OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Is that just because you slaughter everyone though?

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I'm always in the dark, but the Dark sheds lights upon everything!! Beauty is only pimple deep! Beauty is in the eye of the pipholder!
S/U 1: Blade: Bty Gergely . FH Black Andro Rasant 2.1 . BH Red Tibhar Grass Dtecs
S/U 2: Blade: Bty Gergely . FH Black Hexer+ 2.1 . BH Red GD Talon
S/U 3: Blade: Bty Gergely . No rubbers...thinking of adding Red Dtecs and Black Rasant
Aussie Table Tennis Shop / Aussie Table Tennis Facebook Page / Equipment Review Index / Read my Reb Report Blog: click here.

I'm so happy I could burst!

Tonight is the first time since joining my club last year that I won all 3 singles without someone in the opposition defaulting a game (that happened once last year lol)! Wooohooo!

Funnily enough someone from their team didn't turn up and we thought we were going to win some games by default, but they got a fill-in - a 19 year old kid who last year was playing A1 juniors at our club - and he wasn't bad at all. He was quite possibly better than the guy who was away in some respects, although probably didn't handle pips as well as the other guy might have. Although he was apparently in a form slump, so who knows. Could only deal with what we were dished.

It was nice to exact some revenge on this team as this was the team I snapped my achilles against last year lol. I played second tonight after our Captain who easily accounted for his first opponent and a guy I've never managed to beat. I played his 20 y.o son, who I played once before and beat 3-0, although he was no push over. he has a robot like smash that if you get caught by there's little chance. I did have one smash from him go directly at my body though and I blocked it with the pips so fast straight back down his FH (he's a lefty) he had no chance. It felt very good! Anyway, looked like I was going to get him 3-0 again as I played a heavy pips game to him and he continually put my blocks into the net. My FH decided to go on the blink tonight for the most part. Every time I went for a smash it seemed I either hit the top of the net and went long, or I just went straight long. So I closed up shop with it and played an invite game for heavy drives and blocking bac with pips. He sort of got the hang of it in the 3rd game though and took it out 11-6. The first 2 games I'd won tightly with 12-10 and 11-9. In the 4th I got things back on track and won it 11-8.

Tonight was also the first time I played with my younger teammate in the doubles. He and I teamed quite well taking out the doubles 3-0. As he had also won his singles we were 4-0 up by this time. Some of the fast loop drives my teammate hit were things of beauty, but always with the heart in the mouth as he misses a lot of them. In our doubles he got more than he missed though. The best loopdrive I played was off one of their serves, and it was a beauty, until it was treated with an unbelievable block that came straight back at me before I could move. So I didn't do that again lol. I let my partner do most the BIG shots though, as I knew my FH was low percentage tonight.


I came off the doubles court to find a new face in the crowd, just visiting the club he can't stay away from. It was of course Mars! I think he hung around and saw me play the next match and then took off as we started the second doubles. Must have been a record short stay for him I think.

In my game against the A1 junior I felt in total control of him soon into the match. I managed to get a few FH smashes going, but still missed a few, but he had more trouble with my pip blocks than the previous youth had. I took the match in straight sets 3-0 with 11-5, 11-5 and 11-8. Only in the last did I feel remotely threatened as he got a bit of a feel for my game, but my pips were on tonight even if my FH wasn't.

So we came to the second doubles and we had won already as we were 7-0 up. I played this with my Captain and we'd been undefeated in 4 weeks of doubles. We played the 2 young guys and they played a whole lot better than I'd expected them too. I think the fact that my FH wasn't working well and my Captain's wasn't either (I only recall about one good FH smash of his) we played quite a defensive game. We lost the first game closely and then won the second quite easily. They won the third and we won the 4th. So we had a job to do in the 5th. Now that job became humongous at the change when somehow we got jumped and were 5-0 down! We managed to get back to 7-5 down and then 9-7 and then 10-10. We then went down by 11-10 and got back to 11 all. They held their ground very well to their credit though and ended it 13-11. So the 11-0 victory chance was gone, but no matter.

In the final singles round my teammates won their matches. My younger teammate had made each match hard on himself tonight. I think all his matches went to 5 sets. Against the A1 junior, he had the narrowest of victories winning 13-11 in the final set. Many of the games he lost were simply because he goes for everything, even when the better choice might be a push or a chop, he still goes for the loop. He is spectacular at it when it works, but heaps go off the top of the blade scooting across courts in the air.

