Nigel Webb doing multiball in China....

To get to the next level of table tennis, say from good club player to national team level its going to be necessary to do more than just a few single ball drills with your partners.

You need to invest in and do multiball practice with a good coach who understands the technique.

When I was actively working with the Chinese coaches we did a lot of multiball mostly based around forehand attack and pivoting.

Multiball allows you to groove and streamline your technique so that you are able to maintain a high degree of form and consistency even when fatigued or nervous.

Heres some video of my teammate Nigel Webb doing multiball in China.

Nigel is now playing professionally in the Spanish leagues.

Tenergy 64 my contentious review (2009)

Way back in 2009, I had gotten a chance to try out T64. I had waited a long time for my sheet to arrive and was very anxious hoping the rubber would be lighter and springier than the T05 I had previously tried.
my review back then was one of disappointment and I posted my findings, not knowing that Tenergy had such a religious following, I was bound to get flamed for saying anything unfavorable about the Tenergy series.
I still stand by my review for the most part, and here i republish it for the sake of posterity.


Website: https://sites.google.com/site/jamaicadonic/home

So we have been reading all the multiple reviews of Butterfly's Tenergy series in all the forums and we have heard about T64 which is supposed to be the drivers rubber and the fastest of the series yaddah yaddah yaah yaah.
So we combed the far corners of the earth for a couple of sheets of the holy grail of TT , from Iru to Dandoy to Teesports in the Uk to Megaspin to Butterfly USA. Everywhere we searched, the answer was the same "No T64 available, maybe next month maybe next month"
Whoever are the owners of Butterfly in Japan they must be rolling in the dollars and thanking thier lucky stars they were able to get speedglue banned. The demand for this stuff is amazing, where can I buy some of that Tamasu stock again?
So finally I got my sheets from Butterfly USA and I cut the somewhat lighter than T05 sheet to my trusted Gergely blade.
The sheet with 2.1 sponge looked somewhat a little thinner than 4mm total and it definitley made my setup overall lighter than before.

The topsheet feels softer than T05 whcih is probably because the pips seem a little wider apart altough bigger.
So today I took out the holy grail for a twirl and heres what I found.
My loops were like with T05 very spinny, the throw is a little lower than the exaggerated high arcing Timo boll loops T05 produced for me but still were too high.
The dwell time is still too pronounced, just like T05 the ball seems to stick in the sponge and then shoot out. My practice partner told me my loops were spinny but much slower than usual.
My back was beginning to hurt tring to produce my usually more penetrating drives while the guy blocking to me looked bored dealing with my lolipop loops.
The rubber produced a real nice glue sound all the time which I liked but seriously I was dissapointed with the lack of penetration.
I noticed a serious non linearness to the T64's performance, sometimes when I backed off and counterlooped I would produce a frighteningly powerful drive which seemed out of proportion to the modest swing I made and at other times I would underhit. I think this sponge is just too soft and springy to control reliably.
T64 produced real nice spinny serves. i got good bite on my backspins but I could not make put away drives because of the high throw. I had the same problem with T05 and I was hoping the T64 would be more of a  power rubber but really it is not.

Blocking for me was even worse. It was way too springy to control, I was blocking off everything that was spun hard.
And then, I tore it off.
Sorry to dissapoint, but to me this Tenergy 64 is a bunch of steaming crap. Butterfly you can go ahead and enjoy my $100, congratulations on a brilliant marketing strategy and best wishes to the poor EJ's who will continue to line up for and try all the Tenergys yet to come from T29, T88 and the best Tenergy of all T77.
I think this rubber will best be enjoyed by beginners and intermediate players , maybe females, but I dont think many advanced male players will like it.

The facebook page, the website, the twitter

Although I wouldn't  say its 100% ready, I'm going to put the website (for Jamaican viewers).

Check me out @ https://sites.google.com/site/jamaicadonic/home if you want to see whats in the kitchen as they say.

