Am I a Troll or am I fighting my craving long pips style

I think everything I said still applies to be honest.

Unless you are very very good with long pips, you wouldn't win many (any) games in the Prem in most local leagues - So I'm not sure you'd be trolling anyone - You'd just be giving them an easy win.

I can't help you with the excitement with the backhand - I like to close my eyes and swing from the hip from time to time..... The adrenaline rush of whether 1. I'm going to hit the ball, and 2. Is it going to land on the table? thrills me to the core.

I play both styles, inverted both sides and LP on BH. It is fun! I find out some people are allergic to LP and I use it to kill them. If they are not, I play normal inverted rubbers.

I played Kenny Tien (post #2) many times and lost to him 100% of the time if he played antispin. But if he played inverted or LP I'd beat him >50%. He is a good player whose highest USTTA rating was in +2200.

I think it is not a bad idea to try different rubbers or styles, especially if your current style doesn't improve much. After teenager years it is very difficult to improve unless you have a lot of time to play table tennis. I don't!

The way I look at it, TT is a hobby, so you might as well enjoy it and emphasize aspects of it you like the most. If you like practice, well - practice. If you are really into competition, just play as many leagues/tournament as you can.

Same with TT play style - if you enjoy defense and winning points by forcing opponents to make mistakes, sure - go for it!

I switched to LP 2 years ago, I think - mostly because I wanted to chop. I find it very enjoyable, for whatever reason. Now - it turns out you don't get to chop as much in matches, or probably you can, but you have to work really hard to set it up etc. Still, I find use of LP quite interesting, since it enables a very different style of play. I happen to like it so far. You might as well, so no harm in trying.

It's a hobby...

pgpg said:

The way I look at it, TT is a hobby, so you might as well enjoy it and emphasize aspects of it you like the most. If you like practice, well - practice. If you are really into competition, just play as many leagues/tournament as you can.

Same with TT play style - if you enjoy defense and winning points by forcing opponents to make mistakes, sure - go for it!

I switched to LP 2 years ago, I think - mostly because I wanted to chop. I find it very enjoyable, for whatever reason. Now - it turns out you don't get to chop as much in matches, or probably you can, but you have to work really hard to set it up etc. Still, I find use of LP quite interesting, since it enables a very different style of play. I happen to like it so far. You might as well, so no harm in trying.

It's a hobby...

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I agree but I know many people some who will not even agree with how I describe them who clearly want to attack more than defend with pips and complain when they don't win matches.

So you have to decide what gives you fun. And if you think that short term wins trump long term development, beware. If you just want to avoid the pressure of winning with your inverted game, sure. But even people you play against regularly will eventually figure you out unless the pips truly suit your game and you build out all the weapons. I know some really good players who transformed their backhands from relative liabilities to relative weapons by using pips. They could chop the ball short and get a long push to loop. They also managed to return serves a bit more easily.

All that said, the backhand loop is the weapon of the modern game. I was watching the 2011 WTTC match where Wang Hao played Ma Long yesterday and i said to myself that whenever I want to remember why I have to aggressive with my backhand this is the match I have to watch. I recommend it to everyone who forgets what the backhand loop can truly do.