Playing against chop
By: Brian Pace
September 5, 2006

There are actually some very simple skills you need to develop to be very competitive against a chopper. The biggest problem with not having enough skills is that you can’t dictate the pace and rhythm of the match. It is not important that you can do all the skills to the highest level, but it is important that you can show a variety of shots. Just like a chopper you have to have a bag of tricks, which levels the playing field. Having all the skills will help you out as the match progresses.

Having a few basic skills completely opens up the door to making the match just a formality. I will use five video clips from the Kong Linghui vs. Koji Matsushita match to show the finer details of these skills.

Bring out the big guns
Yes, contrary to what you have heard, establishing your kill shot is not a bad idea. The first thing it does is make the chopper establish the furthest distance from the table based on how deep your kill shot is. Here is a clip of Kong establishing his power shots early on.

Use heavy spin loops
All choppers respect spin over speed, so make sure your loops have heavy spin on them. Choppers are less likely to experiment with a spin shot. Here is a clip of Kong establishing his heavy spin loop, followed up by a loop kill.

Use those angles
Choppers are limited by an opponent’s ability to play angle shots or a side spin loops. Here is a clip of Kong making perfect usage of the table to finish off the point with a low risk loop down the line.

Move them in and out
Now that you have established that you can kill the ball, loop with heavy spin, and use the angles. Dropping the ball once the chopper is back in the "Kill Range" that you have established completely leaves the chopper stranded, and they will most likely expose their position, or an open spot on the table. Here is a clip of Kong choosing his moments to drop push the ball when Koji is too far off the table to recover. Kong finishes the point off with a basic low risk angle loop.

Target that dreaded middle
Another added variable that makes the match more fun for you after you have established yourself is loop driving the ball to the chopper’s elbow. In the middle of looping the ball deep, heavy spin looping, and dropping the ball, target the middle the first chance you have the chopper trying to get back into his/her neutral position; makes it even easier to expose the fact that they have become unglued. Here is a clip of Kong going at the middle, then finishing off the point with a basic low risk loop.

Butterfly Heavy Spin Rubbers
Butterfly has two rubbers that are our Flagship rubbers for heavy spin looping. Tackifire Special Soft is the rubber that has the heavy Chinese style topsheet, with soft sponge to compliment the touch shots. Tackifire C – Soft is a newest in the line of Chinese style topsheet rubber. Its topsheet gives even more spin, and with a very soft sponge, you still have range and great feel on power and touch shots.

In conclusion, it is important to have all of these skills in your arsenal as well as reliable equipment. If you continue to be creative at how you use them, you’ll become better at all of them, and even better at using them the most effective way.

Good Luck
Brian Pace