The Future of Table Tennis, also known as Ping Pong

(Picture is Waldner by Guano from Wiki)

(My article, as published on Triond):

Table Tennis is called Ping Pong in the USA. In Britain, however, the local leagues are shrinking. The game is only televised on Eurosport. The Americans held a Ping Pong World Championship with sandpaper bats recently. Where is the game going?

When I joined the Grimsby and Cleethorpes Table Tennis League in 1982 we had seven divisions. (I started in Division Six). Now we have Four. We also had about twenty venues. Now, again, we have four. The league keeps shrinking. I’m pretty sure other local leagues are the same.

Yet where is the inspiration to take up the beautiful game? Table Tennis (Ping Pong in America) is rarely televised and then usually on specialised channels like Eurosport. Even then the spectacle is questionable. We only play an eleven point game now, instead of twenty one. No doubt to cater for short attention spans. The dominant playing style is “Three-Ball-Attack”: spin-serve, return, fast topspin loop. Often that loop is the final ball of the rally.

The Table Tennis Forum

Actually I have recently joined the UK Table Tennis Forum and discussed these matters there. Here is the forum link:

http://www.tabletennistalk.co.uk/forum/content.php

I asked whether the “Countering” or “Rallying” game could still be effective against good three ball attack. Can players block and counter-hit consistently enough to beat all-out attackers. Top ranked Lincolnshire player Andy “Wiggy” Wignall says that ralliers can win given the right conditions, including a non-slip floor. Grimsby’s Sports Hall is too slippery for Wiggy’s liking and he employs three-ball more there.

In “lawn” tennis rallying or countering players like Nadal and Djokovic rule the roost. Yet in table tennis it is more the aggressive Pete Sampras types who rule. Carbon-fibre blades and fast rubbers (and glues!) give all-out attackers more than an edge.

Equipment

Playing equipment plays a crucial role in Table Tennis. In cannot think of another game where this is so marked. Your racket (or bat) covering is crucial. Butterfly, Stiga and many other manufacturers produce faster and faster “rubbers” (bat coverings). I have some “Tenergy” rubber but hear there are much faster rubbers out now.

Recently the Americans held a “Ping Pong World Championship” in Las Vegas. In that tournament players had to use large-looking “paddles” covered with sandpaper. The game was much slower, allowing a fair amount of defensive “chop play”. It was a throw-back to the 1950s when “Hard Bats” were used. I remember those rackets: no sponge and (short) pimpled-out coverings. Classic “Barna Bats”!

I gather most Table Tennis players feel that the Americans took this latest Ping Pong experiment too far! Those bats were poor quality and simply too slow. Even for a $100,000 prize!

However, maybe bats could be standardised to a nice happy medium spin and speed. Long-pimple “effect rubber” players might not welcome such a move though. The ball could be made larger (again) for a slower game. Is the net height right? And the table height? Perhaps each game could be 15 points? Much to ponder here.

Perhaps we should not put so much reliance on television. Maybe we should accept that most of our spin variations are not visible to the spectator. This is not Snooker or Pool, after all. We need to nurture the “grass roots” of the game. Whatever happened to Youth Clubs? To me a table tennis club is like a family. I will be practising as usual on Thursday. How about you?

Paul Butters

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