PPGEAR - Ping Pong Equipment and Apparel

2009-10-07T19:03:00.000-07:00

The Table Tennis Database has launched the Table Tennis Coach Wiki.

It's full of great tips on all of the different strokes, and has videos and links embedded on the page. It's a great free resource to help you improve your ping pong.

2009-07-09T15:21:00.001-07:00

If you love table tennis videos, but find there's too many low-quality videos on YouTube (as well as many good ones), you'll like the Videos section on the Table Tennis Database.

The videos are sorted into categories:

Training (114)

Humor (48)

Highlight (90)

Event Match (43)

Home Made (14)

Exhibition (11)

Movie / TV (33)

Slow Motion (10)

Commercial / Advertisement (29)

How To (Tutorial) (7)

Interview (24)

Other (74)

You can add videos to this library and categorize them.

2008-12-04T06:32:00.000-08:00

New PPGEAR Website!

We are pleased to announce the launch of the new PPGEAR website: http://ppgear-table-tennis.ca.
The website has gone through a complete visual overhaul and has been re-organized with new content to serve your needs better. We've added:

Racket Recommendations to help you make a more informed choice

Table Tennis Dictionary to clarify and explain the many terms

Rules and Myths to clarify the commonly mistaken rules of the game

Racket Care to explain how to keep your racket clean and performing well for a long time

and coming soon a Shopping Cart for easier ordering

Visit the new site: Ping Pong Rackets, Table Tennis Tables in Canada (Toronto)

2008-09-30T15:39:00.000-07:00

The Table Tennis Database website (www.tabletennisdb.com Table Tennis Reviews) has been growing very rapidly. Here are some updated statistics from the last 30 days:

6,066 Visitors

9,526 Visits

40,295 Page Views

789 Products in Database

463 Ratings

418 Reviews

And this is only within 6 months of the website launch!

And the top viewed products are:

Butterfly Tenergy 05

Table Tennis Master Forehand Loop Mastery (Training DVD)

DHS Hurricane 3

729 Focus III

Donic Waldner Dotec Hinoki

Thanks for making the site a success and a great resource for the table tennis community worldwide!

2008-03-24T21:13:00.000-07:00

Announcement

We are pleased to announce a new website, the Table Tennis Database (www.tabletennisdb.com). It is a full-featured ratings and reviews site for table tennis equipment, aiming to become the most comprehensive database of all table tennis equipment and players (eventually including even sponges and tables).

This is a ratings site that lets you leave your own ratings and reviews of rubbers, blades and pips. All of the collective ratings are averaged to give you a good comparison of ratings across different brands! It is a great place to look when shopping for new equipment.

This website was a collaborative effort of Cole Ely (www.colestt.com), Haggisv (www.oneofakindtrading.com.au) and PPGEAR (www.ppgear.com) that has taken months of planning and development.

Features

See screenshots at the bottom.

Ratings and Reviews of Equipment from the table tennis community. Even view a specific user’s ratings/reviews together to get a consistent comparison (no more having to wait for “critical mass” before you can trust ratings)
Your own Profile where you can post a picture, your rating, playing style, grip, and what equipment you’re using. Show off your racket! Also list your tournament victories (1^st place to 4^th place)
Easy-to-use Web 2.0 Interface that looks great and is easy to use. All complicated terminology is also explained with helpful mini pop-ups so you can understand the ratings better.
Comprehensive database of information – this site will be your source to look up all details about equipment, players, and even the manufacturers (eventually)
Buying information – you can see a list of online retailers to find the best place to buy your next paddle.
Forum – to discuss equipment, coaching tips, videos, and anything that’s on your mind!

Contest/Prizes

To kick off the launch of the Table Tennis Database, we’re holding a contest. In order to build the database of information, we want contributions from the community to get information from the product packaging. You will be entered into the contest even for simply creating an account! You can win one of three prizes:

First Prize: $40 USD Gift Certificate for a purchase at www.colestt.com
Second Prize: $15 USD Gift Certificate for a purchase at www.ppgear.com
Third Prize: $10 USD Gift Certificate for a purchase at www.colestt.com

Read more on how to enter at http://www.tabletennisdb.com/contest

2007-07-09T11:03:00.000-07:00

Some product pages have been released for Dawei products:

Dawei Inspirit table tennis rubber

Dawei Inspirit Quattro table tennis rubber

Dawei Genote table tennis blades

2007-06-24T21:31:00.000-07:00

There is a new shipment of Dawei equipment on its way over to Canada. Its planned arrival is mid-July (there have been several delays already). In this shipment there will be:

Dawei Inspirit rubber
Dawei Inspirit Quattro rubber (built-in speed-glue effect)
Dawei Super Power 2008 XP rubber
Dawei Wavestone carbon-arylate blade
Dawei Matrix blade
Dawei Kama blade
Dawei Genote Quattro-S (Hinoki) blade
Dawei speed glue (250mL and 100mL)
Dawei DP-4 clip-on net sets
Dawei Lightning sponge (2.2mm, various hardnesses)

There has been a lot of buzz surrounding the Dawei Inspirit Quattro rubber, everyone is trying to get their hands on it. The same buzz had surrounded the regular Inspirit rubber, which has successfully found its way onto the rackets of people tired of paying $30-50 per sheet of European/Japanese rubbers.

