Where do I play? I play everywhere

One aspect of table tennis that I like is that I can play pretty much anywhere I am, as long as I'm willing to search around and find the local club. I'll cover here my home club and all the different places that I've played in the last two years.

I mostly play in the Ft Lauderdale Beach Community center. It's about 5 minutes from home. I play three times a week there. There are a few exceptional players who play there sometimes.  Most of the crowd are good players. I think I've made it in the last two years from the bottom of barrel up to just a bit better than the average player there.  It's also  social so sometimes, I'm playing in doubles games with mixed levels which is fun.  But I'm more into the intense training these days. 

Ft Lauderdale Beach Community Center

I also go to the Broward Table Tennis Center where I both take lessons and play with different people. It an amazing table tennis center. It's near the corner of University Blvd and Sterling Drive (more info) so it's a full 45 minute drive. My teacher and coach is Terese Terranova, the lady in pink below.

In the building where I live (Auberge, Ft Lauderdale), there is a table but there are no real players and it's not really set up for competitive play. There's space but depending on the sunlight, the lighting can be off.

When I travel, I often take a lesson and visit a club. This solves the problem that my wife really likes to travel and shop whereas I prefer to do my own thing. So I travel and play.  Here's my list so far:

Travel and Table Tennis

My wife likes to travel and do touristy things. But she likes to shop and do more touristy things that I do.  So when we travel, I often take a lesson and visit a club. This solves the problem she can travel and shop and I can  travel and do my own thing. So I travel and play.  

Side note: I also try to indulge in my other sports when I travel. In Paris, where we seem to go frequently, I have both a boxing trainer and a yoga studio right next to where we stay in the 7th. I'm pretty annoyed that I have to go across town in Paris to play ping pong.

Here's a quick list of my table tennis travel visits so far.

Ft Lauderdale,  Florida - My home club, where I've entered a few tournaments, Broward TTC. Terese Terranova. 

Washington DC - The DC Table Tennis center is in NW DC and is owned by Khaleel Asgarali. I visited in 2023 and 2022. I'm looking forward to getting back there.

Gaithersburg Maryland -  The Maryland Table Tennis Center.  2022 

NYC -  A ping pad center around W 48th street in Manhattan.   2022 

London - Eli Baraty in London. March 2024. eBaTT in Oxgate (West London)

Paris - Nicolas Brocard in the 16th in a school. Played March 2024 and he said he was opening his own school shortly.

Girona Spain - Maestro Elisabeth Granados Artacho  has her own article on this blog. Tennis Taula Girona - July 2024

San Sebastian, Spain.   La Escuela de tenis de mesa, Club Atlético San Sebastián. July 2024  

Kendell (Miami) - Ping Pad, a session with Neslihan Özdemir (girlonthebikeNY),  Oct 2024

 
- - - - -Playing in Brickell PingPod  ---- - - - 

I was down in Brickell, a part of Miami, this week for a few things and rather than sit around, I booked into the Pingpod center in Brickell, it was a nine minute walk from my hotel. In reality, it was longer since the center is not exactly where the address suggests it should be and the signage is not so clear.  But once I found it, very nice.  Small, there are only four tables but a great space. 

I had booked in with a coach for beginners, Neslihan Özdemir (girlonthebikeNY). I told her I really just wanted to practice, not tons of instruction. We  mostly played games and of course, all my bad habits and unforced errors were pretty evident.  She  ran me through some drills and reminded me, as everyone does, to stay low, to get ready for the next shot, to hit forehands with my body (not just my arm), and that the more reliable shot is usually cross court (not down the line). 

She taught me a new serve which was great. I had been hitting my slice serves pretty hard with tons of spin. She showed me that a much more understated serve with just a little backspin, hit short, and with a shorter softer stroke was also possible and often effective. Cool!

At one point, I did ask her about serve returns since it was on my mind. She made two points, one of which was new to me.

1.  Watch their paddle at the point of contact with the ball,
2.  Stare at the ball and you can actually see the spin on the ball. I've tried this and so far, have not made any progress. But I'll keep starting at the ball and see if it comes into focus soon...

We only hit the record button only once, that's the video point above. I took one photo of the facility before we started.  

I would have hung out for the social hour or whatever it was that was a little later if I didn't have a previous commitment. I saw a guy on the next table (Harvey!) that I had met before at the Broward Table Tennis Center.

 

Brickell PingPad Center, Miami

 

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Elisabeth Granados Artacho, Girona Spain

Paris - Nicolas Brocard

West London (Oxgate) - Eli Baraty eBaTT

Returning Serves: Dealing with Spin

In table tennis, returning serves with a lot of sping: it's very hard for everyone. Here's my thinking about learning how to return super spinning serves.  It's beginner (competitive) level. 

Brickell PingPad Center
(more about this at the bottom)

I think of the spin on serves as having two axis: Up/down (top or bottom spin), left/right.  Some serves combine the two axis.

Up/Down
So if the server cuts the ball on the serve (ie undersping), the return will tend to go low and hit the net. So I need to angle it up to get it over the net. Probably, I should cut it back to keep it low and hard for my opponent to hit. So a cut serve is best returned with a cut return.

If the server brushes upward and applies topspin to the ball, a return will tend to popup and fly off the end of the table. I must close the angle of my racquet to keep it down. If possible, I should put topspin on it by brushing up behind the ball.

Left/Right. Note: as the returning server, I think in terms of my left and right. And for this primer, I'm assuming we're all righties.

If the server uses a back hand serve and brushes the ball from MY right to left, a return will tend to fly off to my left and miss the table. So I hit the ball back toward the right side of the table. Simply, I return the ball towards the side that the server racquet's come from.

