OOAK Table Tennis Forum

That is great, looking forward to reading how it goes!
And seeing how those pips play I guess it's pretty allround so it could be easy to find the right direction if it doesn't work out.

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~ Puttin' pressure on you kids like I'm a soccer mom. ~

It's been quite a while now after the last post. Thought I'd post an update.

I have learned that I really need to practise a lot more with my long pips (hehe you can never practise too much ). After having switched from inverted to long pips on the backhand, my game now relies too much on my backhand.

My coach told me that I am mastering LP's really fast (it's been ~1 year after the switch), but that me losing a match is mainly due to too many forced errors on my backhand (playing too agressive chops and sideswipers instead of controlled). I want to play most shots with my forehand which is really strong if I should believe what he tells me (switched to DHS TG3 Neo because I liked it way better than the H3Neo (found it too soft)). At the moment I am trying to shift from subconsciously using my backhand too much to consciously using my forehand more, which results in more winning rallies.

For now I'll be sticking to BT(ox). I want to practise a lot in consciously using my forehand more and controllably using my backhand before moving on to a different rubber if wanted later on.

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Manipulating spin, hehe...

Yep ... that happened to me too, when I started playing with LP ... Infact, it still happens, every now-n-then, and especially, when I'm playing with a new LP...



I would strongly recommend that you incorporate twiddling into you game... It works, on several levels...

btw ... which BT setup is your primary ?

The XVT setup is my main one. I can twiddle quite well, but I do it only for the service. I do not feel confident enough yet to incorporate it into my game, because it is quite hard to adjust. I still need to practise backhand topspin more because before switching to LP's my backhand rubber was a bit softer (First aurus sound 1.9, then friendship ritc729, then LP).

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Manipulating spin, hehe...

The XVT Hinoki Balsa Carbon is an amazing blade.. especially, considering the price-point ... The thick handle may take some getting used, and may not be conducive to twiddling, for some ..

Against players, who's service action, I can read easily, I will twiddle and the hit outright winners with inverted on BH, against no-spin serves .. At times, I will twiddle, mid-point, and push with the inverted on the BH .. or, I will twiddle and play a FH stroke, with LP... It's a good way to mix things-up, and keep the opponent guessing, and force errors.. When playing with the XVT, I do a lot of blocking with the inverted on BH, against top-spins.. this foxes a lot of players, since they'd be expecting a Long-pip return.

Ofcourse, I've still not mastered anything, and it's still a work-in-progress.

Yeah, it is really great! It gives me just enough speed on my forehand because I am using a chinese rubber, and on the edge of being too fast for my backhand. I've played with combination blades, but they're not my cup of tea.
The handle fits nicely in my hand and works well for twiddling, as I have big hands.



Sounds like an interesting match for anyone who plays you. Backhand block with inverted is an interesting option... never really thought about it. Might give a lot of time to me for the ball exchange after I've blocked.

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Manipulating spin, hehe...

I played with LP, as a sub-junior, and then played with inverted on both-sides, once I reached juniors, and mens .. then, stopped playing, and returned to game, after almost 20 years .. still, played double-inverted, with my BH being over-all stronger than FH... A Frozen-shoulder, and subsequently a tennis elbow made me switch back to LP, around 1.5 - 2 years back .. But, it was like learning to play with LP, from scratch ... anyway, 'nuf of the sob-story... I've figured-out a wee bit of LP-play, but yet, a long way to go..

I twiddle, simply to mix things up .. most players (My level and below), familiar with how to play against LP, and who play with me, for the first time, will try to give me no-spin balls to my BH, least expecting me to twiddle and whack the ball for a winner.. or they'll top-spin to my BH, expecting a LP return (which I do, a lot of times), with some backspin. But, every now-n-then, I'll block with my inverted-side, winning me the point, most times..

Most players will figure-out my game after a couple of sets, and then kick my butt.