I was taught a deep topspin serve that serves me well against lower level players. It was easy to get a popped up return that would set up a FH loop or flat drive. Against better players the same shot gets sent back with even more spin so I knew I needed a backspin serve.

I have developed a pretty good pendulum serve that nobody really can attack, but now I am getting balls pushed back with backspin. As a result Im having some issues adjusting to what my third ball should be. It almost feels programmed in me to loop, which results in a lot of mistakes. I need to work on my push next I think, but I'm not quite sure how to set up an attack with it or where to target. As a result my short game is pretty bad.

Just switched from a 729 Bomb with 2.0 friendship transcend to a Donic Appelgren allplay with 1.8 Mark V. I think this will help a little because the Bomb had so much speed that I couldn't control it well when playing short. It may be a little advanced for me, while I love driving loops back from the table, it doesnt matter if I don't have consistency or short game.

Anyway, any advice on a new third ball strategy is appreciated.

Not consistently enough. I need to work on it, but it's causing me a lot of errors right now.

Any good videos for this? I need to work on this skill.

It is true that a good combination of no spin & backspin serves will suit you well but you'll still likely get a lot of pushes back. Particularly if they see you can't hit that ball in consistently.

You need a robot or a good chopping practice partner to practice your loops vs backspin. Work on the two different types. A safe high arching spiny loop that you can land on the table every time. This is a nice option for more difficult, low backspin balls. And then the loop/drive that's your put away ball when they make a mistake and hang that ball up a pinch too high.

I used that same setup at about your level, allplay with Mark V and Sriver.  I couldn't loop backspin very well either, despite a lot of practice working with a robot.  Then I put a tensor rubber on, it was a Xiom Vega-whatever, and like magic I could loop backspin. If you can't lift the ball, try a tensor or tenergy, and you will be able to.

I know good players can loop any kind of backspin with an old-school rubber, that's true.  But anyone who says it isn't easier to loop with modern rubbers is lying.  There is a reason everyone uses them.

You will still need to work on your technique, spin-reading, timing, and contact.  That goes on forever.  It will just be a hell of a lot easier. and less frustrating.  The increased spin-sensitivity of the new rubber will put pressure on your ability to return serve, it doesn't come for free.  But IMO the tradeoff is well worth it.  

Sorry, I should clarify, I just ordered the new paddle with Mark V and will have it tomorrow. 

Im not sure Im good enough for that modern style of rubber yet.  I have started with an aggressive setup - very tacky Chinese rubber and a 729 Bomb which is rather fast. I can get heavy spin with it, but the trade off is not worth it. To answer your question, my loops tend to go a hair long (I miss a lot by an inch or so) or I go right into the net. The latter is on me, I'm not always moving into position quickly enough, so I'm working on that.

The other thing I notice is that incoming spin affects me too much. I think this may be one reason I have issues looping backspin. It seems like the tacky rubber makes the backspin worse. Also, the bounce off the 729 Bomb is very fast. If I just bounce the ball off this paddle it goes 5- 6 inches higher than the Galaxy 896 with 1.5 chinese rubbers that I have here. Just tough for me to control yet, but down the road, I can see myself using those rubbers with the Donic Allround, and one day the 729 Bomb or a similar blade.

Since so many posters say that Mark V is a great rubber to learn on, it just makes sense to me to scale down to a slower blade and a more all around rubber. I have a fantastic looping setup now with the 729 Bomb, and while I can loop rather well with it off deep balls that sit a little, its the other parts of my game that are out of balance.

As for looping backspin, its really the shorter balls I need to work on. So I'm practicing my pushes. If it comes deeper, I am going to take Next Levels advice and continue to work on looping those balls.

If you saw my game you would probably say I'm a beginner with a decent pendulum backspin and no spin serve who favors the forehand side, but is losing due to too many unforced errors.

I never speed glued my Mark V.  The only rubber I speed glued was Juic 999.  And with that, I settled on using d-Limonene from the art supply store - a substance that is sold there (i think) as a safer less toxic replacement for turpentine.  It is also a degreaser and food additive.

The ball went in with a lot more power and consistency when I started hitting a little more across it. Especially on balls closer to the net. I saw Brian Pace do this a lot in his videos and figured I'd try it because I was missing so many balls before that. 

Is this a good way to hit it? I also started doing it on aggressive push strokes and was able to hit them with a lot of precision and pace that way.

