Big Ears Versus Pushblocker

[big ears]

My Swedish team mate is Tobias Bergman, and his rating is 2459 which would put him right next to Danny Seemiller in the USA top 100. At the top end of his winning spectrum, Tobias beats players that are too strong for me,(he beat England number 4 senior Chris Doran) but he also loses to players I can beat. The standard of play is high enough for him to fly in from Sweden anyway.

[Pushblocker]

My Swedish team mate is Tobias Bergman, and his rating is 2459 which would put him right next to Danny Seemiller in the USA top 100. At the top end of his winning spectrum, Tobias beats players that are too strong for me,(he beat England number 4 senior Chris Doran) but he also loses to players I can beat. The standard of play is high enough for him to fly in from Sweden anyway.

Actually, 2459 might actually put him into the top 50 in the country! I'm somewhere around 250 - 300 right now in the country and should be between 200 and 250 when the new rating is processed... so I'm far behind #50... but I'm getting closer 

To put this in perspective, there are about 7800 ACTIVE tournament players in the country..

[big ears]

It puts him at 43. From the relative standards of players from UK who play in USA, I would expect to be somewhere between 50 and 100 in USA. The English competitive scene is somewhat different, we have local leagues based on team play, every city/town has a league there are 300 leagues in all comprising 30,000 registered players. Our Computer rating scheme is different to yours in that only players who play in certain events get rated, and the rating list only shows currrent active players, inactivity results in loss of rating, so only around 1000 appear on each list.

[speedplay]

Rob, I missed your earlier reply where you yet again "pretends" to not understand what I'm saying. You say something about not having anything against pushing from the fh side, but if you read my posts on the subject, what I complain about is that you use your BACKHAND!!! to push from your fh side. This is low level chicken wing style, something that I'm very familliar with as I do it my self.

Your comment about short game is actually price less. Ask any high level player and you will find out that the one with the better short game have a huge advantage. If you have such a good short game, but don't use it, then your problem is tactic. If I had a good short game, I would make sure to get good use from it, as this is where I would set me up to attack first, which we both agree is an advantage?

Not sure about where Bergman is placed here, but I doubt he is with in the top 100, but I could be wrong. Can't be bothered to check it out at the moment. Any way, it's at his level I think the advanced play really begins. Not saying you have to beat him to be advanced, but you have to be able to challenge him for me to call it advanced. I think he is actually good enough to play at Dandenong A2 or something like that.

[Pushblocker]

It puts him at 43. From the relative standards of players from UK who play in USA, I would expect to be somewhere between 50 and 100 in USA. The English competitive scene is somewhat different, we have local leagues based on team play, every city/town has a league there are 300 leagues in all comprising 30,000 registered players. Our Computer rating scheme is different to yours in that only players who play in certain events get rated, and the rating list only shows currrent active players, inactivity results in loss of rating, so only around 1000 appear on each list.

Some other european leagues use the

http://www.ratingscentral.com

rating system to rate their events.. The numbers that this system comes up with are somewhat similar to the US rating. It's very difficult to compare the 2. The easiest way is to look at results of players from each country in the other one.. Ben Johnson is a good example.. We have 2 other british players who play tournaments in the US..  One of them is Keith Yarnley (US rating in the 2100's) and Martin Rodgers (rating in the mid 2300's).  I did play Martin this year and lost very close..

[big ears]

Its a small world, Martin Rogers used to play in my Team, He's actually a former Australian u21 champion. When In Uk he was ranked about 120. Keith Yarnley would be below 200 I've played him a few times and won comfortably.

[Pushblocker]

Its a small world, Martin Rogers used to play in my Team, He's actually a former Australian u21 champion. When In Uk he was ranked about 120. Keith Yarnley would be below 200 I've played him a few times and won comfortably.

