November 10, 2016

How Fast Can You Smash?
We often talk about how a ping-pong ball often travels at speeds up to 100 mph (about 161 kph). That simply isn't true, at least at this time.

Here's the video How Fast Does a Table Tennis Ball Travel? (1:26). Until recently, the "official" record was I believe 69.9 mph (112.5 kph), as noted in Table Tennis Ball Speed page from 2003-2004, which analyzes the data at the time. But Germany's Dimitrij Ovtcharov (world #6) "smashed" that record with a 75.8 mph (122 kph) smash. To get that speed, he did an all-out wristy forehand smash.

But this raises the question – just how fast can one smash a ball? While world-class players like Ovtcharov are undoubtedly among the hardest hitters, that doesn't mean he's the hardest hitter. Few have been tested. World-class players are actually trained mostly to loop, so when trying to hit the ball at the maximum speed they are actually doing something they are not trained to do.

Let's suppose there were big-money competitions for hardest-hit smash. We won't worry about the details about how to judge this – we'll assume the radar gun used in the video above is sufficient, and go with its results. How fast could players smash?

First, the equipment would make a big difference. Most modern high-level rackets are designed for looping, not pure speed smashing. Back in the days when pips-out hitters dominated, most companies had at least one super-fast carbon blade, which was probably too fast for any human to use, but was used by many players because they liked the idea of using such a macho blade. They were like rockets when smashing, but weren't so good for looping unless you were one-shot loop-killing everything. I don't know if any company still makes such a blade, using space-age materials to give added speed – I'm guessing yes. (Feel free to comment below.)

The sponge covering makes a difference as well. Current sponges are also mostly designed for looping. However, I think they are pretty good for pure speed as well. You'd probably want the thickest, hardest sponge you can get.

The stroke would be as flat as possible, with no energy going into spin. The player would put his entire body into the shot, as Ovtcharov does in the video above – legs, hips, waist, shoulders, arm, and with a big wrist snap at the end. Timing this properly is huge, going from the big, lower-body muscles to the smaller, upper-body ones, and takes lots of training to get right. Snapping the wrist into the ball like this isn't something that players are generally taught – usually the wrist is used for adding spin, not speed, though of course a player like Ovtcharov can adjust and use it for pure speed.

Now imagine a competitive hard-hitting competition, and someone who's a professional at this "sport." He'd have a super-fast racket made of whatever legal space-age material they can use to add pure speed, with thick, super-hard sponge. They'd be able to put their entire body into the shot, with that big wrist snap. If Ovtcharov, an "amateur" at this new sport, can approach 76 mph, how fast could our "professional" do it?

There's a comparable sport to consider – baseball. There the players are throwing the ball instead of hitting it, with the fastest pitch ever at 105 mph. If you used a similar technique, why can't a player hit the ball at a similar speed? Or does a ping-pong ball inherently slow down as it comes off the racket, so that not all of the energy transfers to a thrown baseball also transfers to a ping-pong ball hit with a ping-pong paddle? (I'm talking the ball coming off the racket's surface, not air resistance, which also slows it down dramatically.) This is the part that we just don't know.

On the one hand, if Ovtcharov can do only 76 mph, then perhaps the limit of human performance is reached in the 80-85 mph range. But if we were developing players purely for the purpose of hitting a ball as fast as possible, as is somewhat done in baseball, with techniques and equipment designed specifically for this, perhaps the speeds would go up dramatically, into the 90-100 mph range or more.

But we're not thinking outside the box. Legally there's no limit to how long a ping-pong paddle's handle can be. If we really want to smash a ball at super-high speeds, we should use a paddle that's essentially a tennis racket, with a similar long handle. Then imagine the speeds we could do! In the 1980s or so, a former top player named Carl Kronlage used to play in tournaments with just such a racket, with something like a 15-inch handle. Why not use a tennis-type racket, which are up to 27-29 inches long? Or even longer? Think of all the power you could generate with such a racket!!! (I googled for pictures of such rackets, but couldn't find any.)

And we're still not thinking completely outside the box. Why are we using regular forehand smashing techniques? In tennis, the hardest-hit balls are done with serves and overheads, a completely different hitting technique. If we want to maximize speed in table tennis, we would likely want to do the same. So now we're using a long-handled, space-age materials racket, covered with thick, hard sponge, and smashing with an overhead motion. How fast can we now go? I think we'd break the 100 mph barrier. (Of course what we'd want to hit with such a smash trumps doing so in some smashing contest.)

Interview with Paralympian Csonka on Mental Preparation (by Dora Kurimay)
Here's the article.

Olympic Coach Magazine
Here's the Fall issue.

USATT Invites Members to Annual General Assembly
Here's the USATT info page on the Assembly, which will take place Wednesday night at the U.S. Open in Las Vegas. The focus will be on USATT’s National Team programs – in particular, the selection process. I'll be there; will you?

USATT Nominating and Governance Committee Announces At Large Board Seat Election
Here's the USATT info page. Want to run for the USATT Board? Here's your chance! (It's too late for me, I'm already on the Board – save yourself! Run away!!!)

USATT Insider
Here's the new issue, which came out on Wednesday.

USATT and Super Micro Team Up To Support Youth Table Tennis
Here's the USATT article.

Nominees for ITTF Breakthrough Star & Star Coach are Released
Here's the ITTF press release.

Rio Reflections with Table Tennis Athlete Jennifer Wu
Here's the article.

Secret to Living Long Healthy Life for 109yo Woman
Here's the article – but (spoiler alert!) secret is sweet tooth and table tennis.

2016 Butterfly LA Open: Interview with Vladamir Samsonov
Here's the video interview (2:04) by Barbara Wei.

2016 World Cadet Challenge Highlights: Cho Daesong/Wang Amy vs Uda Yukiya/Elena Z. (Final)
Here's the video (2:06) which features USA's Amy Wang!

Sculpture of No-Armed Paralympic Star Ibrahim Hamato
Here's the picture. (Here's the non-Facebook version.) Here's video (2:43) of him playing with paddle in mouth.

Best Swap Hand Shot in the History of Table Tennis!
Here's the video (27 sec).

Dining Room Pong
Here's the video (14 sec)!

Ellen DeGeneres Table Tennis Mannequin Challenge
Here's the video (40 sec)!

Funny Guy Table Tennis
Here's the video (3:37)!

Hilarious Table Tennis Exhibition
Here's the video (7:35) of the finish of a match long ago between Jean-Michel Saive and Andrzej Grubba.

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