What do we mean by control?

It seems that when I talk of control, it is pretty vague, at least to me... since control can be in terms of:

1.) how one can control/vary spin, and that can be in -
   a.) loops and drives (maybe this is not so much control as spin generation and gears)
   b.) pushes
   c.) chops
   d.) others?

2.) placement on table (left/right?, far/near)

3.) control when blocking

4.) how high the ball is (maybe more a question of throw? But i guess we want to control the throw of the ball...)

5.) others???

Do u think control in one aspect is correlated with control in other aspects for our equipment?  If not, when we rate on control (like on rubbers), which aspect are we talking about?

Do some types excel in a particular aspect?

gekogark1212 wrote: I tend to mention control as in the percentage of balls that land given similar shots...such as tango extrem has high control, due to its nice arc.

Great post usagi....I was going to post something about "Control"  too.

i agree with Rich. IMO, an equipment with higher control translate to it being more forgiving with
reference to ur strokes. it generally makes it easier technically to execute the shot that u had in mind.

have to consider the resultant effect of combining blade & rubber as well.
some just dun match up wz each other that well.

fattchoi wrote:   Take for example Steven Lee and his Xiom II saga He told me he can't handle the bounce and decided to sell the rubbers. That came as a  shock to me because I thought if I being such a low level player can handle it, how come him, being the No.1 player in our club cannot??? I would have bought them off him if he had not already sold to someone else   Cheers.

Fattchoi, in my earlier posts i have said that this rubber is unreliable in game/match situation against good players. You must be 100% execute the right technique for this rubber if not, it's not going to forgive your mistake. Usually this end up with the ball bouncing really high on touch stroke such as serve return and push, and you can easily hit the ball far far away from the table with your loops.. the best thing about his rubber is it's smash.. it's loud and unstoppable..
The best player i see that can handle this rubber take his loop very very late when the ball drops just to avoid to make the loop fly off the table.. but that obviously is very difficult..

Insted of defining what control is...which is common sense...I'll tell you how you get control.

My definition of control:

1.  I am in control when I can put the ball anywhere I want to put it to (within +/- 1 cm) .
2.  I am in control when I make my opponent run around trying to return the ball while I just stand close to the table directing the ball to any places far from the reach of my opponent.

Now seriously, I think of control as when I do every stroke the textbook way (perfect motion from backswing to contact to follow through) and it still lands on the table.  If I have to shorten the movement (due to faster equipment) or lengthen the movement (due to very slow equipment), then I am not in control.

fattchoi wrote: gekogark1212 wrote: tommyzai wrote: Mu g/f stole all my ID, changed my online banking PIN#s, threw out all the food I like and replaced it with stuff she likes, erased my queue on Netflix and added chick flix, then set my alarm clock for 6AM. When I woke up in shock she yelled, in a heavy Chinese accent, "Take trash out NOW." That's my definition of control.    oh man, that's a tough defintion to beat ahaha.   Of course that is tough to beat. It is actually a definition for 'freak control'   Cheers.

ajchien wrote: I was working an equipment booth back in the 1992 US Open. Zoran Primorac's coach came by to the booth and said that Primorac was interested in trying out a new carbon blade. The conversation went like this:   Coach: "Primorac wants to try these new carbon blades" Booth:"Well, these are very fast and powerful blades you're choosing, they are not be right for Primorac because they might lack the control he needs." Coach:"You will provide the power. Zoran will provide the control." Booth:"Choose any blades you like."

I really agree with what his coach sais. I find that control is pretty much mastering flawless technique and consistency with your technique. Obviously it goes for speed, power, and spin as the same thing as u get better those things increase. For example, you have been using Fast Blade and Rubbers for 1-2 years now and you switch to a slow blade/rubber combo, and all your shots hit the net, does this mean it has less control? The package sais not, but since u are used to faster equipment, you will not be able to control the slow stuff. Same goes for vice versa slow EQ to fast EQ. Its really hard to say what control is and how it can be put into equipment descriptions.

i find u and I fattchoi agree on many things LOL

DeathAngel wrote: i find u and I fattchoi agree on many things LOL

Control means nothing.

I use the control statstic to infer information about the equipment I am considering based what what I think "control" means in the context of each manufacturer's marketing materials.

If you handed me two rackets, one much faster and one much slower than the one I currently use, I would definately find the faster one easier to control although its control would be rated lower.