OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Where does the word come from? The motion of the bat/arm? The flight of the ball?

Why do we call "looping" looping?

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Erik J. Barzeski
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I believe "looping" was first discovered by Stan Jacobsen in 1960 just after the advent of standardized sandwich 4mm rubber/sponge. So I guess it could have been called a "Jacobsen" instead of a loop.
HnG

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The original term was "loop drive" (noun). Not sure why they called it that, but it appears in several 1960s era books on table tennis. The original loop was a specialist's weapon, a brush stroke used against backspin. The idea was to produce so much spin that it was impossible to return. And for a long time it was. You had lots of people playing with anti on the backhand just to deal with loop drives way into the 1990s. Pretty much all the Hungarians, even Seemiller and Boggan. Back then you tried to keep the ball very, very short because if you pushed it long it would result in a loop drive coming back. Eventually, the fast loop entered the picture, mainly with the Hungarians and speed glue. The original stroke became the "slow loop".

Iskandar

Thanks for posting. Kinda hoping to discover "why they called it that."

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Erik J. Barzeski
Newb in Erie, PA

Tibhar TEXO All | 1.8 999 Juic Elite x 2
Ross Leidy ALL Blades (x2) | 1.8BH/2.0FH Juic 999 Elite
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They were called loops because of the ball trajectories. If you watch old school videos, the curves of the ball trajectory when given the kind of topspin that only sponge can impart created a wicked arc.

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Well, it was an arc, though, not a loop (which would imply a closed circle or ellipse). The most striking thing about slow loop drives, though, was the forward kick when the ball hit the table. You don't see this as much with fast loops but with slow loops the ball tends to come down to the table at a higher angle and departs the table at a much lower angle. The 38mm ball in use at the time did this more than the 40mm ball does today.

Iskandar