table tennis update

As I mentioned in my previous blog post from a few months ago, I've been taking table tennis seriously and trying to reach a rating of 2000.

As of this writing, I've been playing seriously for about 8 months (since 10/2018), and you can see my progress below.

month end	club 1	club 2	club 3	USATT	rating (avg)
10/1/2017	670	850			760
11/8/2017		900			900
12/3/2017		1059			1059
1/17/2018	1058				1058
2/18/2018		1128			1128
3/21/2018	1231		1250		1241
5/9/2018	1304		1280		1292
5/10/2018					1296
6/1/2018	1399	1446	1480	1446	1444

I have been making steady progress and improved my rating from 800 to ~1450 in 8 months, which is pretty good by most standards.  I played my first USATT tournament in Sacremento back in May.  I did pretty well, including upsetting a 1600 rated player, and achieved a USATT rating of 1446.

Some observations:

There are some key skills that I had to learn at each level / rating tier in order to reach the next.  I will try to summarize them below.

800 - 1000:

• starting to learn how to loop a heavy under spin ball
• learning how to not get nervous during matches

1000 - 1250:

• learning how to play again choppers, understanding how short pips and long pips work
• pushing myself to be more aggressive on certain shots
• starting to develop a more consistent backhand, fixed my improper backhand technique/grip
• starting to pay attention to footwork
• starting to develop a repertoire of different serves

1250- 1500:

• developing a strong forehand loop
• continuing to improve backhand consistency, learning to attack with the backhand
• learning to psyche the opponent with tricky serves
• continuing to push myself to be more aggresive
• focusing more on my mental game, trying to maintain a neutral mindset throughout the match

Going forward...

As I continue to improve, there will be new things that I need to focus on.  I have been observing players better than me and analyzing their play.  These are the things which I think I should focus on next.

• strong consistent backhand loop / general backhand consistency
• learning to attack with the backhand 
• learn to return heavy topspin balls (angle the paddle downward...)
• getting really efficient footwork
• tactics / ball placement

That's it for now.  Thanks for reading!  Please comment if you have any questions or suggestions!