You gota get off the crack if you gona be playing this sport

This heavyforehand dude is supposedly a noob, but in his description he used perfect TT forum terminology. Also, just looking by the way he writes new paragraphs and puts comas... if you don't read the content but just look over the posts, his post looks exactly like that of nextlevel. 

I don't know whats going on but surely the OP has had a lot of posts here and this is not his original account.

 

That's a strange insinuation you're making. What would be the motivation for either NL or the OP?

Ok thanks, thats a little hard to explain. Here is an exaggerated version of what I mean (it should be queued up for the 58 second mark) - https://youtu.be/8XSv6UK2CMI?t=58s 

Have to say this is an odd post, but thanks for the props on using terminology. A little about me : I have been a registered member here since 2011 but I stopped playing for a long time due to a bunch of reasons outside table tennis. So I have actually been here 3 years longer than yourself.

I don't know who NextLevel is but I got a degree in English so maybe NextLevel and I are just good at writing? Not sure where you are going there.

Anyway, if you think this is not my original account I am more than happy to validate who I am with the mods here. They can call me up if they want. It's no big deal. There is no conspiracy, this is just a table tennis board and I just like to play and improve like everyone else.

Curios, you said you wouldn't recommend 1.8 Mark V. What rubber would you recommend? Im still learning about all this stuff.

I have used Friendship 729 Cream transcend pretty much the whole time that I decided to get serious about playing. Its very tacky andIm not sure if I like that. I put the 1.5mm version on a Galaxy 896 to try and get some control and I actually liked it alright. I had much more confidence to attack with that setup even though its pretty low powered. Ill have the Donic setup tomorrow so I'm hoping it has that same type of control as well.

That's a forehand fade - it's a sidespin shot.  There is a logic to why it works (avoiding the major spin effect by hitting the ball closer to the axis), but for what you are trying to do, it also has limitations as you sometimes need to learn to take on the major spin effect.  But if you can make the fade natural and consistent, you can use it.  Most people would use a forehand hook, which is on the other side.  And at the higher levels, most players can switch between looping underspin directly or by using sidespin (avoiding the major spin effect).  And when the spin gets really heavy, you will usually use some kind of spin avoidance on many of your strokes.

Generally, when looping with the forehand, unless driving the ball, the stroke is supposed to finish on the same side of the body as where the stroke originated.  This is even more critical for backspin than for topspin.  If I had to guess, that is what your friend meant.

Usually, once one has committed to offensive play and is not going to primarily chop, then 2.0mm and higher are the rubbers that are recommended as well as tensors.  If one wants to play a game that relies on medium to fast, heavy topspins, then thicker sponge allows for driving through the ball while retaining spin and modern tensors are built to support loop driving and looping far more effectively than traditional rubbers as the latter can no longer be speed glued (and even when boosted, don't do as well as boosted tensors).  If you loop the ball hard, or have a powerful forehand, 1.8mm is going to stop spinning the ball on drive contact fairly easily for you as you will get to the wood of your blade easily on powerful shots.

To cut a long story short, loopers/powerloopers should use 1.9-2.0mm at the mininum and more often 2.1mm-Max.  But the effects are not going to be a big deal right now and will show up when you are counterlooping or loop driving heavy spin, which is not what you are doing right now.  You can switch whenever you want to.  As BRS pointed out, there are some control costs and active play requirements that come with the extra ability to manipulate and generate spin, but IMO, if you are committed to offensive play, you embrace those problems and deal with them head on with practice, rather than ducking them as just about any rubber will have them in some form and if you are looping, your loop is your dominant weapon once you are allowed to introduce it.

Tacky rubbers support close to the table play because they allow you to grip the ball even when it is rotating heavily and might slip if only the topsheet is used.  That said, they are harder to loop and generate spin with, but the fact that they usually have harder sponges and don't slip allow you to hit the ball harder as well as you optimize your technique so it goes both ways.  I personally think it's easier to use regular non-tacky rubbers of all kinds until you are advanced, and then you make your decision on tacky later.  I currently use hybrid tacky stuff (Big Dipper), but I could just as well use non-tacky stuff, so don't think of it as the end of the world whatever you choose.

