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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote blahness Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09/08/2022 at 8:05am
Originally posted by bozbrisvegas bozbrisvegas wrote:

For sure playing the widest variety of players and a mix of levels is beneficial.  I got a couple of weird lower level players that have some strange shots and serves I haven't seen before.  The more of that the better to strategize about.  Fast to get bored of the predominant push/chop style of lower levels though.  I tend to beat most of them at 'it' anyway because I usually sidespin push creating errors where they push straight of the side of the table. 

You seem to have some good blockers.  Lucky you.  



Lol there's no strategy required to beat lower level players....you could literally do whatever you want and still win. It's all about getting good training done even when you're hitting with them. And I find that since they're usually better at pushing, I simply train short push + opening loops with them followed by powerloops if they manage to return any of them. Much better than serving topspin, they do one counter, and then whatever you do (counter, loop, etc) they're likely to miss it anyway because they're simply not used to the shot quality Tongue

It's also kinda more challenging to convert their long topspin serves into short-ish underspin. 


Edited by blahness - 09/08/2022 at 8:07am
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Viscaria
FH: Hurricane 8-80
BH: D05

Back to normal shape bats :(
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote bozbrisvegas Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09/08/2022 at 3:53pm
the strategy part is for returning unseen serves and strokes in games with higher levels that you have not encountered in say a tournament.  
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bh: tensor MAX
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote blahness Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09/08/2022 at 7:29pm
Originally posted by bozbrisvegas bozbrisvegas wrote:

the strategy part is for returning unseen serves and strokes in games with higher levels that you have not encountered in say a tournament.  

Honestly the lower level serves don't even compare to the higher level serves - the quality just ain't the same... with high level serving you have to deal with short, extremely fast and long, to the corners, all with extreme spin variations and they all look the same in preparation.... I don't think facing lower level players serve helps much in dealing with the serves from a high level player. 
-------
Viscaria
FH: Hurricane 8-80
BH: D05

Back to normal shape bats :(
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote blahness Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09/08/2022 at 7:39pm
Trained quite a bit today where I emphasized on relaxing the grip, then tighten at contact (along with the index finger assisted pronation) concept for my FH, which is more similar to what I'm doing for the BH. With this I don't need to use my body mechanics too much and can spin much faster close table with control when I'm tired in the legs... This also helped a bit in terms of loop control and consistency which is sometimes lacking in my FH especially for stuff that's half long.
-------
Viscaria
FH: Hurricane 8-80
BH: D05

Back to normal shape bats :(
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote blahness Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09/09/2022 at 8:25pm
Had one of my biggest scalps yesterday night...won 3:0 against a really high rated player who has won some competitions, but tbh I think it's a fluke shot... I was playing a bit out of my mind tbh. Landed almost all my killer chiquitas and I was very successful at dragging the game to a short game, 3rd ball battle rather than rallying (where I would lose 80% of the points for sure). I also made some ridiculous powerloops which all landed mysteriously (maybe I was just lucky lol), which dissuaded my opponent from serving fast long for the most part (which I think is actually a mistake, having the long and short combinations really throws me off). 

Have to say that the short push training really helped a lot in my games - even if it is high it is usually loaded with underspin and not so easy to attack, and drag them into a game that they're unfamiliar with. 


Edited by blahness - 09/09/2022 at 8:26pm
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Viscaria
FH: Hurricane 8-80
BH: D05

Back to normal shape bats :(
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote blahness Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09/16/2022 at 9:46am
I got the Stiga Cybershape and tried it out. 

First impressions was that it was really quite head heavy. My chiquitas didn't feel very nice on my wrist. Punches are just a delight because it just shoots out the ball really fast. It's really like playing Thor's own hammer lol. Normal FH and BH flicks are really good because of the speed and suddenness. Also the hitting area has increased quite a bit which lends a lot more stability to these hit centric shots. The short game was actually surprisingly quite good, also because of the increased area. I especially like the long pushes as they are really fast, sudden and really heavy/full of spin. 

I didn't like looping with it, it felt heavy and cumbersome and it slowed me down a lot, and trying to spin the ball hard felt like a downright chore because of how head heavy it is. I feel like if you have quite hit centric strokes (kinda like Truls Moregardh) you'll do well but I'm actually more of a spin monster myself who can't play well without good spin. When I switched back to my Viscaria I was looping like a madman because of how easy it became lol. Maybe I should kinda train a bit with it and then revert back to the Viscaria for usual play. 

