OOAK Table Tennis Forum

I thought this was a good well-balanced article by Greg Letts.

http://tabletennis.about.com/b/2011/03/ ... g-pong.htm

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My whole set-up costs less than a sheet of Butterfly Dignics

Yeah, it's nice to have my own personal soapbox from which I can rant and rave now and again.

That said, in all my time as Guide at About.com, I've received exactly zero emails from anybody in the ITTF regarding anything I've written, so I guess they aren't taking much notice of me! They must be busy coming up with the next rubber to ban with another unenforceable rule change.

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Perth Table Tennis Club

What does the national commission in Australia think of these issues?

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My whole set-up costs less than a sheet of Butterfly Dignics

Beats me - I'm not in the loop (so to speak) on these matters. The powers that be at TTA don't ask my opinion about these things, or tell me theirs. Apart from occasionally asking to use some of my photos, I don't think I'm on the TTA radar at all. That's not a complaint, just the way things are - I don't contact them much either, so it's not surprising.

On a related note, some of the email I get is quite funny in that some people seem to think that I have a direct line to the head honchos of the ITTF, and can get a response from the ITTF on various subjects.

The reality is that the ITTF probably don't know or care who I am or what I have to say on About.com. That won't stop me saying it like I think it is though!

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Perth Table Tennis Club

I think Greg is addressing some serious, real issues was have in our sport. He has a very good reputation and I wouldn't call him biased or wrong in his points here.

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The MNNB Blog has had some pretty amazing stuff lately. Just click this text to check it out. | My OOAK Interview
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My whole set-up costs less than a sheet of Butterfly Dignics

I see no bias in his article. He is pointing out the source of the problems, the ITTF making unenforcable rules. Anyone that knows human nature could have predicted the results the moment the rules were written.

I think the bias is in how "you" read it.
Here is what you quoted;

Take a look at these recent threads on various Internet forums regarding one amateur player's use of long pips, and the claims and accusations that are flying around regarding whether he is a cheat using treated rubber. The worst part? With no way of testing the friction level of his rubber, there is nothing that this player can do to defend himself. Nice one ITTF.

Greg refers to "weather he is a CHEAT using treated rubber". Not a victim. Greg is not making any arguement about glueing, tuning, boosting or cheating. He is pointing out the CAUSE of all this.

Part of me thinks this whole forum will soon be renamed: "The MNNB vs. Speedplay Debate Extravaganza" or "The Infinite Paradigm of Pimples on the Inside or Outside!?"

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I don't mind you quoting parts of the post at all Speedplay - go ahead.

At the time of writing the article there was a lot of posting going on about pushblocker's long pips, so there was a specific person getting accused of cheating by all and sundry. So it made sense to refer to him as an example, and gave me some threads to link to for people to read.

As far as the speed gluing goes, there weren't any threads going around about a specific person being accused of speed gluing or tuning, so I wrote it as it came to mind. You check to catch cheaters, not check to catch innocent people, so that's how I wrote it. I could have written it to say all the people who are being unfairly accused of using speed glue are also victims, but I didn't have a specific example at the time and it wouldn't have made for as interesting a paragraph.

That may be biased, but I really don't care. I certainly didn't write the article worrying about whether it was biased or not. I'm free to write what I want, and I've never pretended to be unbiased on all matters relating to table tennis. I'd rather be interesting and thought provoking.

Mind you, I don't think this article is particularly biased, but YMMV, of course.

However, you may or may not be interested to know that I view players who boost their rubbers as cheaters, and players who treat their rubbers to make them frictionless as cheats as well.

(BTW, the tone of this post is light-hearted, not super-serious . I'm not offended by Speedy's claim of bias, just a bit amused and I thought I'd explain why you will see bias crop up in my articles now and then. Although I don't think this article was particularly biased. Although others are. But you'll have to work out which ones for yourself... )

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Perth Table Tennis Club

I didn't think it was biased, especially when I could see the whole article and structure.

I'm pleased you seem to have decided to highlight the problems the ITTF is giving us players at sub international level rather than sweeping it under the carpet. I find the rules to be quite devisive and don't believe they show the sport in good light nor do I believe they serve the sport. I believe that, in sport, if a rule can't be enforced it has no place in the game.

For me the ITTF needs to understand national associations will follow themn blindly (they may well already know this) and stop using that as an excuse, it's difficult for NA's as why would they want potential internationals playing to different equipment rules and having to relearn skills or adjust strokes when / if they get to international standard (though they could opt out and imo should tell the ITTF what a mess they are making).

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Another one bites the dust.

