Raised my rating!

[speedplay]

Since this is the place where every one seems to praise their own abilities, I'm surprised that I forgot to announce this here, but,

I've finally raised my rating!

Used to be rated as a level 5 player (which actually is the lowest rating level we have here) but I've always claimed to be at least a level 4 player. Well, now I can finally say that I am a level 4 player.

During the tournament held by our club, I entered the level 4 comp and managed to reach the final of this event, which earned me promotion to level 4. Actually, the points I earned would be enough to advance to level 3, but since there is a rule about only advancing one level for each competition, I was only promoted to level 4. Suits me fine, I'm no longer at the bottom, but still allowed to enter competitions where I stand a good chance at winning.

Btw, I still consider my self as an advanced noob, so don't get any ideas that I think I've become a good player because of this.

[pingpongrob]

Since this is the place where every one seems to praise their own abilities, I'm surprised that I forgot to announce this here, but,

I've finally raised my rating!

Used to be rated as a level 5 player (which actually is the lowest rating level we have here) but I've always claimed to be at least a level 4 player. Well, now I can finally say that I am a level 4 player.

During the tournament held by our club, I entered the level 4 comp and managed to reach the final of this event, which earned me promotion to level 4. Actually, the points I earned would be enough to advance to level 3, but since there is a rule about only advancing one level for each competition, I was only promoted to level 4. Suits me fine, I'm no longer at the bottom, but still allowed to enter competitions where I stand a good chance at winning.

Btw, I still consider my self as an advanced noob, so don't get any ideas that I think I've become a good player because of this.

Congratulation Speedplay, a very good effort indeed, But I'll have to disagree with you on this one, you are no longer an Advanced Noob, According to your ranking System, you are now officially an Advanced Noob Plus 1.5.  The .5 is because I think you are better than 1. Imagineall the players lower than you reading this thread, that go to sleep at night crying becuase you rate them as Noobs.

[Der Echte]

If any of the rest of sweden is like Speedplay, unlikely to happen. Too many caper missions related to women or drink.

Great work Speedplay.

[speedplay]

Thanks, but to be honest, I think that if I start gaining points in level 3 comps, this is when I might considermy self as anything else but a noob. Level 5 is definetely noob level, level 4 is still mostly noobs, al though there are some up and coming kids, but level 3 is where every player you face have a solid game.

Kind of funny, a team mate of mine who played in the level 3 comp was drawn against a player who usually plays in our second highest division, and some times the third highest division. Needless to say, it was the worst possible draw for him, but he still managed to play a good game, lost 9-11 in the deciding set, which I consider as really good, considering that he plays in the same division as I do.

[big ears]

Well done Speedy, any true advance in standard is well earned in TT, have you worked on anything in particular or is this just natural progression?, often achieved at a steady rate through accumulative experience.

[speedplay]

Thanks Biggy.

I guess it's a little of both. I've worked some extra on some new serves that have been usefull and I've improved my inverted bh blocking, which have earned me lots of points, even if there still is a lot of work to be done before I'm happy with it.

But, I got another proof that my game have moved forward, cause during yesterdays local league match, I played a player who have given me trouble before, and I destroyed him. The thing is, he is always a challenge to every one, and al though I've beaten  him fairly consistent lately, it's always been hard matches. This time, he got 12 points over 3 sets and I didn't even play particulary good. Heck, I didn't even play according to my tactic, as I felt I could beat him in pretty much which way I liked to. So, I'm guessing some progress have been made, perhaps due to playing in a higher league this season?

[Der Echte]

Thanks Biggy.

I guess it's a little of both. I've worked some extra on some new serves that have been usefull and I've improved my inverted bh blocking, which have earned me lots of points, even if there still is a lot of work to be done before I'm happy with it.

But, I got another proof that my game have moved forward, cause during yesterdays local league match, I played a player who have given me trouble before, and I destroyed him. The thing is, he is always a challenge to every one, and al though I've beaten  him fairly consistent lately, it's always been hard matches. This time, he got 12 points over 3 sets and I didn't even play particulary good. Heck, I didn't even play according to my tactic, as I felt I could beat him in pretty much which way I liked to. So, I'm guessing some progress have been made, perhaps due to playing in a higher league this season?

