Anyone for ping pong? (Table Tennis - General)

Member Name: Beanie8844

Product:	Table Tennis - General
Date:	21/10/08 (68 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: a great sport and a lot easier than tennis

Disadvantages: none realy apart from it can be easy to break the balls!

I'm a big fan of table tennis and have been since I was first introduced to it many years ago at junior school by one of my tutors. Everybody in the class was made to play once a week at lunchtime, it started of as a bit of a laugh and good exercise, but soon we all started to get the hang of the game and so the teacher decided to start a league, it was great fun. I think I finished in the top third if I remember rightly.

Table Tennis is similar to Tennis except the playing surface is obviously a lot smaller and raised off of the ground, the ball is also a lot smaller and made of a completely different material. Table tennis also uses small wooden bats covered in rubber as opposed to Tennis which uses metal racquets and high tension strings. Apart from these major differences the games are very similar in nature, the way you play them anyway e.g. the types of shots used, forehand, backhand, lob, slice etc. Although I have forgotten to mention that the scoring system is completely different from Tennis and is in fact a lot simpler, each player has five serves in a row before it is their opponents turn to serve, this continues until the outcome of the match is decided. The matches can be played either until eleven points has been achieved by a player of twenty-one, it is entirely up to the two players, the only condition is that in order to win you have to be two clear points ahead.

In Tennis, spin plays a big part in the game with professional players hitting the ball so hard they have to add loads of spin just to keep the ball within the parameters of the court. It is just as prominent in Table Tennis, if not more so. The fact that the court is smaller means that you have to use other means to avoid your opponent returning the ball and this is where spin comes into play. It can be added on any shot with devastating consequences for your opponent, especially on the service. If you can make your opponent play a shot which they could have played better than it will give you the chance to counter it and hopefully hit a winner or force an error. You may find that if you hit a ball with enough spin and maybe in a deceptive way they cannot even return the ball over the net in which case you'll win the point even earlier. This sounds great, but remember there will be times when you're on the receiving end of spinning shots, especially if you play at a decent standard and this is probably the hardest part of the game to grasp. If you watch the Chinese Table Tennis players on the television you will see what an amazing amount of spin they apply to the ball and just how hard it can be for an opponent to return a ball that is spinning, it is definitely one of the most important aspects of the game, both offensively and defensively.

I would definitely recommend Table Tennis as a sport to anybody who fancies giving it a go. You don't even have to purchase a table if you don't want too, you can buy special nets which will clip to any regular table, meaning you should be able to play at home on the dining table if you have a couple of bats and a ball. I used to do this with my brother and we had hours of fun, you have to remember that the table will be shorter and slightly less wide though!

Thanks for reading, hope you found it an interesting read.

Summary: i'd definitely recommend table tennis to those who have never played