OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Thanks Skull. Yeah I know. The achilles hasn't given me too much trouble (touch wood) although is still quite stiff and a little restricting in my movement. My knee has given me way more trouble and I am now wearing a full compression brace when I play which is very restrictive, but my knee pulls up better afterward in it at least.

If we do manage to win this thing I'll move up yet another grade (and be one step off A grade )! Still in the time when I was originally told I'm won't be able to play in 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.

Good result Reb. Best of luck in the final.

As to your knee giving you more problems than your achilles, I'm not suprised. It's the other knee, yes. You've basically been hopping on that leg for ages and putting a lot of pressure on it. You'll be subcociously protecting the achilles even now and so the other leg is having to do a lot of work. I had to stop a lot of my rehabilitative exercises because of pain in the other leg, fortunately no long term damage done according to my physio.

Those compact ice braces the top footballers get are great.

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Equipment Review Index
Joola Turbo: FH: Joola Peking (2mm) , BH: Joola Peking (2mm)
Another one bites the dust.

Thanks Anti, will need all the luck that can be mustered in the final lol.

And you're exactly right about the right knee. I have compensated with the left leg for many years to ease pressure on the knee and suddenly it had to do all the work on crutches etc, when the achilles went. If only we could realise what we do to our bodies when we are young will come back to haunt us as we age!

_________________
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 another TT final done and dusted and still no premiers trophy to show for it at my current club.

Basically I felt played like absolute crap tonight. Had the only night this season where I could not take a trick. Felt I really let my team down as if I had played just a bit better we may have actually won the thing. We went down 6-4. Now the opponents were no pushovers thats for sure, but I was very disappointed not to take a singles or my doubles even.

My first game was against the guy I beat 3-0 two weeks ago. I lost 11-9 to him in the first. I lost 12-10 to him in the second. I thrashed him 11-2 in the 3rd and felt like I was getting my game together. He pulled out some luck in the latter stages of the 4th when we'd been 6-6 and I lost it 11-7.

My next singles was against the old guy with the double sided Ox pips. I rallied my confidence and my dander against him and did something I've never done against him and had him 2-0. He closed down shop in the next game and after reaching 10 all, we went on a see-saw until he got advantage 14-13 and got an odd ball to drop awkwardly in the cross section between back and sideline on my BH side and it bounced over my bat. I was so close to taking him 3-0, but I didn't let this purturb me too much. I went in hard on the next game and we had pushing rallies on nearly every point in the game that went 20,30, 40 balls. It was exhausting. He took it 11-9. The 5th set I got a jump on him and went 5-1 up. We changed ends and the lighting or his tenacity or something changed. Next thing I found myself 6-5 down!! Got back to 6-6 and he went to 10, while I went to 7. I was still fighting and got it back to 10-9 and was trying to stop from drowning when after another long push rally, I sent it a cm long and it was over. I was spent. This match must have gone for about 40 minutes or more I reckon.

My teammates had been carrying me all night though and we went into the last doubles 4-3 up. Right I was determined to take us into the last singles round with a lead. Pity my energy didn't match my determination. The previous 5 setter had taken everything out of me and as much as I tried I had little left in the tank. The captain missed quite a lot of shots he went for, but I suspect he felt pressured my poor performance. So we went down 3-0. This hurt cos we had lost the first doubles the same way too. So now we were 4 each.

The Captain played the next match against the double sided pip player and I was praying for him to win to give us a double chance at winning with one of the next 2 games. Alas he performed worse than I had against his opponent and went down 3-1.

Well that's all I needed! To have sudden death placed upon me losing the next match. I was running on empty and trying to find energy from anywhere I could muster it. It seemed there was nothing I could do as my opponent kept getting edges and dropping the balls in the corners where I thought they were off the table. Lost the first set 11-5. Lost the 2nd 11-4. In the 3rd set realising it was almost dead in the water I pulled something from somewhere, but I don't know where. I won it 11-7. I so wanted to repeat that in the 4th, but again I stalled. Don't even remember the last game score. I have a feeling I was 10-5 down and I remember getting it back to 10-8. Might have even got it to 10-9, I was pretty out of it to be honest. Anyway, he got to 11 before I could get to 10 and so it was over.

I know I put in as much effort as I could possibly muster in every game I played and I simply wasn't good enough tonight. Doesn't feel good. But thems the breaks! In case you are wondering why I struggle with energy I have a long term illness that zaps energy from me pretty quick. So I run out of petrol and concentration if my games go too long. Not much I can do about it except try to win quick. That isn't helped by the higher grade I am playing though. Oh well, its still been a fun season, and overall I'm pretty happy with the success of it. Just feel like crap that I couldn't edge us over the line tonight. My captain made it pretty clear he felt I was responsible for the loss too, which didn't help how I felt about it. He ended up wining leading player and is going up to B1 next season and taking my other teammate with him, but not me. So I'm needing a new team in B2 again.