That is ultimately the sign of progress. You can sense some improvement in your practice strokes, the kind of shots or tactics you display in a practice match, the kind of rallies or points you stay in, however, the real measurement is match results, especially against the same players you failed against before.

[speedplay]

Yet another proof of my improvements, we played against Nilles team last night (unfortunately, no video, he forgot his camera!) and I did win 2 out of 3 matches, one against an opponents I've never beaten before (played 3-4 times before) and one against someone I haven't faced before. Any way, the guy I did beat was full of admiration and said that he thought I had made tremendous progress in my game. So, I must be doing something right, but despite this, I know all to well how much more there is to work on. Still, I prefer knowing what to work on, it would be worse to constantly lose with out knowing what to work on.

[big ears]

Heck, I didn't even play according to my tactic, as I felt I could beat him in pretty much which way I liked to. So, I'm guessing some progress have been made, perhaps due to playing in a higher league this season?

Almost certainly that is the case, playing in a higher standard, as long as its not too high, always improves players to a certain extent. The reason is that it exposes the other side of the game from technique, so even if your technique does not improve, you learn what, and what not to do simply. I can tell players to serve tight untill I'm blue in the face, but until they play at a level where every single long serve gets drilled past them, it just does not take on the right level of importance, the same goes for pushing the return of serve, which at lower levels brings a decent percentage of success just by loading the backspin, based upon the servers lack of consistency on his third ball. Its only when every push is punished that players actually tend to look at that stroke differently, and either push very short with an early contact, very long with an early contact, or flick with precision.

[speedplay]

Made a lenghty reply here, but my session timed out, so I wasn't permitted to post it!

Rob, you need to do something about this! Although I pick to always stay logged in, I have to logg in each time I come here, and now I'm being logged out while typeing a reply!

[speedplay]

Biggy,

I still get away with long serves against ~50% of my opponents, but since I can't fool them with my spin, I still prefer to serve short as this gives me the most predictable return, which is what I focus on.

The same can be said about pushes, against ~50% of the players, returning a serve with a long push is fine, they still tend to push it back again and again. Not because they can't attack it, but rather because most players are better at blocking then attacking, so being the guy who opens up is often a disadvantage as the opponent uses the speed to block it back.

My own opening loop is rather weak (compared to other regional league player, strong compared to other local league players) but I put a lot of thought in to my placement instead, so I win my fair share with it despite this. Just the other night, I made 3-4 opening loops down the line, they all got blocked back, but when I started to loop diagonal instead (step around fh in my bh corner) they didn't come back. When my opponent begun stepping in to the middle, I could again go for the down the line loop, as I had added an element of random attacks which kept him guessing.
 
I know that from a technical viewpoint, I'm weaker then most of my regional league opponents, but I make up for this by thinking table tennis instead of trying to outgun them. And, another thing is, I never give up on reaching any shot aimed at my side. The thing is, even when I do reach some of these "impossible shots" and manages to return them, I still lose the point most of the time, but the next time my opponent attacks, he tries to attack harder and wider, as he wants to end the rally with one shot. Now, this results in more mistakes from his side, so in the long run, I win a lot of point by always trying to reach the ball.
 
I also think I have another mental advantage, as I don't think I've ever lost a deciding set in the regional league. I always feel very confident when I walk in to the court for the deciding set, while my opponents often looks nervous and tries to change a lot in their game to get the upper hand, instead of continuing to play the game that have got them there, and perhaps makesome minor adjustments, they tend to change way to much in their own game, putting them out of their comfort zone. Not sure why they do it, but I like the fact that they do, as I stick to my game plan

[pingpongrob]

Beat a pair of combo players ranked well above me on Wednesday night, The first one was 3 straight 11-3 in the 3rd, he's ranked in the Sub Elite although I dont know how he maintains his ranking their. He is Ranked at 33 in our state and the other is just below him at 47.  I think they were both surprised at the improvement. My team was lucky we won 5-4 on the night. My third match was against Jarrad and I lost 9-11, 10-12, 10-12 - he has some very good serves that were very hard to pick.

[RebornTTEvnglist]

Beat a pair of combo players ranked well above me on Wednesday night, The first one was 3 straight 11-3 in the 3rd, he's ranked in the Sub Elite although I dont know how he maintains his ranking their. He is Ranked at 33 in our state and the other is just below him at 47.  I think they were both surprised at the improvement. My team was lucky we won 5-4 on the night. My third match was against Jarrad and I lost 9-11, 10-12, 10-12 - he has some very good serves that were very hard to pick.

