Spin is better than Speed - I am a believer now.

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Hello , I am going to try to make this story as short as possible as I want the opinion of the more seasoned players here, but this is something that I just witnessed during the last few weeks and I am still wrapping my head about it.

I am in my early 40's, I have been playing since I was a kid, did tournaments and won a few back in the day, so while I am not a world class player I can hold my own usually against any good player.
Last month a new guy shows up at my club, late 40's, very quite, he just came to the country recently, since none of my usual partners are at the club yet I asked him if he wants to play a little, he agrees. The second we start playing I could tell the guy was no joke, amazing control, and the ball had this "kick" to it that I've never experienced before, then we played a match, he destroys me 3 - 0, I was struggling with the most spiny serves I have ever played against, not only were his serves spiny, he could place them everywhere with ease, long deep corners, short ones, all of them, on top of that, any serve that I could return were greeted with a topspin so spiny that my blocks were just going out of the table. His topspin weren't blazing fast they were just spiny and well placed.
At this point you are thinking "maybe you are not as good as you thought you were", and that could be true but I never struggled against somebody like this, anyways better players than me a couple of Chinese regulars that have won local tournaments arrived to club and played against the guy, and the same happens, this guys destroys everybody, his serves were too much to deal with and then his topspins were just as hard. Maybe we all suck at the club? what if this dude faces the best of the best of the state? Well, last week was the Open district tournament the number 1 ranked from our State and 4th in the country who recently came back from Europe was playing the tournament, as well as many youngsters that are very well ranked, young guns, fast players. We asked him if he would like to play that tournament, he said yes, so here is what happened....

He breezed to his bracket sending back home all the favorites, this dude with not a flashy style, you won't seen him going all out or crazy on the table reached the finals, and what I witnessed have changed my mind of what this game is about.

Enter the finals, the late 40's unknown man that recently came to the country, a very quite, slower, calmed, in a way he reminded me of Walder and Samsonov with their slower-paced style of play, was facing the 4th best player in the country, the best in the state, a young gun in his prime, know for his aggressive and flashy style like all the kids want to play, who will win this? well...

The unknown older players won the finals, the tournament in fact, quite easy that final 3 - 0 against a pro-players who didn't know what to do with that spin. You see? this more than confirms to me that somehow along the way Table Tennis players switched to a more speedy game, it's all about speed, flicking serves and flashiness and this guy never did a banana flick in the whole tournament, he just placed the ball where he wanted with and godly amount of spin, his topspins looked slow in comparison to anyoneelse's, but they came loaded with a power that all those speedy topspin lacked.

I am going to attempt to change my game so late in my life now, trying to focus on less speed and aggressiveness to a more calculated, controlled game with much more spin, I've seen and witnessed real proof that spin, control and placement >>>>>>>>>> speed.

That is all folks, I just wanted to share this story with you might find it interesting as well.

Cheers.
 

JST

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JST

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His name would probably provide a lot more information than his playing style. Playing styles of any kind are hard to execute without the right kind of experience and opposition.

...and even more so at least flash of some points from that tournament on the video!

But the story itself is great, I like it very much. Being myself in my late 30's, starting as a kid on 38mm ball and believing always more into the spin then power I don't think the ultimate "close to the table bang bang hit it all" style is really the winning strategy even with 40+ plastic balls;)
 
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Hello , I am going to try to make this story as short as possible as I want the opinion of the more seasoned players here, but this is something that I just witnessed during the last few weeks and I am still wrapping my head about it.

I am in my early 40's, I have been playing since I was a kid, did tournaments and won a few back in the day, so while I am not a world class player I can hold my own usually against any good player.
Last month a new guy shows up at my club, late 40's, very quite, he just came to the country recently, since none of my usual partners are at the club yet I asked him if he wants to play a little, he agrees. The second we start playing I could tell the guy was no joke, amazing control, and the ball had this "kick" to it that I've never experienced before, then we played a match, he destroys me 3 - 0, I was struggling with the most spiny serves I have ever played against, not only were his serves spiny, he could place them everywhere with ease, long deep corners, short ones, all of them, on top of that, any serve that I could return were greeted with a topspin so spiny that my blocks were just going out of the table. His topspin weren't blazing fast they were just spiny and well placed.
At this point you are thinking "maybe you are not as good as you thought you were", and that could be true but I never struggled against somebody like this, anyways better players than me a couple of Chinese regulars that have won local tournaments arrived to club and played against the guy, and the same happens, this guys destroys everybody, his serves were too much to deal with and then his topspins were just as hard. Maybe we all suck at the club? what if this dude faces the best of the best of the state? Well, last week was the Open district tournament the number 1 ranked from our State and 4th in the country who recently came back from Europe was playing the tournament, as well as many youngsters that are very well ranked, young guns, fast players. We asked him if he would like to play that tournament, he said yes, so here is what happened....

