We’ve just upgraded our web hosting package to give ourselves some more space and some extra bandwidth to cater for all our PingSkillers who are deciding to purchase our videos via download.

A Few Teething Problems

As part of the upgrade you may have noticed a few teething problems. Firstly our shopping cart stopped working. You simply could not add any of our products to your shopping cart. This has now been fixed so if you’ve been trying to buy something you should be fine to proceed now.

Secondly the Ask the Coach section of our website is currently down. There seems to be a problem accessing our database of questions. And thirdly, the contact us page has stopped working too. We are looking into these issues right now and hope to have them resolved in the next couple of hours.

Sorry

Sorry for the inconvenience caused but hopefully once we have sorted out the problems, the PingSkills website will be better prepared to support all of our readers and those who wish to purchase our videos via download. Thanks for your patience.

In a match what happens if you are injured. Can you continue, are you allowed to recover before playing on?

The answer depends on whether you had a previous injury and have aggravated it or whether you incurred the injury during the match. It also depends on whether the injury is due to your fitness. You are only allowed a break if you have an accident during the match and incur an injury.

Fitness

Therefore, if you get a cramp, you are not allowed a break because that is due to your level of fitness and is not an accident. Similarly if you had an injury in a previous match and then start another match you would not be entitled to a break. If you have an ongoing problem you are not allowed a break for that problem either. So ensure you are fit enough for the game that you play. If you go into a match with an injury you can’t use it as an excuse for a break during play. You are just going to have to live with it.

How Long

The maximum amount of break you are allowed is 10 minutes. The referee has to also feel that this break will not disadvantage the other player.

The ITTF rule states:
The referee may allow a suspension of play, of the shortest practical duration, and in no circumstances more than 10 minutes, if a player is temporarily incapacitated by an accident, provided that in the opinion of the referee the suspension is not likely to be unduly disadvantageous to the opposing player or pair.

3.04.04.05 A suspension shall not be allowed for a disability which was present or was reasonably to be expected at the beginning of the match, or where it is due to the normal stress of play; disability such as cramp or exhaustion, caused by the player’s current state of fitness or by the manner in which play has proceeded, does not justify such an emergency suspension, which may be allowed only for incapacity resulting from an accident, such as injury caused by a fall.

Prisca & Eric Rosario
Lifetime of Table Tennis and Weights

by Eric, Prisca and Alois Rosario

Prisca Rosario (my Mum) was Indian National champion and is still playing the game today at the age of 77. She has in recent years become a qualified Fitness trainer. Her experience will help you to get a great perspective of the place of Strength conditioning in Table Tennis.

In recent years elite athletes in almost every sport have turned to strength conditioning to assist them in their search for excellence in their particular discipline. In spite of this, many Table Tennis players and coaches question the need for strength in their sport. They claim that because the racquet and ball used are far from heavy, strength is not necessary. Even though the ball and racquet are very light in comparison to many other sports, considerable structural strength is needed to provide the base for generating the power required to propel the racquet and hence the ball at the speeds sometimes required. Whether it is a hammer thrower, a shot putter or a table tennis player the athlete must have a strong base from which to propel a missile. As one famous coach put it , “You cannot shoot a cannon out of a canoe”.

Spectators at Table Tennis matches are invariably amazed at the speed at which the ball travels and the quickness of eye and limb of the players. But it is interesting to examine just how fast the ball does travel and then compare it to the speeds achieved by other ball sports. It has been estimated that the ball travels at 100mph (160kph) when it leaves the bat, but Jay Turberville conducted an exhaustive analysis by using still photos, video study and even sound analysis to come up with a rather definitive answer as to how fast the little sphere travels when it reaches the opponent. Because of the lightness of the ball (2.7gms and 40 mm diameter) and air resistance slowing the ball down, there could be a considerable difference.

In cricket, bowlers like Jeff Thompson has been clocked at 99.7 mph but Brett Lee and Shaun Tait are considered to be even faster (Wikipedia), but the pitch is 20.5 metres long as compared to the 2.74 x 1.525 metres of the table tennis table. This gives the receiver of the cricket ball considerably more time to react.

In tennis Andy Roddick is claimed to serve at 155 mph (249.4 kph) on a court that is 33 x 16.5 metres. Faster ball speed, but over a much longer court. In spite of the court length players much slower than Roddick often serve aces.

To summarise, the table tennis player needs a strong base from which to propel the ball, the power to achieve this propulsion, the power and speed to be in the right place to receive the ball. Once the player reaches the correct position, the feet hit the floor and stop while the rest of the body tends to keep moving and the player needs strength in the joints of the knees, ankle and waist to overcome inertia and prevent injuries. After a top spin, muscles of the shoulder and trunk require strength to brake the action if injuries are to be prevented (Cornelius, Todd). They also need endurance both muscular and cardiovascular to keep playing for a long time. It must also be remembered that the endurance of a table tennis player is very different to that of a marathon runner and the strength and power required for table tennis is different to that of a weightlifter. The endurance is of the stop start variety and the power is more speed strength. However not all players and their coaches understand the principle of strength conditioning which build these qualities. In the next issue we will discuss how these can be developed.

References:
• About.com. Table Tennis Maximum Speed
a.. Strength and Conditioning for Table Tennis By Christian Lillieroos