My idea of a holiday this past summer was doing chopper/attacker exercises, six weeks, every day for a couple of hours. My boys (13 and 14 now) did a great job in training and coaching their old dad! The goal we set was that at the end of this stretch we would at least understand the long pips technique, have a good idea of the possibilities of a number of rubbers, and get me in this style to the same level I have (or had) playing as a short pips out attacker. We more or less got there. Last weekend we had our first tournament of the season and I won 80% of my matches. A detail - in the last round I beat the guy who eventually won. Another detail - in that same round (of five matches, preceding the semi-finals) I played four 5-game matches, one 4-game match, and each and every I time lost the first two games. It sure convinced me of the fact that a chopper-attacker has to work very hard to win, not just with the legs, but with the brain too! For me, in a chopper-attacker style the defensive action is meant to set up the attack. Variation in backspin should get me a ball I can put away with my forehand - hopefully. To this end, I like to play with an LP that is capable of producing lots of spin on its own. I started out training with a Globe 979 and switched to a Dawei 388D after a week, because the Dawei has a bit more grip. The Dawei impressed me so much that eventually I decided to put up the money for a similar but more expensive defensive rubber that had even more grip. The two top rubbers on the market in this category are by reputation TSP Curl P1R and Butterfly Feint Long III. The Curl has the reputation of being difficult to master, so I decided to get the Butterfly Feint Long III. I'm not exactly a fan of Butterfly; I strongly dislike their prices, for one thing; but the FLIII proved to be just about worth its money. It seemed sensible to review it here.
I got the rubber in black, 0.5 mm. The sponge is very soft and looks like it is made of rice-paper, very tender, but it didn't tear when I removed it from my Friendship W-1 and put it on my TSP Reflex Fitter Combi Def (I used Neubauer's glue). I have hit with it hard, and so far no pips have broken. So it may be a pretty durable rubber. It better be, for the money! When I changed from the Dawei to the FLIII, I immediately noticed how much more control the latter has. Not just because it is much slower (must be one of the slowest LP's), but also because it is pretty much insensible to incoming spin. The tops of the pips are ribbed (or dotted actually) but they are not very grippy; the sides of the pips are. This works out very well. When you touch the ball lightly, the incoming spin has little effect; when you play actively, you get enough grip to get the ball where you want it. Players used to frictionless or almost frictionless pips will have to adjust, but if you are used to inverted and short pips (like me), the transition is almost effortless. In fact, the Feint Long III is so easy to play with that at first it seemed a boring LP. Completely predictable, no disturbing factor to speak of. Disappointing, I thought, maybe I shouldn't have spent the money... But when I got more acquainted with it, I found out that this is actually a strong point, and that the rubber has subtleties that at first escaped me. Several professional modern defenders from China and Korea use short pips rubbers on their backhand because the grip these rubbers have allows them to make their own spin independently from their opponent, and the lack of grip these rubbers have makes them safe enough from their opponent's spin. Short pips are mostly pretty fast, though. The Feint Long III can be thought of as a slow short pip, with long pips. It sounds contradictory, but this is more or less how the rubber plays. It has the qualities of a short pip, but adapted to and enhanced for defensive play. To play with it effectively you have to mix long pips' and short pips' techniques - at least, that is what works for me.
In detail, it is like this.
Blocking a topspin or no-spin ball can be done by closing the bat a bit and making it go a bit diagonally upwards/forwards like you would do with short pips; incoming spin will be mostly neutralized, no-spin will not bother you. Blocking the ball with a bigger arm-movement, like you would do with inverted rubber, allowing the ball to dig into the pips and sponge, will put topspin on the ball - even a decent amount when you perform a mini-loop. Blocking the ball with the bat almost open and a little forward and/or sideways motion will reverse incoming topspin, but not spectacularly so. Varying blocking like this is particularly effective against heavy topspin; because the differences in bat-position and arm-movement are small, it is hard for your opponent to read you and to know what kind/amount of spin to expect. A weak player will get over-cautious, allowing you to mount your attack and put him under pressure. A strong player will try to loop/hit through your spin-variation, allowing you to start your chopping game away from the table.
