OOAK Table Tennis Forum

I'm at a real cross roads of my life at the moment.

I have been using LP's for about 2 years now and Frictionless for over 1 year.

I have been thinking about leaving the dark side and moving back to double inverted for a little while now, mainly because I like attacking and of course the forced change to grippy pips which I am really struggling with. But it's the old story with inverted, problem with serve returns and also will I have as much opportunity to attack, seeming that my trusty pimples wont be there to give me the opportunities of weak pushes and high balls to loop to oblivion. Im in a real dilemma at the moment. I have a feeling that my game will get worse not better. That's scary.

I was looking at going up several divisions next year with my current setup, but if I move to inverted I will probably go down to several divisions and thats probably the same if I move to grippy LP's.

The problem is I'm not a chopper (despite Haggisv giving my plenty of helpful tips), I just block with LP's and attack backspin. I have tried grippy LP OX and with .5 sponge, I just can't get the hang of it.

Im thinking all this on the eve of grand finals as well.

Any advice / opinions will be helpful in this very confusing time of my life.

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Blade: Dr N. Firewall
BH: Swing Back
FH: Pronte

would short pips offer any sort of reasonable half-way house?

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LKT Instinct. FH Kokutaku Tuple 007 2.0mm black; BH Dawei 388D-1 long pips 1.0mm
a posse ad esse

I have thought about SP, that is a option I guess. I need to read up on some articles, I don't know that much about them.

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Blade: Dr N. Firewall
BH: Swing Back
FH: Pronte

I don't think short pips is a full solution...unless they are real slow and frictionless (and not banned!)... it might be easier for controlling spin, but you'd lose a lot of benefits on long pimples...

The main change is from very slow frictionless pimples to something much more lively and grippy.... this is a big change as I'm sure some of you who have tried frictionless will know...

I have suggested a slow grippy LP on a fairly slow blade, or possible an antispin as an option... but we're hoping for further comments...

Of course there is always the option of going inverted, and learning skills of reading the spin a lot better... but this is going to require some big steps back, and a lot of time and effort... Plus them you're the same as everyone else...

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My suggestion- keep injoying inferno and wait.

It's your playing style that the ITTF is trying to kill off, but the good doctor will come up with some intersting new products before next season. If nothing else, a new ultra slick anti might do the trick.

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Custom Re-Impact OFF
Hexer HD 1.9
Hexer Pips 1.9

Member of Anastasia's Fan Club

Agree, Learning to play with Grippy LP is much easier than switching back to inverted. Also you'll be unique .

Don't give up on Grippy LP's yet. Give it a few more weeks, you'll get around the bounciness

Anti might be a very good option but might not be very usefull against the better players.
if you like attacking alot I'd say go double inverted.. I really like it lol eventhough it might not be as effective I do have alot of fun with them.

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Frame: Nittaku Violin
FH: Joola Energy 2.0
BH: Bty Solcion 2.1

Thanks for all your advice, lots of options by the look of it.

All these rubbers have allot of positives and negatives. Years of pimple habit is hard to break. It might be easier to learn grippy then learn inverted all over, I guess the fundamentals are similar. Perhaps I might book in a coaching lesson for this weekend and see if I still have a backhand with inverted and play it by ear. If anything it might help my twiddling game. But needless to say I will probably go back to pips again. I guess it's experimentation in between seasons.

I don't know if Alex will speak to me again if I leave the dark side and move to a cheating rubber like inverted. The funny thing is that quiet a few players at the club have tried pips since getting beaten by me to see if it is the magic solution for them.

I have succeeded in annoying allot of people at my club by playing with Inferno, the ramifications will be huge if I still can't beat them playing inverted. I should keep this on the quiet.

I like to be different and annoy the opposition when playing, I love the comments I get, it gives me a boost. I will update you all next week on my temporary insanity of trying inverted.

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Blade: Dr N. Firewall
BH: Swing Back
FH: Pronte

Interesting times ahead if that is the case. I guess the new range of Dr N pimples will have the legal minimum friction level, what ever that is. In the end I can't see them playing too differently from other grippy pimples. Ofcourse I will look forward as will many people to see what new innovations they come up with (I love reading the advertising blurbs).

June is awfully close to the cut off date. Not allot of time to train and get up to speed with a new rubber. I like to keep my options open and train early with another solution and keep options open. I think there will be allot of frictionless players that will be sitting targets at their clubs if they wait to the last moment to change while they familiarize themselves with a new setup.

Also unless you read the forums, there are many people players out there who are still oblivious to the upcoming bans. They have a big shock coming.

There are dark times ahead for frictionless players!

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Blade: Dr N. Firewall
BH: Swing Back
FH: Pronte

Hah hah Yes so true!

