Sunday, September 20, 2009

Ping Pong Is About Power and Spin

By Pete Urther

While Americans play ping pong more as a past time, the rest of the world is quite serious about the sport. In many countries in Europe and Asia, kids idolize their table tennis starts like American kids look up to baseball and football stars here. The best tournament players in those countries are fit athletes that practice 7 days a week at their sport of table tennis.

Tournament players spend hundreds of dollars on their custom made ping pong paddles and the amount of skill the top players have is astounding. In America, we hardly ever see these top players because they are all from China and Europe where ping pong is hugely popular. The best players in those countries are celebrities much like our football and basketball players are over here.

The top ping pong tournament players have paddles that cost hundreds of dollars. They are so expensive because they are custom made and have a higher quality blade as well as better and more rubber than a cheaper paddle. The more expensive a paddle is, the more rubber it will have on it which allows the player to spin the ball. These paddles will also have a better grade of rubber all leading to a paddle that can put maximum spin on the ball.

If a beginner uses an advanced paddle, the spin elements will cause big problems and make learning the game very difficult. Likewise, if an advanced player were to use a paddle meant for a beginner, much of his advantage will be taken away.

In the end, ping pong is a game of spin. When you are just starting out, it is a challenge just to hit the ball back and forth and keep it on the table. As you progress in levels however, it becomes a game of power and spin with the winning player better able to negotiate the two. Top players all have an amazing amount of skill and they practice many hours a day to keep sharp.

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