Table Tennis .com

Switching From Hardbat to Sponge Rubber – Question #2
By Larry Thoman

This series of blog posts consists of questions about table tennis accessories that have been asked of some of the experts and the corresponding answers those experts gave.

QUESTION #2:

I’ve thought long and hard about your excellent suggestions, and here’s what I finally decided to write to you: I’d love to follow exactly what you suggested, but I’m sorry that I’m not in a position to commit the time & money required to follow it. On the time side, I can only play approx 2 hours a week at the club. On the money side, I don’t think I have the resources to commit to a paddle upgrade path, or afford a coach.

What I can afford is to allocate about a hundred bucks one-time towards a new paddle, and keep playing with it. I do have a partner to practice the drills you suggested with—his skill level is very similar to mine. For coaching, I think I have to rely on the tips from the better players at the club—or perhaps read a book if you would suggest one.

Given these constraints, the first biggest decision is to choose the one right racket that I can live with for a long time and try developing my game with. Since I’m returning the “Butterfly Kyoshi” that I didn’t like, I guess I’m stuck with getting only Butterfly equipment in exchange. If I’m ready to suffer defeats at first in order to develop a better game in the long run, do you think I could go with an allround racket with thin inverted sponge on both sides?

I was thinking about a Grubba Pro ALL- blade and some good 1.5mm allround rubber on both sides like Sriver, Tackifire Drive, or Tackiness Chop. Do you think this will be a big mistake? I’m sorry if I have disappointed you with my constraints, but with a full-time day job in a struggling economy and a family, there’s only so much we can devote towards our hobbies.

For more table tennis accessories tips and options, visit www.tabletennis.com.

Popularity: 10%

MODERN TABLE TENNIS STYLES –
Part 6 – The Mid-Distance Aggressive Looper
By Richard McAfee, USATT International Coach

This series of articles will provide you with the strengths and weaknesses of each style, along with some suggested robot drills to help you develop your game. In reading the descriptions you may find that your personal style will have attributes from more than one. However, you should be able to recognize your dominant style (”A” style) and your secondary style (”B” style). Each article will also give you some suggestions on tactics to use against the other styles of play. Hopefully the style descriptions will serve as a guide in analyzing your own.

Part 6 – The Mid-Distance Aggressive Looper

Description:

This style prefers to stay within six to eight feet from the table. Their longer topspin strokes carry considerable power and spin, from either forehand or backhand. This style will loop from both wings when playing another attacker. Against underspin, this style will often step around and use the forehand loop from the backhand side.

The recent introduction of the 40mm ball has had a major impact on this style of play. The resulting loss of spin caused by the larger ball has forced this style of player to become even more fit and powerful to survive. Gone are the days when this style would defeat opponents by building up spin with each loop. In today’s game, this style is much more dynamic, with even faster point winning loops.

Strengths:

* Equal power from both sides.
* Very strong opening shot against underspin.
* Very comfortable in exchanging loop drives with their opponents.
* Strong lateral movement.

Weaknesses:

* Often lacks flat kill shot.
* Weak in and out movement.
* Short balls to forehand.
* Counter-drive play while close to the table

For more ping pong tips and training opportunities, visit www.TableTennis.com.

Popularity: 11%

Table Tennis Training is great exercise. You need a good table and quality table tennis equipment. The Newgy Robo-Pong ping pong robot can be setup in a few minutes and provides hours of exercise. I use it every day for at least 20 minutes, and not only are my table tennis skills improving, but so is my health!

Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 44%

Switching From Hardbat to Sponge Rubber – Answer to Q#1: Part 4
By Larry Thoman

This series of blog posts consists of questions about table tennis accessories that have been asked of some of the experts and the corresponding answers those experts gave.

ANSWER to Q#1 Part 4:

Your situation is similar to the situation of a friend of mine who recently started playing again after not playing for 15 years or so. He has always used hard rubber, but was primarily a chopper. He had good pick hits from both sides but it was hard for him to sustain an attack. When he started playing again about a month ago, he tried playing hardrubber at first but soon found he was completely outgunned by the heavy spin and fast speed of modern equipment. So he decided to “modernize”.

What he chose was a medium speed blade with 1.5mm pips-out sponge rubber on both sides (specifically Butterfly Rein rubber). He also decided to stay up closer to the table and hit more. This seems to have worked out for him as he keeps telling me he feels comfortable with his new paddle. However, he does have trouble controlling very spinny serves and he wants to attack heavy topspin too hard. So he’s working on those two aspects.

