Table Tennis Dayton presents the second of a series of "special guest" articles concerning a topic selected and written by the guest writer. The following article is written by Andrew Gooding, one of, if not the best pips-out, left-handed, penhold gripping, non-Asian player in the mid-west, playing out of the City Limits TTC. This article is a rebuttal to a recent Table Tennis Dayton article, Why Hardbat? by Nick Snider.

Short Pips, They're Smashingly Good!

By Andrew Gooding

While Nick Snider makes some good points in his well-written article Nobody Likes Pimples!, I feel the need to respond. While pimples shouldn't be used to cover up a weakness, they can work very well for certain styles of play.

Take my game for example. When I started working with my coach, Carl Hardin, I had no loop, only a smash. While I learned to loop in practice, during matches I would tend to hit the ball rather than spin it. Last year I switched to short pips from inverted and people now ask me why I waited so long to switch. My stroke is shorter (no more shoulder pain) but the ball goes faster. I beat lower rated players more consistently and can better challenge higher rated players.

Short pips aren't for everyone. To use them effectively you need to be aggressive and hit the ball at the top of the bounce. I know some players who put pips on their backhand but still stroke the ball. Then you get the "20 mph grapefruit size softball" that Nick discusses. If you hit through the ball the smash produced is one of the fastest shots in table tennis.

Timing and racket angle are critical as there is less spin to lift the ball over the net and bring it down on the other side. While you can loop underspin with short pips you can't just let the ball drop and slow loop it like you can with inverted. As short pips react less to spin you can smash balls you wouldn't have expected to with inverted.

Serve and serve return are also a bit different. You get less spin with pips, so deception becomes more important when you serve. When returning serve, you shouldn't just push everything back, but you should flip the ball whenever possible. Blocks, once you get the racket angle right will be more reliable and have a "knuckle ball" effect opponents hate.

Exhibit A for effective use of short pips is He Zhi Wen, a single sided short pips penholder who at age 43 upset the defending World Champion, Werner Schlager at the most recent World Championships. Other top short pips players include Johnny Huang, a top player in Canada, David Zhuang, top 5 in the U.S and Gao Jun, the top U.S. woman and quarterfinalist at the most recent World's. This is not mentioning some of China's world champions Liu Guoliang, Jiang Jialiang, and Zhuang Zedong.

Many top female players still play with short pips on one side. Hyun Hwa Jung of Korea interrrupted Deng Yaping's world championship reign playing with short pips. Deng is consensus pick as the best female player of all time, though she played with long pips rather than short. Her shots were anything but "20 mile per hour grapefruit size softballs."

Long pips or hardbat seems to have been the target of Nick's article. While I am no expert on either, if no one likes those surfaces then that alone might be a good reason to use them. If they lose to you and your pips you might not get their admiration, but you will get their rating points! Still, short pips with sponge are a different kettle of fish.

While inverted is the best choice for most players, pips have their place for certain styles. With my game it makes little sense for me to play with inverted.

Nick, I'm coming after ya! ;-)

(Andrew is a faculty advisor for the Marshall University Table Tennis team in Huntington, West Virginia. He plays regularly at the City Limits Table Tennis club in New Boston, Ohio and competes in Ohio tournaments).

Related Articles:

Nobody Likes Pimples!

Why Hardbat?