Proposed Increase in Net Height!

Should the height of the net be increased?

  • Yes

    Votes: 4 7.5%
  • No

    Votes: 49 92.5%

  • Total voters
    53
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The game is on the brink of potentially changing again as ITTF continue on their endeavour to alter and slow the game, reducing it's complexities to try and bring a simpler game for spectators to understand and watch.

netheighincreaseittf.jpg

Photo source: London 2012: Feng Li/Getty Images Europe

The latest proposal under trial is an increase in the height of the net. I'm very opposed to slowing the game down, I think the players should come first and spectators second and not the other way around. Here are my thoughts below:

http://www.mhtabletennis.com/2016/05/table-tennis-could-face-increased-net.html

What do you think about a higher net and other attempts to reduce speed (and in some cases spin) in table tennis?
 
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The only possible reason they are trying to do this is to make the serve weaker , hence eliminate third ball attack and extend the rallies.
But again they will end up with unforeseen consequences.

They have already reduced the spin through the plastic ball . They thought it will extend the rallies, but looking at it now what has happened is two fold :
1. Lack of spin has caused inconsistent stroke making and more unforced errors. So instead of extending rallies , they don't even start at the first place. If they start then ...

2. Because of 1 , players who depend on power and by power I mean spin like Li Xiaoxia , Zhang Jike have gotten injured .

Now again , what is going to happen when the net high gets increased is either that serves are going to slow down or they are going to go long and they don't realize the full extent of the damage and any of the following could start happening :

1. Players would do more aggressive serve return and thereby ending the rally before it began.

2. People would start taking more risks on their serves to gain advantage , thereby missing more serves to start with.

3. You might start seeing more net balls , already the heavy plastic ball is climbing up the net more than the previous celluloid balls.

4. People will start doing more and more ghost serves if they are able to generate spin with the Chinese rubbers which would become un-returnable. In fact, after the plastic ball was introduced one of my 2300 level friends started doing this un returnable even with the nittaku 3+ 40+ poly ball and the game was becoming a farce and people started hating him . the only way we could get to him is if we could run along the side of the table and take the ball off the bounce and flick it with power. I am assuming that this would become even more difficult to do if the net height is increased . He was essentially making the ball go back on the second bounce with a serve having reasonable variety in placement . So we could not even predict if he was going to down the line or crosscourt to begin with ! I am pretty sure that serve will cross the increased net height making it even more dangerous


So, in summary ITTF fails to realize that this is a very delicate sport and meddling in it needs a very thorough investigation and trial period across the globe with pros and amateurs alike. Apparently, they don't have the resources to do that ,so they rush every change or make the change without enough foresight and trial statistics in hand. Also , some of the decisions become questionable when you find that Adnan Sahara's scientific advisor's wife owns a patent on plastic ball or whatever that was !!

So , it all comes back to the refrain which is, there are things that more important but much more difficult for the ITTF to do and thats why they keep shying away from the real issues, resolving which would make the sport better and more popular.
They should focus on making the sport reach more people, generate more revenue and implement the existing rules to the best of their abilities which they are not doing. Also, they should stop getting bullied by the "super powers" in the sport like China who apparently would not agree to the test that can catch boosting and make it a level playing field for the top level pros.

But isn't the story of every sport at international standard ? Take soccer, the likes of Blatter and even perhaps Platini make money from every new ball that gets introduced just before the world cup or the european championships , making them a farce and occasionally producing a Roberto Carlos freekick that gets played over and over again because its simply like Florence Griffith Joyner's drug boosted performance in women's athletics and cannot be ever emulated .
The problem is that table tennis does not generate enough revenue. So even if in other sports these guys eventually get punished because a lot more money is at stake and either the law or somebody more ambitious catch up with them , in table tennis Adan Sahara gets to create a new position for himself in the ITTF body and retire gracefully with his coffers full .

I think they should give badminton and volleyball a shot too, those are sports too and look at them with their high nets !!
 
