My mini workshop - breaking through the clutter, just once!

In a previous post, I made the observation that TT is an infinite game. This brief post is meant to keep a visual record of my mini workshop, not an attempt to post infinitely. The pandemic of 2020 has made some of us excel at the job of "home tidiers" and here is the neatest configuration of my TT corner so far: 

I keep two "completed rackets" at the ready, a few blades and a grand total of 1 "uncompleted" racket - my only Tibhar - with the rubbers not glued, just banded together. TT is such a spatially economical sport that all you need is shelf space meant for 15 large books to keep everything you need: a mini 'Japan Home' cabinet for receipts & rubber samples, a ball bag and all your spare rackets. This is in line with my thinking about anything unfinished really be they unfinished conversations or friendships. I still think it's possible in life to have unfinished conversations with friends living far far away about shared interests, including but not limited to sports, without hardly meeting at all to play or chat. I would not have started a blog if I did not believe in the realness and sincerity of online conversations and relationships - if platonic, what difference does flying over an ocean (or a long high-speed car journey) make? That was the conceit of the pandemic years and one hopes it remains a possibility if not a new norm. Although friendships that shouldn't have ended ended in the intervening years, leaving one hesitant towards opening new chapters, we will always have this sport and those fellow travelers who appreciate the craftsmanship that constitute and support it, whether as competitors or audience, and at the same time revel in its smashing good fun and childlike frivolity. The workshop of life is a clutter of unfinished business, so the sense of a beginning is what I made sure my workshop promises. 

TT marketing - how to do it right

1. Use exaggeration moderately 

After trying out one Tibhar blade and reading the description again, "Enormous Power" seems like a moderate exaggeration - it really depends on the rubber and that's not made entirely clear here. Never mind that though, the rest of it is pretty modest.

       

2. Highlight improvements over previous models

Butterfly does this for one of its flagship products, perhaps even to the exclusion of stating all its main features within the limited space on its website. 

 

3. Be to the point 

And make sure to remind buyers speed, control and "vigour" - interesting choice of word here - are not mutually exclusive. 

My Current Set-up (Feb - Mar)

 Primary Racket

In a nutshell: This set-up feels heavy at 193 g, after adding tape on the handle & 3/4 sidetape. Power and speed are great, spin is balanced and solid. Control is subjective as it's tactically challenging to use but controlled enough to ooze with fun factor. 

Blade-wise, the flared handle is pretty standard if not slender. Blade compatibility with set rubbers is ideal for offensive players. 

Alternative blades considered to be my Primary include Tibhar Dynamic JC, which its maker gives it a "9" (presumably /10) for Speed, weighs about 86 g and has a bigger sweet spot than this Koki Niwa ZC. Koki's blade ultimately edged out Darko Jorgic's "JC" blade because of its higher arc on shots - owing to its greater sense of flexibility. 

The Spare

"ST" - straight handle. 

In a nutshell: This set-up feels light in comparison at 182 g. No sidetape with BH K3 Pro not cut to the blade's specification. However, this should not exceed 185 g - which is highly impressive - on perfect cut with partial protective sidetape, should one choose to replicate, thanks to the off-the-shelf weight consistency of these rubbers. ST handle is a control boost and a BH dominant player's dream. Speed and spin might feel underwhelming at times but the great feeling, control and fun factor more than make up for that. 

Embedding a TT video - An Jaehyun plays amazing TT!

 

TT Rambles: Energy and its transfer

So often real insights come from serendipity that we expect no sane person to just sit down and write a "Book of Insights" about anything. But maybe another rambling blog post be allowed?

Table tennis is a sport of stubborn plateaus - that mustn't come as a surprise observation. One is not likely to slip and fall down tumbling hard -- both figuratively and literally -- in this safest of sports. Broken limbs and twisted elbows? No way, it's a gentleman's sport of pure skill and comparative leisure. But it also abhors stagnancy and confronts its most ardent players with inescapable stretches of plateau.

How does one reach a higher point in table tennis after all the basic practice is done? Perhaps it's the need to carry the "weight of massive talent" -- commentators of the professional circuit have said the process involves fully exhausting and then renewing oneself. I can only guess that must be true. How then does the idea of energy flow -- or energy transfer -- provide clues about how to climb the skill ladder?  Energy transfer happens when two players can feel each others' hand without even touching. It is a feeling unlike any other, in any sport or game. Being an energy pair in table tennis is therefore an esoteric and rare object to know. One could also say it's the universal language of all racket sports.

Energy transfer between two people is not permanent -- it can be lost, sometimes seemingly overnight. It's also close to life in a way the layman can understand -- just as one might lose a partner after a certain connection ends, there's often someone else waiting. "Ni hao jiu dou mei zai lai" - in Chinese "you've not come in a long time" could be a poetical lament why the passage of time might seem a blank for solo players of the sport, yet, the forces of the world are not human dependent; they are impersonal and permeate even the most windswept corners of the planet. But is there a more windswept setting than a court without spectators, an exhausted body without energy transfer? That is just one of the questions that still remain to be pondered, with an answer to be answered.