Those matches where you lose everything, but all by just the 2 point margin are very annoying I think Rob. They make you wonder whether you should be taking at least a set off the opponent or whether he can always lift to beat you. Of course once you do take a set you at least know its possible and should be able to keep gaining on them in future. I haven't had this happen for a few seasons and the 2 guys it happened against went to the next division in the same season (from different teams but 2 teams went up that season). Hopefully I will get my chance next season to try again if we can win promotion, which is currently looking good - I'm currently leading player and my team is on top. No guarantees on maintaining this of course. 

[speedplay]

Hey Rob,

Don't you have your own tread to brag in? I thought this was my bragging tread

Still, beating combo players, where they LP, SP or Anti? Choppers or blockers? I want more details about them and how you managed to beat them.

Ranked in sub-elite, aren't we all ranked as sub-elite? I assume this is a level of it's own, for those who are close to being elite players?

Now, for my own braggin, I said I hadn't lost o deciding set in the regional league, but looking back at it, I have lost at least one. How ever, this was when I felt ill and played against a player who is supposed to be way better then me (his record is ~18-11, while mine is 5-13) and I was trailing 0-2, got back to 2-2 before I lost the deciding set. I was drained for energy when we played that last set, and I think he geared up some, so I simply couldn't keep up. I know it wasn't mental issues on my behalf.

[nille]

Hi!

It's a shame I didn't bring my camera so that you'd be able to see Martin in action, although I didn't quite feel like memorizing our loss which most likely means that we will be relegated. Speedplay played really well and surprised us all by his long chops far away from the table. I'll have to shoot a few videos before we face him again so that we can really see what his weaknesses are.
Nille

[big ears]

Hey Nille, another Swede to join the club, great, I made a new Swedish friend today called Owe Karlson, so my team now has two Flying in from Sweden for matches (the other is Tobias Bergman)

[pingpongrob]

Made a lenghty reply here, but my session timed out, so I wasn't permitted to post it!

Rob, you need to do something about this! Although I pick to always stay logged in, I have to logg in each time I come here, and now I'm being logged out while typeing a reply!

Didnt know this was occuring, I will look into this. Sorry
Has anyone else had this problem. I havent really changed anything in the Forum.

I just changed the session timeout from 28800 seconds (480 mins) to 288000 seconds (4800 mins) I doubt that you were typing for 480 mins, unless you were writting a New Table Tennis Bible.

I'll Keep looking for the answer.

[pingpongrob]

Hey Rob,

Don't you have your own tread to brag in? I thought this was my bragging tread

Still, beating combo players, where they LP, SP or Anti? Choppers or blockers? I want more details about them and how you managed to beat them.

Ranked in sub-elite, aren't we all ranked as sub-elite? I assume this is a level of it's own, for those who are close to being elite players?

Now, for my own braggin, I said I hadn't lost o deciding set in the regional league, but looking back at it, I have lost at least one. How ever, this was when I felt ill and played against a player who is supposed to be way better then me (his record is ~18-11, while mine is 5-13) and I was trailing 0-2, got back to 2-2 before I lost the deciding set. I was drained for energy when we played that last set, and I think he geared up some, so I simply couldn't keep up. I know it wasn't mental issues on my behalf.

Sorry Speedplay, not trying to steal your limelight, you deserve it after all the hard work.
Both were on the table chop/blockers/twidlers, using long pips in OX, and thin inverted rubber. They both Smash with both LP's and smooths.
All I did was consistently read the spin and returned each ball, with some safety built in, when I returned a ball a little high, I made sure I was ready for the return, just to start over. Reading the service spin was important as well, couldnt afford to tet them get the upperhand to early.

[speedplay]

Nille, thanks for the praise, but I have to be honest and admit, I'm glad I didn't have to face you. The loops you pulled of against our best player where mighty impressive. I've not seen anyone who have been able to lift bakc his heavy underpsin "cuts" before, but you did it several times. I even had troubels returning them with the anti when I faced you in the double.

Rob, no worries, I'm prepared to share the spot light with you
Beating two close to the table LP blockers is always good, I know how hard they are to play, especially mentally hard, as you simple can not gotfor the shots you want, but always have to plan ahead and play with great patience. I hate playing against them!

