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MYTT Amod wins Maine B's

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icontek View Drop Down
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    Posted: 11/20/2011 at 11:09am

State of Maine B Division Table Tennis Champion - Matt Williams

For at least the last 20 years (with the exception of 2006) the Maine Table Tennis Association has hosted the State Championship. In addition to doubles and age divisions, the Championship has both an A Division (basically our open/unlimited event for Maine Residents) and a B division (has no rating cap, but past years B Champions are inelgible).

And for the last two years running, I've made it to the Semis of the B Division, to be knocked out by much better players (RC1300-1400 or approx US1600 and US1700+ players).


This Year's Maine B Sandbaggers - Shouping Huang - Finalist / Matt Williams - Champion

I had reasonably high expectations as the 2nd or 3rd seed in the B Division draw, with less than 100 points separating me from the 1st seed. But out of the 20 or so players in the draw, there were 4 opponents I had lost to in previous tournaments.

I usually need a few matches to warm up, and was lucky to have a larger Round Robin group. I played the lower rated players first, to find my game and get a groove going. When it came time to play my buddy Ryan (fellow Bangor League member) who was by far the toughest opponent in my group and someone I regularly split matches with, I was already firing on all cylinders. I took that match and advanced to the Quarters.

The large round robin group I was in had another positive effect as well; Ryan (my only loss at Quincy earlier this year), also advanced out of my group. I was counting on him to eliminate a couple of key players and thankfully, he took out a dangerous left handed attacker who has had 2 years of formal coaching. So both Ryan and I made it to the Semis at opposite sides of the draw. I won my Semi against a mid distance pips chopper who forced me to make 4 successive attacks to win many of the points. Ryan played the #1 Division seed Shouping in the other side. I watched their match, rooting for Ryan and hoping for an All Bangor Final. It went 5 games, but Shouping's consistent balance of offense and defense prevailed.

The Final was my third meeting with Shouping. In January of 2010. I managed to get a game off of him. A year later, he was the only player in my group to beat me, although I took him to 5, losing 9-11. He usually has great composure, and even an edge serve to go up on him 10-9 last year didn't break his concentration. This tournament, his same consistent play under pressure held together until the 5th game. After my service we were tied at 1-1 but I took the lead receiving his serves to go up 3-1. Once there, my confidence skyrocketed, and I used two serves that had given him trouble in game 1 and 2. Down 5-1 and serving, I watched him fold as I applied consistent pressure to close out the rest of the game 11-1.

It was a little surreal, I think I was in shock. It's just really hit today.


Thanks to Alex and MyTT for the jersey!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote yogi_bear Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11/20/2011 at 7:05pm
nice! vids pls
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote dabookerman Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11/21/2011 at 11:01am
NICE!!!  Congrats on the big win!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote JimT Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11/21/2011 at 11:36am
Terrific! I like how you figured it out and were able to employ some helpful strategies to get the wins. Way to go, my friend!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote JimT Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11/21/2011 at 11:38am
By the way, who were the A Division finalists?
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote icontek Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11/21/2011 at 1:43pm
Thanks!, this event is basically a rite of passage that most of the active A's completed in the last twenty years. it firmly established me as a"serious" player in maine's tt hierarchy. And because there are less than 100 active club/league/tournament players this year, it will bump me into the top 20. Unfortunately, no video. my girlfriend who usually films matches elected to go to the next tournament instead.

It's unfortunate, because I won my next match in the A's vs a highUS1600 seemiller player that I rarely beat in friendly matches. I would have liked to have seen the footage as I beat him 3-0.

A finalists were multi year champ Sonu Bhatia Us1900+ mid distance fisher/counter driver and john simpson, a US1700 junior who has taken him as far as five and deuce this year. But Sonu was on, after just suffering elimination in the over 40 to my long time playing partner who broke 1600 with only a push and a counter hit... And brains.

that win gave me hope for the state championship in the next five years.. I think with 1700 level play and the right strategy, I could cause a few upsets.

