Huge Delima, I play with both hands and not improving

[blahness]

If anything, I am more undecided than before. I was deciding between (1) Using either left or right arm to (2) Switch hands during or after point and now I have (3) Holding a racket in each hand

Sorry for hijacking your thread, but as a person who is ambidexterous I really think it is so cool to be able to play with both hands, and i couldnt resist to blast some of the haters.

Personally I think 2) is suboptimal because the switching speed is way too slow for TT. 1) and 3) are not in conflict, they all involve similar skillsets. I can do all 3 types of playstyle and they are not in conflict: 1) right hand only. 2) left hand only. 3) both hands. In particular you need a lot of training for 2) if you ever want to master 3)

So for me obviously 1 is actually the strongest, followed by 3 and then 2 is the weakest, but it is OK since I dont spend so much time training my left hand.

One thing to note is that with your right hand FH, you might want to consider 'easier' materials to play with for eg anti or pips which will aggravate the shoulder less. For left hand FH either you have to train it more or you can also shortcut a bit and use anti or pips. The idea is to gain an advantage with the variation (using anti/pips) then finish off the point with your inverted side. The limit is really your imagination.

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

Yes, yes there is 😂
It's covered somewhere in the laws by reference to the racket and the free hand being the hand not holding the racket.

Nope, nothing in the rules stops it despite certain ppl being very upset

I do that to troll ppl and to have fun lol... my left hand is grandpa style OX LP penhold, and my right hand is my double inverted setup. There are some devastating combos available which opponents can only laugh about.

I gotta say it is not a weak setup, i actually won a few games against some strong players with it.

But the time investment is just a bit too much for an amateur.

you can't make rules which are based on 'implications'. For eg saying 'the law implies X' therefore X is valid. No - the law has to be specific.

Ah, no I don't think you are correct here.
You can infer laws from implication, it's done all the time.
While it's fair to argue that something as basic as the number of rackets a player can use should be clearly stated, the fact remains that if it's not stated then the answer can be inferred from other statements and other rules. This is because it's impossible to write such documents that can cover every single possible scenario that may lead to a challenge to the rules.
I haven't read the entire rule book and from what I did read I certainly cannot remember everything but it is known (even if not explicitly stated) that Table Tennis is played with one racket.

It may be explicitly stated somewhere in the rule book but, assuming it's not, the one racket understanding is implied where the rules referring to racket hand and free hand.
I'd imagine this (if not explicitly stated in the rules under equipment or whatever) is possibly addressed in appendices or code of conduct or maybe the interpretation section. Yes, there is even a section on interpretation!

Hopefully someone who knows better can chip in. I don't fancy going through the entire book but I am curious now what part actually covers this best.....🤔

No, it is innocent until proven 'guilty'.

For eg around the net shots are not covered in the handbook. Would you assume that it is illegal simply because it is not covered? I could use your argument here. Given the presence of a net, it is 'implied' that shots need to clear the net height and hence around the net shots are illegal.

There are many things for eg are not covered but is still considered legal.

I actually researched this a bit, and since there is absolutely no clause which bans two hands and two rackets, one cannot challenge the legality of it.

You're flawed here.
Innocent until proven guilty is something else entirely.
And the over the net argument is silly, have a read the ittf rules and see why.
You should also try playing with a racket in each hand to see what happens.
If you read my post again after you do that at your club or competition then I'm sure my post will make even more sense 😉

This is what happens when two people need to get the last word and neither will let a response from the other go without a response.

Sorry. This is kind of ridiculous. As of now, this post will be number 42 in this thread. If you include this post the comments to this point, in this thread, from Sims and Blahness are 24 posts: well over 50% of the posts on the thread are a pointless circular argument between two people that, after the 3rd or 4th post, does not amount to much more than:

- "No you can't."
- "Yes you can."
- "No you can't."
- "Yes you can."
- "No you can't."
- "Yes you can."

You guys really need to learn how to say what you mean and leave it at that. This, "I have to get the last word" nonsense is just way too out of control.

Sorry for hijacking your thread, but as a person who is ambidexterous I really think it is so cool to be able to play with both hands....

This part is fine. But this next thing:

....and i couldnt resist to blast some of the haters.

This just shows something about you that I don't think you should be proud of.

Blahness, you really can't do this kind of thing again.

Sims, I am glad you stopped at some point. But I do think you need to say your peace and learn to let what you said stand for itself.

