SCSC
Spin continuum, Spin contrast & spin dynamics
The dark
& divine sides of smash pips
Please note:-
Smash pips
or wide pips are referred incorrectly by ITTF as short pips (listed as “out”) on ITTF LARC.
Slim pips are referred deceptively as long pips on ITTF LARC. (There is no such thing as “long” pips in
ITTF table tennis. ITTF banned them in 1998 & confirmed it with 8 more rule
& regulation changes but deceptively continues to call them as “long”
pips). All this is explained in detail in another webpage below
https://tacticaltabletennis.blogspot.com/p/ar.html
Anyway, before
proceeding, you need to understand what does weakside mean ?
For most humans backhand is the weakside (in racket sport) or a different playing
style side. Of course there are always a very few exceptions.
But the problem is that most amateurs even high level amateurs do not
understand this weakside concept & believe they can all have equal
backhands & forehand skills.
Another problem is that the playing styles for most humans is usually different
in terms of playing style, consistency, power, stroke mechanics etc etc. But
again most amateurs do not understand this & believe their weakside
(backhand) can be as good as their forehand
In the spectrum of spin continuum in tabletennis from the perspective of
rubbers (aka racket covering) , spinny inverted (aka reverse or pips in or
backside) rubber sits on one end of the spin scale, the top-spin side & the
slim pips sits on the very opposite side which is the back-spin side.
Wide or smash pips & anti sort of sit in the center & medium pips sits sort of towards the back-spin end.
Most diverse spins is the element that clearly distinguishes table tennis from
other racket sports though for good or bad it also makes table tennis one of
the most (if not the most) complex individual sport, due the speed (in terms of
ball travel area) of the sport & super high technology rackets further
complicating the matters.
Only area where wide or smash pips is absolute best but unfortunately only 5%
of even the pros have the skills to be able to use wide or smash pips at the
highest levels because the error margins are so low using wide or smash
pips, though wide or smash pips is theoretically the best
rubber there is for tabletennis. This is because the wide or shortest
distance between two points is a straight line. So if you can deliver the ball
consistently across the net at highest speeds as is best possible with wide or
smash pips, then we don't need spins at all and other 4 rubber types but this
is not reality since players need spin (back or top spin.... not side
spin, though side spin makes tabletennis a lot more complex more than any other
racket sport) in table-tennis to keep the ball on the table lot more than in
any other racket sport due to the small size of the table. (This observation
was actually made by former ITTF president & 2 time World Champion Ogimura
in his 51% doctrine (smash, smash, smash , smash means flat hits, not loop,
with emphasis on speed (flat hitting) & later adopted by 3 time World Champions
pips out hitter Zhuang Zedong) , though interestingly if I am not mistaken, he
used a smooth sponge rubber racket & not a wide or smash pips out with
sponge racket later used by Zhuang Zedong & Jiang Jiliang, He Zhewen etc).
This is not just table tennis. If you look at tennis, the last player who
reached the highest levels of the sport with pure flat hitting style was Jimmy
Connors who actually pioneers the era of non-wood rackets. Interestingly, Bjorn
Borg, the son a of top Swedish table tennis player Rune Borg pioneered super
top spin in tennis and sort of dominated Jimmy Connors. BTW Bjorn Borg took up
tennis because when he was a (real) kid ( Because Bord won Wimbledon when he
was still a kid LOL) he was fascinated with a tennis racket tha his father won
as the prize for winning a local table tennis tournament. Even more fascinating
is the fact that the Hungarian trio of super loopers Jonyesr, Gergley &
Klampar (coached by a chopper Zoltan Beczik) totally dominated the Chinese
during the same peiod.
Yes pickleball is becoming wildly popular and spreading like wildfire in USA
& even rest of the world mostly due to the removal of spin in racket design
in addition to many other factors. But this approach seems to have failed
miserably in tabletennis with TTX as it seems to have been rejected by TT
players as players stick to tabletennis if they have the stomach to handle
& conquer the complexities of diverse spins and the rackets & rubbers
needed to this end..... so for most tabletennis player spins are like the
ultimate drugs & a fix & wide or smash pips really does not provide a
lot of it for sure.
For an amateur player, the best and most practical combination racket with
maximum possible spin contrast is a racket with spinny inverted rubber one side
and slim pips on the other side ( You want an OX blocking type slim pips if you
are a close to the table (amateur) player who are usually older or an OX
chopping type slim pips if you can play away from the table or want a slim or
medium pips with sponge rubber if you sort of play an all around game varying
from close to the table to mid distance to away from the table).