Ultimately, unless you want to buy and test something cheap, it is best to just borrow setups at any club you practice at and hit with them.  Do it every so often and that will reduce the urge to EJ over time as you will get an idea of what is out there and only buy stuff when you find it truly helpful (almost never for me).

Sriver and Mark V are a ripoff at 30+ usd. 

If you move from Sriver to Bluefire, or Evolution, or Tenergy or Rhyzm (best!), you will feel your rubber is turbocharged. You don't need to swing for the fences on every FH, and can keep your body in balance for fast recovery for the next ball.

There is really no benefits for thin rubber for attack. Use only regular sponge and Max thickness. THere is a reason they put a limit of 4 mm of thickness. everybody wants thicker and thicker. Thicker rubber has more spin and more speed simultaneously. Even counterlooping is easier with thicker rubber, as it holds the ball longer. Only choppers use thin rubber, and people with poor technique or knowledge.

Thicker rubber will make lifting underspin easier too, as you will increase dwell time. 

I frankly don't care how fast a blade is, as long as it is hard and has no vibration. If you can receive serve, keep it the fast one and improve shots. If you can't control the serve return... you can temporary use a slower blade..

Second post - Reminds me of a friend who has a Stiga OC and Yaksa 7 soft in max. He and i are roughly the same level. But he doesn't think he can handle the max yet and may down to the 1.8. He bought it  because he asked the best guy what he uses and just went with that. But the best guy is 1900 and has far superior spin and technique.

I have to say his setup is pretty sweet and just a little hot for me as well. But I seem to play more confidently right now with thinner control rubbers, which is why I went with the Mark V.

The tacky rubbers I don't think are my thing. It is hard to counter spin, at least for me. Another reason I went with the Mark V - its slicker. Anyway, I may get a chance to play with it tomorrow, as its expected to be here -  and ill post my initial impressions. 

Yeah I have heard this advice a lot, but I don't think 1.8 is going to be too bad for me since I can generate a lot of power and am in good shape. Especially since I have a fast paddle set up with 2.0 that I'm just not confident enough with yet (729 bomb - really launches the ball off the paddle with the Transcend rubbers).

So I'm just going to groove with this until I actually notice what you are saying - that it will be easier to swing and recover with a Tenergy rubber. There is no doubt about this, I agree 100%. Right now I just need the confidence to attack the ball and I seem to do it better with a more control rubber at this time. If I continue to play this much I am sure I will see it from your perspective down the road and switch to a rubber like Rhzym which sounds pretty great for my forehand down the road. 

At this point I'm just trying to build my confidence and mentality and the thinner rubbers help me stay in attack mode.

1.  Your friend's set up is okay - I don't like Koto as an outer ply, but it is okay if he likes Koto.  The real problem is that no one is teaching him how to use it properly.  He needs to get better at spinning the ball.

2.  Playing more confidently with a setup is important, but at USATT 1000, it is a big mistake to place a premium on that kind of thing if you have only been playing a year or two and are past the point of putting the ball on the table.  What you should be looking for is a good setup for your long term goals.  

3.  Playing confidently if that means avoiding missing is another mistake.  Missing is part of the game.  The key is to miss with good technique.  If you have good technique, missing actually accelerates the learning curve.  It's very sad to see a coach smiling while his student hits the ball on the table with bad strokes.  Yet it happens all over the world when a coach is just willing to take his student's money without doing his job.

On rubber thickness, the janitor is right - the harder you hit the ball, the more sponge you typically need.  If you are launching the ball with 2.0, then work on your technique  - the 729 blade is not *that* fast and neither are the transcend rubbers.  That said, there is nothing wrong with what you are doing per se other than that you are adjusting your equipment to match your current playing level, rather than working aggressively on developing good technique.  The biggest mistake beginners who are learning to loop make is to try to hit the ball hard in the beginning rather than trying to brush the ball.  The pace comes over time as anyone can hit the ball hard - the brushing part is unnatural and needs good timing and being able to brush thickly and thinly has benefits.

And NO, do NOT use hard fast blades.  The janitor is wrong.  You need something that provides feedback and lets you feel the quality of your shots when learning.  Once you develop quality shots, you can decide whether you need more or less of that feedback.

Tacky rubbers work a little differently, so he just may not be used to them.'

A 1000 with good spin... hmm.... beware of pink elephants...