Also pendulum serves didn't work very well because the hitting points are quite different than the normal shaped blades. Hook serves pretty much worked similar. 

However, I feel like because it's head heavy you really need quite a strong wrist/grip to handle it. I have some nerve inflammation from years of gym and high level piano unfortunately which probably rules out the use of this blade long term. 
-------
Viscaria
FH: Hurricane 8-80
BH: D05

Back to normal shape bats :(
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote bozbrisvegas Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09/16/2022 at 10:25am
Can you weigh both your set ups?
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote blahness Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09/25/2022 at 12:55am
Originally posted by bozbrisvegas bozbrisvegas wrote:

Can you weigh both your set ups?

My Viscaria with double dignics is 188g, while the Cybershape setup is actually 185g, but yet because of the balance playing with the Cybershape hurts my wrist more ugh Dead

A friend of mine wanted me to try sticking double Dignics on the blade to see if it'll be better, he thinks that the Xiom Tau 2 rubber is trash lol
-------
Viscaria
FH: Hurricane 8-80
BH: D05

Back to normal shape bats :(
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote blahness Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09/25/2022 at 1:08am
Have been playing around with weight transfer during the serve to increase my service quality - this was inspired by how Miwa Harimoto does it. So during the preparation, bend down and put your entire bodyweight on the left leg. Then transfer your weight entirely to your right foot while throwing the ball, then during the serve transfer the weight entirely to your left foot, while lifting your right feet and rotating directly into the ready position. It's much easier to rotate back into ready position when there is a significant weight transfer.
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Viscaria
FH: Hurricane 8-80
BH: D05

Back to normal shape bats :(
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote bozbrisvegas Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09/25/2022 at 1:45am
Is it the rubbers or has the 'stop sign' got a hollow handle?
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote blahness Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09/25/2022 at 7:58am
Originally posted by bozbrisvegas bozbrisvegas wrote:

Is it the rubbers or has the 'stop sign' got a hollow handle?
No, it's mostly because the surface area is larger towards the top than at the bottom. Maybe it'll play better if I make the handle a bit heavier? Any ideas on how to do that?
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FH: Hurricane 8-80
BH: D05

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote bozbrisvegas Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09/25/2022 at 3:13pm
I personally find the balance important like you.  I write about this a lot.  I tend to sacrifice one of the rubbers for a lighter one first (generally BH should be it).  

Otherwise it should be easy to first experiment before permanently changing your handle.  

Just tape some small things to the handle for a while... dunno something like 20c pieces... weigh up how many you need.  Don't worry if they feel stupid... it's just a test.

Once you see that you may have solved it then you can saw out the centre of the end of the handle and stick in a chunk of whatever material ....  Maybe Hardwood?  Not sure if we are allowed to stick steel in there.

Or if you don't mind the handle getting thicker then wrap it up with tennis handle tape... 

option 1 is best imo
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote blahness Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10/05/2022 at 9:55am
I figured a way to make the Cybershape work for my playing style. 

So the best FH rubber to stick on it (as advised by the experienced shop manager) is good old boosted Hurricane 3 lol. It just plays amazing, so what if it only lasts 2 months I'll just replace the sheet, it's cheap anyways LOL

After changing the FH rubber, my game came back screaming. All my spinniest serves (mainly my hook serves and FH pendulum) were now available and easy to control to boot, and serve receive became a joy again. This also worked amazing with loops because I finally got my spin back. The Cybershape is quite a bit faster than Viscaria imo and Hurricane 3 being dead slow is just perfect to tame it. Also FH flicks are much easier and deadlier thanks to the speed of the blade.

To solve the head heaviness of the blade, I simply changed my grip to place the thumb higher up. This allowed more stability of the blade face and thus I was much less affected by the head heaviness (especially on the wrist). 

On the BH, the Victas V15 extra is quite a bit easier to control than D05 (though it lacks the top end spin of D05), and is quite spin insensitive so it allows for confident chiquitas. Also you can actually control short much, much easier than D05 (which I suspect would help a lot in games, more than I expect). I felt like BH-BH pressure rallying is a lot easier with this setup thanks to the speed and direct feeling in the blade.

