Short pips out curious

This user has no status.
Interestingly I did “try” SP in the fh (got a sheet of stiga symmetry, not that it matters much as you’ll see) at the end of the last season.

My goal however was slightly different: I have a decent fh, probably due to the fact that when I played tt 19 years ago we were mostly learning a very fh dominant game and bh was mostly used to setup a fh attack. But lord have things changed! I’ve seen even not so good players destroy me with their bh and quickly understanding than mine was lacking.

So what I did, which maybe was a bit extreme but worked fairly well, is I killed my fh topspin by putting sp on it, forcing me to improve my bh and work on my footwork.

I know some at my club, including coaches, were a bit skeptical of that endeavour, but I must say it worked pretty well, as by their own admission I’ve considerably improved since then :-D I can now sometimes (when they’re not in a good day, let’s face it :)) win over players that were definitely out of my league 4 months ago, including one of the skeptical coaches :)

Interestingly, on top of improving bh and footwork, I’ve also improved my fh flat hits, which were also lacking.

Lastly, it was a very fun and enjoyable experience! SP seen really fun to me even though they require a level of engagement and footwork that I don’t feel I would be able to constantly deliver (you absolutely need to get the right timing to keep the opponent under pressure and you can’t play passively).
 
  • Like
Reactions: Ioiettino
says Thanks for the suggestion Splasher! I was going to try...
says Thanks for the suggestion Splasher! I was going to try...
Member
Apr 2019
123
70
236
i can very much relate to what you describe very well:FH dominant game in my teens, and I’m now BH dominant. My BH technique has improved and evolved a lot while my BH stayed low, flat and risky. I though with SP I could maybe embrace more this style..
 
This user has no status.
Andre74 said:
I though with SP I could maybe embrace more this style..
There's nothing that says you couldn't :) But it's clearly not a "just putting SP in there will magically work" situation. It will require work and dedication, and will potentially be very frustrating at first as stuff that you're used to will simply stop working (say goodbye to my good friend going-a-bit-further-away-from-the-table-to-regroup-and-attack :D)

As for the "less sensitive to incoming spin" part, I feel like it might be true when you've obtained confidence in your SP stroke and are being very aggressive with them, but as soon as you're at least a bit passive (or simply tired), you feel the incoming spin in all it's glory :D Now that might be related to my lack of skills or to the actual sheet of SP that I used, I wouldn't know.

Overall, it's an experience that I really enjoyed at inter-season. It introduced a bit of a different kind of fun to the game. But I certainly wouldn't do it right now with competitions every now and then.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Andre74
This user has no status.
This user has no status.
Well-Known Member
Aug 2017
1,069
505
2,458
Interestingly I did “try” SP in the fh ....

My goal however was slightly different: I have a decent fh, probably due to the fact that when I played tt 19 years ago we were mostly learning a very fh dominant game and bh was mostly used to setup a fh attack. But lord have things changed! I’ve seen even not so good players destroy me with their bh and quickly understanding than mine was lacking.

So what I did, which maybe was a bit extreme but worked fairly well, is I killed my fh topspin by putting sp on it, forcing me to improve my bh and work on my footwork.


That's a very very unorthodox approach and creative thinking I'd say. Would have never thought myself. Glad it helped :) when you switched back to inverted on your FH, did you have any problems with it?
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Ioiettino
This user has no status.
This user has no status.
Well-Known Member
Aug 2017
1,069
505
2,458
Hehe thank you :)
There was an adjustment period but it didn’t last long, roughly a practice session so about two hours where I shoot everything long :) it might be more related to the speed variation on both rubbers than on SP vs inverted though.

shooting too long is what you had to anticipate I suppose. What about your FH technique. Didn't it become more flat hitting oriented by moving the blade more in horizontal plane then in vertical?
 
This user has no status.
It did indeed. Which was a good thing for me because I was very bad at flat hitting as well as simply driving balls as I had a tendency to spin everything.

Now my game is a bit more varied and I’m able to do everything a bit more easily. My topspins didn’t deteriorate, but I do use them less.

Now one disclaimer is that experiment didn’t last for very long. I’d say a month worth of practice or about 24 hours.
 
This user has no status.
This user has no status.
Member
Dec 2017
13
4
17
what sp would be suitable to play defence like Hou Yingchao? Which kind of blade would be suitable, slow flexy, fast, stif..?
 
This user has no status.
This user has no status.
Well-Known Member
Aug 2017
1,069
505
2,458
It did indeed. Which was a good thing for me because I was very bad at flat hitting as well as simply driving balls as I had a tendency to spin everything.

Now my game is a bit more varied and I’m able to do everything a bit more easily. My topspins didn’t deteriorate, but I do use them less.

Now one disclaimer is that experiment didn’t last for very long. I’d say a month worth of practice or about 24 hours.

