Just say no to the new poly balls. Sign petition!!

My name is James Lindberg and I play at the Baton Rouge Table Tennis Club (http://brttc.org/ ) in Louisiana, USA.

Although I'm relatively new to organized table tennis and am a low level player, I grew up playing table tennis or "ping-pong", as we knew it, in my basement in Michigan. I'm 49 now.

I wanted to contact you in my effort to keep the current celluloid ball. The ITTF is going full speed to introduce the new poly (plastic) ball on July 1, 2014. I've started a petition to try and keep the celluloid ball.

At the minimum, my hope is that the ITTF doesn't make the change to the new poly ball until the playing characteristics, durability, and cost of the ball are identical to the current, traditional, celluloid ball.

My stance is, we need a voice and I'm looking for 10K signatures on the petition so I can distribute it to the ITTF, USATT, and other TT organizations worldwide.

The petition has been posted on OOAK, Mytabletennis , Pingskills and tabletennis.about.

Here are some links on the topic:

The petition itself: Do NOT PAY anything! Also, I've implemented the blog tab and will keep posting information as I receive it.
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/keepexistingtabletennisballs/

A recent review of the PREVIEW poly ball:
http://mytabletennis.net/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=50534&title=new-poly-ball-review

and

http://tabletennis-reviews.com/poly-non-celluloid-table-tennis-ball-review/

A link to the main discussion of the petition/ball:

http://mytabletennis.net/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=50730&PN=1&title=just-say-no-to-the-new-poly-balls-sign-petition

An article written by Greg Letts (Greg Letts is a world ranked table tennis player, an Australian Level 1 table tennis coach, and an internationally qualified table tennis umpire.) on the protest of the ball, referencing my petition:

http://tabletennis.about.com/od/rants-opinions-philosophy/a/Protesting-Against-Plastic-Ping-Pong-Balls.htm



Edited by j-bo - 06/15/2012 at 4:20pm

Funny stuff BH-Man.

There is a tab at the top of the page. Also has a tab to email your friends.

A whopping 4.

I'm guessing some will see it as futile. But hey... I wanted to at least try something instead of just bitchin and moanin about it.


Edited by j-bo - 06/05/2012 at 11:49am

I signed it and I'll spread the word to my fellow players!

Is this a moderated petition? I have signed the petition but my name is still not there.

Edited by Imago - 06/06/2012 at 2:10am

Got it, you have to donate $25 in order to continue...

The ittf doesn't care one bit about the low end players.  They've said it straight up.

Originally posted by cole_ely The ittf doesn't care one bit about the low end players.  They've said it straight up.

This doesn't mean that we can't try and at least present something or share our voice on what the majority of players (us low end players) of the sports wishes are. It only takes a few seconds to sign the petition anyway.

Wouldn't it be something if some pro's names started popping up on this?

If anything, maybe the TT press (is there TT press?) may pick up on it and will put some pressure on Sharara.

Still.. the ball can change for all we know to be just as good or better. The reviews so far, aren't encouraging. A lot can happen though in less than 2yrs time.




Edited by j-bo - 06/06/2012 at 11:21am

Originally posted by Imago Got it, you have to donate $25 in order to continue...

Originally posted by igorponger It is rather an unwise and hasty action to decry the poly balls before we have an ultimate edition of PB at our hand.. Let's live and see if the DHS comes out with a better product. If, in a year period,, I do not see any improvement of the POLY ball"s playing characteristics, I will gladly join this petition. Not before.

I can see your point. However, we already know the play of the celluloid ball. The sky isnt falling...there is not a good reason to change..in my opinion.

Id like something as simple as the ball to remain the traditional material that almost all of us have grown up with.

Pre-emption and proactive is usually better than reactive.

Edited by j-bo - 06/06/2012 at 9:09pm

What's the reason for the petition? Simply to give us, the regular players, a voice.

The regular players are those that keep the table tennis industry in business. It's not the pro players, who mostly are given their equipment, while us, the regular players are out purchasing balls, blades, rubbers, tables, etc. etc.

My hope is we have enough signatures to present this petition not only to the ITTF, but the USATT and all of the other major associations to see that the players are wanting to keep the traditional celluloid ball and the game characteristics it provides, with reasonable durability and cost.

If we wait 2 yrs to see the finished product, and it isn't much different than the current review balls now, we will be too late to do anything and will be stuck with buying new equipment, to change our games to meet the simplest aspect of the game.....THE BALL.

Should we trust in the ITTF and the manufacturers to produce a ball that will have the same "game play", reasonable durability, and cost as the current celluloid ball? Apparently, they've been at it for some time now without much success as witnessed by the reviews so far. Will they figure it out in less than a year and a half? They do need time to ramp up production.

SPREAD THE WORD!

Click on the "email friends" tab on the petition form to email all your playing buddies.
 







Edited by j-bo - 06/08/2012 at 9:44am

Originally posted by igorponger It is rather an unwise and hasty action to decry the poly balls before we have an ultimate edition of PB at our hand.. Let's live and see if the DHS comes out with a better product. If, in a year period,, I do not see any improvement of the POLY ball"s playing characteristics, I will gladly join this petition. Not before.

+1

It will be too late then. This petition is not about changing the ball, it is about changing your entire setup and playing style.

In the end, I don't think we have any choice but to accept them, but it's a good thing to show that we aren't happy about the change.

I wonder if they (ITTF, everyone involved in the process with the Polyballs) know's that the balls aren't any good and that's why they make it so hard to get hold of them? I know plenty of players who would like to try them, cause it is hard to form an opinion about them before we have tried them.

Originally posted by Speedplay I wonder if they (ITTF, everyone involved in the process with the Polyballs) know's that the balls aren't any good and that's why they make it so hard to get hold of them?