Table Tennis / Ping Pong

[flyingfox2002]

Hehe I also switch grips depending on what I wanna do. I definitely cannot play like they do in the olympics, forehand top spin shots every hand. I seem to only hit nasty top-spinners when I don't have time to think about it, usually when I am running far to my right and returning the ball in desperation. When I have time to set up, I usually mess up the hit. Luckily, no one I play with is that good either. I prefer the Chinese grip cuz it's easier for me to put a spin on the ball that way. Just a simple flick of the wrist.

[jadebunny9]

Hehe I also switch grips depending on what I wanna do. I definitely cannot play like they do in the olympics, forehand top spin shots every hand. I seem to only hit nasty top-spinners when I don't have time to think about it, usually when I am running far to my right and returning the ball in desperation. When I have time to set up, I usually mess up the hit. Luckily, no one I play with is that good either. I prefer the Chinese grip cuz it's easier for me to put a spin on the ball that way. Just a simple flick of the wrist.

Most people prefer the traditional pen grip more. I stick to the tennis grip cause I have nails and sometimes I keep scratching myself when holding the pen grip.

I remember when I took the class that the hardest thing for me was hitting a flat. No kidding. My instructor was dumbfounded. At first I did flats fine, till I started learning slices. Then everything I do from then on automatically becomes a slice, curve, or spin. My wrist flicks by itself even when I don't want it to. It's such a big disadvantage.

[Ghaleon]

I've played it since high school and I play penhold style. In terms of accomplishments, recently I won the division 3 tournament in my city. was so happy

Does anyone here play in a table tennis league?

How expensive is your racket? My whole set up cost me 250$
Butterfly taksim arylate-carbon blade with bryce and sriver.

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[wkeej]

Indeed, all my sports medals are from table tennis. though nothing grand.
1. secondary 3 - doubles champion
2. secondary 4 - doubles runner-up
3. high school - inter-class runner-up
4. university - silver x 2 years and gold x 1 year [for all these medals, they are indeed free as I was the reserve throughout]

I am weak in reading "serve". And my foot-step is slow.

[Ghaleon]

^ cool, what's your set up and playing style? What kind of racket and rubber do you have?

[wkeej]

i last played "competitive" table-tennis 20 years ago

set-up

playing style? i am a more defensive player than attacking. My backhand smash and fore-hand spin are quite good/strong.

What kind of racket? I used to use the butterfly brand initially. The Chinese name for it is "shang kwan" (reflection). It costs about Sing$40-$50 in the 1970s/1980s. When I was in the university in mid-1980s, I used the "double happiness" brand of racket. Costs about Sing $10.

Rubber? I remember these types of rubber. Red = sriver; super driver. Black = tackiness. I wonder whether such rubber still exist. Could they be from Butterfly brand too?

My only regret for playing table tennis is that I do not have any formal training, ie, coach-student relationship. Everything I know comes from experience of playing with others; that's possibly why I cannot read "serve" well and my foot-step is always in a mess.

[Ghaleon]

You will realize that equipment has changed much since then. We now have arylate blades and carbon blades instead of pure wooden blades. The arylate layer adds more control and the carbon layer adds more power. There's also tons of rubbers from anti-spin, sticky rubber, fast rubber, long pips-out, short pips-out, etc. With the amount of choices in racket and rubber, there are TONS of combination and playing style to choose from.

So usually players playing at a competitive level spent 100+ USD on their blades and rubbers.