ITTF Racket Control

international table tennis federation racket control video

[@torstenkuneth6433]

Someone told me that this 8 year old video, with me being the racket tester, is still getting comments, so here's the background: It was produced during the 2010 German Open as part of an ITTF educational project. At that time, even several TOP 100 players still struggled with the language barrier, needed to run around with translating staff etc. To help them to get rid of this, ITTF produced several videos containing the TT specific English for various situations. And also to simply explain the situations as such. Racket control was one of them. Therefore the language is over-emphasized and the setting is artificial. More detailed comments as answers below.

[@IonRoux]

I just wanted to say that I think it is really cool of you to come by and answer questions on this. I thought it was an interesting video.

[@madardauchiha878]

How did u become a racket inspector and are you still doing this now?

[@vannero]

Really cool, thx for the infos.

[@henryesp9284]

Hey don't forget about us

[@davidlane8811]

This video is AWESOME! ASMR out the wazoo. Stay safe during the plague, my friend! Oh yeah... I almost forgot... we have tickets to table tennis for the 2020 (2021) olympics. Hope to see you there!

[@LethalJizzle]

If this guy worked in doping Armstrong wouldn't have won a single tour

[@Dbeast300]

Look at this man. He has found the perfect job, its suits him so well, good for him.

[@kijoan8319]

I know him in real life no joke hes literally playing in my club

[@torstenkuneth6433]

No, that's not my real job. But volunteering for a thing that deals with calculating figures is a bit easier if you are a professional mathematician. :-)

[@torstenkuneth6433]

Thank you Kilian (?) for calling "playing" the thing I am trying there. ;-)

[@WilliamMRitter]

Torsten Küneth do more of these videos! It has 50,000 views

[@aleekazmi]

@@torstenkuneth6433 Ahaha sobald du hattest angefangen zu reden, kannte ich sofort du studierst mathematik oder irgend wissenschaft

[@torstenkuneth6433]

Still interesting to read very recent comments about our training video, although today one decade (!) has passed since it was posted. I do not see any really new questions, not answered by me within the threads. If I am wrong, just keep me posted. I did some small replies despite. Thanks to those who acknowledge what I had explained three years ago: That ITTF was trying to help players cope with the not always simple rules that a sport may have. It's been my pleasure to help with this.

[@TheIlluminatiREAL]

You're a legend

[@nathanbarnes8535]

You're amazing at your job!

[@lonelytraveler541]

Do you have twitter or Instagram? We would love to follow you.

[@tweektweak3274]

We love you

[@KilljoyGatecrash]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/mHqplHSBaKmfhJI Mr Kuneth, are you aware you have become quiet famous ?

[@RealH0rr0rsh0w]

This is almost like a scene from a mockumentary.

[@Sjowmalf]

It made me think of one of those nonsensical (and hilarious) Monty Python sketches.

[@torstenkuneth6433]

Preferrably the one with a job offer for two architects, one of whom is only building slaughterhouses. As they reject him, he runs out cursing. In my case, I should shout at the player: "I will not test your 6mm-thick rubber, even if you went down on your lousy stinking knees and begged me!" ;-) Seriously, as said in my main comment: It is an educational video in an artificial setting.

[@luiscota6262]

Could be a new comedy in the style of Best In Show

[@davidlane8811]

He definitely had some Dwight-like mannerisms

[@emilianopaz3805]

lol

[@cgarzs]

Can you imagine if someone was half a millimeter over the limit. All hell would break loose. Assassins would smash through the windows, flash bangs would explode and ninjas would whisk the racket away into the night.

[@torstenkuneth6433]

Yes, all hell would break loose. Even in my grass roots league, many players probably could tell from the behavior of the return stroke when a racket covering is 4,5 mm thick instead of just 4,0. On the World Tour, it's a lightyear. Otherwise we would not have player-initiated concerns about this issue.

[@ChillavaKirby]

Torsten Küneth LMFAOOO I love this guy!

