2005 Rule Changes FAQ
Answers to Frequently Asked Questions
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Q: Which rubber sheets are now legal?
A: Here are the 10 legal sheets listed on www.hardbat.com:
Leyland (Hock rubber)
Andro Classic
Butterfly Orthodox
Dunlop Barna Original
RITC "Dr Evil"
RITC 563 (to be phased out Feb 2007)
Hallmark MagicPips
Alphatool ATP Reisman
TSP Millitall
Yasaka A12
Yasaka Cobolt
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Q: I understand it has to be the same type on both sides.
Does it have to be the same color?
A: No, both sides can be any color, either the same or
any combination (except white or yellow).
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Q: The rule says it has to be the same "brand" on both
sides. Does this mean I can have Yasaka A-1-2 on
one side and Yasaka Cobolt on the other?
A: The committee intended the word "brand" to mean the
designation or type stamped on the rubber, not the
company. So no, the two sides should be the same
brand and type. We will likely clarify the wording
at our next meeting.
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Q: I understand that it's now illegal to have sponge
even on the backside of a penhold paddle. Why??
A: At last year's nationals, we had complaints of
a player *unintentionally* hitting periodically
with a sponge backside, and it was surprisingly
difficult to police - even for an umpire (unlike a
paint-sheet for which it is easy to hear the
difference). There were also complaints that bats
with sponge on the backside had more of a sponge-like
trampoline effect even on the non-sponge side.
As unlikely as that might sound, the committee
decided that it would be simpler just to require
players to not have sponge at all on their paddles.
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Q: Which blades are now legal?
A: Any all-wood blade - this has not changed
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Q: What about cheap recreational bats?
A: We tried to pretty much make them all legal, and
listed all that we knew of. Since then, we've learned
of a couple more that we missed. We will try to make
the list more complete after the Nationals, but if there's
one you want to use in Vegas, bring it. If it's pretty
much like the others, we'll likely let you use it.
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Q: Why is the list so short? Why the change?
A: The hardbat committee has spent the past several years
considering standardizing to less spinny hardrubber
surfaces. This has been an ongoing debate since 1998,
when the committee first convened. But only last year,
when a British company reverse-engineered the old Hock
rubber, was this a viable proposal.
At first, the committee voted to standardize to the
new Hock rubber. However, it became unclear whether
this rubber would be available in sufficient quantities
and with sufficiently stable quality for the Nationals.
So in the interim, it was decided to transition to a
relatively small number of less spinny choices. We will
revisit possible standardization to one rubber next year.
We realize that the new rules aren't perfect, and that
having to change rubber sheets is disruptive. But we
think that it is easier to make such fundamental changes
and experiments NOW, when the sport is young, rather than
in the future when things become entrenched. We hope
that players will join us in this period of experimentation
and give us their feedback. Remember, it may be less
spinny and powerful - but that's also true for your
opponent.
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Q: How did the committee choose the 10 rubbers?
A: Last year, a subcommittee tested all of the hardbat
rubber sheets available, and placed them into four
categories with category 1 being the most classical,
and category 4 being the least. We decided to make
those in categories 1 and 2 legal, and reject those
in categories 3 and 4.
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Q: Why is Dr. Evil on the list? Isn't it medium pips?
A: Several players, including a former national hardbat champ,
have stated that Dr. Evil is the closest thing to Leyland
of any modern short pip rubber. We have no control over
claims that are made in the advertisements.
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Q: Why is 563 being "phased out" as of Feb 2007?
A: Although our tests concluded that 563 is an appropriate hardbat
surface, a lot of players complained after the 2005 Nationals that
it did not play in a classical style. Although we do receive lots
of opinions and complaints, this one complaint was so common that
we became convinced that we had made an error in our original
conclusion, and have decided to remove 563 from the list.
The president of the hardbat committee, Mike Babuin, wanted to give
players some time to make the change, and not surprise anyone at the
upcoming Nationals. So he decided to implement the changes by making
563 "ok" for the 2006 Nationals, and removing it after February 2007.
Note that RITC-Dr.Evil, which is now legal is a similarly priced
rubber made by the same manufacturer.
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Q: Why is Millitall on the list? Doesn't it come with sponge?
A: No. MINICAL comes with sponge. TSP-Millitall is a
self-adhesive hard-rubber only available without sponge.
Several people have written to me confusing the two.
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Q: Why isn't 799 on the list? What about Miracle or NP-8?
A: The subcommittee considered them to be quite spinnier than
the others and placed them into category 3. Others as
well, although these are the ones people most ask me about.
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Q: Why all this fuss about spinniness? NP-8 doesn't produce
nearly as much spin as sponge rubbers.
A: While it's true that the spinniest hardrubbers are still
less spinny than rubber with sponge, there has been an
ongoing sense among committee members (and several players
and directors) that hardbat should avoid facing the same
"arms race" that has plagued competitive table tennis.
Although this is admittedly a controversial decision,
that is the reason the committee moved in the direction
that it did.
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Q: Who's behind this? Is Marty Reisman behind it?
A: Marty is a committee member and has argued for standardization
for many years. However, he has not been alone. The current
rules change was originally drafted in 2004 by committee member
Al Papp, and underwent several rewrites over the following months
with input from various committee members. The final votes were
one-sided, but not unanimous. Marty abstained from voting since
one of the approved rubbers bears his name. Members Papp,
Stadelman, Grinnell, Gordon, Mann, and Reisman all wrote arguments
in favor of the proposal. Member Ty Hoff wrote against it.