Yes, 1 month doesn't seem like a lot :)
 
This user has no status.
This user has no status.
Member
Feb 2019
34
6
40
what sp would be suitable to play defence like Hou Yingchao? Which kind of blade would be suitable, slow flexy, fast, stif..?

Spinny pips like 802-40 35 degree sponge or spectol with one of the victas Matsushita blades or donic defplay senso
 
This user has no status.
This user has no status.
Well-Known Member
Oct 2016
1,883
1,583
3,807
Chop with short pimple is nothin i recommend. Proably one of the hardest style of play. Start with long pimple for a couple of years first.
 
This user has no status.
This user has no status.
Member
Feb 2019
34
6
40
Chop with short pimple is nothin i recommend. Proably one of the hardest style of play. Start with long pimple for a couple of years first.[/QU
Short pips force you to use good technique and move your feet. As a chopper, you can learn spin variation very fast and it will really confuse opponents even on pushes if you do it well. Long pips won't force good technique and footwork so I wouldn't recommend them to a beginner chopper.
 
This user has no status.
This user has no status.
Well-Known Member
Oct 2016
1,883
1,583
3,807
Your forgot Falck.

I agree that you need good footwork with short pimple. But it is way to difficult to start with a short pimple in my opinion, because you can make so many different strokes. With a long pimple for chopping with grip, like feint long or similar you still get good spin, but not enough i believe to do as much as strokes as with the short pimple. So i think it is better to start with that because you need to more of one stroke all the time.

Then i really do not agree that you do not need good technique and footwork with long pimple. If you play as a pusher then maybe it is not as important, but as a chopper you need good technique and really really good fotwoork. I think because you can make alot of spin with short pimple, you can make more strange shots so not as important to do the correct technique because the ball still grips and maybe you also do not need as good footwork because the opponent misread the spin.

I argue alot here haha, i think both short pimple and long pimple works, but i think short pimple is very difficult to chop with so i think it is wiser to start with long pimple with good grip.
 
This user has no status.
This user has no status.
Member
Dec 2017
13
4
17
Chop with short pimple is nothin i recommend. Proably one of the hardest style of play. Start with long pimple for a couple of years first.
couple of years?? Who has so much time? Is there some shortcut, 1 or max 2 years?
 
This user has no status.
This user has no status.
Well-Known Member
Oct 2016
1,883
1,583
3,807
couple of years?? Who has so much time? Is there some shortcut, 1 or max 2 years?

Haha, it takes time to become good at Everything. And chopping with short pimples is proably one of the hardest styles. There is a reason that most defenders use long pimples and not short pimples i Think. I do not know if Hou Yingchao have won the chinese Championships Before, but if he have not it took him to to the age of 40 to do that.

I Think inverted is the way to go if you want to become good at the shortest time. It is the most forgiving way of playing because you can get a good arc with them, but of course you should use what you are good at.
 
This user has no status.
This user has no status.
Member
Dec 2017
13
4
17
I'm already good with inverted. Just tought, with ageing reflexes and body goes down, maybe chopping will be easier to play when I'm 50-60 yearsold?
 
This user has no status.
This user has no status.
Well-Known Member
Feb 2018
1,088
754
2,410
Read 2 reviews
I'm a novice LP player and I've also tried SP chopping. I personally think that both requires similar footwork but SP requires you to get a pretty much 100% correct ballcontact all the time in order for the ball to land on the table. The ball contact differs quite a bit where you get away with a more "thick" contact with LP but with SP it needs to be quite thin (similar to inverted... almost brushing the ball).

802 is really tricky to chop with. Spectol is a bit easier and it does produce some really funky sidespin and quite a bit of "wobble".
 
This user has no status.
This user has no status.
Member
Feb 2012
40
6
48
Interestingly I did “try” SP in the fh (got a sheet of stiga symmetry, not that it matters much as you’ll see) at the end of the last season.

My goal however was slightly different: I have a decent fh, probably due to the fact that when I played tt 19 years ago we were mostly learning a very fh dominant game and bh was mostly used to setup a fh attack. But lord have things changed! I’ve seen even not so good players destroy me with their bh and quickly understanding than mine was lacking.

So what I did, which maybe was a bit extreme but worked fairly well, is I killed my fh topspin by putting sp on it, forcing me to improve my bh and work on my footwork.

I know some at my club, including coaches, were a bit skeptical of that endeavour, but I must say it worked pretty well, as by their own admission I’ve considerably improved since then :-D I can now sometimes (when they’re not in a good day, let’s face it :)) win over players that were definitely out of my league 4 months ago, including one of the skeptical coaches :)

Interestingly, on top of improving bh and footwork, I’ve also improved my fh flat hits, which were also lacking.

Lastly, it was a very fun and enjoyable experience! SP seen really fun to me even though they require a level of engagement and footwork that I don’t feel I would be able to constantly deliver (you absolutely need to get the right timing to keep the opponent under pressure and you can’t play passively).

How it was your experience with symetry pips like blocking loops?
 
Top