OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Well last night I had my training group try out the eight inch net height and I tried it out myself as well. All players are between 1 class and 3rd division Dutch league. Hard for me to say what that comes down to in US ratings (2000+ for sure though).

Afterwards I asked around what the players felt were the major differences.

1. The serve, especially longer, faster serves. Everybody had a lot more trouble executing those. They all bounced a lot more and were slower, making returning them a whole lot easier. Short serve was not a problem, little difference there. I myself am an excellent server, but the higher net really screwed up the vast majority of my serves, to the point where I could not play them to a sufficient standard, so I fell back on doing mostly short serves. With practice this will get better, but never to the same level as with our current net height.

2. All players resorted to playing a lot more topspin, flathitting on low or backspin shots were a lot harder, strangely enough most going long, probably because of the players overcompensating for the higher net.

3. Fast direct blocks were also harder to do, clipping the net a lot.

4. Chopping, hardly any difference. Just take a little speed off. I actually felt that the heigher net helped as it posed a bigger barrier for the attacker making them hold back on the speed of the topspins/hits.

5. Pushing felt akward, but can be fairly easily adjusted to with a bit of practice.

So in summary, serves other than short serves suffered, flat hitting and fast blocks also suffered. Topspin and chops were easily adjusted to the heigher net.

Though lets keep in mind that this was just a first 45 minutes try and with some decent practice all shots will get a lot better.

Having said that before we tried it, I felt vaguely enthousiastic about the possible change, but after having tried it, I´m now a strong opponent of a net height change. No need to change something that´s not broken.

Wilfred

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New darkside setup: lion absolute impact - dragon dragon talon (ox) - palio CJ 8000 premium (max)
Frame: Andro Super Core Cell All+ - forehand: Thibar Nimbus Sound 2.2 mm (red) - backhand: LKT Pro XT 2.2 mm (black)

Well done, and thanks for the feedback. After all this, it looks like I might have more to complain about than either the loopers or the choppers! Perhaps we need to find a way to offer feedback to decision makers?

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"So long, and thanks for all the fish
So sad that it should come to this" Sung by the dolphins in The hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy

Even if we could, I don't think we want to feed anything to decision makers yet. Might be like rattling a hornets nest.

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I'm always in the dark, but the Dark sheds lights upon everything!! Beauty is only pimple deep! Beauty is in the eye of the pipholder!
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Thanks to everyone that actually tried the higher net.

It still bothers me that the ITTF said they were testing this 2 years ago. Are they still testing? What were thier conclusions? Who did the testing? Are they still considering a higher net? Why do they not keep us informed along the way? Are we in for another "surprize?

I am sure somebody on this page has found a way to get this info back to his paymasters!

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Think, before you drink, before you write!

But to ITTF, when the Chinese dominate, it is a very BIG PROBLEM for them

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wlhk
Chinese Penholder
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Forehand: MXP
Backhand: Grass Dtecs, Tsp P3 Alpha
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like changing net height would change that; chinese would still dominate, only it would slow down the game even further and transfer it to full looping game. disgusting idea from the start, at any level of play, from recreative to pro

True...the Chinese TT Association will overcome anything thrown at them because they have the people, resources, etc. Did you know that at Olympics and WTTC, the Chinese team has specialized personnel just to make sure their players' rubbers can pass all ITTF rules? Can you name another national association that has this kind of resources (just to check rubber & racket)?

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wlhk
Chinese Penholder
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Forehand: MXP
Backhand: Grass Dtecs, Tsp P3 Alpha
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