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Viscaria
FH: Hurricane 8-80
BH: D05

Back to normal shape bats :(
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote bozbrisvegas Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10/05/2022 at 5:23pm
Cool, sounds like we are settling on similar equipment.  I doubt H3 will only last 2 months.  Don't be scared to boost it yourself.  

Note, my blog is over at OOAK now.  Got lots of pics of recent boosting of H3, such as this:


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote blahness Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10/12/2022 at 12:56am
Hahaha I'm too lazy to boost, I always pay the shop to help me out with it xD

But yeah I'm loving Hurricane 3 on my Cybershape now. 

However I've been encountering some new problems - the hit-brush ratios and timing on my loop receives of tricky serves is all out now - including the distance to the sweet spot (Cybershape requires a hitting point slightly farther away from the hands compared to normal blades), which is really messing my game up. It's fine during practice, it's only during games that these differences really bite me. I had one guy repeatedly serve tomahawk half long + fast long into my FH to exploit this weakness Dead all those serves should really been crunched into dust with at least 70-80% success rates instead of like 40% success rates I'm having now 

Still I already had a few very close matches with high level players and although I reckon I will still play better with my Viscaria setup the Cybershape setup is starting to show some teeth of its own. 
-------
Viscaria
FH: Hurricane 8-80
BH: D05

Back to normal shape bats :(
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote blahness Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10/12/2022 at 8:04am
Learning that Hurricane is still incredibly different to Dignics, you really have to open the racket angle up and hit into the ball a lot, otherwise it has the nasty tendency of dying into the net..... Did a lot of basic training today to retweak my FH loop.
-------
Viscaria
FH: Hurricane 8-80
BH: D05

Back to normal shape bats :(
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote blahness Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10/19/2022 at 7:43pm
Continued playing and the lack of killer spin on the BH is starting to get to me now... as when the opponent serves long topspin I can't really punish it decisively with my BH sufficiently to avoid the nonsense BH-BH rallies. Maybe I'm still going to switch back to D05 BH on the Cybershape after all. 

Am trying out having the right leg much farther back during both the serve and receive. This makes a lot more sense in general as i'm getting much less jammed from the receive, and can still move in decisively to punish short balls (stepping in with the right foot for BH and left foot for FH loops). Much easier to move forward than backward after all. 
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Viscaria
FH: Hurricane 8-80
BH: D05

Back to normal shape bats :(
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote blahness Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10/21/2022 at 5:19am
Had my nerve inflammation flare up again after a night of using the Cybershape :( It seems that my game is fundamentally not suited for the Cybershape unfortunately especially with the BH and chiquita where the head heavy balance really hurts... aint got the "nerves of steel" to handle it unfortunately... looks like I'll be switching back to my good old Viscaria and double Dignics.  
-------
Viscaria
FH: Hurricane 8-80
BH: D05

Back to normal shape bats :(
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote blahness Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10/25/2022 at 11:44pm
Also I now have a theory of why circular shapes are better for spin-oriented players. Simply speaking, the rotational inertia for a given area is lower with a circular shape compared to any other different shape. That means that a circular shape simply offers the least resistance to rotation of the bat face and is thus the easiest to spin with. And the faster the peak rotational velocity achieved, the more ball spin would be imparted onto the ball in general (given the same amount of normal force imparted on the ball). 

Of course the blade being head heavy in itself is not helping the case at all... 

Now i probably need to sell off the Cybershape to someone interested haha. 
-------
Viscaria
FH: Hurricane 8-80
BH: D05

Back to normal shape bats :(
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote jfolsen Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10/26/2022 at 9:58am
Originally posted by blahness blahness wrote:

Also I now have a theory of why circular shapes are better for spin-oriented players. Simply speaking, the rotational inertia for a given area is lower with a circular shape compared to any other different shape. That means that a circular shape simply offers the least resistance to rotation of the bat face and is thus the easiest to spin with. And the faster the peak rotational velocity achieved, the more ball spin would be imparted onto the ball in general (given the same amount of normal force imparted on the ball). 

Of course the blade being head heavy in itself is not helping the case at all... 

Now i probably need to sell off the Cybershape to someone interested haha. 


There was a theory decades ago that one ply hinoki played better in a rectangular shape rather than round, which is why you saw very few shakehands blades made with one ply hinoki. No idea if it is true or not.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote lgxb Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10/26/2022 at 10:21am
Originally posted by blahness blahness wrote:

Originally posted by bozbrisvegas bozbrisvegas wrote:

Can you weigh both your set ups?