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OOAK Table Tennis Shop | Re-Impact Blades | Butterfly Table Tennis bats
Setup1: Re-Impact Smart, Viper OX, Victas VS 401 Setup2: Re-Impact Barath, Dtecs OX, TSP Triple Spin Chop 1.0mm Setup3: Re-Impact Dark Knight, Hellfire OX, 999 Turbo
Recent Articles: Butterfly Tenergy Alternatives | Tenergy Rubbers Compared | Re-Impact User Guide

Sheepcoate, I'm in a similar position to you. I've played long pips for 24 years and frictionless for several years. I'm experimenting with about a dozen kinds of Chinese LP in trying to replace the frictionless ones, but I can't stand any of them. Maybe they work for chopping but they sure don't cut it for blocking What's a poor boy to do?

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Blades: Nittaku KVL, Toxic 3 & 5, Galaxy T2
FH: Nittaku Moristo DF, LKT Silver Dragon, 802-40
BH: Doublefish 1615, Palio 531A, Peacekeeper
Hardbats: Toxic 3 (Leyland), various Hocks
U.S. rating 1935

Hey Nohu, I have seem people at my club block very successfully with grippy LP, or should I say Haggisv, but then again he is the pimple guru.

The problem is coming from a frictionless block to a friction block, the concept is totally different, you need to have active stroke, or the incoming spin really bites. It's a very foreign concept to me, I guess I have become lazy with my backhand.

I emailed my club coach regarding a inverted backhand lesson and he said that I should stick with pimples as they still can be played at a very high level....this is a dilemma. Tomorrow I will have a hit with double inverted for the first time in 2 years and see how badly I suck at it.

Maybe I should take up Curling.

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Blade: Dr N. Firewall
BH: Swing Back
FH: Pronte

Why is it that folk are having trouble blocking with the frictioned long pips? I guess its because frictionless is practically unreactive to incoming spin, whereas as friction increases the incoming spin has more effect and there is a need to adjust blade angle depending on spin.

I am playing with 388D-1 LP which are moderately frictioned. Not really having problem with blocking - I wonder why. Ah, I've got it I am coming to LP from inverted rubber where you have to do a lot of work to get the blocking angles right. The LPs make this relatively easier for me.

So, I wonder if frictionless players should stick some inverted rubber on their BH for a while and practice practice practice blocking and reading the spins. THEN go to the frictioned LPs and, hey presto, they will seem like a walk in the park.

Who knows, some might even consider that they like the ability to impact nasty spin from their backhand with a tacky rubber and go to double inverted

PS I just had a hit with my attacking XiEnting blade with Cream MRS on BH. Still buzzing from the fun of heavy chops and flash BH drives fired at No 1 son. Its a much more exciting game than with the pips. Still, think I'll persevere with the pips for a while yet.

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LKT Instinct. FH Kokutaku Tuple 007 2.0mm black; BH Dawei 388D-1 long pips 1.0mm
a posse ad esse

I had a coaching lesson yesterday with normal inverted and the coach was reasonably pleased with my backhand ability, although he is quite a nice guy and may somewhat color the truth.

All things considered I managed to pick up the techniques quite quickly again, I guess you never really forget.

Some things that I discovered. It feels allot more comfortable blade double inverted than as a modern defender. I seemed to be allot more comfortable standing at the table and playing that style, both wings felt somewhat in synch. I found that with Long pimples I was looping on one side and defending on the other. I also had a bad tendency to use the Long pimples from both sides of the table at times. I guess that was a comfort thing, i.e. loop on forehand and then block on backhand from forehand side. I was always criticized of this.

I had a hit with a friend after coaching and he said I looked allot more comfortable and was harder to play against with a inverted backhand. I guess he wasn’t used to spin coming back from the backhand side.

Having played both LP and now switching to inverted, I have to say that it requires more skill to play Long Pimples. As for people who twiddle, I hold them very high on a pedestal.

Ofcourse it's early stages and have yet to try out this new style in a comp. I will hold my breath to then.

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Blade: Dr N. Firewall
BH: Swing Back
FH: Pronte

Good on you for trying.... you'll be baaaaaack!

_________________
OOAK Table Tennis Shop | Re-Impact Blades | Butterfly Table Tennis bats
Setup1: Re-Impact Smart, Viper OX, Victas VS 401 Setup2: Re-Impact Barath, Dtecs OX, TSP Triple Spin Chop 1.0mm Setup3: Re-Impact Dark Knight, Hellfire OX, 999 Turbo
Recent Articles: Butterfly Tenergy Alternatives | Tenergy Rubbers Compared | Re-Impact User Guide