Table Tennis (Ping Pong, the Sport Version)

[dennyjones]

I see a trip to Erie to spend the day.  Golf lesson, Putter fitting and some table tennis.   Beverages on hand?

[iacas]

I see a trip to Erie to spend the day.  Golf lesson, Putter fitting and some table tennis. Beverages on hand?

They can be if you send a list ahead! There's also a tap-house kitty-corner to our building.

[colin007]

So this raises the question.... Is feel real when it comes to Ping Pong?

[iacas]

I'm having some custom blades made, and I just ordered the rubbers for them.

One of the blades is an anatomic handle, while the other is a flared. I think the anatomic will feel better but basically I'll have two and can switch between them as necessary. I've got the layer composition upstairs, but IIRC it's a seven-layer blade with one of the layers being glass fibre to "expand the sweet spot."

PaddlePalace was out of Juic 999 Elite 1.8 in black, so I'm going 1.8 red on the backhand and 2.0 in black on the forehands.

[rkim291968]

I quit playing ping pong about 5 years ago.   My playing style put too much strain on my knees. I play more defensive style, playing well off the table running all over the floor to return balls.  

My other reason to quit?  Ping pong, like all other sports, can get hard as competition level gets tougher.  I considered myself a good player until I ran into people from China who grew up playing ping pong.   They humbled me ... and I was happy to pick up golf.  

[iacas]

8 hours ago, rkim291968 said:

My other reason to quit?  Ping pong, like all other sports, can get hard as competition level gets tougher.  I considered myself a good player until I ran into people from China who grew up playing ping pong.   They humbled me ... and I was happy to pick up golf.  

Did you ever get a rating? If so what level did you get to?

[rkim291968]

19 minutes ago, iacas said:

Did you ever get a rating? If so what level did you get to?

I didn't get a rating but played with two players who did.  Their ratings weren't that great (so they said, much less than 2000) but even so, I could never beat them on 3 game 21 point match.   I mean never. 

In my 20s, I also played against a Japanese guy who trained as a ping pong player until junior high.  He was a visiting employee from Japan and we played for two weeks every day.   I think he "let" me beat him one game out of pity/good manner before he went back. 

I organized company league that lasted 5 - 6 years.  Most of the players were engineers from China. It's amazing how many different playing styles they have, unique serves, and trash talk.   It was fun years of playing ping pong.

[iacas]

My blades are on their way and should be here tomorrow or Saturday…

Rubbers arrive tomorrow as well.

Composition on the green: Limba, Limba, Glass, Ayous, Glass, Limba, Limba.

Composition on the blue: Limba, Limba, Glass, Kiri, Glass, Limba, Limba.

Both should play around an ALL rating.

[rkim291968]

Wow, nice looking handle.

You have to change the rubbers every so often.  Are you getting it in quantity or buy as you replace? 

[iacas]

13 hours ago, rkim291968 said:

Wow, nice looking handle.

You have to change the rubbers every so often.  Are you getting it in quantity or buy as you replace? 

The rubbers? I just bought two red and two black for now. Maybe I won't even put a rubber on the blue one; I intend to play with green for now.

I have JUIC 999 Elite in 1.8 (backhand) and 2.0 (forehand) coming. My current blade has 1.8 on both sides, but Paddle Palace was out of 1.8 in black, so I went slightly more offensive with the forehand. I guess.  It remains to be seen how much 0.2mm matters.

Maybe when I eventually determine my playing style or something, I'll have a look into buying more rubbers and getting them in bulk. It's kind of ridiculous how much rubbers cost, particularly since they're not even pips, but… whatever.

[rkim291968]

2 hours ago, iacas said:

The rubbers? I just bought two red and two black for now. Maybe I won't even put a rubber on the blue one; I intend to play with green for now.

I have JUIC 999 Elite in 1.8 (backhand) and 2.0 (forehand) coming. My current blade has 1.8 on both sides, but Paddle Palace was out of 1.8 in black, so I went slightly more offensive with the forehand. I guess.  It remains to be seen how much 0.2mm matters.

Maybe when I eventually determine my playing style or something, I'll have a look into buying more rubbers and getting them in bulk. It's kind of ridiculous how much rubbers cost, particularly since they're not even pips, but… whatever.

Toward the end of my ping pong days when I had harder time to run down balls, I relied on various spin serves to tilt the game to my side.   I.e, my rubber pads needed to be "spinny" for lack of better terms.   Of course, it took a little off from my "slams."  

[dennyjones]

Iacas,  Why did you pick that rubber?   Recommendation?  Preference.   The blade looks to be very fast and the rubber you chose will be quick also.   If you haven't used that combination before, you may experience a lot of long shots off of the end of the table.   You'll get use to it but I believe that will be a fast combination.

 

 

[iacas]

5 hours ago, dennyjones said:

Iacas,  Why did you pick that rubber?   Recommendation?  Preference.   The blade looks to be very fast and the rubber you chose will be quick also.   If you haven't used that combination before, you may experience a lot of long shots off of the end of the table.   You'll get use to it but I believe that will be a fast combination.

I have 999 Elite 1.8 on both sides of my Tibhar DEF+ blade right now and it seems okay. It's a pretty medium-tier rubber so far as I know. Not that I fully believe all of these numbers, but this one's rated at:

Type: Smooth   Speed: 82   Spin: 89   Control: 75

So… reasonably good control with decent spin and speed.

But, at the end of the day, it's what I was used to in the minimal amount of time I've spent playing, and what I'm used to is what I'm used to because the guy I trusted to help me get started recommended it as a good first-all-around rubber.

Turns out I accidentally ordered 1.5 instead of 1.8 in the black, so I'm now going to have to wait a week or so for the 1.8 to get here. Which is fine, since it's Thanksgiving (though that's gonna push delivery back a day or two…).

It's not the cheapest rubber (nor is it the most expensive), so I may look to replace it with something similar that's a bit less costly.

---

And… to answer your question in another way, if the rubber is reasonably fast, I won't feel the need to add too much of my own speed to it. I can make shorter, more controlled strokes that still get the ball up to speed.

[iacas]

 

[iacas]

 

[RandallT]

This just showed up on my wife's FB. Crazy

 

 

[rkim291968]

Any pen-holder style player here?   It used to be a lot more prevalent in the old days but I don't think hardly anyone plays the style now.   I went back and forth between the two (shake-hand & pen-holder) and settled on a "hybrid" style in my last days of ping pong.  I have shake-hand style paddle but use it as I would a pen-holder paddle.   I was developing a backhand shot with it.   I thought some top Chinese players were doing it to get the best of both styles.

[iacas]

10 minutes ago, rkim291968 said:

Any pen-holder style player here?   It used to be a lot more prevalent in the old days but I don't think hardly anyone plays the style now.   I went back and forth between the two (shake-hand & pen-holder) and settled on a "hybrid" style in my last days of ping pong.  I have shake-hand style paddle but use it as I would a pen-holder paddle.   I was developing a backhand shot with it.   I thought some top Chinese players were doing it to get the best of both styles.

My instructor is a pen-holder. So is Mung, who owns the asian restaurant a few doors down from GE.

I don't know if it's really going out of style, but I'm not at all tapped in or care much about the upper ranks. Is it dwindling there?