When the Darkside is not so dark

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   Today I got the opportunity to get in an extra day of LP training playing at a friend's place of business.  He has a great setup with rubber flooring and high intensity LED lighting that is some of the best I have played under.  We both are involved in other activities so we do not get to play as often as we like.  We were joined today by a winter Texan from Minnesota who had just arrived in town.
As I warmed up on the BH I was really having difficulty.  We were trying to do a "hit/push" type warmup.  All my hits against his pushes were going into the net.  All my blocks of his hits were going high and mostly long.  When I did land a chop block he effortlessly drove it back as if there was no spin on it.  On one particular chop block I watched my return closely and noticed it was  just a dead ball.  

Then I looked closely at my paddle.  I had grabbed the wrong racket from my bag.  I was playing with my short pips.  The good part is that I know my "feel" is improving since it only took 5 minutes to realize I was playing with SP instead of LP.  The bad part was once I started playing with the LP I could not hit the ball back to the net ( much less over it) for another 5 minutes.

I am thinking that maybe my best chance to win at tournaments is to warm up with the LP but the secretly switch to the SP before play starts.  That way I never really have to get good with the LP but still play a deceptive game.   Call it playing the lighter side of the Darkside game.

Mark - Who is either so good he can play with anything or so bad it really does not matter what he plays with.  Make your opinion known in this thread.

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mjamja Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Platinum Member Joined: 05/30/2009 Status: Offline Points: 2846	Post Options Post Reply Quote mjamja Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: When the Darkside is not so dark Posted: 01/19/2023 at 8:44pm
	Today I got the opportunity to get in an extra day of LP training playing at a friend's place of business. He has a great setup with rubber flooring and high intensity LED lighting that is some of the best I have played under. We both are involved in other activities so we do not get to play as often as we like. We were joined today by a winter Texan from Minnesota who had just arrived in town. As I warmed up on the BH I was really having difficulty. We were trying to do a "hit/push" type warmup. All my hits against his pushes were going into the net. All my blocks of his hits were going high and mostly long. When I did land a chop block he effortlessly drove it back as if there was no spin on it. On one particular chop block I watched my return closely and noticed it was just a dead ball. Then I looked closely at my paddle. I had grabbed the wrong racket from my bag. I was playing with my short pips. The good part is that I know my "feel" is improving since it only took 5 minutes to realize I was playing with SP instead of LP. The bad part was once I started playing with the LP I could not hit the ball back to the net ( much less over it) for another 5 minutes. I am thinking that maybe my best chance to win at tournaments is to warm up with the LP but the secretly switch to the SP before play starts. That way I never really have to get good with the LP but still play a deceptive game. Call it playing the lighter side of the Darkside game. Mark - Who is either so good he can play with anything or so bad it really does not matter what he plays with. Make your opinion known in this thread.

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