I absolutely hate this term, it just proliferated the myth that low friction rubbers have some kind of magic quality, they don't its just easy pure physics.
The player who has no idea, can't understand how when they push a ball with reverse, it comes back with a semblance of topspin, so they think the opponents bat is a 'cheating' rubber with mystical qualities, but really once you take on board the concept, these rubbers are the achilles heel of the player, that is why there are few of them at high levels, but 1000's at lower levels. Its just the opposite of what players think, the spin is not 'reversed' at all, that is what happens when you play against normal reversed rubbers, the spin is just not taken off or reduced with frictionless rubbers, simply because of the lack of friction, what does hap[pen is that the direction of the ball is reversed making chop appear to be topspin.
It it also why it is impossible to hit with these rubbers against an incoming topspun ball, when we hit the ball with rev topspin to topspin, the balls rotational direction has to stop on our rubber and be reversed, in order to give the ball topspin and therefore control and dip, this is why we can hit hard without the ball going miles off the end of the table. When attempting to counter topspin with frictionless rubber, the ball can't be stopped rotating on the rubbers surface, its like a cars tyres skidding on ice, so the ball that it hit back will actually have the same spinning axis as the ball that came in, but because direction has been changed, it becomes 'chop' and we all know what happens if you hit a ball hard with a chopping motion, it flies out of control miles off the end of the table. What CAN and is possible, is to hit an incoming backspun ball with spinless pips, but this is because the incoming backspin IS NOT REVERSED, but stays on the ball, the change of direction converts it to topspin, giving control and dip. Some, infact many players have a real problem getting their heads around all this, but 9/10 times its because they have not really thought about it.

Second session, this guy amazes me, he chops and retrieves like mad, solid, yet he has a really consistent heavy loop, but hardly uses it. We are seriously going to address this over the next weeks. We worked on developing a structure to his service game and follow up yesterday, he is still trying to adapt to his anti-loop rubber, but It is most imperative that he developes a consistent attack if he is going to improve his results.

I am meeting Bob on Friday, he continues to astound me with his progress, a real breath of fresh air because of his sporting accumen. Ray is back from America, I have to get back to our regular 3 times a week sessions, encouragingly, he has not lost his touch, we need to work on his f/hand though.
Nick Permponie also needs work on his f/hand, he is getting closer to the all important transplant games in Bath.

 Out of all my pupils, I would say that Bob is the most comitted, and I can't predict where he is going to get to in terms of standard, he seems to have the 'obsessed' factor though, always a good sign. If I got him to Div 1 Lincoln, I would be extremely proud. He would be extatic, and that is my aim. I have already got Tony on the verge of div1 standard, he also deserves everything, he is just so dedicated.
John knows that he is one of the best players, he just need to LISTEN.
Nigel is already there, he will have a good season next yr.
Joe has had some great wins, I think that my insistence on consistency is really starting to show with him.
 Jimmy, he knows, his problem, he's still playing with a 38mm ball, too much emphasis on spin, slow recovery, his best shot is often his downfall.

So there you have it, my update on all my students, I have to say, they all are playing better TT, they know it, that is why they keep coming back to me. Hopefully I give them something they would have not had without my guidance.


Wiggs.

I was really impressed today at my local club (Crusaders Lincoln) when I turned up for a relaxed low season practice session. Had a few games against various guys, went to the bar area and talked to Tony, one of my pupils, first thing he said to me was, ''your not recovering tonight'' .... Brilliant, because I was not, I was feeling sluggish, I have not played in any competition since the English closed in March, so his observation was spot on. It is really superbly nice when your pupils can tell you where you are going wrong. Bob is really playing well, I predict he is gonna make a massive breakthrough early next season.
Joe also tells me he has made some improvements in results, beating players he has not done so before.
Basically, there is no secret, I just work with these guys on being consistent, as I always say, hit the table one more time than the opposition and you win, simple as that, and all my pupils get to know that consistency is the name of the game for their standard, we can work on that, realistically, we cant work on the hitting winners game, unless they are;

Young, fit, and spend 20 hours a week practicing.

 For everyone else, improving you standard within the level that you play, ALWAYS comes down to consistency, if you improve it, you get better.

Went very well, Dave emailed my the next day to say how he enjoyed it, we have some ideas already as to how he is gonna improve, he spent most of the initial session getting used to his new anti rubber as I consistently topspinned to him. We also worked on ball placement and depth, as I do early on with all my students because it brings about instant results, its normally a case of merely doing something they have never thought of (varying Depth of pushes and keeping them out of the 'power zone') Its amazing how many players of local league standard concentrate too much on applying backspin to pushes to try and force an error, at the expence of positional play/depth. Every one from this school without exeption has made an instant improvement just by altering their intentions when pushing/playing the short game. Dave has the choppers paradox, he tries to load everything, but when it gets lifted with loop can't handle it, so tries to put ever more chop on to force a mistake. This always works up to a level of opponent, after that, its 'good night Vienna' Much better to vary, the better defensive players I play use float frequently, its far more effective when mixed with subtle chop on the reversed side.

I've got my first chopper joining my merry band of improvers. Dave is a Lincoln first division player, looking to improve his general standard and results, he is very experienced, a solid type of player, but has one technical problem, he struggles to return heavy topspin, and this holds him back. He's told me he's got some anti loop, so we will make a start tomorrow with a two hour session. I'll report about it later.