This is the first tournament where my FH loop was used for more than third ball kills, thanks again for the feedback on being aggressive in the other thread; it came in handy during the final against an opponent who was a far more consistent rallyer, blocker and pusher than I.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote JimT Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11/21/2011 at 4:14pm
Originally posted by icontek icontek wrote:


It's unfortunate, because I won my next match in the A's vs a highUS1600 seemiller player that I rarely beat in friendly matches. I would have liked to have seen the footage as I beat him 3-0.
 


I can only recall one Seemiller grip player I have met in New England - and I am not even sure his grip can be called that. That would be Doug Pryce...
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote dabookerman Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11/21/2011 at 5:36pm
You'll have to update us with your new rating too...
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote BH-Man Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11/21/2011 at 6:08pm
Yup, great results MW and WTG. When you coming to see the Boyz in Korea?
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote popperlocker Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11/21/2011 at 6:21pm
Hey Matt, why don't you change your avatar. Put up that trophy instead. :) Your hard work paid off son. Next time I go to Maine, you will be my target.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote mizutani_jun Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11/21/2011 at 6:56pm
Congrats.
Vids will be great...
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote melarimsa Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11/21/2011 at 9:00pm
Congrats man :)
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote smackman Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11/22/2011 at 6:08am
A great result there don't tell your opposition you have 40 on line coaches 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote icontek Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11/22/2011 at 6:31am
Originally posted by JimT JimT wrote:

Originally posted by icontek icontek wrote:


It's unfortunate I don't have footage, because I won my next match in the A's vs a highUS1600 seemiller player that I rarely beat in friendly matches. I would have liked to have footage as I beat him 3-0 and the match was a blur; I remember that I was focused, and that I had him making loads of errors, but not much else.
 


I can only recall one Seemiller grip player I have met in New England - and I am not even sure his grip can be called that. That would be Doug Pryce...


(edited my quote for clarity)

This player is Paul Ferriero, a single sided seemiller/windshield variant player who uses a thin light Avalox (BT500? BT550?) and a single sheet of Pronte. He recently visited my secondary club and beat both the US1500+ lobber and the US1600+ push/counterhitter, losing only to the short pips push/pick hitter.

He spin loops and smashes from forehand and punch blocks from BH at close to table. It's a lot like playing against CPEN with TPB, only his punch blocks are more active and (compared with the few CPEN players I've played near that level) more dangerous due to really accurate placement, consistency and unpredictability (you don't know which corner till the last second).

It's a classic case where two of my biggest strengths match up against his two biggest strengths and he wins because of experience and control. At my low level, where I spent the first few years playing learning to third ball attack, two parts of my game stand out as being more developed than the rest of my game. I have a better FH push serve receive (cross court) and a loopkill down the line to opponent BH. I say this relative to the majority of my opponents who are RC150-250+ pts higher and USATT 200-400 pts higher. Against Paul, my FH push gets looped if it's long or even half long (because he's comfortable looping close to table) and my FH down the line to his BH gets punch blocked for a winner. In the months leading up to the match, I really tested these strengths against him, but the FH push wide to take position wound up getting me killed when he looped it and even 3 sequential loops to his BH block was not enough to win points.

So I developed a general strategy, that I *believe* (again, fuzzy memory of win) worked against him. Push to his BH so he can't punch block and use topspin against his FH so he's forced to counterhit instead of making his opening spin loop. My goal was to use these core tactics to move him to either side of the table and then hit past him on the opposite side...

I'll have a chance to play a friendly match against him tonight; no doubt he will go back to crushing me; but I'll see if I can't get some footage to illustrate my strategy and flesh out the examples I presented.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote icontek Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11/23/2011 at 4:02pm
r atings are updated.

I picked up more than 40 pts. from my wins; but more significantly, it marks the first time I've broken the top 20 of the roughly 90 active players in maine.

My only regret is that this years A division was the most lightly attended in recent memory, with more than 50
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