Speed trumps spin

[John Kelly]

Attended a table tennis club last month in Las Vegas to watch EOG contributor BOMZEE practice his craft.

He's a serious table tennis enthusiast.

Learned the difference between ping pong (a basement activity) and table tennis (a world-class sport).

BOMZEE was practicing with James, his mentor, who works as a butler for The Mansions at MGM Grand.

James hails from Indonesia and he's a table tennis prodigy.

BOMZEE and James met more than 25 years ago.

James crafted BOMZEE's entire game from overall philosophy to table tennis equipment (paddle, specifically).

Here's the most important lesson James taught Bomzee about high-level table tennis: Speed trumps spin.

Eager to watch BOMZEE play again in mid-July.

I'll bring my paddle this time around.

One note: If BOMZEE wanted to skunk me, he could. He's far too generous to embarrass me, however.

 

[John Kelly]

BOMZEE and James practiced for about three hours.

BOMZEE made the following observation and posed an interesting question:

"Table tennis players practice to improve their game. Why don't I ever see racquetball players practicing? It seems they're always playing games."

 

[billysink]

not in baseball

that high speed pong pong is a rec center favorite in the inner cities

Fun as fk to watch , kids standing half a block from the table smashing a wee ball to a spot on a dime at a million miles an hour.

Lotta skill there IMO.

 

[WildBill]

Yeah those pro level players are on an insanely different level. Kind of reminds me of how the game of paddle or pickleball have made it at least something of a more level playing field. I play someone good and I can still win occasional points. I play someone good at tennis and I'm toast, lucky to even return a good serve. Maybe they can create some sort of ball and table that can make table tennis a little more even for us amateurs.

 

[TheGuesser]

Penalize yourself for thread title JK. Warning Number One(1).

 

[John Kelly]

Penalize yourself for thread title JK. Warning Number One(1).

I had to somehow honor BOMZEE's political views.

He would have been upset had I titled the thread: Biden My Time

 

[John Kelly]

Just bought a package of three-star tournament balls on Amazon.

Don't want to play with the one-star Penn cheapies I bought at Walmart.

One practice tip from James the Mentor: You need 75-100 balls to conduct an effective table tennis practice.