[@krisdalen]

The boys in the chemistry would say, no this is not a thing, this paddle sniffing

[@guywhodoesstuff1798]

His accent is strangely engaging and informative. Imagine this man narrating Discovery channel :P " The Lion has got the Zebra by the neck, which is completely legal!"

[@KajurinP]

Does anyone know what his accent is? Sounds a bit danish to me.

[@sibstfan]

Hes German.He's actually playing in the same table tennis club as me lol

[@torstenkuneth6433]

You mean, I'd better do like this? "Watch this tremendous amount of rubber getting attacked by the thickness device. The desperate spark of hope in the player's eyes, look how he starts to pray 'four zero, four zero!' But there is no escape! Merciless the pin is crashing into the wood near the handle, while the figure in the display is taking the player's final breath. With a "four point eleven", the device brings its deadly job to an end." - Well, I thought about it, on April 1st for example, but believe me, before their match, many players lose their sense of humour. :-)

[@sinistar3198]

@@sibstfan wait really? He sounds Danish or Dutch to me.

[@Stuff_that_Flies]

@@sibstfan Does he know he is a KZbin star?

[@barrywilson3525]

Lovely little guidelines. Allow the racket to be free. Now, if they did that right - both coach and inspector are supposed to get red in the face but I suspect only the inspector got red in the face this time.

[@TheNottykid]

The fact that the asmr community has inside jokes has to be the most amazing thing. Excuse me for my sandwich breath...

[@GHanBax]

Cool metal yeah?

[@bingoboppins9875]

Next step, we will putapitapaper on the racket.

[@jessefullington4749]

Let the racket go lovely and floppy

[@DiavalloX]

@@jessefullington4749 then we will go to war in a navy suit

[@henryesp9284]

Looking for a navy racket for war.

[@TrollingVeteran]

I understood that reference.

[@chax2004]

No way seriously? Hahaha!!!

[@teopablo1123]

Established

[@neanderslob]

Damn, TM Lewin getting into pingpong paddles

[@bayleeeldridge2378]

I literally just came from that video hahaha

[@VirtusOfTheSea]

When he fucking stood up and moved chairs to keep testing the racket, I have no clue why, but I died laughing in my chair.

[@andrewpartington4375]

This guy's grandpa was in the gestapo

[@michaelminyard9794]

Incredible

[@defago1969]

This is gonna be in everyone’s recommend one day.

[@lmcnellis]

Torsten Küneth is great. I love his passion and would be overjoyed if I spoke German with one half the fluency that he speaks English.

[@wp6865]

Torsten seems incredibly intelligent and his voice is so relaxing He really needs his own asmr channel

[@blackbeardbarkbark]

The editing is genius. Edit: perfect camera angles. Asmr is strong and consistent. 10 minutes is average length - can be looped. 10/10.

[@chrishunt9931]

Have I come across a never seen before Monty Python sketch?

[@jerodast]

I assume everyone else had the same experience enjoying this calm and professional approach to paddle standardization until your heads exploded when he said the average of 3.82 and 3.75 was 3.80.

He says the rules are accurate down to a tenth of a millimeter. 3.8 is what he would have to round to according to the rules. I don't think he could make a mistake, just look at him.

[@jerodast]

@ Good point, I forgot that! Although most science folks would say that reading the 0 in the hundredths place when your precision level is only tenths is incorrect, as it implies a level of precision that isn't there, which itself is inaccurate - as exemplified by my initial confusion :D

[@jerodast]

@ Also the next one he said averaged to 3.65 so I am even more lost. I guess they're rounding to the nearest 20th of a mm!

[@MisterBlue80]

Yeah i know what you mean i had an Erection through the whole video also.

[@dancinswords]

So, it was for an instructional video, but I'd like to think he (and others in the position) do it this way all the time. Being completely transparent by showing and explaining everything you're doing and why. It helps people to feel they're being treated fairly

[@goradhen]

Very relaxing. Also no chance anyone gets any flubber in there with this dedicated worker.

[@jerodast]

Ironically they don't test bounciness it seems, although I'm sure he'd notice something was up when he put his flatness tester down and it jumped up into his face.

