Is motivation important

I am absolutely sure that I want to be a defender because of my very bad eyesight,so I chop in order to slow down the game.

It is because when the ball is too fast,I can not see it. Also,I cannot see the oponent's bat because it moves too quickly for my eyes.

But the main problem is that I have to train only with a robot
No one wants to play or train with me,because everyone of them wants to play or train a looper.

That is good.  Don't worry as you improve players will want to train against the chop.

They train against it,but they always choose a player who can do a long,heavy backspin serve.

In our leagues is no other chopper (at least I do now know abut any chopper)

Every player I know said that he never played a good chopper

Hi D K,

It looks like you're part of an endangered species! :o) Indeed, being confronted to pure chopping defenders becomes rare these days. But then, when it happens and you're not used to it, you're screwed. So from that point of view alone, your club partners should be glad to have a guy like you to practice with. Maybe once they will have badly lost against such players a couple of times, they'll reconsider the merits of having you around.

And if they keep bugging you to change your style while you're enjoying it and it fits your physical limitations, well maybe you should consider visiting other clubs and see what the atmosphere is like elsewhere.

can you plz come to mossford 

thx for videos

Hi Jean

Endangered species?
Yes it should be called this way

When I first time started to play table tennis,I wanted to play like .... simply "catch everything no mater what is it"
My extremely bad eyesight forces me to get time. For example,as I am watching alois' topspin,I would need almost two seconds to react to it,because I simply cannot see where the ball is,it is too fast.
The I saw Koji matsushita's chopping style and I knew that this is what I will start to train.

About the chance of losing to a good chopper: I know that there is that possibility
But there is not any chopper in any club in my city or near it.
They can lose to a chopper,but at our league level,they do not have a chance to MEET a chopper.
I have already asked members of all teams I know. But they all are taught just attacking. Some of them are blockers.
And everyone of them said that their trainer does not support or even tolerate defending.
I even know a club where the members have a ban on using pips,antispins or even defensive softs or blades.
They can only use allround or offensive blades or softs.

So the atmosphere in other clubs is similar.

Hi DK

In our club there is a chopper and my regular sparring partner outside the club is an all-rounder who used to be a chopper but tries to adapt to the modern game.

It is absolutely okay to be a chopper: just like topspin, backspin is an attacking weapon, trying to force the opponent into a mistake.I don't see the difference between a ball going into the net due to backspin or a ball going out due to topspin. Only because backspin slows the ball down, it doesn't add speed to spin, like topspin does. Still, backsping is an attack feature.

I'm not a fan of pimples or anti-rubbers because on a lower level it adds randomness, not skill, to the game. Still: they are legal and you can try to become a good long pimples chopper like Yoo Se-Hyuk. I'm sure the Chinese have one like that in there training camps, even if none of them plays this way.

I've been in other sports and hear players lament about opponents not adhering to "the form". They can only win against players who respect "the form". The only thing you need to respect are the rules and some good sportsmanship. The rest is tactics and excuses for not coping with tactics.

Hello Dieter

I know well that many players are not fans of pips or antispins. I also hate playing against specific rubbers or playing with them (for example: against short pips,with/against Tenergy rubbers or against rubbers that are suitable for smashing).

I do not know if I got well your note about randomness...if you think that I use long pimples because of its ability to "reverse" or stop the opponent's spins,that is not true.

I am so glad that I finally found people who does not condemn my style. Every player I know personally thinks that ball going into the net due to backspin is much worse than a ball going out due to topspin (They have told me more than thousand times that a failed topspin is better than a succesful chop)

Yes,I know an old man who uses long pips one backhand and short pips on his forehand and is a very good twiddler. But even if he is a pimple user,he also condemns my style.

But the paradox is that the fact I am condemned by all players I know is the main reason why I refused to become an attacker. To show them that defense is not a "inferior,childish and stupid" (as they say) style of playing table tennis.

Hi D K,

It amazes me to see how people manage to ruin others simple joy of playing a game. It's a game. It's just a hobby (for the vast majority of us). You're not a teenager training in some pre-professional table tennis boot camp, are you? So why on earth would somebody bully you into playing it in a way you neither like, nor have the physical abilities for? If they want to prove you, for you're own good, that your style isn't efficient enough, why don't they just beat you severely (in scores I mean) until you come to their "logical conclusion" by yourself? I don't know, really. That kind of stupid "snoberry" irritates me.

Heads up! And chop them to defeat... :o)

I agree with you

They just do not believe that it is possible to win without attacking.

They want me to be good.

But they do not believe that I can reach it using chops.

You are right,I am a teenager and I ,my teammates and every player I personally met (except Petr Korbel) is very far from a professional level.

But I do not play in any "camp",but in a league at the district level.