Therefore wide or smash pips (or anti) are the worst possible rubber on a
combination racket. Some amateur players who are from hardbat era or wide or
smash pips with sponge players who are mostly penholders may be able to play
with wide or smash pips on forehand as primary rubber. Other than that wide or
smash pips (or anti) is the worst possible rubber as a weakside rubber (usually
backhand) because wide or smash pips and anti sit towards the middle of the
spin continuum & does not provide the maximum possible spin contrast on
your racket.
Now why do you need maximum possible spin contrast ? A professional tabletennis
athlete though needs spin contrast, does not need spin contrast as much as an
amateur hacker. Why ? Because, a pro athlete has reached that level mostly due
to the high level of consistency that they can execute a smaller range of
strokes, such as jus loop & block (inverted both sides of racket) or just
as just block & smash ( wide or smash pips , usually penholder) or just
loop & lob (inverted both sides of racket).
But unfortunately consistency is not a viable practical solution for an amateur
hacker though 99% of players & even coaches sadly believe (or more like
delude) it is. Because amateur can never ever reach the consistency (in
executing a specific stroke, most especially the loop) anywhere close to that
of a pro athlete.(The amateur's consistency level reaches a saturation point
much lower than that of a pro and will never get any better however hard the
amateur tries & this is reality) So the only other practical & best
alternative for an amateur hacker is widening the diversity of stroke
production across the entire spin continuum. You definitely cannot achieve this
diversity of stroke production the best using a weakside wide or smash pips (or
anti). Maximizing the Waldnersque diversity of strokes in
one's arsenal is therefore the ONLY salvation (and also more fun) for an
amateur & NOT an exercise in futility of trying to reach the realistically
unattainable consistency (like a pro has) in a limited number of
strokes (such as just the straight (no side-spins) loop)
PS :- Due to aging & loss of foot speed etc., I personally am trying to
switch more & more to a wide or smash pips (with sponge) & slim pips OX
combination racket (from my previous spinny inverted / slim pips OX combination
racket) but with little success, but I will keep trying LOL This is actually an
attempt to maximize my "no spin forehand fake chopping -backhand max
backspin chopping" moving away from my 30 year top-spin / backspin model
due to difficulties with top spin (loop / fish) style of play as one ages. But
yet (spinny inverted + slim pips) is the best racket for most younger
combination racket players if they choose this style which is a more realistic
style instead of the pro fantasy style of two-side inverted boosted up style or
spinny inverted- wide or smash pips combi racket (Mima Ito-Hou Yingchao)
fantasyland.
My usual disclaimer :- People can talk all logical rationalizations &
complex analytics all they want but all table-tennis players, most amateurs
& even pros will always go with what they feel & imagine what the best
racket design is for them based on other factors such as peer & social
pressures or pro player worship fantasies etc. One has to accept it
The spin Continuum needs proper definition
On the top
spin end sits not just spinny inverted rubbers but illegally speed-glued or
illegally boosted spinny inverted rubbers
On the
opposite back spin end of the spin spectrum sits high aspect ratio super slim
pips
So the proper list for spin continuum is , from top spin to back spin
1. illegally
speed-glued or illegally boosted spinny inverted rubbers
2. Legal
spinny inverted rubbers
3. Anti
spin rubbers (with live sponge)
4. Wide
or smash pips rubbers (with live sponge and or frictionful or illegally speed
glued or illegally boosted type)
5. Anti
spin rubbers (with dead sponge)
6. Wide
or smash pips rubbers (with dead sponge and or with frictionless type pips)
> This is sort of dead center of the spin continuum
7. Medium
pips rubbers with dominant wide or smash pips traits
8. Medium
pips rubbers with dominant slim pips traits
9. Low
length low aspect ratio frictionless close to the table blocking type slim pips on ITTF
LARC with low looper torture index
10. Low
length low aspect ratio frictionful away from the table
chopping type slim pips on ITTF LARC with low looper torture index
11. Longer
length High aspect ratio frictionless close to the table blocking type slim
pips NOT listed on ITTF LARC with high looper torture index
12. Longer
length High aspect ratio frictionful away from the table chopping type slim
pips NOT listed on ITTF LARC with high looper torture index
Here is the
link below. It is a spreadsheet type presentation
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