I also have a facebook page @ http://www.facebook.com/donic.jamaica

And of course I'm also on twitter @petermooyoung

Interview with Rheann Chung Caribbean champ.

So I just had a brief chat with many times Caribbean womens champion Rheann Chung (Trinidad & Tobago) who plays professionally in France about her game and stuff which I’m sharing with you guys.

Petermoo:

What team do you play for in France?

Rheann: I play full time for a team called Poitiers, which is not far from Bordeaux where I live.

Petermoo:

Who is your equipment sponsor?

RC: I use all Cornilleau equipment, blades rubbers everything.

Petermoo:

What is your biggest table tennis victory to date?

RC: I actually beat a chinese player Zhing Zhin Hua recently (forgive me if I didn’t get the name right)

Petermoo:

Other than me, who is your favourite player now to watch?

RC: Oh my god! That has to be Zhang Zhike!

Petermoo:

What do you think is holding back the level in the Caribbean?

RC: People need to train more often, they cant just start training a few weeks before tournaments. It’s a lot of things.

Petermoo:

The womens level in Jamaica now is pretty low, are there any Jamaican girls that you think might have the potential to become good players.

RC: For sure, Theres one Ashley Alexander who has the physical capabilities. She told me she even plays football, but she needs to train more.

It’s a bit late to get to a high level though.

Petermoo:

What is your favourite place in the world to visit.

RC: That would surely be Jamaica

Petermoo:

Who is your favourite athlete in the world

RC: Ato Bolden, he put Trinidad on the map! I always wanted to meet him, I like how he has grown in his career to become a journalist.

Petermoo:

What is your favourite food?

RC: Doubles, Roti any Trinidad stuff.

Petermoo:

Thanks a lot for your time.

RC: Anytime , you’re welcome!

It exists! Now I have proof !

Many thanks to my friend Stefashka from Moldavia at the Mytt.net forum for providing proof of the existence of the elusive Baracuda Exclusive rubber.
This features the Baracuda topsheet with the Acuda S1 sponge. You can see fro the photo that the exclusive sponge is cream compared to the standard yellow sponge.
I always wondered why so many pros are using Baracuda which I consider too slow for an offensive forehand rubber and now we have proof.
The pros get better stuff than we mere mortals do.
My next project will be to hunt down some of the stuff from my contacts at Donic.
Keep your fingers crossed.

Bring the US Open to Florida (please)

For us here in the Caribbean (and I speak for my Trinidadian,  Guyanese, Barbadian, Dominican, Puerto Rican and even Mexican , the US Open used to be something of a mini world championships. Florida being where it is, the effective hub of the Americas, was the, perfect staging point for an international tournament.
A short trip for all concerned, placing the open in Florida virtually guarantees a mix of country participants and perhaps an international flavour unrivalled anywhere else this side of the world!
The US Open in Florida used to attract the likes of Waldner, Persson, Applegren, Ma, Lin, Kong Linghui , Timo Boll  (I could go on and on).
So how about it USATT?
How about brining North Americas biggest show back home?
I think its time to stop thinking insularly and restore the tournament to its former glory. I would love to be a part of it.

Does Baracuda Exclusive exist????

For me, in the search for the perfect forehand rubber, I have settled on the Acuda S1. I am able to pretty much everything without restrictions using this rubber. The only problem is; I seem to only be able to do this with the black version.

The problem is that this forces me to switch to the red rubber on the backhand and I'm now having the same problems there.

Why is the red so inferior?

At any rate, it occurred to me that what I need is ,imagine if I could combine the topsheet grippiness of the Baracuda with the sponge power of the Acuda S1? I would be in EJ heaven!

So I checked the forum and I see where some people here are claiming that this rubber already exists codenamed Baracuda exclusive.

So I checked with my Donic dealer and he says no such thing exists, I write Donic, they say such a rubber is unavailable (whatever that means).

So I need to ask you guys; Does Baracuda Exclusive exist? Have you ever seen it? ever used it?