Anyway, I had the final game and it was against the father in the team who is a guy that stands at about 6'4 or more and has a big powerloop on him and a fairly deft BH flick/smash. I've played him about 4 times before and only ever taken a game off him each time. I wondered how it would stack up tonight. I was determined to have a good crack at him. And a good crack I had. In the first game I found myself 5-0 up against him with some spinny serves and some pip blocks and one really decent smash I managed to land deep down his FH side that his bat never even smelled (a Quelis point if ever I saw one!). He worked hard at me when he suddenly realised how far down he was and started to get it back a bit and was 5-3. Except it was my turn to earn some points again and moved the score along to 7-3 with some chops and angles that had him moving from side to side of the table. By the time I reached 10, he had made it to 6. I got the next one and I had game 1 under my belt. The second game went amazingly similar to the first. I think it was only 4-0 up before he got his first point this time. But then I was away to another good lead turning that into 6-1 and I had him on the run. I felt good and confident and took that threw to a 11-5 win to be 2-0 up.

In the third game, I don't know what happened, but he started to get shots in that he was previously struggling with. He got some confidence and started flicking and smashing with his BH at me, where he'd been nervously pushing, and he even got a couple of powerloops on. Before I knew it he'd done this in 2 games where he had me 11-8 and 11-7. I was a little shell shocked, I must admit. In the last I decided to forget the previous 2 games and focus on winning it. At the change I was 5-3 up and feeling I was back on top. I kept this up to be at 7-5. But then he managed to slam a couple down my BH wide enough that I missed the blocks. Suddenly we were at 8 a piece. I'd gone for a few smashes from this end and put them in the net, so when I landed another blinder and gone to 9-8, it was a little relief. It was even more relief when he pushed my next serve long and I went 10-8. I caught myself feeling that I had it, but I knew how quickly things could turn. So on the next point when he went for a big powerloop and it narrowly missed the end of the table, I then breathed a big sigh of relief! And then it dawned on me that I had just done several things I'd never done before. 1 was beat this guy. 2 was win 3 matches in a night at this club, and 3 was that it was also the highest grade I've played there that I'd done it in as well.

Once the opposition had left, my Captain asked me for a bit of a practice hit. I thought it was a good opportunity to work out some kinks in my FH and it was a good session for it. Then he proposed a match. I used to play against him in B3 and he always whipped me. Out of 4 times playing him, I only ever took 1 game off him. So I figured this was a good measure. We played the first game and I beat him 11-7. He looked a bit shocked. He pumped up his effort (I could tell because his serves had a lot more on them) and he played more carefully and won the next 3 games, but he didn't bolt them in. We then played another match and again I won the first game and he won the next 2. He was really intent to win, as I think he was keen to show his supremacy. I then won the 4th set and we were at 2 all. The final game went to him at about 11-8 I think. I was more keen to go home by that time and was still floating on my 3 wins. So I wasn't too worried about him winning. I just wanted to play him well enough to get some respect, and I think by some of his comments when I won points he expected to get, I got it.

Anyway, needless to say I had a brilliant night.

Our main opposition unfortunately had an 11-0 victory tonight, so we actually slipped back one game against them, rather than catching them. The team in 3rd place had a 9-2 win as their opponents decided to go home when they were 7-2 down. So they are still keeping hot on our heels. They are actually one game ahead of us, but 4 points down on the ladder. So we have to keep our heads above water to ensure our 2nd position on the ladder remains for the next half of the season starting next week.

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I'm always in the dark, but the Dark sheds lights upon everything!! Beauty is only pimple deep! Beauty is in the eye of the pipholder!
S/U 1: Blade: Bty Gergely . FH Black Andro Rasant 2.1 . BH Red Tibhar Grass Dtecs
S/U 2: Blade: Bty Gergely . FH Black Hexer+ 2.1 . BH Red GD Talon
S/U 3: Blade: Bty Gergely . No rubbers...thinking of adding Red Dtecs and Black Rasant
Aussie Table Tennis Shop / Aussie Table Tennis Facebook Page / Equipment Review Index / Read my Reb Report Blog: click here.

Great report as always Reb. Thouroughly enjoyed it.

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Gambler Black Diamond Light: *primary setup*
Black-Dawei 388C-1 Red-Quattro UL 2.2
YinHe M6: Outlaw & Six Shooter Pretuned
Hard Bat: LKT Instinct
Dr.Evil
Power is not revealed by striking hard or often, but by striking true.
-Honore de Balzac

Thanks Eric! Good to know I'm not just typing to myself lol.