To both of you: when people read, they can decide for themselves what they think. If every time someone responds to a post you made, you have to respond again, it really does not come across that well. To me, you both look childish by the simple fact that you both repeat the same basic things over and over and so much of the entire thread is just the two of you going back and forth without covering anything that is remotely relevant to the OP's query.

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

I'm sure OP is clever enough that some silly idea of which is illegal and not proven legal is going to help the case.

OP and any one can play illegal all they want (I played against illegals pips on purpose for the joy of challenge for example), but it does get very taxing and boring when there are people arguing against facts and only use "I do it in my backyard, so it must be allowed in the world, else you are all (list all the words like hates, bloomers or what not).

Fact check:
ITTF Rules.
2.5.5 The racket hand is the hand carrying the racket.

2..5.6
The free hand is the hand not carrying the racket; the free arm is the arm of the free hand.

2.5.7 A player strikes the ball if he or she touches it in play with his or her racket, held in the hand, or with his or her racket hand below the wrist.

The whole of 2.4 THE RACKET talk about singular Racket
including this which I think is useful in this fact check
2.4.8 Before the start of a match and whenever he or she changes his or her racket during a match a player shall show his or her opponent and the umpire the racket he or she is about to use and shall allow them to examine it.

So, until proven legal, the whole 2 hand with 2 racket to me is illegal and needs to be tested and proved out in real life. This is how like lawyers will argue in the courts of law and once they have succeeded, precedents can be used for future cases.

Which to me will open up a big cans of worms, ie one can have a belt with 10 rackets on and change any time they want and hold any of the 2 of them on there, as the word singular is not true but rather singular means plural and then means infinite..

any ways playing with the other hand is not a bad thing, but as I said, get a coach to skip short cuts and prolong your body condition and health.

PS. I know quite a lot of players that can play with both hands, but not many will play changing hands mid rally. I tried to do it a few times, but that is really more worse case situations, where I do still end up loosing the point.

End of the day, I know few players who can't play any more, and they had all the coaches, medical staff and shoulder is buggered still. so it all depends on what kind of table tennis you want to play. So be careful never the less

 

[kase]

Learning the 'correct' technique may not be the best for you -the 'correct' technique as defined by what you currently see the Chinese National Team doing is designed for power. It has high athletic requirements and will put a lot of strain on your body, you will likely get more injured. You should perhaps strengthen your rotator cuff to reduce the impingement issues, see a physiotherapist and get some advice if you haven't already done so.

You need a style that is based on variation and placement, will smaller, less violent strokes, close to the table. If you attack the ball early off the bounce with a nice thin brush, you don't need a massive powerful swing to lift heavy underspin. The earlier the better.

But you don't even need to attack straight away - learn to produce an extremely heavy chop (it may take months or years) and make the other guy open up - if he doesn't get the ball right off the bounce, his power will be limited (he will need to use a lot of upwards power just to lift it, if he gets to it late). If you develop the ability to place the ball deceptively, it will be very difficult for him to get to the ball early. Then when he has opened up and you are in a rally, use small stable strokes to use his own power against him.

 

[NetProphet]

This is what happens when two people need to get the last word and neither will let a response from the other go without a response.

Sorry. This is kind of ridiculous. As of now, this post will be number 42 in this thread. If you include this post the comments to this point, in this thread, from Sims and Blahness are 24 posts: well over 50% of the posts on the thread are a pointless circular argument between two people that, after the 3rd or 4th post, does not amount to much more than:

- "No you can't."
- "Yes you can."
- "No you can't."
- "Yes you can."
- "No you can't."
- "Yes you can."

You guys really need to learn how to say what you mean and leave it at that. This, "I have to get the last word" nonsense is just way too out of control.



This part is fine. But this next thing:



This just shows something about you that I don't think you should be proud of.

Blahness, you really can't do this kind of thing again.

Sims, I am glad you stopped at some point. But I do think you need to say your peace and learn to let what you said stand for itself.

To both of you: when people read, they can decide for themselves what they think. If every time someone responds to a post you made, you have to respond again, it really does not come across that well. To me, you both look childish by the simple fact that you both repeat the same basic things over and over and so much of the entire thread is just the two of you going back and forth without covering anything that is remotely relevant to the OP's query.

I disagree Karl.
Its two people debating something that isn't explicitly covered in the rules.
I cannot understand why you have a problem with it unless you just got out the wrong side of the bed this morning.
This is a forum, remember.
Its made for sharing of opinions.
You've shared yours, ok.
But ironic you're opinion is ok but us to state ours isn't. Only ok for moderators then?

