Adapting To New Ball

Maybe the German clubs are thinking the plastic ball may become r & d gone bad therefore the celluloid will be reinstated.

Plastic vs cell has become a problem mostly for developing players. Flat hitters and blockers seem to be at a greater advantage than all spin players.

Now the new ABS ball is even more different.

Coaches at my club used to pretty much shout at any player if they ask for plastic ball. Nowadays each player has been given a plastic ball is expected to play with that and not break it.

You can still train with the celluloid balls, just use cell-balls or poly-balls in a single session and don't mix and match.

Edit: removed the auto message mobile app

man_iii said:

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This stuff really gets to your brain - now I can't stop picturing you, hitting away with your Tapatalk phone and a fresh Donic rubber glued onto it.
Nurses, please!

Our club warms up using 100+ celluloid balls various 40 types then uses Plastic DHS D40+ to play games.

Rambo warms up using re-purposed ball bearings from a Jeep.

Ioiettino said:

This stuff really gets to your brain - now I can't stop picturing you, hitting away with your Tapatalk phone and a fresh Donic rubber glued onto it.
Nurses, please!

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Hahaha :-D

Der_Echte said:

Rambo warms up using re-purposed ball bearings from a Jeep.

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Where do you get them, are they expensive, do they damage the tables and walls, how much do they weigh, is their color hard to see ?

Have to play with more spin and not go forward with to much speed. Softer rubbers help i sometimes find.

Kezer said:

Hey guys,

I'd very much appreciate tips to adapt to the plastic ball. It's our first season (kind of) playing with that ball ("kind of" because clubs can still choose the type of ball in our region - so sometimes I'd play matches with plastic and sometimes with celluloid.). And honestly, it's been the worst season I've ever played. Very often I'd lose to players that I'd usually beat without breaking a sweat - simply because I miss way too many strokes.

Just recently, I've played a few matches in a tournament with celluloid and somehow the feeling was great - I was wondering why. Well, I guess it's because of the ball.

So with the plastic ball, it seems like I just cannot generate enough spin. I have to use a lot of power but the resulted stroke itself isn't powerful at all - and often just lands in the net/goes too far because of lack of spin. I've always been a spin oriented player, so that's been a problem to me. The last seasons, I would often open up with a softer slower topspin which'd lead to a direct point but nowadays with the plastic ball - well, it just doesn't work.
I cannot kill higher backspin balls either - I'm not sure why, it seems like that requires much more power to do, I'd put that into the net way too often.

Sure, it's still all me, I gotta improve my strokes - it's all a matter of training - but it's been 1/2 year playing with the ball and I've almost always been frustrated coming home from TT. That shouldn't be the case, I always loved TT and I'd hope to keep that - so I really need tips from you guys. What are specific tips to adapt to the new ball?

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You might need to update your setup.. plastic balls require bit more effort for the spin-oriented player and over time it takes its toll if you’re using a somewhat slower setup.
That being said, are you getting any sort of coaching? do you make regular videos of your gameplay and do the analysis? It is possible that you are making some basic mistakes without realising it..
In my opinion if your technique is adequate and your footwork is Ok, plastic ball should NOT cause significant problems..
Hope this helps, good luck with your game.



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Jaffar Lone said:

You might need to update your setup.. plastic balls require bit more effort for the spin-oriented player and over time it takes its toll if you’re using a somewhat slower setup.
That being said, are you getting any sort of coaching? do you make regular videos of your gameplay and do the analysis? It is possible that you are making some basic mistakes without realising it..
In my opinion if your technique is adequate and your footwork is Ok, plastic ball should NOT cause significant problems..
Hope this helps, good luck with your game.



Sent from myphone using Tapatalk

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Rhetorical question.
Your advice is probably with good intentions, but did you read the whole thread? Doesn't seem so.

Suga D said:

Well it is what it is. Lamenting won't change a bit so might as well we just try to make the best of it.

The other option is to only play in official tournaments and higher leagues, 'cause they had to use the p-balls from day one or rather... 2014. But that's not very realistic for an amateur player.

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Yep. It's about all you can do. And time will eventually cure this.