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I think if things continue to evolve like that, either table tennis will be ruined as a sport or everyone will declare disobedience towards ITTF and form a new international federation.

For now, it's just a proposal, and I hope this won't become reality ever. ITTF "wants to make the sport spectator-friendly". Haven't they noticed yet that there are NO spectators? This is becoming really evident at the recent tournaments, where top players play in front of only a few dozens of people. Most of the spectators are actual players who don't need this slowing. Also, if they would really care so much about spectators, they would avoid those cyan-coloured floors that are really making the ball invisible and would improve the quality of streamings. Really, is it normal that an olympic sport which has millions of players around the world is streamed in no better quality than 360p?

Also, have ITTF members ever watched ice hockey? It is really much harder to watch the puck, particularly when they shoot. Why don't they suggest NHL and other organisations to increase the size of the puck and slow down the ice?
 
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Net height increase doesn't bother me. The change in ball size made service return easier, extending rallies for me. I think control players will thrive from the change, slow loopers will be happy. Players that prefer the flat hitting kill shots, and players who depend heavily on service to get points are losing the most from this. Evolution in sports is supposed to happen, why don't I ever hear people complaining this much when rule changes happen in other sports?

Players will adapt to a higher net as they've adapted to every change so far. If the game was never meant to be changed we'd still be playing with 38mm balls and no sponge. Marty Reisman would have won his world title and we would have never heard of the greats that we now idolize and look back to in admiration. (Waldner)


People never want change, but if you just suck it up and deal with it, you'll notice the game isn't going to be watched less because of the change and the only thing you'll lose is those players who decide "change sucks I'm quitting this game, I can't adapt so it's unfair"
 
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Excuse my language, but this is the stupidest idea i have heard so far. The net is perfect the way it is. If it were a lot higher, we would need to swing a lot more in order to get the ball over the net, causing possible injuries later on.

If you're having trouble getting the ball over the higher net, try changing your stroke a bit, you adjust to player's spin in game so making the net a bit higher shouldn't be too tough to adjust to for you either. If you're worried about injuries don't swing so hard... If injuries start happening then players will stop playing so "hard". They'll realize that "maybe swinging as hard as possible on every stroke is causing the injuries, maybe if I want to keep playing this game I shouldn't swing as hard as possible"
 
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But the variety in styles in top players is decreasing how many penholder do you see?

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I don't think the amount of penholders has to do with what's better or worse at high level with rule changes. It probably depends more on the way their parent's or coach taught them to hold the paddle and they stuck with that as the way to play since they became comfortable playing that way and just played better in the way they were more comfortable.
 
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Shuki, we're concerned with the effect of the change on top level play: not our play. Even at our play, changes like the plastic ball or a higher net do have a notable effect.

You can't possibly assume that a minor change to a low level player will be a minor change to a truly world class player. It's just completely different and the margins are completely different when the performance level gets so high, in anything.
 
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Shuki, we're concerned with the effect of the change on top level play: not our play. Even at our play, changes like the plastic ball or a higher net do have a notable effect.

You can't possibly assume that a minor change to a low level player will be a minor change to a truly world class player. It's just completely different and the margins are completely different when the performance level gets so high, in anything.

Refer to my first post

Evolution in sports is supposed to happen, why don't I ever hear people complaining this much when rule changes happen in other sports?

Players will adapt to a higher net as they've adapted to every change so far. If the game was never meant to be changed we'd still be playing with 38mm balls and no sponge. Marty Reisman would have won his world title and we would have never heard of the greats that we now idolize and look back to in admiration. (Waldner)


People never want change, but if you just suck it up and deal with it, you'll notice the game isn't going to be watched less because of the change and the only thing you'll lose is those players who decide "change sucks I'm quitting this game, I can't adapt so it's unfair"

There's only one downside that I can see to this in the long run. Which is that we our clubs will have to get new nets, and the crossover period for changes is sucky.
 
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