I still think the Mark V and Flextra will set the OP back compared to learning to spin with a tensor or tenergy now.  And I say that as someone who played with both of those rubbers on an appelgren allplay when I was around the same level as the OP.  It is very hard to loop with that stuff, so it can be more rewarding from a point-winning standpoint to push a lot of long balls and let the other guy miss.  Unless your goal is to be a defender, that is a terrible pattern to get into.  It sounds easy to just switch over later to looping long balls, and maybe for some people it is, but for me old habits are hard to break.  

I second what NL says about the positive side of missing too.  In another thread he said "take your swing and let the ball do what it does." Or another form of that is "play like you practice."  NL repeats himself a lot.  But the basic point is that, while not missing is good and important, you learn more by going for an attacking shot and missing than by playing it safe and letting your opponent control the action.  It's also more fun to attack, again unless you have a defensive mindset and want to play that style long-term.

So your setup may be good for right now, but if you find yourself not topspinning balls that come long to your forehand, then you are not developing a game you can grow with, and you will have to relearn your strokes later.  That is a drag.  Whatever equipment you feel comfortable using, it is not that important. But developing good strokes at the start that will serve you well as you rise through the ratings is super important.  It seems like you can just clean them up later, but it is so hard once you have the movement patterns built into your brain.

As for pushing the long balls - good point. I am able to actually loop better with this new paddle. It just feels more comfortable and the ball feels better. Tough to describe but I have been consistently hitting my loop better today. I played a lot better in general today. May just be the new paddle upping my game, but whatever it is, I like the results.

The only time I really push at all is when I play a high % wall type player. I just push them side to side and then loop a winner. Im actually more aggressive with this paddle because I have more control. I do topspin long balls to my forehand with it, so thats not a problem. 

Im definitely more aggressive with this blade and rubber setup. The Flextra is very slow and controlled so I can commit to a heavy spin backhand with it and not be tenative. Im taking control of points early now and building them with my short game, which is a nice change from before. Took everyone's advice and am doing no spin serves and hitting loops off the return and also hitting backspin serves and pushing deep to the backhand to setup a loop from that.

I really like the Mark V a lot and think it could be great on my backhand or forehand, but this Flextra on the backhand side is almost too dead for me. Its a noticeable difference on backhand from the Gambler reflectoid 2.0 I was using. I think I got used to the bounce off the rubber because I was able to loop a lot easier on the backhand before.

Heeding the advice in this thread, I am considering down the road to replace it with a forehand rubber and use Mark V on my backhand. If i did that according to folks here it may be better to go with a more modern rubber on my forehand. Curious if Xiom Vega Europe 2.0, Rakza 7 soft 2.0 or Andro Rasant Powergrip in 2.1 would be a good fit for my blade?

I will say my loops are noticeably better now. I am looping backspin finally and attacking short serves with quick topspin. It's not going in 100% of the time yet, but  I have much more control. I think the 729 Bomb was just too fast for me and the feel of the 7 ply was throwing me off. I much prefer this Donic blade.

Definitley  feel like the Mark V is a seriously nice rubber for me and could be excellent on backhand. Maybe ill just buy another and replace the Flextra, but everyone was making some pretty good points in here on modern rubbers so I'm interested in thoughts on the ones I listed.

Blade rubber matching is not such a hard science as some would like to deceive you into believing and I often shake my head when people say things like "I am looking for good matches for my allplay blade".  It's all about what you are trying to achieve, not what the equipment likes.  I might use a set up that another person would cringe at.

Generally, a slower blade tends to cap out its contribution to power generation fairly early, so you can put anything on it, more likely something that is medium to hard so that you can broadly separate the effects of the blade and the rubber (soft rubbers tend to cap out fairly early as well and will confuse you).  IF you tend to swing fairly fast and make hard contact, the harder is better.  If you tend to swing more slowly with more controlled impacts, something more medium may make sense.  But it all depends on how you want to play.

If you move from MarkV or Sriver to Rhyzm you will need no adjustment. It is very similar, but better in everything, yes, everything, everything. Better spin, better speed, and at the same time better control. Is it a magic rubber sent from god to help all noobs? I think so. Helped me for sure. And if you know how to use google search, you can find it cheaper than MarkV and Sriver! 

I spent a lot of money testing new stuff, and still do. I am not looking for new equipment, just scratching my curiosity. For me there are only two rubbers in the TT world right now worth buying: Tenergy, if you want spin, and Rhyzm if you want control. 