Pushing a backspin ball when using a quick snappy wrist/under-arm action will result in heavy backspin. Leaving out the wrist will mean much less backspin. Pretending to use the wrist and arm but actually just pressing the bat under the ball will reverse the incoming backspin to some degree. Again, variation (which you are able to produce because the rubber is so grippy that you are more or less independent of your opponent's spin) will confuse the opponent, producing pop-ups that can be killed, or stimulate him to loop which allows you to defend. Just a thing to be aware of, though: the rubber is real slow, so if you do not make enough pace when pushing, the ball will drop off your bat and go into the net.
Flipping or counter-driving against topspin can be done the way you would with short pips, viz. taking the ball on the rise, bat slightly closed. Incoming topspin will be partly reversed, meaning the looping opponent gets enough topspin back to probably make him loop again. If he re-loops with less topspin or if he drives because he doesn't really have to loop, and you counter-drive again, most of the incoming spin (which is less this time) will be neutralized and a relatively dead ball will go back which will likely be returned into the net. If the opponent knows this, he will increase topspin in his loops, allowing you to start your chopping game. You can also flip with a lot of topspin, or loop yourself, grazing the ball, making sure that only pips and sponge make contact with it. The rubber will bite into the ball and since now your defensive bat is out of it, the ball will be pretty fast (it really surprised me the first time I did this). An opponent used to long pips with less grip will return the ball too high, allowing you to attack. An opponent who knows what is going on will loop strongly, allowing you to start your chopping game.
Looping against backspin is like rolling with short pips; it has to be done with the blade almost completely open in a very fast upward graze. Spin-reversal is great, this way, but since the motion of the stroke is mostly upward, the pace of the return is slow and if you're not careful you'll loop into the net. Make it a ferocious stroke and the ball will rush from your opponent's halve of the table. He may re-loop it, of course, so you should be ready to step back and start chopping. A second loop can be done but you better make that one a drive to reverse/decrease the incoming spin, because the speed you can put on the ball won't be enough to put real pressure on a skilled opponent who plays with offensive equipment. Against a defender, however, you can loop twice and then step around your backhand to use your more offensive forehand.
Chop-blocking over or closely behind the table will produce an amount of backspin relative to the amount of wrist/arm-motion used. Because the rubber is so slow, you can take the pace off the ball; because you can determine the spin, you can aim with precision. Drop-shots are pretty easy to do, this way. Of course, against a good attacker who stays close to the table this is dangerous and you will be better off either attacking or chopping fully.
Chopping relatively slowly without use of the wrist will produce slow, almost dead balls. Chopping quickly and lightly, snapping your wrist on contact, will produce fairly slow balls with heavy backspin. Chopping very quickly and using your waist, bringing your body down and forward for a full deep stroke will produce much faster balls with very heavy backspin. It is easy to make the ball go very low over the net. If you want to chop your looping opponent down, you can choose for quick and light chops, which will make the ball easy to manage away from the table, but it will take a few chops to make your opponent loop into the net, because spin-reversal is there, but not great. You can also choose for quick full chops; in this case the ball may be returned into the net the very first time. A strong opponent will notice how heavy the backspin is and as a consequence decide to push the next one; it will be very hard to keep the ball from landing deep on your half, however, which offers you the chance to attack, so you have to be ready for that when you start chopping this way. Chopping hard and full is most effective away from the table, as the ball will be fast and low, and safe pushes by the opponent will bounce off the table, so you will be able to get them in time. Varying chops (and the amount of backspin) is most effective from medium distance, though, as returns may land closer to the net and you want to be ready to attack weak returns immediately.
All in all, the FLIII is very well suited for defenders who want to play their game actively, trying to take the initiative even when defending. It works, but it also takes a lot of effort, changing between defense and offense, and moving in and out a lot. If you want to play a more patient and less exhausting kind of defensive style, the FLIII is probably not what you should choose.
_________________ Without opponent, no match.
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