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Friday, September 16, 2016

The Rules With Long Pips: Close to the table defensive & offensive strokes displayed.

This post will be a follow up to my "Just About Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About A Long Pip Penhold Twiddle Game" post. In that post I referenced several YouKu videos (it's like the Chinese Youtube) that have since been taken down. Shame. Here I will try to reference the rules or strokes to perform with Long Pips with animated gifs. Now you don't even have to click on the videos to see them. It's all right here. Lets begin.

I think it's common to run across people who play long pips who largely just stick out their paddle on service return or lightly chop the ball no matter what. This is common generally with newer players to long pips can can can work for a while but there's a much more fun & deeper level to long pips if you're willing to try. Lets explore the close to the table options available to you.

(Note: While most of my examples will feature penhold, the same concepts can be applied to shakehand)

VS Topspin

Options:
  • Chop-block: 
    • Returns a fair amount of backspin
  • Sidespin chop-bocks (in either direction)
    • Can vary the spin as far as amount of backspin while applying a little bit of side, which curves depending on which direction you go.
  • Full Chop:
    • Returns a massive backspin. Same as chop block but off the table enough to perform a full swing for generating more spin.
  • Counter Drive:
    • Returns anywhere from a no-spin ball to slight topspin
  • Inverted Tip: A Twiddle and standard counter drive or loop returning a lot of pace & spin can catch the opponent off guard.
Chop-block:
This motion should be like a stationary block with a very flat blade angle. It's essentially perpendicular to the table. The motion is downward. Very short & quick.
(Done with shakehand but the blade angle & motion is the same with penhold)

Sidepsin Chop-block:
This is a nice variation where similar to the chop-block you move the blade to the left or right upon contact. Visually this can make your opponent hesitate and if your directional blocking is good, you can curve the ball away from the opponent slightly. Strangely enough I've found you can take quite a bit of pace off a ball if your blade is angled upon contact.



Full Chop:
For this stroke the ball needs to come off the table when it is hit to you as your stroke will start high and finish below the table. It takes practice to get the feeling right but if you want even more backspin than the standard chop-block, try this motion. The ball returned will have a significant amount of backspin on it making it that much harder for your opponent to loop the ball in. Furthermore, mixing in this amount of very heavy backspin with standard backspin of a normal chop-block is what ultimately gets someone to make a mistake. It's all about the spin variation.




Counter Drive:
For some this might help but if you've every played short pips or hardbat, the stroke here is very similar IMO. You simply have a flat blade face and swing forward through the ball. You might have to lift it ever so slightly. It's very much like a short pips stroke IMO. Just be sure your blade face is not closed at all. I also recommend not trying to hit this ball too fast when first learning it. You will not have a lot, if any topspin to dip the ball in. It's largely a change-up in spin & pace from players used to you always chop-blocking topspin balls.


VS Backspin

Options:
  • Bump/Attack/Swipe (has several different names)
    • Returns topspin
  • Inverted Tip: A twiddle here & push will keep the ball as backspin if you want to keep the rally going as backspin.
Bump/Attack/Swipe:
Truth be told I could split these up but the key thing to know that this is the part of the rally where you attack. IMO you should perform one of these strokes 90% of the time vs backspin The ball is coming to you with backspin and you will return it continuing that spin to them as topspin. They have done most of the work in getting the spin right for you. You are simply returning this to them either slowly or quickly. The angle of your paddle is again flat (possibly slightly open if really heavy backspin) and the motion is primarily forward and up. If you want to move the paddle to one side or another while doing this, feel free to try it. It seems for many, and myself, that this side motion helps in the attack.




VS No-Spin

Inevitably, particularly in the service game, you will run into players who get frustrated not sure what spin to give you. From here you will see them either give you no-spin serves or float a ball up high in a rally to see if you have the ability to attack.

(I've seen a match between two 2200 level players where this happen so trust me).

Yes, you could play this with a long pips soft push where the ball will remain relatively dead and most likely they will then attack the ball completely knowing that it's no-spin. I recommend making them pay for that tactic by urging you to use your inverted to attack. This is why twiddling, or having an RPB that's inverted while your LP is on your forehand, is so important. These will be easy balls any decent inverted attacker could hit in 9 times out of 10. Be ready for this when it happens.

Last but not least.

Lets not forget the other side of your blade. The inverted section. use this to your advantage. Learn to twiddle. Do not let the opponent get into a rhythm of always knowing what's coming back. Mix it up.
(Receive gives backspin, server attacks expecting another chop-block, instead an inverted topspin punch down the line)







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