Still, I have to mention that back about four years ago when this was all starting out, I noticed that compared to people in North America, European posters at various forums were on average far more set on the idea that they would resist the change, that they would stock up on celluloid balls, or that celluloid balls would never go away. I suggested to some posters fairly early on that Nittaku Premiums and seamless balls were quite decent but that viewpoint was definitely not popular with that contingent. The thing is that this attitude has really come back to bite them in the ass, exactly as I tried to explain in 2014 (when it was clear to me that we had at least some types of playable 40+ balls, acknowledging up front that the cellulose acetate ones were unplayable).

Maybe my city is just different, but by the end of 2014 everyone here was using Nittaku Premium or XSF. It is still true that the variability of 40+ balls is greater than the celluloid era (both of those balls are ok but are quite different from each other). But even that variability would go away if we all accept the ABS standard.

The one thing that is absolutely certain is that our sport will never go back to 40 mm celluloid.

Takes a lot of time adapting unless you are pro but you have to adapt and just enjoy your game adapting to the new ball.

Baal said:

Yep. It's about all you can do. And time will eventually cure this.

Still, I have to mention that back about four years ago when this was all starting out, I noticed that compared to people in North America, European posters at various forums were on average far more set on the idea that they would resist the change, that they would stock up on celluloid balls, or that celluloid balls would never go away. I suggested to some posters fairly early on that Nittaku Premiums and seamless balls were quite decent but that viewpoint was definitely not popular with that contingent. The thing is that this attitude has really come back to bite them in the ass, exactly as I tried to explain in 2014 (when it was clear to me that we had at least some types of playable 40+ balls, acknowledging up front that the cellulose acetate ones were unplayable).

Maybe my city is just different, but by the end of 2014 everyone here was using Nittaku Premium or XSF. It is still true that the variability of 40+ balls is greater than the celluloid era (both of those balls are ok but are quite different from each other). But even that variability would go away if we all accept the ABS standard.

The one thing that is absolutely certain is that our sport will never go back to 40 mm celluloid.

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I can nothing but agree with you.

But to be fair, the situation is a bit more complicated.
The people were thinking so, 'cause the DTTB told 'em so. As i wrote, one official said cellballs will never be forbidden for amateurs and will be around forever. Now everyone with a little farsight could see through those lies. But most players believed so.

The top leagues were forced to use the p-ball whereas the lower leagues could decide if they wanted to change to the p-ball or not.
Now if one looks a little closer then you will find that in the top leagues there are mostly young, aspiring and upcoming players from semi pro to pro level and some ex-pros.
Players with the skillset to adapt pretty quick, but these are not the majority of players.

The majority of players play in the lower local leagues with many rather conservative oldtimers. In my team I have one dude over 70 and another one will turn 80 this year.

Now age doesn't necessarily mean stubborness, but many playing for 40 years and more and have all went through the more or less arbitrarily looking changes the ITTF came up with.
From different rubber colour rule,
to red+black rubber rule,
to hidden serve,
to change of counting,
to bigger balls,
to ban of speedglue,
to ban of FRICTIONLESS pips,
to new ballmaterial and again bigger balls.

And to be honest, most of these (more or less) necessary changes weren't very popular, especially not with the older people.

I think i wrote it a while ago in a different thread, but Germany alone has lost a large number of players. From nearly a million registered club members in 1991 to something like 550k in 2016.
Someone on the forum tt-news.de estimated that alone in 2016 almost 30000 club members less.
I don't know where he has got that number from, but it doesn't seem to be too farfetched.
Here's a link to the discussion.
http://forum.tt-news.de/showthread.php?t=277814

The point is that someone who has been playing fairly high (3rd Bundesliga, Oberliga etc.) and only plays nowadays for the fun of it will quit if he doesn't have fun anymore.
So since the ITTF has decided to kill a IMO very important aspect of the game (for those that don't know, I'm talking about SPIN) there might be some more people losing their fun.

(After having changed from 38 to 40 they had to adjust their timing, and now their timing is off again, 'cause these new balls behave like sh!t. Someone wrote almost as if a frog is inside the ball)

And what happens to a hobby that doesn't give you joy and fun anymore (or rather not the amount of fun you used to have)?
Exactly, you quit...

So with all this in mind i would assume that the DTTB didn't want to scare off the old folks (which form the basis) plus the sellers probably wanted to get rid of their stock without too much loss.

But you're totally right. The situation is what it is... not satisfying for the players.

Fortunately this too shall pass.

