Name
John Pahl
usatt rating: current/highest
1650/1683
Birthday
10/23/58
City/country of origin
Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada
Personal History
School of Hard Knocks
Former professional musician
Married: Pamela Pahl
Son: Jesse Pahl
Moved to Charlotte 1992
other hobbies
Custom furniture, boating,outdoor cooking,
the quest for the perfect marguerita.
Currently/formerly employed with:
tech support/parts dept at Hoz-Her US Inc:
German industrial woodworking machinery manufacturer.
Past work: CNC programmer, operator, instructor & installer; 3D graphics.
tt accomplishments
Urged Jesse to play tt for a few years;  very good bonding & learning experience.
He has the basics and some good strokes,  I hope he shows interest again some day.
I have been Charlotte tt club president for a few years now &
have made some goodfriends and hope to have had a positive impact.
former clubs
Golf, never broke 100.
equipment: racket, rubber
Butterfly VSG-4000 blade.
Use Friendship 729 with soft sponge when available with max sponge, or Nittaku Hurricane III
Of the 100 kinds of rubber available, there is very little difference between them.
Our better players can perform well with anyone’s racket.
It’s more important to find gear you are comfortable with & concentrate on strokes.
style: shakehand/penhold, attack/defend, etc
Right hand shakehand / attacker
I would rather lose the point attacking than pushing.
memorable matches
Ironman & overall lunatic Chris O’Brian and I will  play a grudge match if we don’t meet in the draw.
He has more wins, but I am able to surprise him sometimes.
I have more matches than I care to remember losing 9 in the 5th to 1700 & 1800 level players.
memorable tournaments
Playing in the 2002 Mathew Murad was memorable & great fun.
Seeing the top USA players (Fan Yiyong/David Zhuang) is inspirational.
Seeing Hazinski & Csaba was good for Jesse.
sponsors
Overlooked as of yet.
tt: strength/weakness
strength: backhand loop & smash are favorite shots.
weakness: lack consistency and focus to play smart & win rather than have fun.
It’s just a game, isn’t it?
common mistake people make when playing you:
Most assume a 1500 level player has no backhand.
favorite shot
Backhand loop off underspin serve.
favorite serve
Short underspin to hopefully receive the same for opportunity to loop.
overall strategy
Try not to get suckered into opponents game.
Stay positive, think about every shot. Remember to have fun.
strategy against higher rated players
Play hard and attack.
I am not going to beat a higher rated player hoping they make more mistakes than me.
If I can keep my unforced errors to a minimum & make best use of my backhand,
I feel Ican compete far above my rating.
strategy against lower rated players
Don’t let them in the game. Find a weakness and exploit it.
There is usually a reason they are lower rated.
Make no service errors. Don’t assume you’ve won until you shake their hand.
comments
Our club members & the tt community in general are a great group of people.
I thank all those who put up with me while I was learning the basics:
Leo Lemire, Tom Miller, Dave England, Amir Amidi, TP Lee & Joe Rigdon to name a few.
These players and the rest of you are all on my hit list.
Once all the club politics & projects are behind me,
I hope can concentrate on improving my game & giving you
Be afraid. Be very afraid.