How i won points in Frisco

Lots of technical points. Varying pushes and sidespin pushes. Lots of chopping eventually followed by a net ball. Rare attacks.
Varied serve locations and serves. Flipping and variation on BH serve returns. Selected 3rd ball attack.

What I did NOT try-BH push blocking or BH slow topspin rolls. I did not win any w BH inverted topspin or attacks but it seemed to keep them off balance. Did not hit any LP BH balls. Did lose points w FH LP chopping.

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hot summer

it was 75 F yesterday according to my truck. i couldn't help but think that its gonna be a hot one this summer.

u2000 round robin results

i took a picture of the sheet from the tournament . it shows my memory is not all that good. My memory was all 3 matches were 3-0. For reference player A is me, B is 1800, C is 1650ish and D is 1410ish.

A vs D 12-10, 11-8, 11-8
A v C 11-6, 12-10, 12-10
A v B 11-6, 9-11, 11-9 and either 12-10 or 11-9

Bottom line-all very close and a net or edge ball or two could totally have changed things. Was I just cruising-NO. I did have a few points that I "tried some things" but very few. I did give away 1 to 2 points per match on serves but no more than the opponents.

Lessons Learned From Tournament 1

1. Green bananas do NOT ripen in a cold truck.
2. Heated seats are great on the back after a LONG day of table tennis.
3. I gotta work on conditioning on my toes. They were so tired and hurt that I could not sleep the night after the tournament

More table tennis technical stuff-positives
1. Flipping to receive serve was very effective
2. Short technical play (such as placement and even more so sidespin pushes) were great ways to win points.
3. Playing antispin similar to LP was effective in the one case I tried.
4. Maintaining potassium levels/caffeine/nutrition/hydration are vital and require constant attention

Negative learning aspects later.

Results!?

Results of the tournament as I remember:
1. Won initial RR (u2000) over other three opponents all 3-0 however almost all games were very close with a few deuce games. Opponents reported rated 1400, 1600 and 1800.
2. Three groups or u2000 RR winners were supposed to play a SE but instead we played a RR where I surprisingly won 3-1 over the two who reportedly were both rated 1800.

Open-was 3-1 in open with wins over <1000, 1200 and 1500 all 3-0 but lost to the top seed 1963 0-3 and got pretty much destroyed. That put me in the Open B single elimination. Won the first round 3-0 over a reportedly 2000 rated player, then lost to a short pips pen holder hitter who also did some flipping and did some BRP (Backhand Reverse Penhold) 2-3 after being up 2-0 and even 9-5 in the fifth.

Hopefully will digest mentally and work for improvement.

pre tourney breakfast

rudys breakfast tacos x2 (hold that flour tortilla) and coffee

Subtle Differences

Tourament up coming this weekend-first rated tournament in almost 3 years. I know I am better than 2 years ago, but my rating from then is probably inflated. From club play I may be 100-200 points lower than my current 1880. But I know club play is different and I have a weird style so that helps.

One thing that is different about TT is that subtle differences can be the difference between victory and defeat. And the only way to get rating points is to win. The way to lose points is to lose. A close loss still loses points and at best does not gain points. While in running a difference between a 14:30 5K runner and a 15:00 is so large an upset is unlikely, the difference in a 1500 and 1800 is not such that dailey random variation can affect it.