Pretty easy to glue? I have butterfly glue - Butterfly Free Chack. Is this a good one?

The best guy I play with is excellent and I notice his serve is a varied backhand chop that can be very tough to read. He likes to chop to set up points but can rip loop winners off both sides. He uses the Rakza  7 soft max on both sides and basically plays a patient style but can attack off of any slight mistake. Playing him has helped me discover my weaknesses :

Backhand - backhand had collapsed a little. I worked on that today. I try to play everything as a forehand and its a bad idea because people always serve to my backhand side and the forehand push is hard. I worked on returning serves with my backhand again and it made things easier. It's crazy how much I was favoring my forehand without realizing it. I have a decent topspin backhand and it was reliable with the Reflectoid 2.0, but the Flextra 1.9 just is a lot different and I will be removing it.

Serve - My pendulum serve gives people problems but the spin I generate on the backhand chop serve is much more vicious and the better players have more problems with attacking it. I also wonder if starting in the middle of the table is an advantage or if I should be starting from the left side. Curious what people thoughts are there.

My loop is coming along better. I'm hitting the table a lot more. I make sure to focus on my feet moving..wide base, setup right foot behind the ball before trying to hit, brush the ball, low to high. Its getting more consistent.

Interested in the Rhyzm and how it works now that I'm getting my base technique on the loop to be more automatic. Im not sure when ill get it though. I ordered from a Dutch website and they haven't sent any shipping conformation yet.

http://www.tabletenniscoaching.com/node/2207" rel="nofollow - http://www.tabletenniscoaching.com/node/2207

I also decided to just go with Max Rhyzm on both sides and move on. The new ball kind of swerved me to this direction plus the reviews of the rubber - it sounds like a very nice rubber to develop my game on, plus the price is right on it from the website I found.

Additionally my backhand benefits a lot from faster rubber. I really miss it a lot. Hopefully that is all sorted. Ill keep my Mark V in a ziplock bag and maybe sell it to a friend.

On the new ball - it plays slower and with less spin, at least to me and my friends. I actually like it now and have been using it all week. I can see how the modern rubbers are more important when I try my friends Rakza 7 soft. It's just easier to grip the ball and get heavy spin. While I still generate heavy spin with the Mark V, when it really starts to ramp up on a looping rally I lose some of the kick I was getting before with the celluloid, but the rakza 7 seems to play even better with the new bal.

I didn't get the Rakza 7 because while I think it is great, it doesn't completely grab me, and for $50 plus a rubber, Id need something to grab me. The Rhyzm can be had for less than Mark V and every review  have read seems to indicate that it will be a good match for me. I shall see next week.

I do think Mark V is overpriced at most places even though it is a really good classic rubber. The best I have used in that style.

Obviously the weight has gone up and the power is substantially more - the ball bounces much higher off the paddle by a fair amount.

The good news for me is that my loop has improved a lot. I am hitting it much more now and winning a lot more points with it. So with the new rubber I should probably focus on more brush since it is a lot faster.

I would imagine it will take me some time to get my feel back, but I'm thinking chopping from medium distance may be even better. I have been doing that a lot on defense and it works well but now I should be able to impart a lot more spin on the ball.

The original topic - my serve. I have been doing backhand from the middle of the table. Multiple spins. I was told today to try sidespin from the left side of the table because it should get me even more balls to my forehand. Im going to give that a go. Things have been encouraging lately. I am able to slide in long topspin serves now and then to get free forehand drive winners. Im also attacking a lot more balls then before with loop drives. I still tend to chop a little too much and wait for a ball I can loop, but I'm hoping the new rubber helps me loop backspin more often. I had the confidence to do that with Rakza 7 so I'm sure it will translate over to the Rhyzm as well.

On serve I can use a lot less effort and get the same level of backspin. My FH loop requires less effort, and on my first match ever with the rubber I won 3 of 5, so my confidence was there pretty fast.

As of right now I currently can not see a downside with the switch. I also am more confident on bachand now that I'm back to a higher speed and thicker rubber. I know I can get the bite to keep the ball in so I'm looping more now.

A few weeks of really locking in with it and I think my game will only go up now. Really appreciate the advice.

How good do you really want to get at this sport?

Why do you ask?

