OOAK Table Tennis Forum

EDIT: I hit the ball around 70mph average velocity over the course of the shot, 100mph average velocity over the first half of the shot. For updated figures (I did my math wrong the first time because it was a different fps than I thought) see the most recent post!

https://youtu.be/F-7d-rOuVl0

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User of the one of a kind "Smith" grip: here to revolutionize the game.

I've used a speed gun and set up a challenge at our club. The fasted recorded speed anyone got was low 60mph. That was based on a ball being fired at the player from a TTMatic robot and required the player to change the direction of the ball.

When you say you shattered the record for the fastest table tennis shot, was that "record" set off a ball dropped vertically and hit or a ball fired at a player and hit back in the direction it came from?

It was from a ball dropped vertically, not one fired at my paddle. I wish I'd had someone there to hit the ball lightly to me to make it seem more official, but I achieved ball speed of roughly 110 mph all by my lonesome at 4 in the morning, hahaha. I included the link to the video which was shot at 120 frames per second on a go pro as video proof and am itching for the opportunity to do this in some sort of official capacity. The reason I was able to achieve such great ball speeds is I just designed an alternative grip whereby one hits the ball leading with the elbow (as if throwing a baseball) rather than with a "chicken wing" a la table tennis with the SH or PH grips.

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User of the one of a kind "Smith" grip: here to revolutionize the game.

Thoughts from anyone who watched the video? I've been really curious what the OOAK community would think. I plan on posting more about the grip I'm using soon, but I'm just trying to protect my hard-won invention for at least a little while…

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User of the one of a kind "Smith" grip: here to revolutionize the game.

I lack some of the general familiarity with the forum rules in terms of outside links to link to it, but:

My initial feeling after looking at you video the first time was that it seemed very much like the v-grip.

After watching it a few more times it looks even more like you're using a modified handle that would be very similar to the 'Tom's V Grip Paddles' post on the Thomas Veatch website.

Perhaps that is not the case, but those are my thoughts based on what I see~

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Blog: Thinking Octopus Thoughts
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Tom and I have actually been in correspondence for some time as I found his V-grip work after I'd already embarked on my journey! There are some major differences between the two grips, but I've kept those under wraps thus far as they address (read, solve, haha) the issues that existed with the V-grip. I think the reason why I was able to improve upon the V-grip was that I didn't come upon the idea as it already existed; rather, I worked backwards from the biomechanics I used in baseball and golf to create a grip I thought was more biomechanically sound. I'll give a hint as to one of the things that distinguishes my grip from the V-grip—my grip can be toggled to a position that makes pushing from the center (and pushing more generally) not only possible, but easy. Keep an eye out for future revelations!

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User of the one of a kind "Smith" grip: here to revolutionize the game.

I am open to being wrong about this since we are dealing with some pretty low resolution video and measurement, but I think your speed may be over estimated.

We can easily calculate the time it would take a ball to fall 2 feet using the equation

Distance = 1/2 * acceleration of gravity * t (squared)

This would be 2 ft = 1/2 * 32.2 ft/sec (squared) * t (squared)

so t = sqrt(4/32.2) = 0.352 seconds

So if we disregard air resistance a ball should take about .35 seconds to fall two feet (it would take longer if we do try to take resistance into account but that is actually worse for your claim).

Next I counted 10 frames for the ball you dropped to cover the two feet you estimated (comparing my starting point to the same point against the background the ball was at as when you struck it on the rebound).

Those ten frames amount to .083 seconds

10 frames * 1/120 frames per second = 1/12 second = 0.083. This time does not agree with the calculation above. And if we put this time into the above formula to calculate the drop distance the ball traveled we see the time is only sufficient for the ball to have dropped 0.11 feet and clearly it was more than an inch in height.

Another way to look at it is the ball EITHER traveled that 2 feet of distance in just under a third of the time (or said a different way - at three times the speed) we would expect to see based on the formulas of physics OR the height measurement is way off (which is unlikely) OR the frame rate is to be questioned.

If we accept that 10 frames (I counted for the drop) = .325 second (the time physics says it will take to fall 2 feet) then we can assume each frame is 0.0325 seconds. Multiplying that by the six frames of the flight gives us 0.211 seconds for the flight time. So the ball traveled about 9 feet in 0.211 seconds or was traveling about 45 feet/second which converts to 30 miles an hour.

Sorry, I hope I missed something for your sake.

I am from Michigan too - PM me with your location if you would like to get to know each other better.

Nice analysis sderyke2002 I've not checked your numbers, but I think your logic is right.

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I'm no physicist but 30mph vs 110/120mph seems like a massive difference. I would like to think my smashes travel at faster than 30mph...so I'm leaning to the higher figure ....but I also like the logical calculations presented here. So it'll be nice to see some resolution here. Debater's input being in the middle of the numbers tends to further muddy these waters.

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I remember they had a radar at one of the TT exhibition, where people could test their speed. I think the pros could get to about 70mph.

Personally I can't see how a different grip can make such a difference in smashing speed.

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OOAK Table Tennis Shop | Re-Impact Blades | Butterfly Table Tennis bats
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Recent Articles: Butterfly Tenergy Alternatives | Tenergy Rubbers Compared | Re-Impact User Guide

I actually am a Physicist (at least by schooling - MA in Nuclear Physics - I now work in computer security), but I can be wrong too. That being said I don't deny that a good serve could be double or triple the 30 miles an hour I calculated based on the video. I even think that the serve in the video looks faster than the 30 miles an hour.

I think the problem lies with the ability to count frames and the consistency of the frame speed in a cheap camera. I mean we are dealing here with an off the shelf recreational device not a high speed camera meant for such studies.

But what we have is all we can go on, so I found the one weak spot in the experiment and pulled on the loose thread. Not because I wanted the poster to be wrong but that is what scientific peer review is meant to do. And he said he wanted input from the posters at OOAK.

Let's clear things up a bit then For mortals



For pro's - stepping in to the ball and smashing a relatively high ball 75.8mph

Their bats clearly have way too much dwell time.

Badmington is the best athletic sport, real game for a Superman.
Table tennis is a great pastime for kids and elder folks. I am an elder guy.