Of all the dumb things ITTF has done, I think the way they handled this change was the dumbest. I never believed it was necessary or done for honest reasons, but they should have decided on a single decent standard before rushing it out.

I should add that the dumbest thing of all was sneaking in another increase in ball size in the name of "an impending world-wide ban on celluloid production". If they had kept the ball the same size, instead of effectively increasing it by nearly a mm, the game would not have changed anywhere near as much. Sharara and his cronies could have proceeded with whatever little graft they were up to without pissing off so many players.

But no.

People who didn't think it through thought it would be good for spectators and defenders. And then they proceed to provide video feeds of major events of very low quality. And defenders complain the loudest.

Kezer said:

Hey guys,

I'd very much appreciate tips to adapt to the plastic ball. It's our first season (kind of) playing with that ball ("kind of" because clubs can still choose the type of ball in our region - so sometimes I'd play matches with plastic and sometimes with celluloid.). And honestly, it's been the worst season I've ever played. Very often I'd lose to players that I'd usually beat without breaking a sweat - simply because I miss way too many strokes.

Just recently, I've played a few matches in a tournament with celluloid and somehow the feeling was great - I was wondering why. Well, I guess it's because of the ball.

So with the plastic ball, it seems like I just cannot generate enough spin. I have to use a lot of power but the resulted stroke itself isn't powerful at all - and often just lands in the net/goes too far because of lack of spin. I've always been a spin oriented player, so that's been a problem to me. The last seasons, I would often open up with a softer slower topspin which'd lead to a direct point but nowadays with the plastic ball - well, it just doesn't work.
I cannot kill higher backspin balls either - I'm not sure why, it seems like that requires much more power to do, I'd put that into the net way too often.

Sure, it's still all me, I gotta improve my strokes - it's all a matter of training - but it's been 1/2 year playing with the ball and I've almost always been frustrated coming home from TT. That shouldn't be the case, I always loved TT and I'd hope to keep that - so I really need tips from you guys. What are specific tips to adapt to the new ball?

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Hey Kezer,

About the plastic ball, i seriously think it is going to be a while until we find a "common" plastic ball for the market world wide. I think few advices given below are good.
I've was in charge of European market for about 4 years, I hear your frustration. But I think you have to wait until next season where plastic ball becomes mandatory for all games.

Just for some info.
When ITTF announced that they will ban celluloid ball, and will ask to use Plastic ball.
Most of the researchers in our company (and probably other company's R&D) knew that more players will be shifting to more tackier rubber. That is why starting with VEGA CHINA, we've been launching tacky rubbers. And afterward we've launched DF (Dynamic friction) rubbers to help to cope with new plastic ball.
If you are spin based player, i recommend you to "try" (not a must) some rubbers with tackier top sheets. OR rubbers that are made to cope well with plastic ball also.

I recommend
XIOM DF (Vega & Omega ) rubbers
DHS Hurricane 3 (But if you have bit more money go for regional, as performance varies bit much)
Yasaka Rising Dragon (Not sure if they have this rubber in Europe)
Mizuno Q3 (Also not sure if this rubber is available in Europe)

hills4ever said:

I recommend
XIOM DF (Vega & Omega ) rubbers
DHS Hurricane 3 (But if you have bit more money go for regional, as performance varies bit much)
Yasaka Rising Dragon (Not sure if they have this rubber in Europe)
Mizuno Q3 (Also not sure if this rubber is available in Europe)

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TableTennis11 sells Yasaka Rising Dragon, and I have a feeling they'll sell Mizuno Q3 soon as they started to sell Mizuno's shoes, blades and some apparel and rubbers over the last year or so.

Man today sucked, I played with the seamless Hanno ball and there was no spin at all in the game. On the racket spin is generated but as soon as it bounces on the table it is all gone. My pushes were with barely any spin and it bounced super high, my opponent who I usually beat could smash many of my underspin balls, ridiculous. I might get a Tenergy 05 although it was always hard to tame for me but with this new ball... it should not be a problem I guess?

If with the plastic ball there was "no spin at all" possible how can defenders or defensive players even still exist and win games? There is slightly less spin involved, I'd agree with that. But with decent technique you are still able to generate massive amounts of spin. Can't hear that "argument" anymore, it is nonsense. If your opponent was able to smash all your pushes then because the quality of your pushes was awful. Improve that and don't blame the plastic ball for your mistakes.