points you refer as an example your hand pushes quite a bit forward. For me the option would be to go more downwards (and maybe even not so fast so we lean on the opponent's spin) and less forward without butchering the ball with spin. Yes - this is not the best quality ball (we all know that a great answer to a slow heavy loop is a slow very heavy and short chop, or a very fast and deep one..) and some spin from the opponent's loop will be lost, but you'll be returning the ball on the table (and if it's low it won't be an easy ball for him).

The match video is great - very nice to watch (as always - I really enjoy watching your defense in action )

From the pointers you give yourself for training.. Do you think you could benefit from mixing in some fast long BH serves in the game (to the BH and FH too)? I think this could help make the opponent feel more uncomfortable on receive.

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Thanks haggisv!!

It was a frustrating match. if you look closely you can see the referee pulling out the yellow card near the end : ) But at least it made for a good video to share here

"Underside" is maybe misleading but somewhere between the back and underside of the ball (between 6-9 on a clock). If you brush fast enough you have more margin on where and with what bat angle you contact the ball.

But I've been thinking that hitting it more horizontally should mean even thinner contact. Not sure about the physics but thinking that pips bend to absorb the incoming speed and you can hit more forward for a longer trajectory.

On good chopping days I'm patient, waiting longer and hitting the ball lower. But it also depends on were you are standing in relation to the ball path. If you are close to the table you have to hit higher and more down.

_________________
Blade: Victas Yuto Muramatsu
Forehand: Dignics 09c 2.1
Backhand: Curl P1V 1mm

My blog

Thanks for the watching and the comments!

Hmm maybe a "safety chop" with less racket speed but more downwards and vertical bat angle would have been better in some cases, for example if I'm out of position to hit a good stroke it could mean hitting the table rather than out. I've been training to fight spin with spin (brushing) chops, so its hard to combine both types of chops in a match. But it could work if relaxed.

Thanks also for the tip on long serves! I agree and in training matches I get some easy points from long serves to backhand and forehand. Only issue is that in tournaments the long fast serves are often not long and goes to the middle of the backhand or forehand instead of corners or middle. Probably afraid of missing the serve so I hit the ball a bit softer. Anyway its something I should try more.

_________________
Blade: Victas Yuto Muramatsu
Forehand: Dignics 09c 2.1
Backhand: Curl P1V 1mm

My blog

Yes that makes a lot of sense. I'm going to experiment with this a little, see if it works better for me as well.
Since I play with OX, brushing it lightly is even more important. Controller fast loops is a lot harder in OX, but I prefer OX for the short game.

_________________
OOAK Table Tennis Shop | Re-Impact Blades | Butterfly Table Tennis bats
Setup1: Re-Impact Smart, Viper OX, Victas VS 401 Setup2: Re-Impact Barath, Dtecs OX, TSP Triple Spin Chop 1.0mm Setup3: Re-Impact Dark Knight, Hellfire OX, 999 Turbo
Recent Articles: Butterfly Tenergy Alternatives | Tenergy Rubbers Compared | Re-Impact User Guide