•    If your game keeps progressing, you may eventually want to experiment with using inverted on your backhand. Again, start with an all-round inverted until you get a feel for the spinnier surface, then switch to more advanced surface once you feel comfortable with the all-round surface. This is where you can learn the backhand loop in the same fashion that you learned the forehand loop.

Past this stage, you can pretty much experiment with just about anything to find the exact equipment that is ideally suited to your game. I would stay away from long-pips and/or anti-topspin rubbers unless you want to develop a control or defensive style of play. These rubbers are severely limited in their offensive capabilities and prevent you from developing many strokes like loops, spin serves, lobs, etc.. Since you started off by telling me that you were an offensive-minded player, I would forego these defensive rubbers.

For more table tennis accessories tips and options, visit www.tabletennis.com.

Popularity: 10%

MODERN TABLE TENNIS STYLES –
Part 5 – The Counter Driver
By Richard McAfee, USATT International Coach

This series of articles will provide you with the strengths and weaknesses of each style, along with some suggested robot drills to help you develop your game. In reading the descriptions you may find that your personal style will have attributes from more than one. However, you should be able to recognize your dominant style (”A” style) and your secondary style (”B” style). Each article will also give you some suggestions on tactics to use against the other styles of play. Hopefully the style descriptions will serve as a guide in analyzing your own.

Part 5 – The Counter Driver

Description:

Often referred to as “walls”, this style plays close to the table and redirects their opponent’s speed and spin against them. Using forehand and backhand counter-drive and blocks, this style seeks to force their opponents into making errors. This style mostly uses topspin simply as a means to get into a counter-driving rally. Often this style of player lacks real finishing power, and rarely uses a fast loop or hard kill shot.

Strengths:

* Good hand speed and touch on blocks.
* Strong backhand block and counter-drive.
* Rarely makes a simple mistake.
* Ability to open up angles and force their opponents to move a lot.
* Fast hand speed and quick reactions.
* Ability to control the speed of play by clever counter and block variations and exact placement.

Weaknesses:

* Lack of any real power.
* Balls directed wide to the forehand.
* Backhand opening against underspin.
* Slow heavy medium height loops to middle or backhand.

Popularity: 12%

MODERN TABLE TENNIS STYLES –
Part 4 – The Attacker—All-Round
By Richard McAfee, USATT International Coach

This series of articles will provide you with the strengths and weaknesses of each style, along with some suggested robot drills to help you develop your game. In reading the descriptions you may find that your personal style will have attributes from more than one. However, you should be able to recognize your dominant style (”A” style) and your secondary style (”B” style). Each article will also give you some suggestions on tactics to use against the other styles of play. Hopefully the style descriptions will serve as a guide in analyzing your own.

Part 4 – The Attacker—All-Round

Description:

This is perhaps the newest style in the evolution of the modern game. This athlete typically exhibits great hands, a wide variety of attacking strokes executed with almost equal strength from both sides, and the ability to adapt his game to attack the opponent’s weaknesses.

This athlete is equally comfortable when generating powerful strokes or simply redirecting the opponent’s power against them. Players of this style can produce a wide variety of topspin attacking shots from any position or distance from the table.

Strengths:

* Strong opening shots from either backhand or forehand.
* The ability to produce a great deal of variations in their attack.
* The ability to control the ball at high rates of speed.
* The use of sidespin to control the ball and create greater angles for their opponents to cover.
* Great confidence player and front-runner.

Weaknesses:

* Can become confused as to which of the many techniques to use, especially when losing.
* Can be lured into playing too soft, and not being aggressive enough to finish a point.
* Often lacks a single hard finishing shot (flat kill) against balls at a medium height.

Popularity: 10%

Switching From Hardbat to Sponge Rubber – Answer to Q#1: Part 3
By Larry Thoman

This series of blog posts consists of questions about table tennis accessories that have been asked of some of the experts and the corresponding answers those experts gave.

ANSWER to Q#1 Part 3:

•    Once you develop some confidence at returning spins and you have a feeling for the sponge, your next step will be to try an All-Round inverted rubber (like Newgy Mercury or Butterfly Flextra) on your forehand. You should immediately begin to learn how to loop with your forehand, first against pushes and long serves and later against blocked returns. The loop is a great way to initiate your attack, particularly when your opponent serves long or pushes.

On your backhand, learn how to be more aggressive with your blocks and service returns. A backhand “roll” with your pips-out is a tried and true technique for returning short or long serves, particularly if you can add a little outside sidespin. If you like this combination, you may want to try out faster, spinnier inverted rubbers once you have an initial feel for how to loop with inverted.

