Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Ping Pong Is About Power and Spin

By Pete Urther

Americans play ping pong in their basements and at their workplace break rooms. In fact, some people might even call ping pong a hobby rather than a sport. After watching any of the top players, however, you can clearly see it is a sport that requires endless hours of practice and physical fitness to become good.

In America, there is little exposure to the top players as they mostly come from China and Europe. Table tennis is a big time sport in some of those countries and the best players are very popular much like our baseball and football players are over here. Ping pong is loved throughout much of the world while we Americans consider it more of a hobby than a sport.

If you are a tournament table tennis player, you might want to spend hundreds of dollars on a custom made ping-pong paddle. The difference in the price between a cheap paddle you might use in your home game versus one that a tournament player would use is the rubber. Expensive paddles have both more rubber and a better type of rubber on them. The more advanced paddles also are heavier and feel more substantial in your hands than a cheaper one would.

If a beginner player were to use an expensive paddle with the better rubber, the game might actually become more difficult for them. This is because the paddle would be more susceptible to spin elements than a cheaper paddle is. The better rubber allows you to spin the ball more but it also means that the ball will spin more off your racket if the incoming shot has spin.

In the end, ping pong is a game of spin. When you are just starting out, it is a challenge just to hit the ball back and forth and keep it on the table. As you progress in levels however, it becomes a game of power and spin with the winning player better able to negotiate the two. Top players all have an amazing amount of skill and they practice many hours a day to keep sharp.

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