[@MrKoiking1]

Why the hell is this so satisfying to watch

[@oskarpukk4923]

08:00 I never knew that I could blind my opponent with my racket

[@wesleybaker8158]

I don't think he literally means blinding, but a bright-ish flash reflected from the surface could distract the opponent.

[@torstenkuneth6433]

More or less, yes. But this part of Racket Control is no longer done, because other than for thickness, you hardly ever encountered an opponent claiming a problem from a glossy rubber.

[@blackmarlin3166]

This asmr brilliance would explode very soon mark my words.

[@blackbeardbarkbark]

Slowly trickling in.

[@Viewer-ld5rc]

It has! Good prediction.

[@Prifly70]

You've become an ASMR legend. And I learned something new, thank you.

[@jamescrowther1234]

This is so thorough, which i guess is a good thing!

[@torstenkuneth6433]

Provided it is done without holding up players' match preparation unduly. This is one of the reasons for the video: If they know the rationales and the wording, the procedure is faster and less confusing.

[@krisdalen]

Torsten, you are a fucking legend. Don’t let those players hassle you. Their match preparation can wait

[@alldayubum]

Looks a lot more legit than the boxing commission they could use this man

[@GHanBax]

For this, we will simply use the calendar as the measuring device. It says here that she was born on March 12, 2003. That means she turned 18 about 2 weeks ago. Which makes her legal.

[@bobbyman7291]

Best part is his face at 0:02

[@Gubalicious]

He is happy that someone has brought him a racket

[@salemkid1979]

This is the most elaborate intro to a porno ever!

[@jradovich]

I am surprised there was no testing at all of the blade itself.

[@MelindaGreen]

The materials composition matters but the overall dimensions can be just about anything you like.

[@henryesp9284]

Imagine you're at a bar and see an attractive woman and she ask "what do you do for work? " and you start taking like this guy.

[@wutaitrooper1]

Anyone else come to the source instead of watching the reupload?

[@milescend]

never play using this guy's racket, he'll know

[@thomasskeffington4539]

My bat is completely illegal. It was originally a frying pan and still has bits of egg stuck on it. It’s probably not on your manufacturers list.

[@kd-bc1lz]

The obligatory bit of happiness he show while shaking hands wither. Hilarious.

[@1rammstein21]

This is beautiful! That it took so long to find its purpose is irrelevant. We can only hope for more.

[@KSignalEingang]

I see a lot of comments about people being executed for minor racket irregularities. While these remarks may be intended as humorous jokes, I wanted to assure everyone that this has not been the case since 1968 for international or European table tennis events. Try calling that thing a "paddle" though, and hoo boy... There won't be enough of you left to bury.

[@mayapapaya5585]

Hahahaha

[@sweeet2012]

Does this guy sound like Christoph Walz in Inglourious Basterds as Hans Landa? The Nazi officer?

[@beancube2010]

Ladies, after cutting the rubber approximately to the edge of my racket with a pair of scissors, I use a mini electric cordless nail grinder polisher manicure grooming kit (costed only US$ 2.00 w/o the AAA battery) to grind away excessive rubber/sponge sharply from the edge of the racket, I even painted the edge with sparkling nail polish gel on the edge tap as well on the handle for one of my rackets. So far, the work looks quite professional. I am thinking about rubber dip those edge tapes so it looks more professional.

[@terpdx]

Yes, but wouldn't the sparkling nail polish cause the racket to fail the gloss check?

[@MiguelGonzalez-us2ox]

At 9:25 when he is explaining how players try to cheat, he does the aggressive hand thing with the racket still in his hand as if threateningly

[@tenfodaddy4351]

I want to see the measurement devices calibrated by another guy before this guy can measure my racket and to ensure his calibration devices calibrated. Plus he said he did that average thickness calculation in his head. I want to know when his head was last calibrated. Lastly, it’s good they test the racket for hazardous gasses. I once used a new racket and the first time I used it birds fell out of the sky, the grass tuned brown and my entire city for lung cancer.

[@jeanphilippelandry8295]

That guy needs a navy suit for war.

