November 20, 2014

New Ball Prices are "Extortionate," Relative Costs, and a Poly/Celluloid Ball Comparison

Here's the article by Matt Hetherington. I too am a bit struck by how expensive they are. So I did a little research. The new Nittaku Premium 40+ poly ball (that's a mouthful) retail price is going to be $33.95/dozen, or $2.83/ball. (Maybe they are charging by the word? They are currently on sale for $25.95, but only for those entered in the USA Nationals, limit one dozen balls per player due to limited quantities available.) The Nittaku Sha 40+ poly ball costs $24.95/dozen, or $2.08/ball. Meanwhile, the regular celluloid Nittakus cost $17.95/dozen, or $1.50/ball. The Nittaku Premium ball costs $25.95/dozen, or $2.16/ball. The prices of the celluloid balls have been rising steadily for years, and now they cost more than tennis balls. (I'm using prices per dozen. When bought in smaller quantities, such as 3-packs, they cost more, and will likely be over $3/ball, as noted in Matt's article.)

Let's re-iterate:

  • Nittaku Premium 40+ poly ball: $2.83/ball
  • Nittaku Sha 40+ poly ball: $2.08/ball
  • Celluloid Nittaku premium: $2.16/ball
  • Celluloid Nittaku: $1.50/ball

Now the Sha 40+ ball can barely be listed here as a usable ball - here are the reviews for it. It's about as popular as playing table tennis in a hurricane. On the other hand, the Premium 40+ ball gets great reviews. So when comparing usable balls, we have to use the Premium 40+ for comparison - the ball that's going to be used at the upcoming USA Nationals. And we are going to be paying nearly twice as much for it. Is it worth it?

The price of the Premium ball, as they go from celluloid to plastic (i.e. 40+ poly ball) is going from $2.16/ball to $2.83/ball. And yet, since the regular Nittaku gets pretty much the same great reviews as the Premium, I see the price as going from $1.50/ball for the cheapest usable celluloid ball to $2.83/ball for the cheapest usable plastic ball. (I'm not counting training balls, which typically cost about 50 cents/ball if you buy a gross or so at a time, and cheaper for sponsored clubs.)

The argument for it is that the celluloid balls were having insurance and shipping problems because of their flammability. Is it enough to justify nearly doubling the price? (See Matt's opinion on this.) I'll let readers decide. I'm guessing U.S. distributors are getting charged extra for the new balls, and are mostly just passing the price increases on to us. But I really don't know.

But here's an interesting comparison. You can buy a Penn 3-pak of tennis balls at Walmart for $2.53, or $0.84/ball. (And note that it gets great reviews.) Yes, that's 84 cents per tennis ball, or less than one-third the cost of a Premium 40+ Nittaku. There are more expensive tennis balls, but Penn balls are probably the best-selling tennis ball. (The "regular" rate is $4.96 - $1.65/ball - but they are almost perpetually on sale.) Of course, tennis has the advantage of huge sales, and so perhaps they can get away with cheaper prices.

So the question is whether a table tennis ball should cost two to three times as much as a tennis ball? Here's the equation! (The relative sizes are correct.)

On a related note, the last two nights I've been training players using the JOOLA Super-P 40+ poly balls, the ball that'll be used at the North American Teams next week. (I guess we have to get used to these much longer names.) Yesterday, for the first time, I went from coaching someone with the poly balls to coaching someone with regular celluloid balls. After two days using the poly balls, the celluloid ones literally hopped! They are slightly smaller and weigh less, and seemed to jump. It took me a while to adjust to the added pace. So I'll say this - if one goal of the new poly balls was to slow down the game and make it easier to rally, I think that might be true. Once you get used to them, it's easier to keep the ball in play with the heavier ball, at least if you use a quality poly ball, such as the Nittaku Premium 40+.

Today the big shipment of Nittaku Premium 40+ balls will arrive at MDTTC. (According to the online tracker, it's already out for delivery.) Starting today we'll have players training with five different balls, all desperately trying to keep them separate! I can't wait until this is all standardized.

  • Butterfly celluloid training balls for "normal" training. (We'll make the complete switch to plastic after affordable plastic training balls become available, presumably early next year.)
  • Butterfly 40+ poly balls (for Crystal Wang, who is training for the World Junior Championships next week)
  • Nittaku 40+ Sha balls (for those who got large quantities of them to prepare for the poly ball era)
  • Nittaku 40+ Premium poly balls (to train for the Nationals)
  • JOOLA Super-P 40+ poly balls (to train for the North American Teams)

Is Search Engine Showing Up Now?

A few weeks ago I posted a note asking if the search engine was showing up for you in the top left. It should read, "Search this site:" with a field underneath it. It wasn't showing up on many people's computers, or if you weren't logged in, but I think it's fixed now. Could readers verify whether they can (or can't see) see it? If you can't, let me know if you were logged in, and what browser you are using. (You can comment below or email me directly.) Thanks!
=>NOTE - Reports are coming in all over that the search engine is working great, so at this point only let me know if it's not working. Appreciated!

Fan Zhendong - Chinese Attacking Technique - Side Displacement

Here's video (34 sec, including slow motion replays) of Fan twice stepping way over to his backhand side to rip forehand winners down the line. (Also get a good look at Fan's serve in the second sequence. Why don't you serve like that?)

Ask the Coach

Episode #31 - Return Boards

  • PingSkillers Question of the Day - 0:24: Should pimple and anti-spin rubber be banned?
  • Question 1 - 2:40: I´ve read your answers regarding durability of rubbers and they’re focused on the surface layer. What about the sponge? Could I assume that the sponge is still ok if the surface is not worn out? Thomas Kunzfeld
  • Question 2 - 4:32: When I'm receiving a serve in forehand I'm unable to return it. When I chop or cut the ball it goes out of the table or in the net, it may be any serve where you need to brush the ball underneath. Siddharth Shah
  • Question 3 - 7:06: I consider myself as beginner. I played with simple bats up till now. I want to develop my game. What is your suggestion, Touch or Rook? A T
  • Question 4 - 8:21: I got a Wally Rebounder recently, and it's a lot of fun, but I'm wondering if it will actually help you improve your game? I know that it's always better to have a training partner, but I really don't have that luxury. Gary McAdams

College Players - Does Your NCTTA Rating Need to Be Re-Adjusted?

Here's where to go!

Table Tennis for You

Here's the video (30 sec) from Butterfly showing some aspects of table tennis.

Robots Playing Table Tennis

Here's repeating animated image of two robots playing table tennis as spectators (and you) watch the ball go back and forth . . . back and forth . . . back and forth. . . .

Prison Pong

Here's the picture! Is this real? How does the ball make it through the bars? "TT player is put in jail for not being able to pay $45,000 fine by the ITTF, so decides to play the jailer for the money with a wobbly plastic ball."

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