Im just happy it was an easy transition. Really took no huge adjustment for me to switch to these max rubbers. My blade is very nice too so I think Im all set. I prefer to use the same gear for a long time because I get used to it and get better. So the switch to rhyzm made me think I'd take a step back - relieved that I did not.

It's virtually impossible to take a meaningful step back when you are under USATT 1600.  When people talk about protecting their game style, ratings etc. at that level, I try to make sense of it and I guess while it may be natural to feel that way, I can tell you that it's based on a very wrong view of where you are in the TT chain.

With the possible exception being footwork.  Getting your footwork right early on and avoiding certain footwork pitfalls is, IMO, probably more important than good strokes if your goal is to reach a relatively high level.

I've seen 2100+ kids with relatively bad footwork but excellent strokes so I am not convinced per se.  My footwork sucks as well.  My hierarchy is strokes, foot positioning then footwork.  And at almost any time, if you are willing to put in the work to develop new leg muscles, you can always work on your footwork.  Since foot positioning is an aspect of strokes, technical footwork IMO is about optimal ways of getting into position.  That said, subpotimal ways work better than many people think they do - that's what I have noticed from watching players with good strokes but bad footwork play.

On the other hand, I am speaking in the context of inverted.  Short pips etc. have different timing demands.  Inverted allows you to play at your own timing more than any other surface.

I usually know I'm struggling if my feet aren't moving well enough. In my opinion, it is super important, at least for me.

Do have a question. I just hit the side of my blade against the table and its a little splintered on the side. Its around a 1 inch long split that goes along the edge of the blade. Which sucks, but its bound to happen. Is there anything I should do? I use edge tape. 

In a few months I planned to buy another blade as a backup but Id rather not right now.

Yes, but I spend 1-3 hours a day for weeks developing feel with a setup, so when it changes, I don't like it.

In this situation it was not an issue luckily. I find myself going for loops earlier in the points and looking to attack quicker, which I believe is a good thing.

  

If you are spending that much time and your rating is still 1000, maybe you need to re-evaluate what you are doing or review how many hours you have put in and whether your output is worth it.

Ooo! I just love this statement.  One small inaccuracy: replace 1600 with 2100, excluding highly coached and improving children.  Otherwise, good description.

It's all relative to your goals.  I actually consider 1600 to be a good player with potential to beat anyone who has a very bad day and most trained 1600 players can loop.  Especially true for adult learners and casual kids.  Others may have different bench marks and stability measures and that is fine too.  I can see the logic of 2100 as well, though I consider the bar to be a good player to be much lower.

No, that's not the main problem even if it is a factor.  The problem has more substance than that and comes up in the context of what a learner with limited resources should invest his resources working on.

To answer your questions:

1.  Not bending knees is a problem of form, and is not a footwork problem per se, though it can exacerbate or mitigate footwork or stroke issues in many specific contexts.

2. Since the optimal position for a forehand loop for a right handed player is left foot in front of right, the answer to the question depends on how the foot positioning arose.  If it is the natural preference of the student, it is a form problem.  IF it is the outcome of a series of movements that make it inevitable and expedient, it is not a footwork problem.  If it is a choice/bad habit after a series of movements that should leave one correctly in the natural left foot in front of right position, then it is a footwork problem and needs to be addressed.

3. Yes, that's a footwork problem.  You need those steps to enhance alert responses to unexpected shots.  That said, I don't remember consistently bouncing or taking small hops between strokes.  That's the kind of point I am trying to make about footwork.

I agree with all of this, especially the bolded part.  I should have said A PROBLEM rather than THE problem in my original post. 

 Although I personally agree with your opinion on the 3 examples and which fall under the label of footwork, I have talked to other coaches who would not.   In scenario #3 for example, I had one coach tell me that he felt this was an example of poor RECOVERY between shots, and not an example of footwork itself.

That's good to hear - the snarky stuff is definitely not needed but comes up when someone posts repeatedly about the impact of equipment changes.  Since you posted the 1000 rating a few weeks ago and wrote about a 1000 player with heavy spin loops, I am happy that it has significantly improved.  

Just to expound on our agreement.

There isn't a systematic answer, but I think that there are good reasons to ask the questions, especially when better players often tend to beat lower rated players while hardly moving.

I started playing TT when I was kid. Never knew about level, gear, anything. There was o internet or youtube or anything really. I took time off and came back 5 years ago. the club I was in moved far from me for a while. I barely played. 