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I'm always in the dark, but the Dark sheds lights upon everything!! Beauty is only pimple deep! Beauty is in the eye of the pipholder!
S/U 1: Blade: Bty Gergely . FH Black Andro Rasant 2.1 . BH Red Tibhar Grass Dtecs
S/U 2: Blade: Bty Gergely . FH Black Hexer+ 2.1 . BH Red GD Talon
S/U 3: Blade: Bty Gergely . No rubbers...thinking of adding Red Dtecs and Black Rasant
Aussie Table Tennis Shop / Aussie Table Tennis Facebook Page / Equipment Review Index / Read my Reb Report Blog: click here.

Hey Reb,
it was nice to see you winning some cheap points off your dummy BH topsin serves that look like underspin.
Nice. keep it up

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Blade Stiga Hybrid Wood FH Butterfly Dignics 05 BH Butterfly Tenergy 05 FX

Well done Reb wery nice write up you have done,

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Blade:
F/H:
B/H:

Thanks Mars and Purge. I'm still riding my little high that I finally accomplished something I been trying to do for so long (especially with the 6 month break in opportunities to try lol).

The deceptive serve was always there for me Mars, you just helped me realise why it worked lol, and so now I can work on it more. Some are affected and some are not. Not quite sure why, but I as of last night I am working on actually doing better underspin as well as the top. I think that's where I was going wrong with some. I think I don't get them quite confused enough lol. But at least I have a good base to work from.

_________________
I'm always in the dark, but the Dark sheds lights upon everything!! Beauty is only pimple deep! Beauty is in the eye of the pipholder!
S/U 1: Blade: Bty Gergely . FH Black Andro Rasant 2.1 . BH Red Tibhar Grass Dtecs
S/U 2: Blade: Bty Gergely . FH Black Hexer+ 2.1 . BH Red GD Talon
S/U 3: Blade: Bty Gergely . No rubbers...thinking of adding Red Dtecs and Black Rasant
Aussie Table Tennis Shop / Aussie Table Tennis Facebook Page / Equipment Review Index / Read my Reb Report Blog: click here.

Another week of TT under my belt and it was a night of the unexpected I think is the only way to term it. It was the first games of the second round, or Round 6 of 10 if you like. It was important for us to get a win tonight because the team at 3rd that is breathing down our neck was playing the top team. If they won, we were in deep trouble if we lost. If they lost and we won, we'd buy ourselves some breathing space in the run-up to the finals.

The Captain asked me if I wanted to play first tonight and I passed it over to him, preferring to play 2nd. He played their toughest player and came very close to losing to him, being down 2-1, but coming back to snatch it 3-2 with about 11-8 in the last set.

I had to play an old nemesis of mine who I haven't played since about last May. Those that read my match reports last year may remember a Chinese penholder girl that was very good, and I'd only beaten her once before. Well she has been playing in B2 ever since I went off injured. I was a bit nervous because the last time I played her I went down in 5, but the time before that she demolished me. Two sets into the game it looked like she was doing it again as she won both at 11-7 and 11-8 I was determined not to go down to her again in 3, so in the 3rd set I intensified my focus and started attacking her more and she got more defensive and the games balance switched. I won it 11-6. I maintained the same intense focus in the 4th set and felt I had the higher confidence and again beat her, this time 11-7. I was pretty wrapped to have evened back up the score. Things in the final set started out ok, but at the change I was 3-5 down. I thought ok, I'm still in this, let's go. Then my go got up and went, and left me. I lost the set 11-3! She got the jump on me after the change and I wasn't able to keep the focus I'd been straining to keep. Now seeings as when we met this team in the first round with a player missing (ie, this girl) and the only game I won then was her forfeit I was feeling a bad night coming on. Luckily my teammates won their first singles, then the doubles, and then their second singles. Which then left me to play my next against the guy I took to 5 sets and lost in the first round.

I was apprehensive to say the least at the start, but I was keen to win one match for the night and if it was going to be anyone, it was going to be this guy, given I got so close last time. I talked myself up and I played careful defence and attacked well when I could. I burned quite a few past him actually and he got caught up in my pip reverses more than once. I took out the first game 11-6 and felt fairly boosted by it. So I played more confidently in the second game and while he played some good shots, I blocked a lot of them back and also put a number of angles off the pips out of his reach as I worked him around the table. If I felt confident after the first, I was feeling ultra confident winning the 2nd 11-5. I didn't feel like this guy could touch me. I don't know why, as he is a very accomplished B2 player with a good record and a hard hitter off both wings. In the 3rd I went at it like a man possessed sensing I was going to win, but still being careful not to throw anything away. Well on the last point of this game I hit a delicate roll just over the net off his serve and onto his FH side about 2 and a half feet over the net and an inch from the edge. He started to stretch, saw he wasn't going to get there and decided not to bother with the effort. The final score? 11-3!! Now taking this guy down in 3 did a world of good for my confidence.