Also, post no. 40 made by the OP might refute your statement that it's all irrelevant.
OP might just be joking there, I don't know, but if you think his point no. 3 is a good or bad proposition for him then now might be a good time to say so and, you know, add something relevant to this thread.

 

[Lazer]

I disagree Karl.
Its two people debating something that isn't explicitly covered in the rules.
I cannot understand why you have a problem with it unless you just got out the wrong side of the bed this morning.
This is a forum, remember.
Its made for sharing of opinions.
You've shared yours, ok.
But ironic you're opinion is ok but us to state ours isn't. Only ok for moderators then?

Carl is absolutely correct, this is an uttermost childish discussion, just ignore it...

Cheers
L-zr

 

[NetProphet]

Carl is absolutely correct, this is an uttermost childish discussion, just ignore it...

Cheers
L-zr

In your opinion.
Let me go into every thread in here and comment as to whether I think it is ridiculous, childish, uninteresting, astonishing, brilliant, silly etc etc etc.
That's not how most forums work Lazer and the issue here is that Karl is a.mod and then tells me that I should learn to respond to things the way he likes!
This is absolutely nuts.
I don't agree with most of what Blahness wrote but if we wanna discuss his specific attitudes and ideas about the game in a respectful way then whats the issue?
And also, the parts highlighted in Karls post all contain new info over the previous post and no you can't, yes you can is ABSOLUTELY THE POINT because it is not explicitly covered in the rules but actually inferred!
Call it childish if you want, I don't really care at all if some people find it silly because I myself found some of the ideas a bit silly but being told that we can't do it or that we should do it a certain way... Sorry, I don't appreciate mods taking the schoolteacher attitude to anyone.
Karl should learn to let respectful opinions be shared by whomever wants and that whether he likes it or not is completely irrelevant. Because (he's not writing it as just another member) but as a moderator, so that is now the issue.
Doing that as a moderator is far more ridiculous than anything else said beforehand

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

Sims, why are you spelling my name incorrectly. Three times you wrote my name and each time it was spelled incorrectly. Is that an accident? Or is that something else?

Perhaps it would be worth it to you to understand that what brought me to the thread, for a closer look was multiple reports on the posts from you and blahness in this thread and and how you guys were hijacking it.

I am not telling anyone exactly what to post or how to post. But if a thread is that thoroughly hijacked, you and blahness could have said: "lets take this, somewhat related subject to a new thread and let people know, we are opening a thread on the subject of whether or not it is legal to have a racket in each hand.

For the idea of playing with a racket in each hand, I doubt the OP needed more than dingyibvs's post asking whether it was legal or not.

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

If anything, I am more undecided than before. I was deciding between (1) Using either left or right arm to (2) Switch hands during or after point and now I have (3) Holding a racket in each hand

It is definitely good for your brain, your nervous system and body to work on playing both left handed and right handed. I would keep doing it. Unless you play in sanctioned ITTF tournaments, I doubt it matters much whether you are swapping hands when you feel like it, or using one racket in each hand.

But doing dedicated drills like footwork and training drills on one side and then also doing those drills on the other side would be good for you. It would not impede progress. And it would make it less likely for you to get repetitive stress issues on one side like an elbow or shoulder injury.

Many top pros are actually trained to play with their off hand because it improves their play on their dominant side. So, as long as you are having fun doing it, go for it. Choose your method.

 

[NetProphet]

Sims, why are you spelling my name incorrectly. Three times you wrote my name and each time it was spelled incorrectly. Is that an accident? Or is that something else?

Perhaps it would be worth it to you to understand that what brought me to the thread, for a closer look was multiple reports on the posts from you and blahness in this thread and and how you guys were hijacking it.

I am not telling anyone exactly what to post or how to post. But if a thread is that thoroughly hijacked, you and blahness could have said: "lets take this, somewhat related subject to a new thread and let people know, we are opening a thread on the subject of whether or not it is legal to have a racket in each hand.

For the idea of playing with a racket in each hand, I doubt the OP needed more than dingyibvs's post asking whether it was legal or not.

Just because someone reported it hijacked doesn't necessarily mean it's been hijacked tho, opinions right.