So essentially my knowledge of levels was not correct, but I wasn't starting off as a complete noob. The guy I said was a 1000 is actually a 1600. I was just being conservative since I didn't know and didn't want to inflate things.

Im a better player than my posts infer. I just don't want to come off as an exaggerator on the internet especially when learning about gear and things of that nature.

For example ,wide stance bent knees for me results in much more accurate ball striking. Right foot behind the ball on FH and ball centered on me for bh. Stepping under the table for push shots. It makes a huge difference for me. Especially when I play further back from the table and need to stretch wide. If I take that extra moment to be properly setup, I always hit with more confidence because  I know the ball is going where I want it.

That makes sense.  It also explains my disbelief since you were being much too conservative.  So you simply exaggerated in the wrong direction.   You must know that there is very significant skill and competitive difference between a 1000 player and a 1600 player - one is clearly an experienced beginner who is trying to break into intermediate status while the other is clearly a serious intermediate player.  Many of the good older serious adult players on this site are 1600 players, some trying to improve, some content with their playing level.  Most 1000 level players can easily improve if they decide to take the sport seriously from a technical perspective, while this is not as true for 1600s.

One thing I want to throw out that I see a lot.  When working on your push and looping the long push, don't push as hard as you can and then try to loop.  Try to push heavy and then a little flatter...that's the one you want to attack.

My serve has become much more effective and I have learned how to setup loops off of it. I do sometimes still miss short returned forehands because of backspin. Its a habit because I served topspin so much that I expect the ball to be attackable. I do slide in topspin now and it is incredibly effective. Now my opponent sees 3-5 spins per match as opposed to 1 when I started and was just serving topspin to lower level guys.

This game is all about instant reaction and instinct so it always fascinates me how I can tell myself - "don't attack a short backspin return"and still do it and net the ball. lol.

Not sure what a low level rating is - 1000? Anyway, I never lose to those players to the point now where they do not play me anymore. In the past I would drop matches now and then to lower level guys but I see the game a little better now and don't really struggle unless the player is more advanced.

Ratings are hard to judge by visual inspection and I would not say a 1000 rating is low level - it's just that most players at that level or below have untrained technique or are just developing aspects of it so you can't tell what matchups they will struggle with - there is so much they can get better at that they struggle against many things usually all decent forms of pace and spin. Some of them may do one or two things decently with respect to pace or getting service spin, but nothing specially good.

Any advice on the 1 inch split in my blade that I described? Just curious if thats going to be an issue.

If I end up needing to get a new blade in a few months I may go up a click to something like  the Stiga Offensive Classic or something very similar. I really love that bat. It is faster, thin and lighter than mine somehow even though it has max rubber. But for now the Appelgren is serving me well. I just hope it's not too damaged.

That usually requires a picture to evaluate. My guess is that since it is an inch, the split is significant in size but not terrible or it would obviously need replacement.  You could probably fix it easily with some crazy glue, and then decide if you want to change later.  Edge tape does protect blades and I recommend it.  Baal recommended to me some cheap tape that I bought from Amazon that has served me really well and lasts forever.

Ok cool. I have some 12mm Donic tape and it went right through it real thin. Never done that before! lol. But if I keep playing this much I will need more than 1 blade anyway. For gear I like Rhyzm and Rakza 7 and could see myself using a thin OFF- blade which is why I like that stiga OC. Besides that I really don't think too much about it, and Im happy about that..haha. 

Bear in mind that I wasn't estimating your rating, but rather going by what I thought it was, which was high 1800's.  The purpose of the comment wasn't to estimate your rating but rather the difference between the two of you.

Plus people always look worse on tape.

Yeah, and I play too many tournament matches on 4 hours of sleep.  I actually considered playing this Sunday after not playing for four days because of the Flu.  That said, when I play Rich, I go back to the game I played when I was 1700 because it is much more effective than my 2000 game against him.  I have accepted that.

People that live close to tournaments sign up and cancel if they don't feel 100%.  I go and play even if my back is bad and I have to drive the night before and often barely sleep.  I've never cancelled a tournament, even ones where I know my rating is likely to get killed.

No, I suggest gluing it now or it will likely get worse.  Use either gel type super/krazy glue or regular old white (PVA) wood glue.