So then I went straight into the doubles knowing we had already secured victory at least with the team score at 6-1. I played the doubles with my younger teammate and we looked the goods after the first game, winning it easily at 11-6. The 2nd game turned out to be a different affair as we went down 11-8. What happened? Well my eager young teammate went for a few too many powerloops. They are flat and direct when he plays them well and virtually unreturnable thy have that much spin. But he hits the leading edge a little too much at times. Anyway we seemed to get back on track again after the 3rd winning 11-7. We seemed to keep things on track in the 4th and looked as if we'd take a comfortable win as we hit 8-3 up. I cautioned my partner to play carefully, but when he did he muffed it. When he went for a BH flick back off the serve, he missed that too. Before we knew it we were only 9-7 up. We made it to 10, when they were 8 and I felt we had to win it with my partner serving, something he is very good at usually. Nope not this time, they made 10-10. We ended up going down at 14-12 after a tense tie breaker.
In the 5th I said we need to be up at the change, but after being 4-0 down that didn't look likely. We did manage to get back to being 5-4 down at the change at least. We then went point for point with the opposition. Somehow we ended up with the short end though and finished 11-9 down. Felt like losing the unloseable match.

In the final singles there was a spare table and the guy I beat in 3 needed to go home, so our Captain played there and I umpired, while the guy I had to play next umpired between my other teammate and the Chinese girl. I thought with my result, the match I was umpiring would finish very quickly. To my surprise the guy was about 8-3 up in the first game and my Captain had to really scramble to pull out a 12-10 win. In the 2nd game he went down to the other guy 11-9. The guy was pulling smashes from everywhere, BH and FH, and he had my teammate on the run. However, my cagey old Chinese friend never backs down from a fight, and in the 3rd he pulled off an 11-8 win, which did look like a very close game as well as it progressed. In the 4th game he secured victory for us winning it 11-6.

So now I had to play the final match with the game score at 8-3. I felt no real confidence that I would beat this guy. He had only narrowly lost to both my teammates and he has one of the most deadly FH smashes, and isn't a slouch on the BH either. His BH smashes there is a blocking chance, but off his FH a block is just a dream. So we got into the game and he had me on the run from the word go. I think I got my first point to make it 5-1. I figured I would just try to keep the first game going as long as I could to get into a rhythm. This guy had been hitting up for 10-15 minutes while I umpired, given the quickness of the match he umpired finishing. I managed to work out a few things in that first game and ended up losing it at a respectable 11-7.

In the second game I thought I was a little more across his game and indeed I managed to outscore him with consistent pushes to his BH and eventully he ended up pushing many either wide or long. I had him at 6-3, then 8-3 and ended up winning it at 11-6. I played the same sort of game in the 3rd and laid down a few smashes of my own and found myself at 9-6 against him. He wouldn't lay down, but neither did I and took it out 11-7. In the 4th set things got a bit more tense again as the possibility of beating this guy sunk in. He wasn't too keen on losing all his matches for the night, and so he dug his heels in and started BH push rallies with me, slowly working around for his FH smash from the BH side. I let him get one of these in before I realised what he was working for. He managed to take me down in this game though as he locked up my game. 11-8 was the result and we were at 2-2.

In the final set I backed myself and sent down a good smash, as well as got him to miss a smash from my reverse spin and at the change I was 5-3 up. He tried a bit of mind gaming as we changed ends and said he now had the better end. I just replied I thought that was the losing end. Things edged along nervously with a lot of pushing as he again aimed to make FH winners by moving around his BH side. I wasn't having it, but I had to play the game to a certain extent. It was a bit like Russian roulette, cos as I let him move around and I tried to keep my pushes low I knew a slip up and I would pay. I did pay on a couple as his big FH came out, but I also put 3 loops across his FH side that left him stranded, and sent one of my own big FH smashes at his body down the middle. He looked a little panicked when this had all lead to 9-7 and when he slammed a FH into the net off my pip spin and I made 10-7 I felt just a slight relaxation creep in. He played lock down ad careful again on the next point, but instead of seeing my push go just long as I often seem to, it was his push doing it and I had it all wrapped up at 11-7! And boy was I sweating.

It was a hot day here in Melbourne today and it stormed at about 8pm and became really muggy. The rain poured down on the stadium roof, a sound we Melbournians havent heard for months. And that just made it even muggier inside. So playing TT tonight was quite sticky. But I wasn't too concerned considering I won 2 singles and my team won 9-2. The team at 3rd spot went down in a screaming heap to the top team. So now we have a 2 round/8 point gap on them with 4 rounds to go until the final. Our toughest test will be trying to beat the top team when we meet them in Round 9, so we can consider ourselves something of a chance for the final!

