ITTF to increase ball and net size

[Dan]

The ITTF President Adham Sharara announced on the German version of the ITTF web site that they are currently testing 42mm ball sizes.

Adham Sharara quoted, 'we are going to raise the net size to. With these two changes our aims are to bring the defenders back into the game'. These new changes will begin if Adham Sharara the ITTF president wins the election next year.

Vote in the poll and discuss below. Do you think this is good or bad for the sport and explain your reasons why. This would also have a major impact on struggling sports clubs who cann afford to buy the equipment. Such as throwing out their old nets and bringing in new ones.

Thanks to TableTennisTalk for thread

 

[Matt Hetherington]

What if you think the ball change will have neither a good or bad effect or you don't know?
I think the sport is experiencing really positive growth at the moment, I don't know if change is a good thing right now. Changing the BALL size and MATERIAL AND the net size, I mean come on, are they trying to put people off? I think it's too much. There is NOTHING wrong with the 40mm ball or the net height. We are going to have enough problems adjusting to the new plastic ball expected in 2012. Stop changing our game! GRRR

 

[azlan]

As I mentioned months ago, the inevitable has happened, or at least will happen. 2mm increase is a lot and increasing the net height will increase the difficulty level, not for the pros, but at the grass root level.
As for equipment, I think cost wise is not going to give much impact with regards to the nets, because we hardly change nets frequently. However, with the increase of the ball size and method of manufacturing, we might see a jump in prices.
I don't know whether there will be much impact with the pros, but at amateur and club level, they will definitely find the situation a little hard to chew.

 

[dici]

This is definitely put more casual player away. Since it is harder to play the ball.

And is that because the chinese especially the penhold players are so good on the close table play, then they decide to change it to higher net so people can't do so much flip?????

 

[WiWa]

Just plain stupid is all I can say. Players and national federations should protest and not accept these changes.

 

[azlan]

Adham Sharara quoted, 'we are going to raise the net size to. With these two changes our aims are to bring the defenders back into the game'. These new changes will begin if Adham Sharara the ITTF president wins the election next year.

Hope he lose the election...

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

Now all they have to do is make the table larger. Who knows, perhaps they will implement rules where you have to serve from one box to the other like so many amateurs think is already the case.

 

[Matt Hetherington]

Why not string the raquets while they are at it and play outside I think for someone who has worked hard with the sport for so long this is a huge mistake for him and I also hope if this is going to be his course of action that he doesn't get voted back in, sad to say.

 

[Abakus]

I find it definitely bad.

Sharara may have a good thought and wants to create fair conditions between defenders and attackers, but I think defenders can also compete with attackers with a 40mm ball (see Joo Se Hyuk, Chen Weixing, etc). I also think that defensive players got used to the speed of attackers and with a 42mm ball there is less speed and then they have to get used to this, so it would take some time until they reach their original level again (same for attackers).

By the way, Dirk Schimmlpfennig, sport director of the DTTB, suggested a 2-coloured ball.

OK, let's talk about the net:
A higher net means: service practice, service practice and again service practice. You may know some service videos from the pros: they throw the ball up in the air, hit it, the ball bounce on their site, goes slightly over the net and arrive perfectly placed on the other site of the table. And that hole thing for every serve they can use with every kind of spin variation. How long do you think they practice for it? Well, we don't know, but I would say a pretty long time. With a higher net (and also a larger ball) they have to repeat all their practice until they get to their original level again.

Shortly said: The players got used to the current net and ball size and it would take some time until they get used to the new sizes, which means at least one year full of net and fail serves, ball-missing and so on. So I think that also defenders will be not very happy about that change.

With these changes Sharara wants to make table tennis more attractive. OK, watching table tennis might be only attractive fore those, who plays table tennis because the know something about spin and so on. But do a higher net and a larger ball increase the knowledge of non-table-tennis-player? - I don't think so. It just makes the game slower, but table tennis is a very speedy game where you need a fast reaction time.

In addition the rubbers and blades will be improved all the time so if the whole changing thing goes on, we end up with a 100mm ball.

 

[snotvod]

What if you think the ball change will have neither a good or bad effect or you don't know?
I think the sport is experiencing really positive growth at the moment, I don't know if change is a good thing right now. Changing the BALL size and MATERIAL AND the net size, I mean come on, are they trying to put people off? I think it's too much. There is NOTHING wrong with the 40mm ball or the net height. We are going to have enough problems adjusting to the new plastic ball expected in 2012. Stop changing our game! GRRR

I totally agree, let us first see how the new plastic ball evolves... My vote will not be his.

