July 24, 2012

Table Tennis Shoes

In my SF novel "Campaign 2100" (which covers the election for president of Earth in the year 2100, and is currently making the rounds of publishers and agents), one of the characters was a championship table tennis player who quit the sport to run the election campaign. I stuck in three table tennis scenes. One of the innovations I used was that his shoes had adjustable traction, which he'd vary based on the floors. Why don't we have that?

Okay, the answer is we don't have the technology. But more specifically, why don't we use different types of shoes for different conditions? I see two main variations: grippiness and support. On slippery floors you'd want grippy shoes, but on grippy floors a grippy shoe might be too grippy, making it grippingly difficult to move. (Isn't that a gripping sentence?) Older and overweight players, and those playing on cement, would want shoes with more support, while others might want a shoe with little support so they can "grab" the floor better with thinner, more flexible soles.

I envision a scatter plot on a square graph where the higher on the graph you are, the more support; the more to the right, the more grippiness. Then players could choose the shoe that fits their condition and the playing conditions.

I used to have both my regular playing shoes, and these "suction cup" table tennis shoes from China that were super grippy. On slippery floors I'd pull out the suction cup shoes. Also, when I had knee problems, I started using shoes with more support. But now that I play almost exclusively on red rubberized flooring designed for table tennis (at the Maryland Table Tennis Center), and my knees seem fine, I prefer shoes with little support and thin soles. They don't need to be grippy - you can move on the red flooring with iced soles. However, I never wear the low-support table tennis shoes outside the club. (You do carry your table tennis shoes to the club in a shoe bag, right? NO ONE in their right mind would wear them outside the club, where you might hurt your feet or get the shoes dirty!)

What I Did Yesterday

  • Wrote the Tip of the Week
  • Wrote the Tip of the Week for next Monday
  • Wrote Monday's blog
  • Did three hours of coaching at MDTTC Training camp. (Spent much time with three new beginning juniors.)
  • Took the kids during lunch break to 7-11 (after they'd eaten lunch).
  • Changed sponge on both sides of my racket
  • Weeded yard, then went to Home Depot and bought new mulch, and put it in.
  • Did two rewrite requests on SF stories, one for a story already sold, and one for a story that's a "finalist."
  • Submitted seven short stories to markets (I'd let it go for a while)
  • Responded to about ten emails
  • Watched tapes and took notes on several prospective opponents at upcoming Southern Open and Junior Olympics in Houston. I'll be coaching there Fri-Wed, July 27 - Aug. 1.)

How Ping Pong Saved the World

Here's the trailer (2:18) for the upcoming documentary "How Ping Pong Saved the World." It includes short statements on how they got started in table tennis by Connie Sweeris, Tim Boggan, Errol Resek, Jack Howard, Judy Hoarfrost, Rufford Harrison, George Brathwaite, John Tannehill, and Olga Soltesz.

And here's an email I received regarding the documentary and the book series that features table tennis by Jerome Charyn.

I'm Lenore Riegel, partner-in-crime of Bronx author Jerome Charyn, the well-known player who wrote Sizzling Chops & Devilish Spins: Ping Pong and the Art of Staying Alive.  Charyn is featured in the upcoming documentary, How Ping Pong Saved the World

Ping-pong figures heavily in the first two of his ten Isaac Sidel crime novels, recently re-released, and soon to be an animated adult TV series, Hard Apple

I know you already have a picture of Charyn on your site, but it occurred to me that you might like to read Charyn's ping-pong books - I'd be happy to send them.

Meanwhile, the book trailer features ping-pong.

I've attached a sketch from the animated TV series based on Charyn's crime novels - there will be lots of ping-pong in them.  I've also attached a few pictures you might enjoy for your site.

Here is the Facebook page and the Tumblr page

Charyn plays regularly at SPIN in NYC.

Table Tennis Rulez

Here's a new table tennis promotional video with lots of great points (7:12). It starts off with two very long and great points, then the music starts.

Ford Uses Ping-Pong Balls to Measure Vehicle Space

Now we'll know how many ping-pong balls fit in the glove compartment.

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I think wearing tt shoes at home and then driving to the club, will neither get them dirty nor hurt an average person's feet.

I should add for the benefit of your international readers that in the US, lots of foot support in the shoe is "the way to make shoes". And so now, the counter-culture+fad in the US is to wear minimalist shoes with no support at all (generally called 'barefoot shoes'). Yup, one wearing a 'barefoot shoe' is not barefoot !

The over-specialization reminds me of an essay we had to read as kids, wherein there were two shoe shiners/polishers. One who exclusively specialized for the left foot and one who exclusively specialized for the right foot.

So, I think it is ok for an average person to wear the 'low-support' shoes outside the TT club. (Unless, one day, there are these car-driving shoes, without which driving a car is really dangerous ! wink)

I agree with the comment above. I wear my TT shoes to and from my vehicle rather than carry them. But I only wear them outside for the short walk into and out of the club...watching out for mud puddles and doggy doo-doo of course! wink

Oh BTW, my "TT" shoes are really Yonex Badminton shoes. They have amazing support on the outside of each shoe and it's almost impossible to "roll" my ankles over. (I did that often with my old shoes.) They are also constructed in such a way that if you stand with your feet shoulder width apart the soles are flat on the floor. You can see that they "lean" inward if set on a bench. They are very light and after a year-and-a-half of thrice weekly club play they show hardly any wear at all. (I did wear out a set of orthotics, but the shoes are fine!)

 

 

My table tennis shoes rarely see a floor other than one for playing table tennis.  I don't use a bag, I losely tie one lace from each shoe and sling them over my shoulder. I wore them last night at a bar tournament (2nd place - $100 - Yippee!!) and intend to clean them thoroughly tonight.

When I do a lot of training on concrete, I use outdoor, "all-terrain" sandals. They are light, have adequate side support, decent traction on concrete, and enough cushioning to reduce the stress from playing on concrete.