Ping-Pong

With that in mind, it's kind of strange that the one item that doesn't live up to the rest in terms of ease of use and practicality is the one that should probably be the most simple - the Newgy Catch Net II. While it is not a bad net by any stretch, I don't think it is up to the usual high Newgy standards. It does catch the balls very well, but it suffers from a number of other design flaws which prevent it from being the obvious choice of catch nets to go with your Newgy robot.

While I'm not quite ready to write my review of the Robo-Pong 1040, I thought I'd spend a little time talking about the Robo-Caddy itself - it's quite a nice table tennis robot accessory if you can get one for the right price.

As requested by a couple of readers, I'm starting my series of reviews with the 2050 model. I'll be posting reviews of the Robo-Pong 1040 and 540 models in the weeks to come.

If you're into really, really brief tips, here's the short version: Bring water bottle to tournament. Put water in bottle before leaving home. Use bottle that won't leak. Have guaranteed drink in case shop is shut or water cooler broken.

That's it in a nutshell, but if you'd like to read my much more entertaining story version, you can find it via the link.

Not necessarily, as a recent tournament experience of mine demonstrates. Please indulge me a little as I go into storytelling mode to explain why feeling flat does not necessarily mean that you'll have poor ping-pong performance.

What have I been doing wrong? Redlining my robot all the time.

However, I think that table tennis could become a spectator sport again, provided that we are willing to put our heads together and solve the one aspect of the sport that is so awful that it is driving spectators away in droves. What do I think is the problem, and what can we do about it? Read on for my opinion on what table tennis needs to do to become a spectator sport.

However, in 2012 the same model tables were used for the New Zealand Vets again, and this time my thoughts on the tables were very different.

So while I'm unable to give a 100% certain review of these tables, I'd still like to share my thoughts on playing on these tables, which have turned out to be a bit of a Jekyll and Hyde experience.

After playing in the Trans-Tasman Test Match last night, I'm now competing in the Teams tournament, which kicked off today, and which concludes tomorrow afternoon. Saturday evening will see the start of the individual events across the many age groups, ranging from O/40 to O/75 years of age!

I've got a few initial thoughts to share on the experience so far, and I'll add more in the next day or two once I catch up on some sleep!

While I'm an Aussie and not affected by the situation, this selection policy has left me with a few questions that I'll throw out there on behalf of my USA readers, who might like to get an official answer from the powers that be at the USATT.