My Viscaria with double dignics is 188g, while the Cybershape setup is actually 185g, but yet because of the balance playing with the Cybershape hurts my wrist more ugh Dead

A friend of mine wanted me to try sticking double Dignics on the blade to see if it'll be better, he thinks that the Xiom Tau 2 rubber is trash lol

stick a 5-10g coin at the end of the handle of your Cybershape and you will be all good again.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote blahness Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10/27/2022 at 9:14am
Originally posted by jfolsen jfolsen wrote:

Originally posted by blahness blahness wrote:

Also I now have a theory of why circular shapes are better for spin-oriented players. Simply speaking, the rotational inertia for a given area is lower with a circular shape compared to any other different shape. That means that a circular shape simply offers the least resistance to rotation of the bat face and is thus the easiest to spin with. And the faster the peak rotational velocity achieved, the more ball spin would be imparted onto the ball in general (given the same amount of normal force imparted on the ball). 

Of course the blade being head heavy in itself is not helping the case at all... 

Now i probably need to sell off the Cybershape to someone interested haha. 


There was a theory decades ago that one ply hinoki played better in a rectangular shape rather than round, which is why you saw very few shakehands blades made with one ply hinoki. No idea if it is true or not.

I think it's probably the spin factor, penholders have a natural advantage against shakehanders in terms of spin production, so they can live with rectangular shapes and still produce great spin easily. I have a feeling that the rectangular shape is stiffer in general and might be storing more kinetic energy, thus the ball rebound speed will be faster. 
-------
Viscaria
FH: Hurricane 8-80
BH: D05

Back to normal shape bats :(
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote blahness Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10/27/2022 at 9:16am
Originally posted by lgxb lgxb wrote:

Originally posted by blahness blahness wrote:

Originally posted by bozbrisvegas bozbrisvegas wrote:

Can you weigh both your set ups?

My Viscaria with double dignics is 188g, while the Cybershape setup is actually 185g, but yet because of the balance playing with the Cybershape hurts my wrist more ugh Dead

A friend of mine wanted me to try sticking double Dignics on the blade to see if it'll be better, he thinks that the Xiom Tau 2 rubber is trash lol

stick a 5-10g coin at the end of the handle of your Cybershape and you will be all good again.

That would make the setup really heavy which, although better for balance it would still be bad on my nerve inflammation issue :( especially coz I play with a lot of spin and my BH chiquita is very necessary for my game.
-------
Viscaria
FH: Hurricane 8-80
BH: D05

Back to normal shape bats :(
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote blahness Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10/27/2022 at 9:32am
I played a lot today with my old Viscaria blade with D09c and D05 and boy was it such a joy to play with. It was just so, so easy to spin the ball especially on the BH and after a short adjustment period I think I'm back to my prev level haha. To be honest it felt even easier than before, playing with this is just like easy mode compared to the Cybershape. I was easily producing topspins that sizzled even on the floor up to them hitting the barrier. Whereas with the Cybershape it was funny, ppl were just blocking my topspins into the net LOL

I trained against someone who had a nasty habit of fading the ball Ma Long style (with some nasty sidespin and possibly some underspin too), when practicing BH-BH diagonally. Damn that shot is almost impossible to receive, it goes so wide to the FH and has no topspin to borrow ugh... The best I could do is to do a weak FH loop off that and even that isn't all that consistent imo.... 

I did some interesting serve and receive training. I found that it was way easier to recover after the hook serve compared to the pendulum. Somehow I was constantly getting jammed bad with the returns off my pendulum serve, and my training partner told me that I was just standing up after the serve although I was recovering after the serve well positionally speaking. Gotta remind myself to always have my weight forward and leaning forward.

Will have to train this a lot more imo, I still want to integrate a 3rd ball FH flick kill off higher shorter receives, as well as the 3rd ball FH attack. Right now the serve quality is there but if it's received well I'm just eating all my own spin which is resulting in a lot of errors especially off the pendulum serve. Somehow I'm a lot stronger with the hook serve follow up.

Man I'm a lot more appreciative of the Dignics forgiveness after switching back. It's just amazing how much feeling and dwell time it offers!


