The only problem with this is thatstilltt wrote: replied on Monday February 5 , 2024
SamA wrote: replied on Monday February 5 , 2024Let us just assume this is true.Twiddler wrote: on Monday February 5 , 2024
Why do so many people play Pickleball?
1. Because it is FUN- that's 1 and 1A.
2. Because it is simple.
3. It provides a nice physical workout.
Table tennis is not that much fun. The learning curve, the spin and countless different materials make it very difficult to play.
Hardbat TT is the equivalent of Pickleball. It provides all 3 of the above. Fun, simple and good exercise.
Table Tennis growth will stay stagnant forever without this part of the sport flourishing.
Can you please explain how EXACTLY you would change ITTF's current table tennis then ? (Keep in mind that the two previous ITTF presidents have already tried this (by different methods) ........to turn table tennis into pickleball)
Unless of course you suggest that ITTF abandon sponge table tennis completely and we all go back to sandpaper & hardbat
He’ll correct me if I’m wrong but I’m quite sure he meant actively promoting hardbat in existing clubs parallel to the spin game, for example reserving tables for hardbat, adding more hardbat events in tournaments, organizing hardbat leagues, special hardbat nights, Saturday and/or Sunday mornings hardbat galore with a brunch buffet in partnership with a restaurant, anything to bring casual players with more chance to see them stick around.
1. stilltt has no freaking clue about how difficult it is for a beginner especially a junior to learn even hardbat. Even if one is limited to hardbat , learning tabletennis is not as easy as learning to play pickleball (or even badminton or tennis). Tabletennis even at its lowest level or even with hardbat is still complex & frustrating to learn. The most fundamental & distinguishing chracteristic of table tennis as compared to other racket sports is spin. Pickleball by its very design aims to remove the spin element. . Nothing wrong with what pickleball choose to do & congratulations & more power to them on their ridiculous & ever growing success in very short time but it is totally idiotic to try to turn table tennis pickleball as the two former ITTF Presidents have tried & failed . Adham Sharara with ridiculous & stupid rule changes & Thomas Weikert with TTX
2. stilltt has no freaking clue about the basic differences between learning to play hardbat domain as compared to sponge domain. If a parent has a child taking lessons, what shoudl the child be taking lessons in ? Hardbat or sponge or both ?
3. If I was a manufacturer like Butterfly or Stiga, I would be really really stupid to allow a club thet I sponsor hardbat events & all the retro hardbat & sandpapaer crap as it severely cuts into my profit margin of selling more expensive & replacement oriented rubbers such as spinny inverted rubebrs & even glorified inverted dead piece of crap rubber like anti or long pips which are designed to haev pips fall off afetr few months of use & need replacement. Why the hell would I allow hardbat & sandpaper when all it does is severely interfere with the proper stroke development in the sponge domain (the strokes are very different for hardbat and spinny inverted. A talented athlete like twiddler can adjust going back and forth between hardbat & spinny inverted but most players cannot and I would be crazy to pay good money to twiddler if he is going to allow my child too waste time learning hardbat crap)
