Table Tennis Trial - Warmup Worries for Combination Bat Players

Put your hand on your heart and swear to tell the truth - Johan Axelqvist, witness for the prosecution!

Photo by: Christian Larrain, courtesy www.ittf.com

The Charge: Not using your 'funny' side during the 2 minute warmup is bad sportsmanship

The Clerk of the Court speaks:

Your Honour, the case to be heard today is a class action put forward by members of 'Speed Gluers Anonymous' (SGA), who claim that members of 'The Junk Users Unite Now Collective' (JUUNC) are causing the SGA members severe emotional distress by JUUNC members malicious refusal to use the 'funny' side of their bat in the two minute warmup. The SGA members are hereby seeking damages in the order of the removal of the offending rubbers from combination bats around the land, and the mandatory use of Bryce on both sides of the bat by all members of JUUNC. Banning of all penholders would be nice too, but is secondary in importance.

The Case for the Defence(!)

Greg speaks:

M'lud, as a medium pimpled rubber user of over 10 years standing, I am here today to refute these claims by the SGA members, and in turn to seek an injunction preventing these members from using or inhaling any speed glue until 2008. If it pleases your honour, I will now proceed with my defense.

To begin with, I call myself to the stand, your Honour. Slightly unconventional, I know, but I believe I have important testimony to make on behalf of my fellow combination bat players. <excited buzz around the courtroom>

I must admit, your honour, that I do not use the 'funny' side of my bat during the two minute warmup. <cries of 'Shame!' and hissing from members of the SGA seated in the courtroom> No, it's true, and I am not ashamed at all. You see, I do so in order to spare my opponents from emotional distress, not cause it! <gasps of disbelief and boos from the crowd, stopped only by the judge crying 'Order!' and banging his gavel>

Judge Sahara speaks:

That will be enough of that, thank you very much - the next person to interrupt the proceedings of this court will be taken outside and forced to multiball for an hour. The defence may carry on, if you please.

Greg resumes:

Thank you, m'lud. As I was saying, the reason I only use the normal side of my bat during the warmup period is to spare my opponent from mental trauma. While warming up with my opponent I want to hit as many balls as possible in the time allowed to let us both loosen up a bit and get a feel for the table and bounce of the ball, etc. Hitting with the smooth side of my bat instead of the pimples allows my opponent and I to hit counter-drives quickly and easily, so we both get to hit more balls. If I was to use my medium pimples my opponent would find it difficult to hit his counterdrives consistently, and the result would be a poorer quality warmup for both of us, and considerable frustration for my opponent, who may be expecting to have a decent warmup hit.

Now, I'm not saying that some combination bat players don't hide the funny rubber on purpose, just that sometimes we have other reasons as well (the cheap points are just a bonus!!) <Laughter in the court> And of course, m'lud, it is hardly fair to penalise the many upstanding members of JUUNC for the actions of the sneaky few, is it? After all, where is the outcry to ban all speedgluing, since some players use illegal glues?

To return to my point, I'm quite happy to hit with my pimples if my opponent puts the ball on the other side of the table. It's not going to help him get used to them very much though - I mainly use the pimples to chop the ball, and when I do hit with them, it's more of a loop stroke than a counterdrive.

If it would please the court, I would now like to call the head of SGA, Mr S.P.I'Nee, to the stand. <Mr I'Nee is sworn in - 'Do you agree to use water based glues, wholly water based glues, and no glues with toxic solvents?' 'I do, so help me God.'>

Very well, Mr S.P.I'Nee, I have a few questions for you - perhaps you would be so kind as to answer these for the benefit of the court?

Question 1: Seeing as I mainly chop with my medium pimples, am I therefore obligated to go back and chop a few with them during the warmup, so my opponent can see how my chop with pimples works? If so, as a defender, am I allowed to demand that my opponent loop a few to me so I can try out my chops against his loops?

Question 2: Exactly how much control are you allowed to have over what your opponent does in the warm-up? If my opponent is allowed to request that I use my medium pimples, what else can he request? Can I be forced to hit the balls where my opponent would like them? Can he request how hard I hit them, or with how much spin? Can I request that he show me his best serves that he is going to use to try to set up his third ball attacks?

Question 3: What if I decided to skip the warm-up altogether? Can I be forced to hit some balls with my opponent? The only relevant rule that I can see is 3.4.3.1, which says that "Players are entitled to practise on the match table for up to 2 minutes immediately before the start of a match...." What if I don't want a warm-up at all? Or if I want to hit up with my own practice partner? What happens then?

Question 4: Exactly how much of the practice period should a combination bat player use his funny rubber for? If, for example, he is a penholder who only uses the pimples on the back side of the bat once or twice a match, surely he would only have to hit it once or twice in the warmup? Or maybe if he only hits with the pimples for 10% of the warmup, he can only use the pimples for 10% of the match? If so, who is responsible for keeping track of this proportion?

Any reply at all, Mr I'Nee? No? In that case, M'Lud, the defence rests... <much cheering and clapping from a small but vocal JUUNC supporter's group, who are surrounded by the overwhelming numbers of SGA supporters>

The Clerk of the Court speaks:

It is now time for the prosecution to put their case.

<The courtroom goes silent as Mr Techno Logee, the lawyer for the prosecution, gets up to put his case...>

<To be continued...>

Will Mr Logee make his case? Is there even a case to answer? Got an opinion? Why not head to the forum and post your case for the prosecution, or add your support for the defence. Or email me direct, if you prefer. One thing is for sure, as a combination bat user, I'm not going to help out the SGA!!

Greg Letts 7th July 2005

Copyright 2005 Greg Letts

COMMENTS

July 7, 2005

Yuzuki wrote:

I'll take parts of the article to facilitate my idea.

Generally, I think, unless the rules say so, then you are not obligated to do things your opponents ask you to. But in doing such, you run into the risk of being rude, which also has other consequences.

Questions 1+2:

You'll probably be wanting to chop to see if you need to adjust your stroke for the table, to loosen up, and to groove your strokes before the game, but it's probably courtesy for your opponent to be able to see your strokes and it's effect on the ball.

Personally, I don't feel obligated, but still do so out of courtesy. Also, I would like my opponent to devise ways around my technique, to see where I can still stand to improve. (Although I love to win. )

To the question of how much control, I think the key word here is request. You may ask your opponent, but if he/she has a different opinion, then don't push the issue.

Question 3:

Skipping warm-up is probably OK, but it also deprives you of information about your opponent. Take your pick.
Information about how much control he/she has, or the type of play they do, can be revealed while warming up.

On having a different practice partner, I personally think it is OK to ask your buddy to be your practice partner for the two minute period. My stance changes if your opponent does not have a practice partner, I sort of feel obligated to become his/her practice partner then, and only if I decide not to skip warm-up. (I might find a new buddy in him/her! )

So, I read the forementioned rule as: If you have a practice partner, you are allowed to practice with them up to two minutes prior to a match. I'm not sure about the ITTF interpretation, though.

Question 4:

Similar to question 3, my take on this would be: Skipping extra practice might be good for your strategy, but what if your strokes on the so-called junk rubber (I personally don't think it's junk) aren't as smooth as you wanted?

About the case of sparing my opponent the emotional distress (on the account of the different surface), I think that player needs to go out more, and meet more people playing such surfaces. Or find a racket with rubber in really bad condition and ask a friend to use it.

Only through experience will the emotional distress go away, and be replaced by calm confidence in handling such situations, methinks.

Well, that's my take on this article.