Someone told me that this 8 year old video, with me being the racket tester, is still getting comments, so here's the background: It was produced during the 2010 German Open as part of an ITTF educational project. At that time, even several TOP 100 players still struggled with the language barrier, needed to run around with translating staff etc. To help them to get rid of this, ITTF produced several videos containing the TT specific English for various situations. And also to simply explain the situations as such. Racket control was one of them. Therefore the language is over-emphasized and the setting is artificial. More detailed comments as answers below.
This video is AWESOME! ASMR out the wazoo. Stay safe during the plague, my friend! Oh yeah... I almost forgot... we have tickets to table tennis for the 2020 (2021) olympics. Hope to see you there!
Preferrably the one with a job offer for two architects, one of whom is only building slaughterhouses. As they reject him, he runs out cursing. In my case, I should shout at the player: "I will not test your 6mm-thick rubber, even if you went down on your lousy stinking knees and begged me!" ;-) Seriously, as said in my main comment: It is an educational video in an artificial setting.
No, that's not my real job. But volunteering for a thing that deals with calculating figures is a bit easier if you are a professional mathematician. :-)
His accent is strangely engaging and informative. Imagine this man narrating Discovery channel :P " The Lion has got the Zebra by the neck, which is completely legal!"
You mean, I'd better do like this? "Watch this tremendous amount of rubber getting attacked by the thickness device. The desperate spark of hope in the player's eyes, look how he starts to pray 'four zero, four zero!' But there is no escape! Merciless the pin is crashing into the wood near the handle, while the figure in the display is taking the player's final breath. With a "four point eleven", the device brings its deadly job to an end." - Well, I thought about it, on April 1st for example, but believe me, before their match, many players lose their sense of humour. :-)
Can you imagine if someone was half a millimeter over the limit. All hell would break loose. Assassins would smash through the windows, flash bangs would explode and ninjas would whisk the racket away into the night.
Yes, all hell would break loose. Even in my grass roots league, many players probably could tell from the behavior of the return stroke when a racket covering is 4,5 mm thick instead of just 4,0. On the World Tour, it's a lightyear. Otherwise we would not have player-initiated concerns about this issue.
Lovely little guidelines. Allow the racket to be free. Now, if they did that right - both coach and inspector are supposed to get red in the face but I suspect only the inspector got red in the face this time.
Still interesting to read very recent comments about our training video, although today one decade (!) has passed since it was posted. I do not see any really new questions, not answered by me within the threads. If I am wrong, just keep me posted. I did some small replies despite. Thanks to those who acknowledge what I had explained three years ago: That ITTF was trying to help players cope with the not always simple rules that a sport may have. It's been my pleasure to help with this.
So, it was for an instructional video, but I'd like to think he (and others in the position) do it this way all the time. Being completely transparent by showing and explaining everything you're doing and why. It helps people to feel they're being treated fairly
"Which averages to 3.65 if I calculated that correctly in my head, but I do it everyday, so I think so." Man I wish I had this mans unwavering confidence.
I assume everyone else had the same experience enjoying this calm and professional approach to paddle standardization until your heads exploded when he said the average of 3.82 and 3.75 was 3.80.
2 года назад
He says the rules are accurate down to a tenth of a millimeter. 3.8 is what he would have to round to according to the rules. I don't think he could make a mistake, just look at him.
@ Good point, I forgot that! Although most science folks would say that reading the 0 in the hundredths place when your precision level is only tenths is incorrect, as it implies a level of precision that isn't there, which itself is inaccurate - as exemplified by my initial confusion :D
Ironically they don't test bounciness it seems, although I'm sure he'd notice something was up when he put his flatness tester down and it jumped up into his face.
More or less, yes. But this part of Racket Control is no longer done, because other than for thickness, you hardly ever encountered an opponent claiming a problem from a glossy rubber.
Provided it is done without holding up players' match preparation unduly. This is one of the reasons for the video: If they know the rationales and the wording, the procedure is faster and less confusing.
I want to see the measurement devices calibrated by another guy before this guy can measure my racket and to ensure his calibration devices calibrated. Plus he said he did that average thickness calculation in his head. I want to know when his head was last calibrated. Lastly, it’s good they test the racket for hazardous gasses. I once used a new racket and the first time I used it birds fell out of the sky, the grass tuned brown and my entire city for lung cancer.
Ladies, after cutting the rubber approximately to the edge of my racket with a pair of scissors, I use a mini electric cordless nail grinder polisher manicure grooming kit (costed only US$ 2.00 w/o the AAA battery) to grind away excessive rubber/sponge sharply from the edge of the racket, I even painted the edge with sparkling nail polish gel on the edge tap as well on the handle for one of my rackets. So far, the work looks quite professional. I am thinking about rubber dip those edge tapes so it looks more professional.
I see a lot of comments about people being executed for minor racket irregularities. While these remarks may be intended as humorous jokes, I wanted to assure everyone that this has not been the case since 1968 for international or European table tennis events. Try calling that thing a "paddle" though, and hoo boy... There won't be enough of you left to bury.
For this, we will simply use the calendar as the measuring device. It says here that she was born on March 12, 2003. That means she turned 18 about 2 weeks ago. Which makes her legal.
Two things are wrong with you. #1, you already speak English. #2, you probably do not play on the World Tour. Therefore, this video is irrelevant for your life. However, for falling asleep it's still cheaper than renting sheep and counting them.
My club has a lot of veterans. Some of them were country champions from the 80s and 90s or even before. They openly admit using boosters and even offer to glue my rubber with it. They say that my forehand will be three times deadlier because I am a Penholder. I believe they have found a way around the rules. You know just apply the right amount to bend the rules. I am tempted but not sure about it. I don't want to get used to such rubbers where I cannot play without them.
I was wondering the same, and found a really informative article at the ITTF's site, written in 2019. They're testing for "boosters", chemicals that cause the rubber to swell and change texture. This can allow a player to put more spin on the ball or otherwise affect play. There was some debate over whether this should even be considered cheating, but between the disadvantage to any player working with a standard racket, and the potential health risks some of the booster chemicals pose, the ITTF clearly decided it was worth trying to clamp down on the practice.
I'm 4 years late but this is real, the process is anyway. This exact video was made as a mock up for English speaking players so they aren't caught off guard when this happens and the person isnt speaking english.
I mean no ill will towards Mr. Kuneth or the ITTF. You have to have standards as so many countries sadly culturally accept cheating as acceptable. I and others just enjoy the funny parts of the process not the individuals. At first glance some would be wondering if it was an SNL skit. It is sad we have to have a process, that’s the satire in this.