[@bennettr9218]

ICONIC

[@leocarmopereira]

This was very informative. Can anyone tell if, by 2024, anything has changed on the matter?

[@Julius55555]

If I had presented a paddle with 1mm above, I would have definitely gotten red in the face.

[@Ilestun]

Gauzy was playing with Yasaka Max Wood + Rakza 7 both side :D

[@torstenkuneth6433]

That was not Simon Gauzy's racket.

[@LightLock]

this man has just as many subs as me for such a calming video. Good on ya

[@boltimuss]

5:32 What happens to me after eating refried beans and dragging my feet across the floor.

[@weekendwarriors3039]

Found the underrated comment!

[@andrewpartington4375]

I'll bet this guy gets regular pussy

[@stewheart]

relieved the ITTF numbers were on there. phew

[@mahatana_r]

They don't check the weight because people get very sensitive about it.

[@ScaredHelmet]

My man just dead ass breaks the racket in the end before deciding to keep it.

[@BIGBEART8]

Unintentional Asmr?

[@LasciviousLibra]

Skippy!skippy Damn

[@davidlane8811]

fuck yes

[@QuadDamage3]

EXTREME

[@goradhen]

7:30 "the amount of gas realeased is almost nothing"... Yea my significant other always disagreed with that one.

[@jerodast]

"Only approved rubbers can be allowed in" "And now we measure the flatness" A lot of good relationship tips in this video.

[@henryesp9284]

Hello and welcome. You're probably asking yourself "why is this on my recommended?" We wonder that too.

[@jinniss1031]

Him: *Explaining ITTF protocol* Me: I am just here so I won't get fined

[@roshlouis8767]

My club has a lot of veterans. Some of them were country champions from the 80s and 90s or even before. They openly admit using boosters and even offer to glue my rubber with it. They say that my forehand will be three times deadlier because I am a Penholder. I believe they have found a way around the rules. You know just apply the right amount to bend the rules. I am tempted but not sure about it. I don't want to get used to such rubbers where I cannot play without them.

[@VenganceWarrior]

I watched this thing about 30 times and listened to it more than once to fall asleep. What is wrong with me?

[@torstenkuneth6433]

Two things are wrong with you. #1, you already speak English. #2, you probably do not play on the World Tour. Therefore, this video is irrelevant for your life. However, for falling asleep it's still cheaper than renting sheep and counting them.

[@chuckramone3374]

This video has been added to my arsenal for that very purpose.

[@thapleyer8387]

its called asmr, but i suspect you allready know by now.

[@samconduct1356]

Poor woman just wanted a yes or no.

[@AY.masvidal]

She regrets walking into that room

[@NetherVoiD]

If floyd mayweather jr played table tennis he would inject IV on his racket.

[@rifrafraph]

What a glorious morning

[@WilliamMRitter]

It actually averages 3.66

[@mendebil]

Wow... But what about the 80% wood test? Is there any way to test that?

[@exmachina1405]

Something about all the tests is really interesting to me. Is this standard for table tennis leagues?

[@igorponger1]

Is it an educative video? Did anyone undergo the tests at a live tourney? What differences did you find out from the given video? Thanks.

[@thapleyer8387]

plot twist: the rubber is thicker within a donut shape

[@MillennialVinyl]

2:33 The limit does not exist

[@henryesp9284]

@8:53 lady is like "WTF"

[@ARSFACE]

O shit is that the guy who invited Facebook? Is the the ZUCK!

[@BlueBeetle1939]

Shot like the office

[@clausfriese9980]

👍 Respekt 🏓

[@turbotreehouse9780]

I love this video

[@ChillavaKirby]

It's all fun and games until the gas is electronically charged.

[@georgeharrison2795]

Banned bat, its not navy, therefore not fit for war

[@igorponger1]

Wang Hao was recently catched in the rubber thickness test.

[@madeleinewilliams9900]

He does this every day 😳

[@missOhdrey]

That was so funny “If I calculated correctly in my head, but I do this everyday so I think so”.