_________________
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.

Even though you had a rough night, it sounds like you still had a lot of fun competing, which is really the important thing. It really stinks that your captain put the loss on you, though. You didn't give up all the points to the other team. Maybe it's best that he and the other guy move on and you find someone else to play with, someone who's a better teammate.

_________________
"The greatest teacher, failure is"
USATT Rating: 1725
Blade: Stiga Cybershape Carbon
FH Rubber: Butterfly Tenergy 19 2.1
BH Rubber: Dr Neubauer ABS3 1.5

Tough break Reb,

sounds like with a touch of luck you could have taken Loius (the old double sided pips) and things may have taken a very different turn.

Anyway getting to the final says a lot about your year, I am also sure that you have mentioned that you have become more consistent and taken games against a number of opponents you have never beaten before.

Take a break to refresh and see you next season.

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

You and Yur mates would never get there to get edged out in close games if you all didn't do well leading up to what got you all to the finals. Enough of those close games and the opponents will find themselves looking down the short end of the stick.

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

Status - Out of Business Janitor/Babysitter

I missed the first week of the new season being away, so there's nothing to report there.

However, the week before I play in the grade championships and I played the best I had all season I think. I beat one of the guys from the premier team from the week before (why, oh why couldn't I have done that the previous week?) in the semi-final in 5 to make the final. Last game against him was 15-13 and was heaps of pressure, but I didn't crack and I was hitting the ball really well, so felt good.

Now who do you think I came up against in the final? If you guessed the guy who Captained my team last season then you'd be right. And I am happy to report that I rattled him. And I had a win against him.... sort of! LOL. Nothings ever just simple is it?

I thrashed him in the first game 11-4. In the second game he came back at me and took it 11-7 I think it was. In the third set I took him again with an 11-7 for me. In the 4th set I was just obliterating him. Had him 10-4 and everything was travelling smooth. Trouble was at that point he hit the ball long at my BH. My bat caught the ball as it was going long. I thought to myself that's it, I've won. He claimed the point saying the ball hit the table (which it didn't by a long way, but I couldn't have been 100% that my bat was outside the lines, although this wasn't his claim - he claimed it hit the table). I questioned the ump and he said he didn't really see and was intimidated by my opponent to hand him the point. I didn't think it was worth arguing over and thought I'd win another point soon enough. Ooops! He really knuckled in and we had long rallies and he pushed it to 10 all. He ended up winning 14-12. Then I just sort of lost focus as my head was still back at the point where I thought I'd won at 11-4. He took the next game 11-7 and therefore the match.

I think this really demonstrates how someone who is willing to argue hard in the game and have others back down not wanting an argument can really bully their way to an advantage. The umpire was the guy I beat in the semi and he said to me later he didn't know what to do, and I admit I wasn't wanting the argument either. I think at the very least a let should have been played. But anyway, what's done is done. I know I outplayed this guy generally and put the wind up him. The guy umpiring said I was the better player and that he'd never seen me play so well. But the cookie just didn't quite crumble my way. Oh well, have to wait for next year. I don't mind having been runner-up to the grades Leading player for the season turning out to be the Champion as well in my first season on the grade.

_________________
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.

Welcome back Reb!

That's why, although I may feel like a little bit of a jerk at the time for protesting so hard about a table tennis match, if I'm in a tournament and a situation like that comes up I won't back down. At the least, play a let and not give them a point. Because I just know that I'll feel worse about it in the end. You probably let up a bit at the end when you thought you had it won, and between the disappointment of blowing the lead and being distracted by that point, most people would have lost game 5.

_________________
"The greatest teacher, failure is"
USATT Rating: 1725
Blade: Stiga Cybershape Carbon
FH Rubber: Butterfly Tenergy 19 2.1
BH Rubber: Dr Neubauer ABS3 1.5

Reb, turn that dude into frappe next time. Ventilate him proper with a lot of 40 mm holes and make his joints hurt reaching for stuff he can't hit.

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

Status - Out of Business Janitor/Babysitter

Well the second season of the year is started. In fact it started last week, but I was away. So I found out who my teammates are tonight and was a little disappointed not to be in the same team as last season with only the previous captain missing. The younger teammate from last year stayed in that team and another chinese guy who played B2 is in the team with him. Alas, I have been allocated to a different team and to add insult to injury we played my old team tonight. Was strange to watch my old teammate play and be barracking against him. My new team has a really young (16 year old) chinese player and a rather heavily rotund guy of middle eastern appearance. Such a nice guy, he was complimenting everyone on their good shots, and he was really polite and friendly. The chinese kid seemed a little obnoxious, but this made sense when I found out he was only 16 (he looked a few years older).