Didn't expect you to know both.. I thought that you might know Martin as he plays at higher level than Keith.. Keith plays about 1 level below my level. (he is 2140 rated and I will be about 2240 when the new ratings are processed, so I have 100 rating points on him which is approximate 1 class higher in a league system)
 I never got to play him in singles but I beat him in doubles easily.. I'd say that Martin plays about 1/2 level to 1 level above me, close enough to have a chance. I've only played him once and he beat me close but I'm sure that if I play him 10 times, I'd win at least twice.. maybe 3 times if I'm lucky.. He is definetely a better player than myself but our styles match up good and our match was very competitive..
I was actually trying to get Martin to play on my team at the North American Table Tennis Championships but he had other commitments..

[big ears]

Having played with Martin for a full season, (he's a great bloke BTW) I can even tell you how he would have played against you, lots of high spin/no spin stuff almost lobbing, am I right?

 I couldent put a face to Keith Yarnley so I 'youtubed' him and easily recognised him as the guy nearest camera here;

Ty Hoff vs Keith Yarnley sandpaper May 2010 Game 3.mpg

[Pushblocker]

I talked for a while with him at a tournament in California..  Great guy and great player!! He gave me lots of high arch topspin balls (but nothing close to a lob) and would wait for the chance for a harder attack. However, I got many of his harder attacks back, putting him in trouble as I was pushing aggressively against the resulting push from him (after I blocked his harder shots). I could anticipate his placement pretty good which is critical to block back good shots.. He is not a player that often goes down the line.. He liked to attack cross. He was kinda predictable for me and that's why I did pretty good against him but still lost! He did play a good strategy, playing it safe.
However, the longer the match lasted, the better I got anticipating of what he would do. Considering that he was not wildly attacking, I had to be really good anticipating on when he would go for the attack and be ready where I'd expect his shots to go..

Having played with Martin for a full season, (he's a great bloke BTW) I can even tell you how he would have played against you, lots of high spin/no spin stuff almost lobbing, am I right?

 I couldent put a face to Keith Yarnley so I 'youtubed' him and easily recognised him as the guy nearest camera here;

Ty Hoff vs Keith Yarnley sandpaper May 2010 Game 3.mpg

[big ears]

I wonder where Martin Rogers would be in the Victoria rankings, seeing as he was Australian champion at u21 level, he also is best mates with WM Henzell, when Henzell trained and played a few tournies in England a few yrs ago, he stayed with Martin. Its gonna be interesting how you aussie guys rate Martin, seeing as he's one of yours.....

Liu Guo Hui vs Martin Rogers Open RR

[JKC]

Could it be that Keith might beat you Pushblocker because he comes from a country where your style is more widespread and although he is ranked below you over there, if you played over here, you might find yourself ranked below Keith?

[big ears]

BTW Rob, notice how Martin pushes virtually nothing ever, if he can help it? The sign of a quality player. It would be really interesting If any of you guys get the chance to talk to WM Henzell and ask him where he thinks Martin would be ranked in Aus and Victoria, I would guess he would say top 20 in Aus, top 10 in Vic, seeing as Martin was ranked below me in England, I can let you make your own conclusions..................

[big ears]

BTW Rob, notice how Martin pushes virtually nothing ever, if he can help it? The sign of a quality player. It would be really interesting If any of you guys get the chance to talk to WM Henzell and ask him where he thinks Martin would be ranked in Aus and Victoria, I would guess he would say top 20 in Aus, top 10 in Vic, seeing as Martin was ranked below me in England, I can let you make your own conclusions..................BTW Martin was from NSW

[Pushblocker]

Could it be that Keith might beat you Pushblocker because he comes from a country where your style is more widespread and although he is ranked below you over there, if you played over here, you might find yourself ranked below Keith?

I might find out eventually as he comes to my club about once or twice a year when he and his family are in Florida.. I did play against him in double and I do believe that I can handle him but I might be wrong. He plays a typical topspin game and that's the type of game that I like to play against.. I rarely lose to topspinners below 2200 level.. Slower offensive styles give me a lot more trouble.. Keith definetely does not play slow..

[Pushblocker]

Liu Guo Hui vs Martin Rogers Open RR

That video is from the same tournament where I met Martin.. I did play his opponent 2 days earlier at the club and I lost very close to him..  I believe that I lost to him 3:2.. That player is one of the best players at the LATTA club in El Monte (LA area)

[big ears]

Honestly, If its anything I've said, I will just go away to another forum, no problem at all.........