Taken from the ITTF Handbook:

1.04 OBJECTS
1.04.01 The objects of the ITTF shall be:
1.04.01.01 to uphold the principles of the ITTF and to develop the spirit of friendship and mutual assistance among Associations and players;
1.04.01.02 to regulate relations between Associations and between Associations and other organisations;
1.04.01.03 to seek continual improvement in the technical standard of table tennis and in the extent of participation in the sport throughout the world;
1.04.01.04 to foster friendly sporting competition and to eliminate unfair and unsporting practices such as the use of drugs to enhance performance;
1.04.01.05 to establish and maintain the Laws of Table Tennis and the Regulations for International Competitions;
1.04.01.06 to publish the standard text, which shall be the English text, of the Rules, consisting of the Constitution, the Laws and the Regulations;
1.04.01.07 to encourage the publication of the Rules in other languages and to check the accuracy of such publications;
1.04.01.08 to promote and to supervise World and Olympic title competitions;
1.04.01.09 to employ the funds of the ITTF as may be expedient in the interests of international table tennis;
1.04.01.10 to endeavour to increase participation at all levels, to enhance the popularity of the sport, to develop new sources of revenue, and to manage the sport through a systematic planning process;
1.04.01.11 to encourage players, coaches and officials to present the sport positively in the best ways so as to enhance its image.
1.04.01.12 to encourage and to support the promotion of women in sport at all levels and to ensure significant representation of women in ITTF Committees, Commissions and Working Groups.

Note that the Laws of Table Tennis are Section 2 of the ITTF handbook, while the Regulations for International Competition are Section 3. The basic laws of table tennis are for everyone, not just international competitions.

Note also the other parts that I bolded. They aren't exactly covering themselves with glory on these points, are they?

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Perth Table Tennis Club

I'm too, am a big fan of sticking to the rules. But I'm also a big fan of reality, and the reality is at the moment there is no way to know if people are sticking to the rules or not and many people are taking advantage of this. This is not going to be fixed in our sport unless people speak out and attention is brought to the issue.

The people who are cheating do it quietly and want to stay under the radar. They would love nothing more than to have this whole issue swept under the rug and to have things stay as they are. To bring about the changes we need, the issue has to come to the forefront. This is a good thing.

By trying to suppress discussion you are supporting the cheaters. Is that what you really want?

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The MNNB Blog has had some pretty amazing stuff lately. Just click this text to check it out. | My OOAK Interview
Table Tennis Video Links: itTV | laola1.tv | ttbl | fftt | Challenger Series | mnnb-tv

My whole set-up costs less than a sheet of Butterfly Dignics

Well, to be fair I started this thread and a made a comment. You jumped in seemingly intent to try to discredit my comment. Who's arguing?

As for the other issue, there are two schools of thought among LP blockers on how to handle the situation.

1) Try to not make waves and pray that the ITTF doesn't do any more damage. This seems to be the general direction of players in Germany (Schoeler's backyard and ground zero for LP oppression). To me, the problem with this approach as it maintains the status quo, cheaters will be able to continue to quietly go about their business under the radar, and the style will slowly be eroded until it is gone.

2) Bring a real resolution once and for all. Instead of getting our rubbers banned every year or two and having to reinvent our game over and over, some think it better to push the issue and force those running table tennis to fix the problems they've created for recreational players. If not, the unacceptable conditions that result in the rampant use of treated rubbers will remain, while our legal rubbers will continue to being taken from us one by one.

And don't think they won't be coming after antis next.

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The MNNB Blog has had some pretty amazing stuff lately. Just click this text to check it out. | My OOAK Interview
Table Tennis Video Links: itTV | laola1.tv | ttbl | fftt | Challenger Series | mnnb-tv

My whole set-up costs less than a sheet of Butterfly Dignics

I admit to leading a sheltered life, but are you saying that people who were using "frictionless" pips (H/N variants) were doctoring them to make them "more frictionless" or that people were treating pre-ban "frictioned" pips in an attempt to make them play similarly to the higher priced H/N variants?

If it is the first, how was it being accomplished, isn't frictionless by definition, er....frictionless? (OK scientifically speaking they were only low friction, but I am just trying to accommodate to the prevailing terminology)

Befuddled, yet one more time, in the USofA (aka the Old Duffer)

No, I think it's because the ITTF claimed they couldn't test for treated pips so they banned all pips under 25mn (is that the right scale) to catch the treated pips.

Edit: Of course currently (I believe) no-one but the ITTF can test for 25mn so it leaves it open for people to treat their pips and of course no top players used them in the first place.

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Another one bites the dust.