Multi ball with Celluloid balls bad idea?

Hi Ndragon,

I would personally say you should definitely invest in some new plastic balls for multi ball,the reason being the difference in the way the celluloid and plastic balls behave. Table tennis is a sport with fine margins and small differences and if you get very used to and train a lot of multi ball with the old balls you will be used to the way they spin and the contact needed to perform your strokes well, but when changing back to plastic balls this feeling, contact and bounce will be different. Some people will say that the difference is minimal but I personally disagree and it's important to be well tuned in to the exact equipment you will be playing with in matches. I'd compare training with celluloid balls to playing on a grass court in tennis and then playing matches on clay, yes you can adapt but it takes time, so why not train with the real thing. Hope that helps

agree with tom , this was part of the reason I stopped training in the first places when I saw coaches penny pinching and not investing in plastic balls for multiballs ...atleast for me it does not make any sense to be using anything else for multiball

imo if your level is low, it makes lesser of a difference

if your level is low, you focus is less on the ball but more on everything else

A picture paints a thousand words.
A video paints ten thousand words

One thing I will say:

All the Poly balls are still really so different: Seamed, Seamless, DHS, Nittaku, Butterfly German, Double Fish.

If they are all so different than each other. It almost would not matter as much.

However, even though some of the P-balls are as different from each other as they are from the C-balls, they all have some things in common, they are larger and harder to spin and they are made of a material that is harder to grab than the C-balls.

And because of those issues of what the P-balls have in common that is different from all the C-balls, I would say: Train with P-balls.


Sent from The Subterranean Workshop by Telepathy

I've been to several tournaments in England this year and from memory:
National championships: Joola
Grand Prix (Butterfly sponsor): Butterfly G40
Grand Prix (Joola sponsor): Joola
2 star Hereford: Xushaofa
Local league: Xushaofa
Anyone here play British League? I can't recall which ball was used

As others have commented - there is a real variance between different types of 40+ plastic ball. So even if you do multi-ball with one type of ball, it may not help you a great deal if you have to play a league match / tournament with a different type of plastic ball. It's a bit frustrating that we are still having to discuss this 2-3 years after the plastic balls were introduced. I'm sure in time the balls will become more similar, I just wish it would happen quicker.

I do some of my coaching session in a squash court with white walls, so I still use orange celluloid balls for these sessions. I did buy a box of orange XUSHAOFA (XSF) Vision Super Training 40+ balls, but just didn't like the bounce of these balls. So if anyone knows of a good orange 40+ training ball, please let me know!

Originally Posted by TableTennisTom

As others have commented - there is a real variance between different types of 40+ plastic ball. So even if you do multi-ball with one type of ball, it may not help you a great deal if you have to play a league match / tournament with a different type of plastic ball. It's a bit frustrating that we are still having to discuss this 2-3 years after the plastic balls were introduced. I'm sure in time the balls will become more similar, I just wish it would happen quicker.

I do some of my coaching session in a squash court with white walls, so I still use orange celluloid balls for these sessions. I did buy a box of orange XUSHAOFA (XSF) Vision Super Training 40+ balls, but just didn't like the bounce of these balls. So if anyone knows of a good orange 40+ training ball, please let me know!

I don't believe the celluloid ball is actually banned. After all celluloid, AFAIK, is just another form of composite material.
The chemistry experts here can correct me, but I think that we will always have big variances in the balls simply because the basic material can be made to emphasise so many different characteristics. Market forces can have some influence on the type of balls that become pre-eminent. But look at the G40+. The forumers on here almost to a man, hate them. But it's Butterfly, and whatever they or DHS says, goes.

Originally Posted by NDH

We used Joola in British League at Westfield - Quite frankly the worlds worst ball (possibly second worst behind the Butterfly balls).

I think the record was 4 broken balls in 1 match!

Yes. I was an umpire at the Nationals the first season that they were used. Usually we carry 3 balls in our pockets for each match. Embarrassingly, I had to go get fresh balls twice. It was a match between Helshan Weerasinghe and Adam Harrison. They were both wacking (and top edging) the ball like crazy. Great match, but either 7 or 8 balls were used, but it was a 7 game thriller so roughly a ball per game.

But I do think that it depends on the particular batch. I will go to some tournaments and the same 3 balls will last the whole 2-day tournament. Yet at others, it averages one ball per individual match.

Originally Posted by Tony's Table Tennis

imo if your level is low, it makes lesser of a difference

if your level is low, you focus is less on the ball but more on everything else

Are you sure about this?

My experience is that it is the opposite. The higher level players quickly realise that whatever the playing conditions or equipment, it is roughly the same for everyone, so they now focus on winning.