_________________
I'm always in the dark, but the Dark sheds lights upon everything!! Beauty is only pimple deep! Beauty is in the eye of the pipholder!
S/U 1: Blade: Bty Gergely . FH Black Andro Rasant 2.1 . BH Red Tibhar Grass Dtecs
S/U 2: Blade: Bty Gergely . FH Black Hexer+ 2.1 . BH Red GD Talon
S/U 3: Blade: Bty Gergely . No rubbers...thinking of adding Red Dtecs and Black Rasant
Aussie Table Tennis Shop / Aussie Table Tennis Facebook Page / Equipment Review Index / Read my Reb Report Blog: click here.

Well done Reb, looks like "team Reb" is still streaming along.

Great effort against the girl especially after her great start.
You might be interested to know that I think she has started turning up to the place where I train in Box Hill and is getting some 1 on 1 coaching from a good young Chinese guy. Last week I saw them concentrating intensely on improving her service, service return & 1st ball attack.

well done.

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Blade Stiga Hybrid Wood FH Butterfly Dignics 05 BH Butterfly Tenergy 05 FX

Thanks Mars. She was actually due to play B1 this season, as she was in the premier B2 team last season, but she went back to China to see her family and her team dumped her given she would not be there for first 3 weeks of the season. She had then arranged to play B2 in my team, and ironically cos she wasn't there I got given her spot because of the mess ups that were made at the start of the season. It was only after talking to her last night that I found all this out. Funny how things turn out isn't it?

If she has been training with a young Chinese guy, it would be the guy that Captains the B1 team she was supposed to be in. He's the reason she gets to the club at all, as he's her transport. Another guy used to bring her but has hurt his back and has stopped playing TT for now. I originally thought that was the reason she wasn't playing any more lol.

_________________
I'm always in the dark, but the Dark sheds lights upon everything!! Beauty is only pimple deep! Beauty is in the eye of the pipholder!
S/U 1: Blade: Bty Gergely . FH Black Andro Rasant 2.1 . BH Red Tibhar Grass Dtecs
S/U 2: Blade: Bty Gergely . FH Black Hexer+ 2.1 . BH Red GD Talon
S/U 3: Blade: Bty Gergely . No rubbers...thinking of adding Red Dtecs and Black Rasant
Aussie Table Tennis Shop / Aussie Table Tennis Facebook Page / Equipment Review Index / Read my Reb Report Blog: click here.

Yes well done mate keep it going,

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Blade:
F/H:
B/H:

Thanks Purge, I'll be trying!

_________________
I'm always in the dark, but the Dark sheds lights upon everything!! Beauty is only pimple deep! Beauty is in the eye of the pipholder!
S/U 1: Blade: Bty Gergely . FH Black Andro Rasant 2.1 . BH Red Tibhar Grass Dtecs
S/U 2: Blade: Bty Gergely . FH Black Hexer+ 2.1 . BH Red GD Talon
S/U 3: Blade: Bty Gergely . No rubbers...thinking of adding Red Dtecs and Black Rasant
Aussie Table Tennis Shop / Aussie Table Tennis Facebook Page / Equipment Review Index / Read my Reb Report Blog: click here.

I was told the guy training her quite often plays in 1 of the A grades @ MSAC so I wouldn't think it is the guys you are referring to but thats just hear say from the other guys at the club.

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Blade Stiga Hybrid Wood FH Butterfly Dignics 05 BH Butterfly Tenergy 05 FX

Well I guess it could be, she just seems to be with this other guy a lot, but maybe she TT's around!!

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I'm always in the dark, but the Dark sheds lights upon everything!! Beauty is only pimple deep! Beauty is in the eye of the pipholder!
S/U 1: Blade: Bty Gergely . FH Black Andro Rasant 2.1 . BH Red Tibhar Grass Dtecs
S/U 2: Blade: Bty Gergely . FH Black Hexer+ 2.1 . BH Red GD Talon
S/U 3: Blade: Bty Gergely . No rubbers...thinking of adding Red Dtecs and Black Rasant
Aussie Table Tennis Shop / Aussie Table Tennis Facebook Page / Equipment Review Index / Read my Reb Report Blog: click here.

Jella Reb. Jella. (Yehl-lah is GO)

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Gambler All Rosewood
Aurus Soft / Gambler GXL .6 sponge

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