Eighty-seven points.
From 1670 to 1757. DJK Seifriedsberg's third Landesliga season — and the first one we finished mid-table. Notes on a year of giving up trying to be unorthodox.
The number on my mytischtennis profile says 1757. It said 1670 in September. That's eighty-seven points across one season — the largest single-season jump I've had since I started taking the sport seriously.
I write all of this down before next season starts because what fades fastest after a sports year is the texture of it. The league table is a thin slice of what actually happened.
Two leagues
I played for DJK Seifriedsberg in two leagues this year — the first team in Landesliga Bayern, the third team in Bezirksliga Bayern. In the German club system that's how depth gets used: players slot into multiple sides depending on availability, rating, and where the team needs an arm. Different opponents, different pacing, different mental modes.
The numbers, since they're the fact base for everything else:
- Landesliga singles: 21–13
- Landesliga doubles: 7–10
- Bezirksliga singles: 32–8
- Bezirksliga doubles: 14–5
Singles in Landesliga at 62 % is honest league-mid territory; nothing about it is meant to be flashy. The doubles record (7–10) is the only number I'm not happy about — doubles is partly assignment-driven and partly tactical communication, and we lost a few matches that were closer than the score suggests. The Bezirksliga numbers look dominant on paper but are worth less in absolute terms — the level isn't the same.
1670 → 1757, peak 1764
The trajectory was less linear than the start-and-end suggests. I peaked at 1764 in late February, dropped a couple of points across some doubles matches, finished at 1757. Eighty-seven points is more than a full TTR class — it's the kind of jump you get when something basic in your game changes.
For me it was two things, and they're connected.
First: I gave up trying to be unorthodox. I used to think the strength of my game was that opponents hadn't seen the angles I played. That stops working at Landesliga. Players at this level have seen everything. The clever shot you're proud of is — from their perspective — a slow-paced ball with bad placement, and they punish it. The thing that beats Landesliga players is consistent quality on the basic strokes. Boring topspin, with intent, repeatedly. I've spent the season working on that with the assumption that boring is the goal, not a step toward something cleverer.
Second: I'm a meaningfully more athletic player than I was a year ago. Triathlon training has ended up being indirect TT preparation. Footwork that used to feel frantic at the end of a five-set match is the easy part now; the hard part is decision-making at 9–9 in the fifth set, and decision-making is mostly a function of how tired you are. Around November I noticed I was losing fewer five-set matches even when the rallies were the same length they used to be. The game didn't change. The fatigue threshold did.
The team result
We finished 5th out of 10 in Landesliga. That sounds modest. In context it's the best result in the team's history.
DJK Seifriedsberg got promoted into Landesliga two seasons ago. The first season we finished 6th. Last season we finished 6th again — same place, harder fight to stay there. This year we moved up one spot. For a small village club the league table never used to include, finishing mid-table in Bavaria's regional league is the kind of result you remember. The difference between 6th and 5th doesn't sound like much. The difference between "we survived another year" and "we belong here" is bigger than one row.
What's next
Next season is going to be quieter on the personal scoreboard. Two of us in the first team are going harder on studies — me with a dual-studies start in October, another teammate with his own academic load — so the team's targets get recalibrated. Mid-table again is the realistic team goal; we'd be lying to ourselves if we said anything else with two reduced-availability players.
Personally I want 1800. That's 43 points up from where I am now. It's a slower curve than this year's eighty-seven, but the obvious gains from getting more athletic and less unorthodox have been mostly cashed in. The next chunk of points has to come from match management at the top of the rating range — closing out 9–8 instead of losing 11–13, taking the second match against the same opponent rather than splitting them. Boring stuff, again.
Material, for the players reading
Closing with the kit, since other table-tennis people are going to ask. Butterfly Viscaria blade. Dignics 09c on the forehand. NUZN 55 on the backhand.
I've stopped switching things mid-season. The marginal gains from material are smaller than the cost of recalibrating muscle memory afterwards. The setup will be the same in September.
One season closes. The next one starts in five months.