Reading the OPs initial post about 2 hand playing, the suggestion of playing with 2 rackets means our discussion is fairly in line with the subject, except for the Boomers part which I didn't really get into.
But you didn't arrive here and ask for redirection, you scolded us like Children and called it a tit for tat last word in, ridiculous and circular exchange. Very strong words.
And I firmly believe you're incorrect, it was not that. The subject matter may be a bit silly (playing TT with a racket in each hand) but blahness (imo) with almost 2,500 posts in here, most of them helpful from what I've read, should be entitled to express his opinion however madcap I or anyone else thinks it is and I can't see the issue with me exploring where he's coming from (even if I am opposed) and having some fin with the idea because as I've since learned, he actually does this!!
At the end of the day I suppose I don't really care, maybe this forum isn't what I think it is and maybe a bit of fun between me and blah is actually an issue but I do believe whoever reported it is a bit overly sensitive and should probably stay out of here cos there are literally 100's of threads in here that will go away from the central subject far more than this one has. I've read plenty of them. All without your scolding interjectiin I might add...

Apart from my belief that playing with 2 rackets isn't a viable option for anyone I have no advice to the OP as to whether he should play left or right handed but the debate around the rules is still interesting and valid, as many others have commented on that also.

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

To me you have some people that had facts
And you have some that want to catch words and force the bending of rules to suite ones narrative.

Quotes or comments were made from the law of table tennis and then the arguments on how so many people is wrong (since hundreds of million of us play with 1 racket between our 2 hands) and how doing the same thing is bad and blah blah blah.

I read it as arguing for the sake of arguing, but with that the use of swear words, foul language among one of the party.

I wonder how many people reported that kind language use, as that itself violates forum rules. (I did)

 

[haggisv]

It can be a tough and thankless job being a moderator sometimes... you're damned if you don't act, and damned if you do.

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

Just because someone reported it hijacked doesn't necessarily mean it's been hijacked tho, opinions right.

Reading the OPs initial post about 2 hand playing, the suggestion of playing with 2 rackets means our discussion is fairly in line with the subject, except for the Boomers part which I didn't really get into.
But you didn't arrive here and ask for redirection, you scolded us like Children and called it a tit for tat last word in, ridiculous and circular exchange. Very strong words.
And I firmly believe you're incorrect, it was not that. The subject matter may be a bit silly (playing TT with a racket in each hand) but blahness (imo) with almost 2,500 posts in here, most of them helpful from what I've read, should be entitled to express his opinion however madcap I or anyone else thinks it is and I can't see the issue with me exploring where he's coming from (even if I am opposed) and having some fin with the idea because as I've since learned, he actually does this!!
At the end of the day I suppose I don't really care, maybe this forum isn't what I think it is and maybe a bit of fun between me and blah is actually an issue but I do believe whoever reported it is a bit overly sensitive and should probably stay out of here cos there are literally 100's of threads in here that will go away from the central subject far more than this one has. I've read plenty of them. All without your scolding interjectiin I might add...

Apart from my belief that playing with 2 rackets isn't a viable option for anyone I have no advice to the OP as to whether he should play left or right handed but the debate around the rules is still interesting and valid, as many others have commented on that also.

I think a lot of this is fair.

But I don’t think it needed 24 posts and counting.

 

[JFearH]

Will you guys forgive me for resurrecting this old thread? I have made really good progress since my originally posted this thread. I serve from my left hand and quickly change the paddle to my right hand for smashes or chips after I am done serving. This has worked really well for me and has often caught opponents of guard, until this new person came in. There are two problems

(1) He has adapted to my serves that I would do from my left hand to his backhand. I give him props for that and respect him as an opponent. So I have to add more varieties. I can no longer score points off of just serves. I'll work on this but
(2) I have no good solution to this problem. Alright so usually try to smash serves and win points on serve return as this is my strenghth. If it gets to third ball, i have usually lost my edge. With that said, this guy does an illegal serve and there are two variations. I stand in a tad bit to the left of the center of the table and close to the table. He either serves straight towards me or diagonally towards my forehand. Here is the problem. His disguise and no bounce is so clever that I dont know which direction the ball is going to go. Many times I think it is coming straight and I move left to do forehand smash and it has gone diagonally and missed me by 3 foot.

Alright now you guys know the problem. I dont like calling out an illegal serve specially when its not tournament but I like to know how I can address this. Should I stand further back from the table so I have better chance to return his serves or receive with paddle in each hand. I know alot of people I play with are going to call me out for this but we are all amateurs anyways and there isn't any ref. Also if I play like that then I will need to play every game like this and against other opponents too. This is so my style remains consistent regardless of who i play. Just to note that I am talking about serve receive only. Plz advice and sorry for the long post.