OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Today's session entailed some recalibration of drives and loops, both on and off table for the SC..

- The blade certainly reduces quite the bit of vibration, but on the plus side, it takes less effort to hit the ball back off table. (which is expected)

- Swing speed seemed to lower a bit since I'm not used to using a heavier bat for some time. Mishits and missed balls were common.

- Cranking up the BH seems to really require the use of the wrist for spin, or so I think.

- I've been advised to increase the spin and decrease the speed of my loop off underspin -- I don't have the speed to get the wide FH block.

Finally some match play after the training -- ALL of them were inverted/LP users. I expected some real trashing.

First off, most of them were playing LP on table blocks -- I don't think I ever received a chop today.

Second, I noticed the balls tended to have no spin. And I sent them long. I need more low-long-no spin practice. And more service/service return practice. *sigh*

Match record for today: 2 losses, 1 win.

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Viscaria. H2 Neo 2.15. Tenergy 05 1.9.

I currently maintain a pair of bats, both having similar rubbers on. I'm currently using the Schlager Carbon: it's solid, feels faster than the Yasaka Extra 3D.

Now I'm currently looking at how they play, and so far, although my coach says that the SC is significantly faster, it doesn't look that way from my side. I'm guessing it's probably the effect of the Chinese rubbers I'm using.

I'm thinking of going back to Extra 3D -- and I'd like to hear your ideas.

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Viscaria. H2 Neo 2.15. Tenergy 05 1.9.

Went to the local stadium to play with some other players (who I don't know. )

First up was a j-pen FH loop/trad pen BH player with inverted. I got him on short services, as he was playing a bit too far, but I was too stiff. Got scores of 7,8,7.

Next was a inverted FH/short pips BH. Now this was interesting, as his game was a loop/hit kind of game, the kind I tend to have a lot of problems with. Struggled quite a bit at the first game, took it at 11-9. THEN, I found out why. He was playing two red sheets.

After which I figured it out, I send some services to gauge his service return. Ooh, predictable push, which was prompted punished with a strong loop.
Flat short service to his pips BH resulted in a modest and long no-spin, which was returned with a loop to start the rally.

Whew, was actually tough playing with the guy with same color sheets. Fortunately, he didn't twiddle. Thank goodness.

Last was a inverted FH/anti BH left-hand player, who promptly decimated me with well-placed fast topspin services on the wide FH and middle. Found out the hard way that I haven't got much experience against left-handed players. Ugh.

Great night though, since I got to play with guys who I just met.

Just found this unsolicited advice odd from the scorer: "Sir, you're using a hard sponge? That doesn't have much spin, you use it for drives."

Uh oh.

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Viscaria. H2 Neo 2.15. Tenergy 05 1.9.

Looks like your day went well Yuzuki!

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Setup 1: BTY Photino FH Donic Platin BH Inspirit Quattro
Setup 2: BTY Amultart FH Inspirit Quattro BH TSP Bjorn

1W, 2L is a tad better than 3L.

But really, the expedition was meant for a club environment look-around.

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Viscaria. H2 Neo 2.15. Tenergy 05 1.9.

I think you had two wins. You won a match and you has fun!

One wierd thing to visualize to help you get more spin and consistancy on the loops... Of course stay low and crouched and contact the ball at the correct point, etc... but try this out...

Imagine that your hitting arm is broken on the forearm or on the wrist. You hang your arm kinda like it is in a sling and the wrist hurts like all letout. Your upper arm and forearm make a 90 degree angle and the wrist is bent down. (The fingers won't grip real tight, remember - pain) (That helps the muscles stay relaxed before the explosion)

This bending of the arm takes away some power from the loops, but with a low squat stance, helps you use the lower body to help start and control the loop. The bent arm staying kind of close to the body is a key to control. The bent wrist pivots forward at the finish of the loop to provide added spin. All this really keeps the ball on the table better.

It is so hard for me to remember and apply this consistantly, as I just discovered this helps the consistancy, especially against incoming topspin.

Anyway give it a shot at practice or knockaround before a match. That one adjustment helped my landing percentage shoot up.

