First day with Tenergy
So today I visited my local university, Texas A&M International University, here in my hometown of Laredo, Texas. It has been a while since I had the opportunity to play some TT but I finally got a TAMIU student to come with me so that I can go into the gym there.
The tables were pretty good, had a nice Donic logo on the side, but the nets were pretty beat up and did not have much tension. I had intended to just go the gym with my friend who is interested in playing TT but has never had any instruction aside from casual play. This was my first time playing with my new racket, Timo Boll AlC 2x Tenergy 05, and so I was very excited to give it a whirl. It was nice to play with a begginer with my new racket as it allowed me to work on getting a feel for the racket without having to worry about stopping any crazy shots or worrying to much about spin.
My first impressions were pretty good. At first it was interesting to get a good feel from the ball hitting the racket. I had been playing with max Hurricane 3 Neo which has a very soft and springy sponge that absorbed a lot of the impact and reduced the feel on the ball, so the difference was pretty apparent for me. I could feel the ball making contact with the rubber and the dwell time was a lot more obvious compared to the my old hard blade. The spin that I was getting off my shots was incredible! Even the really tacky chinese rubbers that I had been using provided less spin than these rubbers. This is amazing, considering the non tacky surface of the rubbers. The combination of the rubbers and the blade was pretty fast, about the same speed as my old setup. The big difference was in the amount of control that I had over the ball. My old racket was very fast, powerful, and spinny, but this racket has all that plus great control and feel. I am, thankfully, thoroughly satisfied with my purchase. It is a very expensive rubber, but like most people around here have said, it is definitely worth it. Apparently it is pretty durable as well, but only time will tell.
I did something a little different today as well. I am normally a pure cardio guy. Running is my only real form of exercise, aside from table tennis of course. The friend with which I went to the gym today offered to do some weights with me today. It had been a long time since I had lifted weights, and an even longer time since I had done so with the intention of working out. After running 2 miles on the treadmill, we hit the gym pretty hard. We worked our backs, chest, triceps, and shoulders. It was incredibly exhausting, especially while trying to keep up with my friend who regularly visits the gym. When we finished I was ready to drop dead. As luck would have it though, there were several TT players there at the gym on my way out and I couldn't resist. I wanted to see what my new racket could do.
Those games were probably the saddest games of my life. My arms were incredibly tense and slow, I was having a lot of trouble returning even the easiest shots from the people I was playing against (they were very good players too!). In the end I just decided that it would be best for me to just try again tomorrow, although I am not sure how my soreness is going to play a role in TT. Either way, this is a brand new experience that taught me a valuable lesson; don't work out your upper body if you want to play good TT! Either way it was a fun time and I met some really good players here that are willing to play with me while I am in Laredo.
On a very different note, I have decided upon my project for this semester of school. I want to build some homemade table tennis return boards. I was inspired by a video that I saw on youtube. It showed a homemade return board made from a heavy duty music stand, some plywood, and some cheap rubbers. Hopefully I can get this project off the ground soon! I just need to find some rubbers to buy in bulk. So far my best choice is a 20 pack of Reactor Corbor rubbers, which come out to around 70 USD. That is about 3.5 USD per rubber, which is pretty cheap. I want to see if I can find something cheaper before I commit though. Let's see what I can find. If anyone knows about some really cheap rubbers, please let me know!
Sorry for the long posts, I just like to write about the sport I love. I hope you guys don't mind that I don't always post equipment related blogs =]
I leave a picture that I took for you guys to see. This is Vergil Datu, and he is one of the best players that I have had the chance to play with regularly. He is one of the mentors that helps me run the TT Club at UTPA. A very skilled and humble man! I hope you like the picture!
Comments
gym and table tennis
Hey great post, I always enjoy being taken into another table tennis players life for a while. I am a blogger and vlogger (video in case you don't know).
Never apologise about blogging your life on this site. I know it would be more popular if it weren't called tenergy05.com but hey that's how I started it and it is kind of easy to remember.
You are free to blog anything you want hopefully it will include a bit about table tennis somewhere as you always do anyway. :)
Gym - I used to be into getting big muscles when I was chasing ladies in highschool then realised you could do it by playing guitar, painting pictures, writing poetry etc. things I enjoyed doing anyway. Gym to improve my table tennis is not for me. There are however tons of players who do increase their power (but technique in my opinion is 99% more important than strength).
http://tabletennisyoutube.com
The Gym
I probably won't be making that same mistake soon! I woke up this morning with my arms pretty sore, not optimal condition for TT. I normally go to the gym to run on the track or the treadmill at school. This was one of the first times that I went with the intention of going to the weight room. The weight room is something that can be useful in developing a good overall body health when used correctly. Lifting a lot of weight just to build muscle is silly in my opinion. If I start doing weights, it is going to be to help get myself in better shape. Weightlifting will always come second to running for me though. I love developing that endurance and strengthening my heart! Plus, I now know that weightlifting and TT don't mix!
return board
Hi Marcelosm, glad you like your new Timo Boll ALC with Tenergy 05. I have a similar combination with Tie Yana blade and 05. The Tenergy is just incredible, with the unusual mixture of spin and control [blocking]. As our friend John Bozi says when you find something you like, well, stick with it. I just had a marvellous afternoon's TT with John today, and I have just learned how to move back from the table and started to throw some topsin bombs back to him. That's the big thrill, seeing the ball arc through the air and kick up when it hits the table. My room is a touch on the small side, and often you can hit the fridge on the backswing! What the hell, it's such a thrill.
I bought a return board here in Thailand and it really is a super training aid. Cost $400 so not cheap. It takes a bit of practice getting the rally going but if you want to improve your topspin i think it is great. The big thrill for me is trying to hit a 'Kreanga' style backhand loop and on the return board I am learning to do some good ones. Trouble is, in a proper match with another player it is so much more difficult. There never seems enough time to get set for the shot. Oh well, i'll keep trying.
Favourite player currently: Oh Sang Eun. Blocks like hell and is super cool!
Tenergy
I have definitely found something that I like. I am not much of an EJer, so I plan on keeping this blade for a very long time. The Timo ALC feels so nice in my hand, it is difficult to describe. The craftsmanship on that blade is incredible. I could not be happier with my purchase. The rubbers are very unique as well. At first I was having trouble getting the ball over the net when I was playing away from the table. Eventually my friend pointed out to me that I was actually adding too much topspin. The ball was dipping down on my side of the table. I was not adding enough forward hit to go along with the large amount of spin. My serves have more spin than I have ever been able to put and I have a lot more control with all my shots. Very impressive! Hopefully I can make these rubbers last until my birthday so I can get some more as a present! I'm just kidding!
The return board that I want to make is going to cost about 100-120$. The biggest costs are buying all the rubbers (20 rubbers for about 70 dollars) and the music stands that I need to get (2 for about 20$ each). I almost always prefer to build something myself instead of buying it if I can. This project doesn't seem to hard and since my old roommate and table tennis partner moved back to Austin Texas, there is not a better time to get one. I am sure that playing with the return board is much better than playing with half the table picked up. I've seen videos of people playing with them, and there is surprisingly a lot of neat drills that you can do with them. They are also cheaper than getting a robot!