(Two of the members who wrote in favor of the proposal ended
up abstaining).
Here I would like to say something about Marty Reisman.
A number of players have charged the committee with just
doing his bidding. If any of you have ever sat in on a
hardbat meeting, you would KNOW this is patently UNTRUE.
However, it is also true that nobody in the world has
carried the hardbat banner for longer and with more passion
than has Marty. Although he is no longer the hardbat
champion, he has been at the center of all of its ups and
downs over the past 50 years - from the attempted
standardizations of the late 1950s to the early hardbat
events in the 1970s, to its resurrgence in 1997 and now the
reverse-engineering of Hock rubber. We would be crazy to
ignore him... but we are still a committee of EIGHT, and he
has but one vote.
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Q: Does Marty Reisman make money off the sale of Reisman rubber?
A: Marty gave his name to ATP under the proviso that they
only place it on rubber that he believes conforms to the
original Hock characteristics. He receives no money from
ATP for the use of his name, or from sales of the rubber,
now or in the future.
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Q: Did the hardbat committee receive donations that influenced
their decision?
A: No. We have never received any money from any company ever,
with the exception of several years ago when we received
a few small donations for the 1998 Hardbat event prize
at the Houston U.S. Open.
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Q: Who's making money off of this?
A: I don't know of anyone who has ever made any money off
of hardbat. I have probably donated about $5,000 to it,
and never received a dime. Committee member Berndt Mann
has donated considerably more. Marty donated some money
to Jimmy Butler a few years ago - but that's a different
story :)
Players should try to remember that none of us on the
committee are being paid. We're all amateurs trying to
regulate what is still in many ways a recreational activity.
Hopefully someday hardbat will grow in stature, and also
hopefully when it does, the rules in place will be
sufficiently fine-tuned as to not suffer from the
outlandish equipment mess seen in the rest of table tennis.
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Q: Won't the makers of Reisman rubber make lots of money off
of this rule change?
A: ATP has sunk about $50,000 into developing Reisman rubber
and is unlikely to ever recoup their expenses. Despite this,
we didn't standardize to ATP rubber, because there were
too many questions about the stability, quality, and
availability of the product.
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Q: Why weren't we told sooner?
A: The rules decision was actually made back in September.
We posted to every internet forum that we could, and informed
the USATT rules committee. We also arranged for an article to
appear in USATT Magazine. Since it is likely that there will
still be people who don't know about it, I am working to try
to get a mailing list of hardbat entrants so that I can personally
inform them.
ATP has donated rubber sheets to the top 10 seeds in hardbat events.
As soon as I know who they are, I will be contacting them personally.
Having said all that, we still rely primarily on word-of-mouth.
Many players don't read material sent to them in the mail.
So PLEASE, if you know someone entered in a hardbat event in
Las Vegas, pass along this information to them. We would much
rather people know in advance, but there is only so much we can do
by ourselves.
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Q: Had I known about the rule change, I never would have entered.
A: If any entrant feels that strongly about the rule change,
let me (Scott Gordon) know, and I will personally pay you
the expense of your hardbat entry fee(s) if you now would
rather not play, and if it's too late to withdraw with a refund.
It was never my nor our intent to deliberately trick or mislead anyone.
Naturally, we hope that players who disagree will still play.
It is only by observation and experience that we can evaluate
the effects of our ruling - if any - on the nature of play that results.
We may learn that there is no effect on the rallies - or we may learn
that people like the reduced spin and that it extends rallies.
There is only one way to find out.
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Q: What about changing to the 38mm ball?
A: In 2006, we will be considering a proposal to move back
to the 38mm ball for hardbat events. There appear to still
be large quantities available, and there have even been a
couple of generous offers of donations (of balls, not money)
in that regard. Any opinions on this issue are welcome
input into our deliberations.
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Q: What IS the hardbat committee, and how did it get the
authority to set rules?
A: The committee was formed in 1998 at the request of the
then USATT president, and charged with formulating rules
for hardbat events. Scott Gordon was appointed president
and has held that post since. There have been a few
membership changes since then, but 5 of the seats have
remained unchanged. There are 8 members. Every change
in membership is approved by USATT. USATT committees and
their contact information is available at www.usatt.com.
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Q: Who can I contact to express my (glee/horror)?
A: Scott Gordon is the committee chair. His email
address is sgordon@hardbat.com. You can also
contact Al Papp, who has been acting as vice
chairman, at al@mindgrip.com. Note that I am
a college professor and, when finals approach,
I become a bit overwhelmed. So be patient with me.
There will also be a meeting in Las Vegas at the
nationals. See Scott on Wednesday to get a flyer.
It will likely be on Friday evening, since other
nights are taken up with other important activities
(Hall of Fame banquet, open Finals, etc.).
We anticipate hearing a lot of player feedback
at the meeting, and would like to hear yours too.
You can also express your opinions to any of
the committee members at any time. Contrary to
what people think, we don't operate in a vaccuum,
but instead interact with players constantly and
try to weigh the merits of a tremendous diversity
of opinions. We are easy to find at the Vegas
nationals, as we are usually clumped here and
there, playing fun games and laughing a lot.
Please join us at any time... but be warned that
you just might get roped into a clipboard match!
Classic Hard Bat Table Tennis