Time wasted talking about new 40+ balls

How many hours have you wasted talking about the 40+ Plastic balls on forums, at clubs, etc. ?

If the balls were properly R & D you wouldn't have wasted your chatter !!!

This doesn't even take in account your financial losses from trying different balls and breakage due to quality issues.

I'm probably underestimating at 40+.  That is certainly true if I include time spent on the lies and misinformation the ITTF put out regarding celluloid before the 40+ ball spec was released.  If I include time spent writing writing our club FAQ and the time spent doing bounce tests as well, I'm probably in the 100+ hours.  

I started playing table tennis in the early 1980's and of course learned how to play with the small 38 ball. I stopped playing in 1990 and didn't pick it up again until 2002 and of course was introduced to the 40 ball and new service rule but at the time I was so excited about getting back into the game that the changes didn't affect my interest in the game one bit.

When the speed glue ban came into effect about 8yrs ago, it didn't really bother me much because I did find it rather strange that table tennis halls smelled like a science laboratory from all the players glueing and re-glueing. I got used to tensor rubber and continued playing at the same pace as before the glue ban.

This new 40+ ball change really pissed me off and I haven't really been motivated to play as much anymore since the change. I didn't understand the rationale behind the decision to make the ball change. I felt like there should have been way more quality assurance testing done before implementing the change. I felt like the pro players should have been given the opportunity to influence the decision on whether to change the ball or not. The new ball really affected my style of play in a negative way as I'm a spin oriented player and this bigger ball nullified the effectiveness of my trick spin shots and now forced me to play a more physical style in order to win points. When I watch the pros play and see how many times matches are interrupted because of break of ball, I find it embarrassing for our sport.

Let's just say that I still haven't fully embraced the new ball. I haven't bought any new balls and am not following the reviews on what the best brand is and in fact still have an unused case of brand new Nittaku white 40 balls collecting dust in my closet.

With all I just said, I just witnessed Vladimir Samsonov battle for the Olympic bronze medal in Rio and he is a player who also has somehow seemed to adjust his game to whatever challenges the new rule/equipment changes come with. He is truly a great ambassador to our sport and an inspiration to tall players like myself.

I just need to get over it and get back on the table.

I'm going to be experimenting again with pips out (sp,mp,lp all with sponge)...no need to talk about the newer balls.


Edited by The Canadian Bacon - 08/29/2016 at 9:10am

Nobody talks about polyballs in Tucson, because we can't afford them.  Tucsonan table tennis players don't go in for that there newfangled stuff.  We're hard core, even if I'm the only one outside of the garage or recroom who plays with a hardbat, and we drink our Bullleitt bourbon straight from the bottle.   

We use the cell balls due to quality and cost issues unless necessary to practice for a tournament.

This eliminates all the different Poly balls.

We do appreciate all your consumer R & D OJT.

Since the US uses mostly NP40+ which most people on here say is the closest to a cell ball, We feel it is more cost efficient to use cell balls most of the time.


Edited by LUCKYLOOP - 08/30/2016 at 1:55am

I have a spin based game also and if anything the new ball helps me.

The Canadian Bacon wrote: berndt_mann wrote: Nobody talks about polyballs in Tucson, because we can't afford them.  Tucsonan table tennis players don't go in for that there newfangled stuff.  We're hard core, even if I'm the only one outside of the garage or recroom who plays with a hardbat, and we drink our Bullleitt bourbon straight from the bottle.    You can play with celluloid for "local" tournament but not for ITTF sanctioned tournaments.