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Goof-off chopping bat
Gambler All Rosewood
Aurus Soft / Gambler GXL .6 sponge

Status - Out of Business Janitor/Babysitter

Sir, thanks for the advices...you know, I tend to forget about them quite a bit.

Mayhap my form is slacking because of the fast blade. -_-;

I'll find out if that's the case after I superprime the newly bought H2/H3 place place it on the Extra 3D.

Wonder what to do with the fast blades if that really the case. Durn.

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Viscaria. H2 Neo 2.15. Tenergy 05 1.9.

If they are the thing for you, then you WILL adapt to them. The fast blades alone would not be the source of problems in your game. I now use a fast/stiff OFF balde and even faster rubbers than ever before and I certainly have WAY better control and percentage of shot landing than I did 6 months ago.

Another simple thing that cost me points in bucketloads is not staying down. I mess up so many points not staying low centered and ready. Yeah, I'm old, but not too old to stay down for three hits. Staying down keeps me able to block to my FH correctly with a FH stroke, instead of chicken-wining it. (Blocking a ball on the FH side with a BH stroke and BH side of rubber.) I have a good, powerful FH opening and finishing loop, but I throw away so many points for free from not being or getting into a good position by not staying low.

This would, you think, be such a simple thing to remember, but once the point gets going, it is easy to lose all focus on that. I say that to illistrate both that I am flaming hot garbage and that it is real easy to forget or not apply fundemental parts of the game in points.

When I stay low, I do EVERYTHING better. Get to the ball. Get to correct position. Make a good loop. Be able to use my whole body on the hit. Use more power with more control. Be able to use a full swing without swatting the ball everywhere. Get back to a ready position early enough. Keep the ball on the table. Ventilate an oponent. Win points.

When I fail this simple aspect and also fail to correctly anticipate, I am such a push-over it isn't even silly. I am right there with you working to overcome these easy to understand, yet long to get over mistakes.

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Goof-off chopping bat
Gambler All Rosewood
Aurus Soft / Gambler GXL .6 sponge

Status - Out of Business Janitor/Babysitter

Thanks for the vote of confidence Der.

Can't post vids of play in the local stadium, the camera and tripod might be lost in the crowds. Too many people go in and out for my taste.

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Viscaria. H2 Neo 2.15. Tenergy 05 1.9.

Ok, so I had good fun tonight.

Indeed, percentages shoot up when in a good ready stance.

First match tonight was with a two wing looper. He be an accomplished one. Loops half-long with a low, spinny loop, chooses to push occasionally to throw me off balance (successful! ) and also loops my half-long float. Ugh.

Still haven't figured out how to loop sidespin properly. And return top-side-long properly. Promptly got decimated after a few choice shots of my own. Score was around a measly 4 every set.

After some FH work (bad for form, it was said), I was again in a match with the j-pen loop/block guy. This one I handled far better, looping his long topspin services and flipping the rest. Der's advice to consciously lower the stance came into play against weak service returns and moderate loops -- managed to loop drive them to oblivion.

Still, again, the long top-side service came into play and I gave away freebie points. But that wasn't enough, and I managed to take the match in 4 sets, with scores in the 7-9 zone.

Lastly, I met up with a inverted/short pips(TSP Spectol) defensive player. Alas, I took the first set 11-2, but lost the succeeding three sets in a 9, double deuce, and 8.

The scorer was the leftie with the anti. He said...

"Actually, your loops are pretty fast and with lots of spin. However, you keep putting them back in easy to return places. You could beat a lot of other players, but you need to work on that first."

Alas, . I only realized that then, when he told me. What a nice bloke.

Played using the Yasaka Extra 3D with H2/H3 tonight. I'm not sure if tonight's performance can be attributed to the blade, but there were a couple of loops I played which could use a bit more speed.

Then again, I need to paint the corners rather than hitting the center of the table.

Oddly enough, tonight's match consisted of mostly FH work, like 85%.

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Viscaria. H2 Neo 2.15. Tenergy 05 1.9.