Pongfu is a marriage of two contrasting sports. The first sport, pingpong, is all game playing, while the second sport, kungfu, is all stroke drilling. Pongfu's mission is to develope the strokes that are geared for long and intensive drilling aimed at achieving short and sweet results in playing.
The stroke development will be based on playing style. Since, in both pingpong and kungfu, speed is king, the style should be for playing fast. This requires that both right and left sides are equally attended. That leads to a centralized fencing stance.
Historically, it has shown that the shorter the stem of the racket's handle, the faster the game. So, it points to the developement of a stemless racket. The placket, with the handle in the back of the blade, is the result of such an effort. This racket allows the player to pick up the ball right off the bounce, as there is no handle to block even the bottom part of the blade from moving close over the top of the table.
We can theorizing all we want, but it's practice that counts. How can we get to the ball quick and early, while still maintaining balance? And how can be recover fast for the next shot?
Basically, the key is in the use of the unused arm. How can we turn it from a awkward appendage to a balancing lever much like a cat's tail? Again, the movement of the left arm of a righthanded fencer gives a good indication as to how pongfu player should swing the unused arm.
Also based on simple physics, generating power from the hip provides both speed and balance. A player's concentration should be on the hip's ability to swing out both the hands and legs in their proper directions.
The kungfu part of pongfu is simply: shadow stroke until all the strokes become second nature before actually start play the game. Without first mastering the stroke, players tend to pick bad habits under pressure to win. This is because the strokes will be dictated by the fast and randomly moving ball. Such strokes are the why most players can never improve pass certain level of playing.
So it is vital that pongfu strokes are developed correctly. Unlike kungfu itself that has mutated into stuff of which movies are made, pongfu strokes have a real job to do. This could be a monumental case study of the phenomenon of cause and effect.
PONGFU sTROKES
Pongfu has 8 major strokes -- 4 rallies, 2 serves and 2 returns.
The neutral stance is centric in which the right leg is placed directly
in front of the left foot forming a perpendicular line with the
edge of the table. Both feet should point to the left and parallel
to the table edge.The body is correspondingly turned with the
head turned right angle to face the table.
Each stroke start with the right leg moving forward and sideway and
both paddle and left hand raising.
The arm motion consists of raising hand to get a rebound downward,
that should be timed against other player's stroke and decending of
the ball from his paddle.
The ball should be stroke with the rebound upward and sideway force.
The forehand out-in stroke requires paddle to be tipped upward, moving
from outside inward and twisting paddle clockwise looking down.
It is used to counter a forehand crosscourt shot, which should be
guided down the line.
The forehand in-out stroke requires paddle to be tipped downward,
moving from inside outward and twisting paddle counterclockwise.
It is used to counter a backhand down-the-line shot, which should be
guided cross court.
The backhand out-in stroke requires paddle to be tipped upward, moving
from outside inward and twisting paddle counterclockwise.
It is used to counter a backhand crosscourt shot, which should be
guided down the line.
The backhand in-out stroke requires paddle to be tipped downward,
moving from inside outward and twisting paddle clockwise.
It is used to counter a backhand down-the-line shot, which should be
guided crosscourt.
The serve starts with moving from left leg in front to the back while
tossing the ball. The paddle is raised and twisted to tip up as much
as possible.
The serve stroke is executed by slamming down the paddle downward to
hit the ball downward with a the tip of the paddle giving a downspin
to the ball. The lefthand, after tossing the ball, should swing
backward. As fast as possible, the server should jump into the
centric stance with arms ready for the next shot.
The serve should be directed to two corners, making the directional
commitment as deceptive as possible by twisting the body before
striking the ball and twisting the paddle into the striking ball.
The next stroke after the serve should be directed to the alternative
direction to where the served ball is directed.
The return is similar the the rally except the stepping of the right
foot should be exaggerated as much as possible, and the counterspin
to the incoming ball should be in the same direction as the other
player's serve motion. The return should be directed to the opposite
direction as the incoming ball. Paddle should twist rather than swing.
1.74
RACIAL DISCRIMINATION OR CULTURAL CLASH
1.75
RACISM AND STERILIZATION CONSPIRACY
1.76
RECIPROCITY