2007-04-25T14:46:00.000-07:00

In a few weeks (around May 9), a new shipment is coming in with some exciting new Dawei products! New blades include the Dawei Wavestone (carbon arylate) and the Dawei Matrix (wood). Cole Ely (www.colestt.com) has said good things about this new blade and it has been getting more popular since.

Also, a lot more Dawei Inspirit rubbers will be coming as well, in 2.2mm and MAX (~2.5mm). Cole, the official distributor for Dawei equipment in North America, has made this popular, and people everywhere are agreeing! Some say it plays "much better" than the Butterfly Bryce FX (when both are not speed-glued).

Dawei is definitely making a splash with their high-quality offerings.

2006-10-06T19:31:00.000-07:00

I'm pleased to announce that PPGEAR is now an authorized dealer of Friendship/729 and Dawei table tennis equipment! We look forward to serving the Canadian population.

Look for the catalog of equipment on www.ppgear.com.

PPGEAR - Ping Pong Equipment and Apparel

2006-04-10T19:04:00.000-07:00

So it seems that Rockstar Games (the very same that released Grand Theft Auto) is coming out with a table tennis game for XBOX 360.

From checking out the trailer and screen shots, the game definitely looks good graphically; there is amazing detail on the players' faces and bodies (even some sparse leg hair on Liu Ping), and if you only get a quick glance, you could mistake them for real photographs. But the action looks a bit awkward. It doesn't look like they analyzed the ball movement that much; chopped balls seem to move just as fast as loops. Also, they're almost always hitting the ball with a flat racket angle, like in the serves in the trailer. But being the first table tennis game to actually have bodies (instead of just rackets), this is a good step in the right direction, and hopefully there will be future titles that can improve on these things. I definitely look forward to trying it out.

The game definitely looks to be worth checking out (as a rental) when it's released on May 22.

Check out the trailer and screenshots on their official website at www.rockstargames.com/tabletennis.

PPGEAR - Ping Pong Apparel

2006-04-07T03:50:00.000-07:00

I found an interesting video on YouTube called "the amazing serve of Keiko Okazaki". She has a very unique style of service that is sort of fun to watch. She starts with a pre-windup that looks similar to Ichiro Suzuki's baseball batting stance. She can also put a mean sidespin curve on these balls.

Have a look: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47xO1TxUr8I.

That's one of the beautiful things about table tennis; you can really be unique and develop a style that nobody has ever tried before. In most other major sports, there is very little style variation; almost all of the players look the same. Same tennis serve, same baseball swing. Table tennis has so much diversity to appreciate, even in our equipment (cork in our bats isn't a crime!).

I'll always admire creativity in this sport. It really sets table tennis apart from the sports that are so heavily focused on just physical strength. An experienced 50-yr-old can defeat a 24-year-old at his prime when he uses his (or her) mind to employ strategy and exploit the opponent's weaknesses.

PPGEAR - Ping Pong Apparel

2006-04-06T08:09:00.000-07:00

There's a movie that y'all should check out. It's a Japanese movie called "Ping-Pong" (don't worry, there are subtitles). It's a great movie featuring a penholder with a bowl-cut (Peco) and his quiet, chopper friend (Smile).

Together they tackle all sorts of issues like personal crises of pride, letting people win, tournaments and such.

There are some pretty cool special effects as well. If you've seen the Chinese movie, "Shaolin Soccer", you'll get the same kind of feel in this movie. There is even a CSI-esque sequence showing the ball bounce off of some long pips.

Go run to your nearest Asian movie store and pick up a copy. You can see the official website at www.pingpong-movie.com.

You can also get shirts with Peco's red star or Smile's blue moon in the PPGEAR store.

PPGEAR - Ping Pong Apparel

2006-03-09T18:10:00.000-08:00

This is the official launch of the PPGEAR blog. On this blog will be news, talk on new designs, general interesting news items, etc.

See what kind of inspirations were behind the designs, and what new ideas are brewing.