[Pushblocker]

Honestly, If its anything I've said, I will just go away to another forum, no problem at all.........

What are you talking about??

[big ears]

The Aussies have all stopped posting.

[JKC]

I don't suppost they want to lose any more arguments or admit we were right all along.

[big ears]

Sorry

[big ears]

That video is from the same tournament where I met Martin.. I did play his opponent 2 days earlier at the club and I lost very close to him..  I believe that I lost to him 3:2.. That player is one of the best players at the LATTA club in El Monte (LA area)

 So Guys, are you gonna give us your prediction as how Martin would be ranked right now in Vic?

 I would say top 10.

[Silver]

I'd say top20.

[pingpongrob]

I'd say top20.

Did you forget a 0 somewhere

[big ears]

Did you forget a 0 somewhere

HA, you just kill me, He's YOURS, Australian, he was Aus national U21 champion, so your telling me that players of Aus 200 standard are capable of becoming national Champions? it must be a lower standard over there than I thought....

[pingpongrob]

HA, you just kill me, He's YOURS, Australian, he was Aus national U21 champion, so your telling me that players of Aus 200 standard are capable of becoming national Champions? it must be a lower standard over there than I thought....

the key words were WAS Australian National U21 champion. At the time he probably practiced an enormous amount. And another fact - how long ago, was it in the speedglue days, was it with the 38mm ball. Times change.

[big ears]

the key words were WAS Australian National U21 champion. At the time he probably practiced an enormous amount. And another fact - how long ago, was it in the speedglue days, was it with the 38mm ball. Times change.

 And how many National title holders that you know have deteriorated to such an extent? Form varies, class in permanent. If you know what you are looking at, you should be able to tell from the clip, or maybe he does not push enough to show real class, but uses the lower level flicking on service return.
 here is a quote from Wook (WM Henzell) posted on DTTW;

That's quite funny Wiggy, Martin is one of my closest friends. Marty was a very good player before becoming Australian U20 champion and playing the World Youth Championships in 1997. He beat me in our only meeting (I was 13, he was 17). I stayed with him when I was playing and coaching in England a couple of years back. It was close at around the 6-0 handicap range when we had a hit.

[pingpongrob]

And how many National title holders that you know have deteriorated to such an extent? Form varies, class in permanent. If you know what you are looking at, you should be able to tell from the clip, or maybe he does not push enough to show real class, but uses the lower level flicking on service return.
 here is a quote from Wook (WM Henzell) posted on DTTW;

That's quite funny Wiggy, Martin is one of my closest friends. Marty was a very good player before becoming Australian U20 champion and playing the World Youth Championships in 1997. He beat me in our only meeting (I was 13, he was 17). I stayed with him when I was playing and coaching in England a couple of years back. It was close at around the 6-0 handicap range when we had a hit.

Lots of People beat Henzell when he was 13. In fact he didnt come on the scene until much later.  As for you flick, anyone can do them if they land of the table.
Wiggy, I used to practice woith some of the U21 Victorian Champions so I know how they play and their standard.

[speedplay]

Lots of People beat Henzell when he was 13. In fact he didnt come on the scene until much later.  As for you flick, anyone can do them if they land of the table.
Wiggy, I used to practice woith some of the U21 Victorian Champions so I know how they play and their standard.

Funny, when I asked you about WH's level as a 13 year old, you had no clue about it, but now you seem to know that lots of people did beat him and he didn't come on the scene until much later. Strange for a no talented 13 year old to move abroad and give it a go at a sport where he isn't good... The question is, would you have beaten him when he was 13, if you played the game you play now?

[pingpongrob]

Funny, when I asked you about WH's level as a 13 year old, you had no clue about it, but now you seem to know that lots of people did beat him and he didn't come on the scene until much later. Strange for a no talented 13 year old to move abroad and give it a go at a sport where he isn't good... The question is, would you have beaten him when he was 13, if you played the game you play now?

Thats because after the conversation, I did a bit of research - is that ok with you.

[big ears]

I know that Henzell was pretty good by the age of 13, way way better than Rob is now.