He breezed to his bracket sending back home all the favorites, this dude with not a flashy style, you won't seen him going all out or crazy on the table reached the finals, and what I witnessed have changed my mind of what this game is about.

Enter the finals, the late 40's unknown man that recently came to the country, a very quite, slower, calmed, in a way he reminded me of Walder and Samsonov with their slower-paced style of play, was facing the 4th best player in the country, the best in the state, a young gun in his prime, know for his aggressive and flashy style like all the kids want to play, who will win this? well...

The unknown older players won the finals, the tournament in fact, quite easy that final 3 - 0 against a pro-players who didn't know what to do with that spin. You see? this more than confirms to me that somehow along the way Table Tennis players switched to a more speedy game, it's all about speed, flicking serves and flashiness and this guy never did a banana flick in the whole tournament, he just placed the ball where he wanted with and godly amount of spin, his topspins looked slow in comparison to anyoneelse's, but they came loaded with a power that all those speedy topspin lacked.

I am going to attempt to change my game so late in my life now, trying to focus on less speed and aggressiveness to a more calculated, controlled game with much more spin, I've seen and witnessed real proof that spin, control and placement >>>>>>>>>> speed.

That is all folks, I just wanted to share this story with you might find it interesting as well.

Cheers.
Footage?
 
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I am curious - who is this #4 player in the country?
 
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Harder to play a spinbased game with the new ball. Much more pang pang now. But still is still good to have, makes it more safe because the ball Will have arc. Placement and a good serve is also important to have.

In my opinion the players with best serve and return often win. Not the guys with the flashy hard loops. Not often We win with the cool looking stuff.
 
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Aye, this story has quite some of the obscure drunken master / Desperado vibe to it - this guy walked in, kicked all of our butts, finished his glass of milk and rode his mule to the sunset, but maybe it is better as is and I am not sure I want to hear any more or even see actual footage. Will just keep that deep knowing look, walk a little slanted with my thumbs deep in my pistol belt, and grin sideways at the ladies while the suckers work on their speed. Heck, I got spin.
 
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Aye, this story has quite some of the obscure drunken master / Desperado vibe to it - this guy walked in, kicked all of our butts, finished his glass of milk and rode his mule to the sunset, but maybe it is better as is and I am not sure I want to hear any more or even see actual footage. Will just keep that deep knowing look, walk a little slanted with my thumbs deep in my pistol belt, and grin sideways at the ladies while the suckers work on their speed. Heck, I got spin.

No bullshit on my story, I did try to write it in a way to keep you entertained thou.
Tournament took place in Laval -Quebec Canada last weekend. The Big Bang Donic Tournament.
Feel free to ask anyone who you might know in the area.
 
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...and even more so at least flash of some points from that tournament on the video!

But the story itself is great, I like it very much. Being myself in my late 30's, starting as a kid on 38mm ball and believing always more into the spin then power I don't think the ultimate "close to the table bang bang hit it all" style is really the winning strategy even with 40+ plastic balls;)

Nobody bang bang hits at the top levels everyone plays with spin. It's all relative and more about taking the ball early vs taking it later and other compromises.
 
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Nobody bang bang hits at the top levels everyone plays with spin. It's all relative and more about taking the ball early vs taking it later and other compromises.
yes the bang bang looking shots actually have a spin component but it is nothing like what the OP is describing for this Iranian player.
 
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Generally I agree with most of what the OP describes.
What I don't agree is that modern Pro players do neglect spin and can't deal with spin.
If the 4th ranked in Canada was Ho Andre - as far as I can see he is very aggressive, but plays with a lot of spin too.
Everyone can lose if not in shape. Some of the guys in Canada Top 10 have WR 200-250, which is not bad at all, you can't go there with no spin.
I don't know what would be the rankings of the other guys, but the last years till 2015 Akbar Bahmani has lost all matches against players WR 2000 and above.
 
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yes the bang bang looking shots actually have a spin component but it is nothing like what the OP is describing for this Iranian player.

I have to say I agree with OP on spin vs. speed. For us non-professionals, having strong spin is much more effective than having speed.
Akbar Bahmani's style reminds me of Nima Alamian. This style is much harder to succeed on professional scene, especially on men's side. On women's side, spin oriented game is still kind of viable (e.g. Bernadette Szocs, Hashimoto and Sato Hitomi), but still difficult to make into top WR40.
 
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Generally I agree with most of what the OP describes.
What I don't agree is that modern Pro players do neglect spin and can't deal with spin.
If the 4th ranked in Canada was Ho Andre - as far as I can see he is very aggressive, but plays with a lot of spin too.
Everyone can lose if not in shape. Some of the guys in Canada Top 10 have WR 200-250, which is not bad at all, you can't go there with no spin.
I don't know what would be the rankings of the other guys, but the last years till 2015 Akbar Bahmani has lost all matches against players WR 2000 and above.

I think the other player is Bernadet, ITTF# 460
 
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