Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Ping Pong Is About Power and Spin

By Pete Urther

Americans play ping pong in their basements and at their workplace break rooms. In fact, some people might even call ping pong a hobby rather than a sport. After watching any of the top players, however, you can clearly see it is a sport that requires endless hours of practice and physical fitness to become good.

In America, we have very little exposure to top level ping pong and we can hardly appreciate the talent some of the top players have. We dont have the training facilities or the programs in place to get our kids excited about ping pong and have them grow up to be world class players. They dont have the desire because they dont see it anywhere on television.

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 ping pong player is just starting out, it is better to use a paddle that has less rubber so that the spin of the ball does not come into play as much. The difference between an average player and a good player is the amount of spin that is used and their ability to counteract spin. An advanced player will use spin as a weapon that will confound a lesser player and make it very difficult for them to get points.

Spin is the name of the game in ping pong and the many varieties of paddles all contribute toward giving the player the desired amount of spin. The level of player you are directly determines the types of paddles you should choose between. A beginner player should never use an advanced paddle because it will slow their learning process.

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