updates

I was able to test the new backhand thanks to Tay willing to block for me today. Thoughts on it: you can apply everything you know about the forehand stroke to the backhand stroke, with both using much waist power. It is much more powerful than the previous traditional backhand that I had been practising last time. More importantly, it can be used both for short balls and long balls, so you don't need to decide between using a flip or using a normal backhand stroke. And changes in direction can be done at the last moment as it's a primary feature of the chiquita backhand style.
But I find it a bit slow to initiate compared to the traditional backhand and also slower to recover from the stroke, which is especially important in rallies. Perhaps I need to get more used to that motion of using my waist. I'm still figuring out how to control the angle. Basically the principles are the same as forehand. The motion of your hand must not be overly to the side, otherwise it will go to the net a lot. It must move more forward. When pulling downspin shift your body weight downwards and lean on your left leg. Pull more upwards.

I also tested the high throw He Zhi Wen service heavily today. The fast and long version proved to be very disconcerting to a lot of ppl, as they don't really have time to react since the motion is the same as the double bounce version. In addition, the type of spin extremely hard to see due to the ball's increased falling speed. Also the amount of spin is just incredible. :D:D. But I make quite a lot of service errors today due to this service, but when it works, it's devastating, when combined with sudden direction and spin changes.

I also tested a bit of my new pushing techniques. With the same preparatory motion you can modify your stroke in these variables, fast and long/extremely short, diagonal/straight, no-spin/heavy spin(with all of them looking almost the same). I managed to win a few games testing it. LOL....In fact, you can convert the pushing motion to a sudden flip, but it only works for the forehand since my backhand flip is the chiquita version which is impossible to hide.

I read a post on how to kill spin with inverted rubbers. Jerk your bat in an axis not really affected by the incoming spin. For example, when blocking top-spin, you can do a sideways wiping motion which will suddenly kill the spin on the ball. For receiving down-spin balls(must be pure downspin with no side component) you can jerk a bit sideways when pushing the ball, which will result in a dead ball. When your opponent thinks it's extreme downspin and chops it, you'll basically get a nice high ball to smash.

Few tips when receiving service. You must always anticipate the spin, placement and speed of the ball, and most importantly judge whether it's a long serve or a double bounce serve. All long serves should be attacked immediately with powerful loops. The quality of a loops depends heavily on the placement and the power in it. A general rule to follow: always put heavy spin and less speed when targeting where your opponent is good at "borrowing" power from your ball(usually the backhand) and always emphasize on speed when your opponent is good at producing power himself, so that he does not have time to prepare for his stroke.

That's why I love table tennis. A battle of deception, innovation and adaptability. Not just physical power and reaction speed, which is equally as important though.

I need to train more on service receive. But unfortunately, nobody in eca has services that cause me lots of trouble with the exception of eu yong's no-spin/heavy spin service and jacson's backhand serve(it's really hard to discern last time, not sure if i can read it now). Matthias' serve is also a challenge to read, but the problem is that his serve is too long and slow, so it's possible to tell down-spin from top-spin from the ball trajectory. If he could keep it short, then it'll become a high quality serve.

I only have a few tips on this area. Don't stay too close to the table. Fix your eyes extremely close to the bat, not the ball. You won't be able to see the ball. Use your sense of rhythm to know when the bat hits the ball instead of your eyes, unless you have eyes of an eagle. Move your body down slightly just before the ball hits the bat, so that your eyes are at eye level with the ball. Always take note of the location of the first bounce as it will give you a hint of where the ball will land. As you gain more experience, you'll be able to detect down-spin/top-spin by judging the first bounce location in relation to the 2nd bounce location. (A very hard skill, but it's a necessity back then when hiding the ball contact was still legal)

ok a bit tired now, will continue blogging probably tomorrow. This blog is becoming a table tennis blog....LOL