Poly Ball - Pros and Cons

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- Possible to go via airplane, where highly flameable cellu balls are considered dangerious goods
- Night mare for shops and consumers to stock 3 different balls (2 x poly and 1 x cellu) and then you get all these new equipment supposely for 40+ era
- Very possible "bad 1st batch" of balls, rubbers etc, and consumers will waste a lot of money - I will wait for 2nd batch to launch.
- From personal experience and feedback from a number of head coaches and coaches of provincial teams in China - a great reduce level of spin

I agree that celluloid in balls must stop, but then the poly balls should be similar to old balls size and playing characteristics.
So now there is a change - close to 3% increase of size (39.5 to 40.5mm) and huge characteristics different, I see there is some level of abuse from a money making point of view.

But obviously all our table tennis national federations feels the new ball is fine, so we can only accept it.
 
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I tried the Joola super p 3 star today for a half hour, with some warm up and a short match.

It is much slower. I thought the difference would be more spin, but it's really speed. Short game is easier-I was less reactant to spin and my pushes and serves were lower. There was a higher margin of error, I guess because of the speed. Some loops went into the net rather than curving over it though. I think there will be adjusting, and it will make the game a little easier. I don't think it'll ruin the game.
 
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says ok, I will go back and make sure you have access. Be...
says ok, I will go back and make sure you have access. Be...
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Right now pros and cons depend on which ones you buy.
 
says ok, I will go back and make sure you have access. Be...
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TTHopeful, it really is bad form to take someone's thread from another forum and use it here verbatim.
 
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TTHopeful, it really is bad form to take someone's thread from another forum and use it here verbatim.

TTHopeful - I don't mind you copy/pasting verbatim my thread from over at myTT - it will be great to get more opinions from ttdaily too.

To be clear for those users who have accounts here and over at myTT - TTHopeful isn't me. Just want to avoid any confusion.
Sorry Baal and Andy Smith. I used it for inspiration and wondered what users on TTD thought. Great job on your posts.
 
Biggest con in my point of view to the introduction of the plastic ball is the regulation. Not all competitions are restricted from the old cellu balls, which makes it confusing. Every club now has the choice to play with it or not.
The game will still be adjusted a bit, judging by the reviews done by a lot of players. Less spin and longer lasting rally's are the main issue. I guess that in time we will all convert to this new ball/playstyle just like we did with the 38 -> 40.

Economic impacts are well described by Tony. I have to agree on the cost factor here, this will be a big issue for players, and clubs. As for the improving quality on the batches, I think there could be more R&D to negate this effect. Introducing an item where there has been so many flaws noted already seem to me like a quick cash generator for the producers. They should wait a bit longer. After all, it's not like the cellu balls need to be replaced within a short time (if so, they sure waited long enough and they just have the pennalty for being a deadliner :))
 
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