I played first against the 40 year old chinese guy and I had about an hour and a quarters warm up with the Gergely and I absolutely love it with the Roxon 450 on the FH. I'm only semi keen on the Palio on the BH in Ox. Reason being its really hard to hold down on the table when facing a forceful loop. Anyway the last time I met this guy I narrowly beat him 3-2. Tonight I felt very confident with the Gergely in hand and just felt I had a small edge. I took the first set 11-9 from him. He has a very strong FH smash and is a fair it weaker on his BH, but he likes to work around to his FH on the BH side. I sent down a few rockets that he couldn't touch with the Roxon and I had him missing his FH with the reversal off the Ox Palio. I took the second game in similar fashion to the first, this time recording 11-8. Both games he had had me at 8-6 his way, and both games I had found my way back to 8-8 and then to 10-8 on him as if I was cruising on the highway in a power machine and just decided to plant the foot and overtake a buzz-box. The same thing happened in the third set too. Except in this third he managed to scramble back to deuce and eventually won it 13-11. Once again in the 4th set though, I felt like I was in control, even though the score ended up 11-9. So I beat him with a comfortable 3-1.

My 16 year old teammate played second and I thought (hoped) he might be a bit of a whizz. Not to be. The kid had a pretty good loop to his credit, but he played my old teammate, who just happens to be this kids high school teacher. I think there was some intimidation factor going on there. Anyway, he lost in straight sets to make us 1 all. The opposing team didn't have a third (and I so wanted to be it lol), so they got a fill-in who just happened to be one of the guys from the B2 premiers team from last season. Yep the guys that beat us. This guy pulled out of his team and decided just to fill in a bit. But the team didn't even go up to B1. They let them stay in B2, so they get to have a second bite of the cherry they already gobbled. So this guy had a tight match with our third, but beat him 3-1.

I then played doubles with the young kid and what a debacle. This kid hasn't quite learnt that there is 2 players in doubles. He hit quite a few good loops, but they were blocked back and he was still in the midst of finishing his launch, meaning I had no chance to get to the blocks. His movements were just so large and all over the place half the time I was trying to dodge him or his bat, instead of getting to the ball. We lost 3-0, and I was surprised that we got as close in the games as we did. Our scores were like 9,11 and 8 I think.

In the second round of singles I played the guy from the last prem team. He's a bit of a nemesis by now and we had quite a battle. He took the first 11-8 and I took the second 15-13. I got up on him in the third taking him out 11-4 and felt I was getting an upper hand on him, but blow me down if he didn't take me 11-4 in the 4th. I expected a tight battle in the 5th, but things turned around again and I found myself about 7-1 up on him. He edged forward a little but it was a welcome anti-climax finishing at 11-3 I think. A see-sawing match if ever there was one.

The kid lost his next match, but the big guy won his and we were 4-3 up. So I played doubles with the big guy and we spread eagled the opponents with a 3-0 win. The scoreline was fairly close, like 8, 8 and 13 I think. They had a last ditch effort in the last set and the game see-sawed until we finally got over them.

Now being 5-3 up with 3 singles to go, you'd think we'd have had it in the bag. But no, all 3 of us lost our last singles. I played my old teammate and he played the most consistent and best game I have seen him play. Normally his loops are a hit and miss affair. Not against me though. He got every loop on (although he did completely miss the ball a few times, he never missed the table when he connected with them). I had no answer to the powerloops that were flying off my pips. I went down in 3 with 6,7 & 9. The kid to his credit went to 5 with the old bloke, but was serving at 9-10 down in the last and completely missed the table with the serve. Our big guy went down 3-1 to their older chinese guy.

So after last week apparently losing 6-5 also, we recorded a second 6-5 loss. Not a good start to the season. Ironically, the big guy in our team didn't have a permanent home last week and filled in for the team that beat us!! He won all 3 of his games last week! A cruel turn of fate huh!!

_________________
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.

Its the club manager's fault about the big guy. They shold have locked him up to a team. Management asked for this.

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

Status - Out of Business Janitor/Babysitter

That 16 year old teammate of yours sounded very much like me at doubles. I am always confused and all over the place too when playing doubles

Cheers.

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Main Setup: There is NO such thing
Table Tennis Directory | Rubber Mass Database I | Rubber Mass Database II | Sponge Hardness Database

You're right Der. Its also the manager's fault that I am not in the team that I should be in, as I asked him to put me with my old teammate again before I went away. The manager fully knew I would be away the first week. I don't overly mind as long as I'm playing TT, and I quite like the big guy and he's a good player. But the strength of our team is very low given my "average" level, the big guy is about on par or perhaps a little better than me, and the kid is way below level having been put up from B3 where I believe he wasn't all that good there. The kid's trouble is he looks half-trained in an attacking style and his bat is very average for looping. So he goes for the loop attack all the time and misses 60-70% of the time.

Choi, if we ever meet and play doubles, remind me to play against you.

_________________
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.

Reb, I rather you remind me NOT to play doubles. It can be quite hazardous playing with or against me in doubles

Cheers.

_________________
Main Setup: There is NO such thing
Table Tennis Directory | Rubber Mass Database I | Rubber Mass Database II | Sponge Hardness Database