On the tomahawk serve and others where the racquet comes straight forward brushing one side of the ball. Here's the rule. I should return the ball away from the side that the racquet brushed.  They brush the left side, I hit to the right. They brush the right side, I hit to the left (all from my POV).

Both Axis at once!

If the server uses a forward serve brushing the ball from my left to right, my return will tend to fly off to my right, so I hit back towards my left to keep it on the table. Again, I hit towards where their racquet came from.

BUT, in competitive table tennis games, the server is adding a lot of deception and hitting the ball in such a way that it's hard to see which axis they are on (this is a great line from Ping to Pong's video). And good players, to make it even harder to follow, will throw the ball high in the air so in watching ball, you cannot see their paddle's position until the ball falls back down.

Here's a video which shows another way to put the spin on the ball.

 

 

More experienced players and coaches don't talk (or think) in the simple axis concept that I do, they seem to categorize by the type of serve. Here is "Ping to Pong"'s (film author) categories of spin:

Here's his video which analyses the tomahawk, pendulum, hook, reverse pendulum, and so on.

 

One great point that he makes: Look at the contact point between the server's racquet and ball: ignore all the fake  movements before before and after the contact point. Great advice. Nicely said.  Effing hard to do.  

So now I need to recognize a reverse pendulum serve and send it back to the server's backhand. Also, the hook and tomahawk. And send them back to the server's backhand.

And I need to recognize the pendulum and send it back to the server's forehand.

Another point, many people talk about the TT ball having a clockwise or a counterclockwise spin.  Opinions please: Do other players really think that way? It seems so abstract to me and I can't seem to get my head around it. Many players seem to talk about watching the spin on the ball. This seems impossible to me....

 Pingpod center in Brickell,

Neslihan Özdemir  

 

Table Tennis in Girona with Elisabeth Granados Artacho

 This is one my travel visits to Table Tennis Clubs around the world.... 

I spent five days in Girona and had hoped to play ping pong every day. There was  a good looking club, the Tennis Taula Girona.  I contacted them well in advance and it seemed like they had a group that I could sign up for the week. When it got closer, I was told that they had cancelled the group since there were not enough signups. I was very disappointed.  After a series of emails where I tried to sign up for daily private lessons, they found an instructor for a private lesson on my last day. Oh well.  

I went to a huge public gymnasium in Girona, Catalonia, Spain.

My teacher was the talented, charming, and multilingual Elisabeth Granados Artacho.  She was a top player in her region for years but is now a teacher. She retired from competition sometime in her 30s. I think she is still in her 30s. 

Elisabeth Granados Artacho, Mi Maestro de Tenis de Mesa

The facility was fantastic and I really enjoyed the lesson  especially since I hadn't played or exercised in two weeks. Specifics:

Just like every teacher, she saw me failing to reset after every shot. I seem to watch my shots and wait. I should be resetting.  And like other teachers, she drilled me on short shots to be sure to get my foot forward under the table.

Slamming.  She drilled me on the difference between an aggressive top spin shot and a simpler slam. This was particularly new on forehand but she pushed it both on forehand and backhand.

My follow through tended to be a little exaggerated. She showed me how to keep it under control.

However,  she also pushed a few ideas that are a little different from what I have heard so I've got more to think about.

Forehand. She wanted me to turn more on my forehand. Drop my right leg further back and rotate my shoulders more. 

Backhand. Again, she pushed more body, not just arm. She wanted me to rotate my shoulders. It's more of a drop of my right shoulder and a rotate back of my left one. Then the body supports the shots so it's not just with the arm.

For off the side short backhands, she had be take a big step around the top.

I really enjoyed my lesson with her. I would have loved to have had one lesson daily for the week I was in Girona.  I'd like to say "next time" but honestly, how often do I get to visit Girona?

And I am working on my Spanish including  Las Palabras de Vocabulario de tenis de mesa. 

Table Tennis Status: A Year or so in...

John Edelson's competitive table tennis career has not gone great. 

I had been under the impression that if I took a few lessons and played hard / trained three times a week, I would become a competitive player.  Here's what that approach has yielded so far:

John Edelson's Table Tennis Rankings

Quick summary - My ranking started low and rather than improving, has dropped. I'm at the very bottom of the competitive rankings.  

I played in my first tournament in March of 2023 and I was encouraged by having a few wins. I was awarded a player rating of 1110 which I thought was a very respectable ratting. I played again in May and did about the same and my rating increased to 1118. I was thrilled. 

But the subsequent two tournaments, I have not done so well (in one tournament I didn't win a single match) and so my ranking is now down to 977.  In retrospect, my initial scores might have been a bit of a fluke since I played several players with no ranking at all and I beat them. Since then, I have played people with ratings and I suspect my current rating is a better illustration of where I fit in the competitive table tennis world. Basically, at the very bottom.

You can see my rating as it evolves here. 
You can look up any competitive table tennis player's ranking on the USATT website, here's a shortcut.

BUT, I am still working at it and my technique is improving. There's also the question of my fitness. When i watch myself playing, I am surprised to see that I am very low energy on the court. I look tired. Frankly, I often feel tired. So I'm trying to also get back in shape by generally improving my workout schedule, diet, weight, and mentality.

Stay tuned. For more background and to see what I look like as a player, here's another article  about my table tennis efforts.

BTW, I do still do some martial arts in the form of doing boxing-based circuit training at 9 Rounds in Ft Lauderdale. I usually get to hit pads but I no longer spar. Here I am with the speed bag.