 

[YosuaYosan]

Wanna bring back defenders into the game ?
Thanks for the offer but we defenders dont need pity.. We are strong..
Defenders just need more people to play the style and therefore more minds to improve the style.. Thats what happened to the looper style..

I dont think its a good idea to raise the net and slow the game even more.. It won't help..
The 2012 ball change has just announced and now this ? Way too fast imo..

Sorry Sir Sharara but if you read this please reconsider.. Sorry for my bad choice of words but thats what I'm actually feeling.. Thanks alot..

 

[nightwolf34]

Bad change for sure, Im still learning the basics of table tennis, services, strokes and now they tell me I will have to practice all the way again? I think this is wrong and I hope that Adham Sharara lose the next elections, what choppers need to do to compete better is practice a lot and play more an allaround based game so they can become unpredictable, they will not have a better chance playing with a 42 mm ball or a higher net, thats what I think greetings fellows member of this forum

 

[YosuaYosan]

And to add, choppers in the 38mm ball time is more dangerous because the ball has less surface area, therefore contain the spin better..
Thats why I think that increasing the ball size wont help the game.. This applies to loopers to where the topspin on the ball is a major factor in their game..

 

[WiWa]

U guys are right. The reason there are not many defenders is because the majority of people starts as an attacker and remains an attacker. Imagine if raising the net height would get us more defenders, what would happen? You get defenders vs. defenders playing push and chop against each other all the time in 100+ ball rallies. This will make the game boring. No more killer loops, no suprising fast services, no more chopping where the ball just slides on the opponents half. And with a slower ball it would be easier to return chops with less backspin so that the ball bounces twice on the defenders half. Not one point made to change the balls and net height is valid.

I really don't get what they are trying to achieve with it. Maybe they should increase the table size as well, get larger rackets and balls and instead of a table just play on the floor... Oh wait, that's tennis.

 

[Anders]

I totally agree with WiWa, this is just to stupid. I think I am starting to learn how to use my new pips now, but I think it is just foolish to say it will be easier to defend if the ball is bigger. When the balls was 38 mm, there were more spin. With more spin, the chop gets harder to loop and so on. If the ball gets less spin, then the f***'in point of chopping is gone!

Sorry for my strong words, but its the way it is. We cannot accept more changes to our beloved sport now. Just because China is dominating, it doesn't mean we have to change the rules, we just have to practice hard!

Thank you Shrarrararara, for making our sport weird and not understandable for outsiders! -.-

 

[dici]

Bad change for sure, Im still learning the basics of table tennis, services, strokes and now they tell me I will have to practice all the way again? I think this is wrong and I hope that Adham Sharara lose the next elections, what choppers need to do to compete better is practice a lot and play more an allaround based game so they can become unpredictable, they will not have a better chance playing with a 42 mm ball or a higher net, thats what I think greetings fellows member of this forum

Yea, this is just way too bad for any beginner. As the popularity of TT is already so low in USA. Just imagine that when I try to introduce TT to these high school and college kids over here, the current net high already made some problem for them because they are so use to play with hardbat that the bounciness is low for them. If the net is even higher, I don't think they can put any ball over the net

 

[Mattis]

This is just hilarious in my opinion. Tabletennis is perfect sport just like it is to be honest. To increase the ball is a totally different ball feeling and a for a higher net you net a new sense too.

 

[MrRothhaendle]

Maybe we can see longer rallies, but every player will have to re-adjust his timing and strokes...

(And maybe: ) One other reason is to make the sport more TV compatible (with longer rallies)?

 

[WiWa]

Maybe we can see longer rallies, but every player will have to re-adjust his timing and strokes...

(And maybeOne other reason is to make the sport more TV compatible (with longer rallies)?

If you used a net of badminton size in tennis the rallies would be longer too, but nobody would like to see it Well if they dont play volleys of course. xD

 

[YosuaYosan]

Now wait a minute guys, are we too fast to judge..
After seeing the comments on TTDaily's FB, some ppl said that this is a repeated hoax (April Fools' Joke)..

Dan, could you clarify this, it seems that the ITTF is not that stupid..
Lets see this matter from another angle..