Edited by blahness - 10/27/2022 at 9:45am
-------
Viscaria
FH: Hurricane 8-80
BH: D05

Back to normal shape bats :(
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote bozbrisvegas Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10/30/2022 at 8:06am
back to home base huh.  I have kind of given up on all my Euro rubber foray experimets... ($240 later)  I prefer the spinnier lane and it suits me.

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fh: Hurricane 38 degrees MAX
bh: tensor MAX
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote blahness Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10/30/2022 at 10:06am
Originally posted by bozbrisvegas bozbrisvegas wrote:

back to home base huh.  I have kind of given up on all my Euro rubber foray experimets... ($240 later)  I prefer the spinnier lane and it suits me.


Yeah, unfortunately it's back to Viscaria and double Dignics for me. 

I need a lot of spin for my game and no spin = no consistency for me and less outright serve winners. Hence, that is usually the driving force behind my equipment selection too haha... 

I think my topspin and chiquita stroke is already very finely tuned for Dignics tbh because I wrap over the ball quite a lot and Dignics just allows me that extra dwell time to feel the wrapping, much more than other rubbers. Boosted Hurricane also has this kinda feeling, except that boosting is a major pain lol.... 

I'll just have to learn to live with the Butterfly tax ugh....
-------
Viscaria
FH: Hurricane 8-80
BH: D05

Back to normal shape bats :(
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote blahness Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10/31/2022 at 8:41am
The weather has been miserably raining and the humidity is really affecting the grip on the rubbers significantly... Not sure if there's a product that can put some tackiness back onto the Dignics rubbers, I feel like the sponge is still going strong, just that the grip can be shit in wet weather... 

On recovery after my pendulum serve and why that is an issue, it's because I have way too complicated after movements which may not be all that deceptive anyways lol. Decided to just simplify the serve and immediately I saw that I'm much better prepared for the 3rd ball, while still retaining the core principles of the deceptiveness, for eg the elbow lift after a sideunderspin serve. 
-------
Viscaria
FH: Hurricane 8-80
BH: D05

Back to normal shape bats :(
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote blahness Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11/02/2022 at 8:57am
Mainly did a lot of service training which was really fun to do - and the other club members had some opportunities to receive them haha. I think with the newfound weight transfer mechanism, my serve quality went up by a lot, and it's a lot easier to control the placement now. 

Few thoughts:

1) the deep fast hook serve is a real killer regardless of whether it's served deep to the wide FH, middle or deep BH. The wide FH serve is particularly hard to receive because the sidespin runs counter to what feels natural for the FH, and also they have to move fast to loop it. The middle because it jams the elbow area, a classic shakehand weakness. 

2) sidetopspin FH pendulum to the BH short corner is a killer for those who like to push lol...almost a guaranteed free point if they try to push it the traditional way. if they try to flick it just start serving sideunderspin again. Doesn't work much if the other player has a strong chiquita....unless you wanna bait the chiquita to counter/counterloop. 

3) the fast FH pendulum down the line aka the bottle challenge serve is super useless because it won't be super straight due to the sidespin, you'll just be serving it to the opponent's FH, and gifting them an attack opportunity. It probably only works against lefties tbh... The best placements are wide BH, deep BH and middle area for these long fast pendulum serves. 

4) fast mild underspin to the BH, also drives a lot of ppl nuts trying to receive it

5) heavy underspin/no spin to the FH short area - this is another real killer especially against shakehand players with bad FH touch skills. 

6) short tomahawk/hook serves to the middle FH corner, if it's too deep in the FH it's easy for them to borrow the spin to push short to your wide short FH which is a nightmare to attack. Too close to the middle and they can simply use their BH which makes their life easy. So the best is roughly just left of the middle line. 

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Viscaria
FH: Hurricane 8-80
BH: D05

Back to normal shape bats :(
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote blahness Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11/09/2022 at 8:06am
Played again after a long break.

I think I'm getting completely back to my old form before switching to the Cybershape. Played like 15 games with this penholder who also is 1 side inverted and 1 side some sort of weird pips, and completely destroyed him, only lost 1 set. 

