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Table Tennis Basic Concepts

Want to improve your table tennis game? Start here with the most important rules to learn, how to score and umpire matches, grip types, playing styles, how to choose your first racket, all about spin and how to play the basic strokes of ping-pong.

Ping-Pong Fundamentals

Ping-Pong Blog

SPiN in the City

Friday December 18, 2009
I'm not going to SPiN this!
Logo courtesy www.spinyc.com
I received a request from Zack in the SPiN NYC production department to publicize this video of Sooyeon Lee, a professional ping-pong player and fashion model showing off her skills at SPiN NYC, in front of an enthusiastic audience including Susan Sarandon.

While I am not usually at a loss for words, in this case I think I'll simply let the video speak for itself.

Basement Ping-Pong Basic Strokes - The Forehand Counterhit

Thursday December 17, 2009
Basement =/= Bad
Photo © 2009 Greg Letts, licensed to About.com, Inc.
As part of my Guide to Basement Ping-Pong, it's time to take a look at the first stroke that I think new players using cheap paddles should master - the forehand counterhit. And just to show that the right technique will work even with basement bats, I'm using a $10 sports store hardbat with very little grip in the demonstrations. Believe me, if I can get decent results with this paddle, so can you with whatever you are using!

I'm beginning with the front view perspective of this stroke, and the side view will be following in the next day or so, so stay tuned!

Tenergy 05 - Hero or Zero?

Monday December 14, 2009
amiwrite?
Scan of Butterfly Tenergy 05 Table Tennis Rubber Cover
Readers may remember that I tried Butterfly Tenergy 05 earlier in the year and was kind of so-so about it - you can refresh your memory about my review of Tenergy 05 here.

In recent times, a new site called the Tenergy Club has sprung up on the Internet, and as you can imagine they aren't all that pleased with my review - I think the kindest thing they had to said was that it stinks!

Anyway, being the stirrer that I am, I couldn't resist sending a comment back in my usual semi-serious mode, which I'll include below just for fun. But first, go and check out the Tenergy Club's thoughts about my review of Tenergy 05. Then feel free to comment here and tell me whether I got it completely wrong or not!

So here is my reply:


As the writer of the review in question, just a couple of quick thoughts.

(1) You are free to think my review stinks, I've got no problem with that. But what a nice way to go about disagreeing.

(2) It's my review, with my thoughts about the rubber, and my recommendations. But I could be wrong - I never claimed to be perfect.

(3) Not sure what the advertising on the site that About.com puts there has to do with the quality of the review - but whatever. Congrats to you if you can maintain a site without any advertising. The ads help pay my wage and allow me to write more bad reviews! :0

(4) I like my speed glue replacement rubbers to feel more like a speed glued rubber. Killerspin Fortissimo pretty much does - while Tenergy 05 didn't. And by feel I mean that it played and reacted with similar spin and speed to the speed glued rubbers I have used in the past. That's why I'm using Fortissimo and not Tenergy 05.

(5) When using Tenergy 05, it felt to me like it was fast but not spinny like the speed glue Sriver and Mark V I was used to. That's why I wrote I thought it would suit flatter hitters but not spinners. Timo Boll uses 05? He could probably use just about anything. How about the US 1900 player who is a spin looper - should he be using 05?

(6) When in attacking mode, I am a spin looper, not a speed looper. No bias against Timo's style here!

(7) Simply put, I'm not reviewing the rubber for professionals and elite players, but for my readership on About.com, which is a mix of beginners, intermediates, and some advanced players. Is Tenergy 05 great for the pros/elites? Yep. But that's not who I'm writing for. I would hesitate to recommend any speed glue replacement rubber for the bulk of my readers.

(8) I don't particularly like Tenergy 05. As I've said elsewhere on my site, I may go back and give it another try to see if I got it wrong the first time. But I put Tenergy 05 on and didn't like it much, and wrote the review based on what I felt. Based on what it played like for me, I wouldn't recommend it for any less than advanced looper, especially spin loopers. I put Killerspin Fortissimo on and liked it a lot - it suits my less than elite spin looping game much better, and as such I would be more likely to recommend Fortissimo over Tenergy 05 for less than elite players.

Ah, enough said. Basically, I tried Tenergy 05, I didn't like it much, and said why. I could be wrong. Plenty of players seem to disagree with me, yourself included. But it's exactly what I felt when I tried it out.

And finally, - no better rubber for looping than Tenergy 05 - oh my oh my god that is soooooooo wrong! How about considering the standard of the player trying to use the rubber? (That was my lame attempt at some humor, with hopefully a small grain of truth. I'm not really trying to offend here! ;)

It Came From The Forum...

Friday December 11, 2009
Come in and hang out in our table tennis forum!
© 2006 by Greg Letts, licensed to About.com, Inc.
The last few weeks have seen a number of interesting topics come up for discussion in our table tennis forum - like a bag of mixed lollies, there's something for everbody. Here's a special sampler selection of what our forum members have been chatting about.

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