There are lots of different inverted sheets that produce varying amounts of speed and spin. You may want to try out a variety of them to find the one that best suits your strokes. If you belong to a Table Tennis club, you can often ask other players for their old sheets when they change rubbers as a way to try out other rubbers without risking any money.

One note of caution at this stage. Some players may advise you to use “speed glue” to increase the effectiveness of your loop. Please stay away from this type of glue until you feel like you can consistently generate good spin with your loop. Speed glue is best used to “enhance” your loop; it cannot make up for any deficiencies in your stroke.

The other danger to using speed glue is its variableness. It is hard to apply it exactly the same each time, and unless you do, your rubber will feel differently each time, making it harder to learn your strokes and stay consistent. However, once you learn your loop well without speed glue and someone teaches you a method for applying speed glue uniformly, this glue can take your looping game to the next level.

For more table tennis accessories tips and options, visit www.tabletennis.com.

Popularity: 10%

Table Tennis Training is great exercise and fun for the whole family!  It’s best to have a good table and quality table tennis equipment. The Newgy Robo-Pong ping pong robot can be setup in a few minutes and provides hours of exercise and fun times.  Our family plays against the table tennis robot almost every day, and not only are our table tennis skills improving, but so is our health!

Popularity: 29%

Switching From Hardbat to Sponge Rubber – Answer to Q#1: Part 2
By Larry Thoman

This series of blog posts consists of questions about table tennis accessories that have been asked of some of the experts and the corresponding answers those experts gave.

ANSWER to Q#1 Part 2:

At this stage of your training, concentrate on using fluid, but lower speed strokes. Go only for hard drives and attacks when you have a slow speed “sitter” or similar easy ball. When stroking softly, you want to develop a feel for how to return a particular spin—what paddle angle are you using, what “paddle path” your stroke takes, etc.

Work on soft touch shots like drop shots, blocks, and placements. Also practice learning how to execute spinny serves, first long and fast and later, short and slow. Serves are a great way for you to become acclimated to the different feel of sponge rubber and are something you can practice with or without a partner.

As you get better at returning spins softly, then start adding speed back into your game. A wonderful drill for doing this is the soft-hard drill. Have your coach, training partner or robot give you some medium pace topspin shots. Hit your first shot with a firm but slow stroke to a predetermined spot. Your partner will return the ball back to the same spot that you had just hit your soft shot from. Your next shot will be a much harder shot (80-85% maximum power) to the same spot. Keep alternating slow with fast shots and keep the rally going for as long as possible.

You will need to be aware of the changing rhythm of this drill and the necessity of a longer preparatory period (because of the longer backswing and larger weight shift) and shorter recovery period (because the more speed you apply to the ball the faster and quicker it can be returned back to you) when you hit the ball harder. You can do this drill either forehand or backhand.

For more table tennis accessories tips and options, visit www.tabletennis.com.

Popularity: 10%

MODERN TABLE TENNIS STYLES –
Part 3 – The Attacker—Inverted Looper
By Richard McAfee, USATT International Coach

This series of articles will provide you with the strengths and weaknesses of each style, along with some suggested robot drills to help you develop your game. In reading the descriptions you may find that your personal style will have attributes from more than one. However, you should be able to recognize your dominant style (”A” style) and your secondary style (”B” style). Each article will also give you some suggestions on tactics to use against the other styles of play. Hopefully the style descriptions will serve as a guide in analyzing your own.

Part 3 – The Attacker—Inverted Looper

Description:

Inverted Loopers generally stand within three feet of the table. The contact point on all strokes is as early as possible, top of the bounce, or rising. This is a forehand-dominated style with the player exhibiting a strong quick pivot move to use the forehand from the backhand side. This style will try to end points as quickly as possible. Most points are finished with a strong loop-kill. This player often has both an outstanding slow loop and a fast loop-kill from the forehand side. Players of this style can open with a backhand loop but normally do not re-loop with the backhand. They choose to counter drive the backhand instead. This style will on occasion move back into mid-distance (5-7ft from table) and counter loop with the forehand.

Players of this style have generally done well with the move to the 40 mm ball. Their main adjustment has been to develop a more forward loop stroke taking the ball a little farther in front of their bodies. This puts more emphasis on the forward speed than the spin of their power loops.

Strengths:

* Quick pivot to use forehand from backhand corner.
* Strong forehand loops.
* Both strong slow and fast loops from the forehand.
* Solid opening backhand loop.
* Solid backhand counter-drives.
* Good short game.
* Excellent serve and return game.

Weaknesses:

* Balls directed towards the player’s middle.
* Balls directed wide to the forehand.
* In and out movement.
* Backhand re-loop.
* Slow heavy loops directed towards the backhand.

Popularity: 10%