Recent content by Belisar

I use a ball I have half coloured as a coaching aid to show players the spin. Some do not like using it too much as they find the rapid/flashing change of colours really off putting. I wonder what the players think.

I may be over simplifying things. If you play GP plus Brit League and even in Germany, France or International events you have some time to practice and prepare for your event. If you play local league plus GP or lower Brit league you could find more of a random ball choice. Imagine 2...

On average I think the new balls are supposed to be 8 percent larger.

My local league decided it could not enforce one ball type or another due to both being "approved". The teams themselves agreed to use celluloid as poly balls are difficult to get hold of in the UK at the moment and there is a general resentment to the change anyway. Be interesting to see if...

The daft thing for me is that as a player I could be using a celluloid ball in my Thursday local league game and a poly ball at the weekend. How can one sport allow equipment that plays differently to be used for different events all in the same season. If the rumours are true and the seamed...

Is this really true? Surely the umpire should be making the call and if they are doing their job properly they should not need prompting from the opponent. If this was a local league match or event without a proper umpire then I would agree that the way it works is the scorer never calls...

Interesting stuff. Someone I know apparently had a conversation with Dr Neubauer and was told that red rubber had less impurities making the rubber more consistent. I was always told red was faster but no one ever seemed to know why.

Yes. Joola provided the equipment (tables, nets and surrounds) in a deal with the club. We then had some German coaches over for a week running a training camp (including Jorg Rosskopf) and Chen Weixing was over for a few days of coaching and demo.

My club is Joola Morpeth in Bethnal Green London. Main hall is 12 Joola tables all in an individual playing area separated by barriers. On busy nights we put in an extra 2 tables (so 14 in that hall). Small hall is 4 tables. Lighting is 750 lux. Walls light blue (I can probably find out the...

I find it so hard to advise on what equipment to use. Especially bats when budget and style are so important. Best option is to try to find a club where you can try someone else's for a brief time. Or else try http://www.tabletennisdb.com/ for a few ideas. Useful if you have used a rubber or...

Sadly I find Joola balls (even the 3*) very inconsistent. For that reason I avoid them if I can. A bit more pricey but I like Gewo 2* for training. As with everything I suppose you are likely to get what you pay for.

Try contacting this guy. http://www.godboldtabletennis.com/ He is very active around Sunderland and is involved in quite a lot of clubs in the area.

A local club to me ran a fun tournament and someone no one knew turned up to play. He played with his left hand and got through to the semi finals (beating a range of people) where he met a local division 1 player. After 3 points he was 2-1 down and swapped to his right hand. He won something...

Thought Butterfly had just won the English team contract - so may depend exactly what shirt you are after. Dan's comment about a photo is a good one. From what I understand winning the bid to supply the England team does not come cheap.

Seems to me that English coaching badges are very much about technique and that actually feeds into the way we coach. Anyone with a variation is coached out of it so we end up with lots of players who do things the same. If we only look at doing things the same how is the game ever going to...