Things I did very well was the transition between chiquita and looping of the long serves, as he had a very good sudden FH pendulum serve which he places very well to all corners both short and long. I think I never did it so well as I did today. Being able to open strongly against the serve can become quite oppressive to penholders as they lost their serve initiative and have to go into a rally which they are not really favoured. 
He had a very straight down the line fast FH pendulum (the "bottle challenge serve" which was actually quite difficult to attack with the FH. I tried multiple times to attack it strong and my attempts generally failed as he got a really good angle and also it's not so easy to read whether it's sidetopspin or sideunderspin. I attempted to borrow the pace to create a slower loop with more forgiving trajectory which worked a lot better. Damn that serve is a bit insane.... 

He really struggled against my new serves which look very similar between the long and short variants.... I got so many attacking opportunities with them that he looked really flustered receiving them. Changing it up really works wonders compared to just serving short all the time which is super predictable and easy to receive. Combination penholders who love to receive with the pips don't like facing sudden long serves.

My BH was in really good form today, I was timing the balls well and generally didn't commit too many unforced errors when attacking and my ball feeling was quite good, this was key to winning. Usually when I lose its because of bad BH feeling. Pretty happy with where that is at the moment. 

Did some training with other ppl, and i was attempting to loop FH after a few powerful BH loops which didn't work that well because my partners were just too good at switching down the line (I was always out of position to do a good powerloop ugh). I discovered something which made a lot more sense and is more reasonable - the FH "carry" aka active counter. So basically against a down the line switch I could just actively counter to the wide FH corner of the opponent. This saves a lot of energy and also I can take this ball earlier with control, and also opens up some nasty angles which I can exploit later on. No need to go Ma Long or Fan Zhendong style to try to powerloop these down the line switches - too risky and too hard!

Also did more FH flip training against another club member's short serves with a major emphasis on using the body rotation for power, hopefully I get to use it in some matches. I didn't even need to flip much against the penholder guy as he never really targeted my FH short area which is still a big weakness at the moment imo.... 

I realised that I'm actually still raising my shoulders which is pulling my elbow a bit upwards during the FH loop. This is costing me some unnecessary power loss. Will have to thinking about finishing more forward and not worrying too much about landing balls in the net.

Did some more training against a chopper and using the blade angle method I was actually able to BH "loop" a lot of his chops. But when it came to my FH, just wow at the ball, it's just so heavy and I kept looping it to the net which was really frustrating... Maybe I need to do a bit more training against underspin for my FH again, it's a bit rusty....

I also did a lot of trials in terms of switching down the line, there's 4 methods which I tried out.

1) Harimoto style fade BH topspin with early supination. This seems to be the most promising as it can be taken quite early and it produces fade topspin which really, really increases the angle, especially when coupled with my original sidespinnish BH. The problem is that this stroke only works against incoming topspin imo, there's a lot of angle adjustments to make against non topspin balls.

2) normal BH stroke, just with the directional change, I can see that this is what Wang Chuqin generally does, the good thing is that it's relatively stable and easy to control and it can be done with a lot of power, the bad thing is that the angle is not so wide because it's the same sidespin, also it's hard to not telegraph it from the shoulder positioning.

3) normal BH stroke, except with a delay which allows it to be faded. This is surprisingly deceptive and allows me to still switch down the line at a later timing (if I see opponents preparing for the BH or pivoting early). It's also quite forgiving as the opponent's spin has decreased a bit and I have more time to watch the trajectory. The bad thing is that this is kinda a late BH which is not very effective against fast players....

4) BH punch down the line - my least favourite of all because it has really bad error rates...

Imo, I think I like no.1 and 3 the most for close table and 2 further away from the table... will continue to experiment and try to build them into my game.


Edited by blahness - 11/10/2022 at 5:42am
-------
Viscaria
FH: Hurricane 8-80
BH: D05

Back to normal shape bats :(
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote blahness Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11/13/2022 at 8:23pm
I think I finally figured out how to serve sidetopspin tomahawk serves with disguise at home... used to only know how to serve heavy side under and nospin which limited its utility. My sidetopspin tomahawk used to be super obvious which meant that it didn't give me any advantages.

Can't wait to add this into my serve arsenal too to complement my hook serves since they can be served using the same serve stance preparation.... 

Also came across a Yassun FH loop tutorial video which was super interesting as it emphasized the sideways movement to increase power. He seemed to get even more power from it when compared to previous videos. Tried this at home and it indeed seemed to give me even easier access to power which is a bit weird because I've always been of the finish forward school of thought...
-------
Viscaria
FH: Hurricane 8-80
BH: D05

Back to normal shape bats :(
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