the greatest dilemma

I noticed something that I don't know how to solve.

I have been using super fast bouncy amultart for some time.
gave me great results, only problem was in serving and pushing.

now I switched to off- blade and pushing is a dream but any other shot (basically blocking and looping) is worse than amultart.

should I sacrifice short game and go amultart or sacrifice regular distance play and go off- for serve and receive?


Edited by puppy412 - 02/21/2014 at 6:14pm

just swing faster. 

jt99sf wrote: just swing faster.

good advice.
problem is I noticed that when playing a real match against an adversary that pushes me most times I have no time to prepare the next shot with a good powerful swing.
so I end up doing a very small loop or directly just putting the paddle there and doing a flat shot.

probable advice number 2:
so become better so you are faster and you have more time to prepare a better swing.

good advice but this will take me years and I don't even train too much as to improve so probably this will never happen.


Edited by puppy412 - 02/21/2014 at 6:58pm

suggestion 1

This thread should not be in the equipment section as it has nothing to do with equipment (except for using too fast a blade which affects your pushing). You simply need to do a lot of drilling with a particular focus on footwork and recovery. What sort of drills are you currently doing? How long per week are you doing them? 

puppy412 wrote: I don't do drills these days, just play some matches. so once more, more training is not a viable solution for this dilemma. amultart is the perfect blade if you leave out serve and push. off- is the perfect blade if you only consider serve and push. which one do I choose? also due to the current situation of my country I am not allowed to buy any other ping pong good. so it's one of the two, no more possibilities.

puppy412 wrote: I don't do drills these days, just play some matches. so once more, more training is not a viable solution for this dilemma. amultart is the perfect blade if you leave out serve and push. off- is the perfect blade if you only consider serve and push. which one do I choose? also due to the current situation of my country I am not allowed to buy any other ping pong good. so it's one of the two, no more possibilities.

Edited by GMan4911 - 02/21/2014 at 8:35pm

GMan4911 wrote: puppy412 wrote: I don't do drills these days, just play some matches. so once more, more training is not a viable solution for this dilemma. amultart is the perfect blade if you leave out serve and push. off- is the perfect blade if you only consider serve and push. which one do I choose? also due to the current situation of my country I am not allowed to buy any other ping pong good. so it's one of the two, no more possibilities. Whichever your choice, if training is not an option, you're willing to live with the weakness? Then go with the one that causes you to lose the fewest points.

yes, this is simple.
I train little time and have only two blades.
one is great for serve/push.
the other is great for everything else.
which one do I choose?

so in the end you could narrow it down to what is more important, serve/push or everything else?

DDreamer wrote: puppy412 wrote: so basically your personal answer to the dilemma is off- It seems the only logical answer. There are no negatives to using an OFF-. It will be perfectly fine for 'regular distance play'.  As an aside, you appear to like TT and spend a bit of time on the forum, why don't you want to do drills and improve? Wouldn't you like to be able to play at a higher level and have greater control over your game?

I do some drills but in order to see a real difference you need to train a lot.
I've been playing for a long time and realized that I got to a place where if I want to get better I need to train 4 or 5 times a week 2 hours.
if I just play a couple of times lightly I won't really change my level.
so I just accepted that my level won't change.

when you start training you have all these ideas that you will indefinitely improve and you can reach this or that level.
when you've been playing for 5,6,7,8,9,10 years you realize that you reached your level, that things won't change anymore unless you make a drastic change which will take you to the next level.
this means doubling or tripling your training which I won't do.
I've seen many people play in the same level for ages.
even myself, when I got to my level I just stayed there forever, with or without drills, with or without off+

I think there is a basic division between levels, and if you want to jump from one division to the other you need to make some big change.
in US the first level would be up to around 2400, those are the guys who play a couple of times a week, do some drills, etc.
then from 2400 up it's another level, you need a different kind of training and approach to the game.

I'm in this till 2400 level and I know I won't be on the 2400 and up level, so that's why I sort of dismiss training.


Edited by puppy412 - 02/21/2014 at 9:11pm

This is the problem of players that use off+ blade when starting or developing. The power comes from the equipment. Therefore it's hard to use slower blade. My advice is use off- blade and practice a lot.

puppy412 wrote: I'm not a beginner, been playing somewhere from 5 to 10 years. that's why I say doing a couple of drills per week won't do it for me.

Edited by GMan4911 - 02/21/2014 at 10:43pm

Pick the one which requires the least amount of drilling. 

puppy412 wrote: doraemon wrote: This is the problem of players that use off+ blade when starting or developing. The power comes from the equipment. Therefore it's hard to use slower blade. My advice is use off- blade and practice a lot.   I'm not a beginner, been playing somewhere from 5 to 10 years. that's why I say doing a couple of drills per week won't do it for me.

So just because you've been playing 5 to 10 years, you're not a beginner ? Really ?

Playing with a fast blade has its benefits as you've rightly figured out, but the problem is, you hit fast - it comes back fast so you have to be quick to react. Plus, you can't make any mistake in reading the short game. You can pop the ball all to easy. You need to train (a lot) to overcome these issues. Service on the other hand is just a bit of practice, but can't be ignored either as it will cost you valuable points if you can't load spin or drifts long.

Edited by Lestat - 02/22/2014 at 12:28am

collins.latag wrote: I suggest that you make up your mind by not considering the pros and cons of your equipment and just start practicing. Sooner than later you would find yourself doing what you want to do. Blaming ones flaw on equipment is a never ending topic.

ok I will follow your advice, I will start practicing.
just one small detail, which of the two blades do I use for my practice?


Edited by puppy412 - 02/22/2014 at 12:23am