[speedplay]

Didnt know this was occuring, I will look into this. Sorry
Has anyone else had this problem. I havent really changed anything in the Forum.

I just changed the session timeout from 28800 seconds (480 mins) to 288000 seconds (4800 mins) I doubt that you were typing for 480 mins, unless you were writting a New Table Tennis Bible.

I'll Keep looking for the answer.

I still have this problem, not so much when I'm typeing, but I have to log in each time I visit, even if it's just 1 hour between each time I come here. It's not really a big deal to log in, but for some reasons, it still makes me reluctant to post. If I was constantly logged in, I would probably answer more posts, but now, when I've read a post and wants to reply, I see that I'm not logged in, so I move on to the next place instead. Sad, as we lose a lot of activety on this...

[blue_smartie68]

I don't have any problems Rob..
I haven't had to log in for months and months!! Even on my phone... all's fine here! 

[pingpongrob]

I don't have any problems Rob..
I haven't had to log in for months and months!! Even on my phone... all's fine here! 

What Browser are you using.

[RebornTTEvnglist]

Didnt know this was occuring, I will look into this. Sorry
Has anyone else had this problem. I havent really changed anything in the Forum.

I just changed the session timeout from 28800 seconds (480 mins) to 288000 seconds (4800 mins) I doubt that you were typing for 480 mins, unless you were writting a New Table Tennis Bible.

I'll Keep looking for the answer.

Yeah I have it happening every time I log in again for the last week or so Rob. I'm using Chrome.

[RebornTTEvnglist]

Hi!

It's a shame I didn't bring my camera so that you'd be able to see Martin in action, although I didn't quite feel like memorizing our loss which most likely means that we will be relegated. Speedplay played really well and surprised us all by his long chops far away from the table. I'll have to shoot a few videos before we face him again so that we can really see what his weaknesses are.
Nille

Nille you do realise you'd be more legendary to catch Speedplay in action than the guy who catches a Bigfoot video, don't you?

[speedplay]

Well, at least Nille have been able to see me play, so he is already in a very exclusice group of people here

I sue Firefox and I have to log in each time. Some times, when I reach the front page, it says "Welcome Speedplay" but as soon as I hit the Forum button, I have to log in again.

[pingpongrob]

Well, at least Nille have been able to see me play, so he is already in a very exclusice group of people here

I sue Firefox and I have to log in each time. Some times, when I reach the front page, it says "Welcome Speedplay" but as soon as I hit the Forum button, I have to log in again.

One Day Speedplay I will take a Holiday in Sweden, just to watch you play....

Now as for this login problem, I have done some research and apparently its the Bots trying to login to our accounts, when they do this the system automatically log's us out.

From what I've read its upgrade time to solve this problem.
To upgrade I have to uninstall all the mod's, then run the upgrade. I will backup the whole system first, so we dont get a re-occurance of the earlier problems.
So please be paitent while this is done.

[pingpongrob]

Upgrade has been Done, Hopefully this fixes the problems with the login, Now lets get back to Speedplay.

Whats your next step Speedplay, How do you intend to improve your rating more, will you enlist the help of a coach.

[Der Echte]

Speedplay pays peanuts and has access to some good training and matches. still want ot see some vids. Once Speedplay makes it big time, everyone will be posting his vids on youtube, so the day will come if we are patient.

[speedplay]

If we start with the log in issues, it seems to be solved as I didn't have to log in this time.

Now, as for my future development; there is still plenty of room for improvment by using common sense, before I need to enlist a coach. That's not to say that I wouldn't want a coach, but I have a pretty good view on what I need to work on, and how I should proced with it.

As for the peanuts, you got that part right. Now, regarding good practice, this is more doubtful Most players don't want to practice, at least not by doing drills, they all want to play matches instead. Works pretty well, since I use these matches to practice what I want to practice and don't care about the result. How ever, the main problem is the crappy venue we have, along with the sub-par tables.

As for me making it big Well, lets all agree that I started out 25 years to late to make it big. I think that to make it big, you have to start playing well before you reach the teens, those who start out later will make it to a decent level, but they'll never make it big. Me, I'm happy if I ever manages to get passed the advanced noob stage

[pingpongrob]

I sue Firefox

What will you achieve by sueing Firefox