[@kyokushinkenbukaishinkaj.8382]

at the end is funny, that little sticker on the bag with the name of player could easily fall off...

[@andrewpartington4375]

He's got a better job than me

[@tenfodaddy4351]

I mean no ill will towards Mr. Kuneth or the ITTF. You have to have standards as so many countries sadly culturally accept cheating as acceptable. I and others just enjoy the funny parts of the process not the individuals. At first glance some would be wondering if it was an SNL skit. It is sad we have to have a process, that’s the satire in this.

[@1yearago491]

Is this a haiku?

[@andrewpartington4375]

I watch this every day what is wrong with me????????

[@Stuff_that_Flies]

She cannot hide that she feels like this is all a waste of time 🤣

[@c.simmons2147]

So, should I just break the illusion for everyone? At 4:12, he does the calculation in his head and gets -3.65, but its actually -3.66

[@bloodshot_games]

Sorry to break the illusion but he's rounds to the nearest 5

[@digi_edits]

Tim and Eric material, lmao

[@KuramaSama]

Bonjour Simon gauzy

[@torstenkuneth6433]

C'est pas la raquette de Simon Gauzy. ;-)

[@hunterwhite1230]

Dude sounds like a Salarian

[@ronmexico1652]

the industrial engineer who was approached with the request to create a specialized instruments just to measure the difference between the handle and paddles center as well as to analyze the gas emissions of the rubber. Imagine...just imagine the pure excitement and anticipation in the heart of that engineer, who after years of abuse and ridicule, finally has opportunity to look into the eyes of another human being and finally having the almost divine authority and of someone else for once being called a "fucking nerd!"

[@ChillavaKirby]

...

[@ishakawde1]

Wenn dich mal Jemand fragt was deutsche Gründlichkeit bedeutet - zeig ihm das Video.

[@JimnyRicardo]

is this real or just a gag? i really cant tell :D

[@exmachina1405]

I'm 4 years late but this is real, the process is anyway. This exact video was made as a mock up for English speaking players so they aren't caught off guard when this happens and the person isnt speaking english.

[@hellomagar5063]

My question is not how much measurement is required instead I want to know why is it required? can somebody explain?

[@saatuxx]

That's the most german thing I have ever seen.

[@rcins7801]

Who's that wooman? Is she also acting? How come? Sincerely, Kowai.

[@MrKoiking1]

ELL AY ARE SEE :)

[@thomasskeffington4539]

Today I learned that there’s a difference between legal and absolutely legal. Watching nonsense on KZbin can be absolutely not a waste of time.

[@Nothing_happening_here_go_away]

Her look at the beginning sums wvwrything

[@mariopompei55]

table 1 at 16:00, and warming up?

[@hadarugaszabolcs3257]

I have fallen asleep on my left side during watching this. Is that legal?

[@proximacentauri_c]

How could gas from the racket possibly affect the game?

[@unusualusername8847]

Said it himself. Could fly into the opponents face and cause a distraction. You wouldn't let football players throw pocket sand during the snap.

[@KSignalEingang]

I was wondering the same, and found a really informative article at the ITTF's site, written in 2019. They're testing for "boosters", chemicals that cause the rubber to swell and change texture. This can allow a player to put more spin on the ball or otherwise affect play. There was some debate over whether this should even be considered cheating, but between the disadvantage to any player working with a standard racket, and the potential health risks some of the booster chemicals pose, the ITTF clearly decided it was worth trying to clamp down on the practice.

[@ajax5571]

Maak een nieuwe filmpje ben benieuwd zo veel jaar later hoe iemand er uit ziet

[@Nero-dz5gr]

Its sarcasm right? Messure gasses from the racket?...

[@ACE23SHOOTER]

No, the machine can detect certain gases, I.E. solvents or adhesives to help on the surface of the racket.

[@jrko0]

This man is a calculator

[@user-rr4hr7bz7n]

How In the hell did I get here ?? I was on ASMR vids for hair cuts and after various videos I end up here What the …

[@Luca-pz2pv]

That is Mark Zuckerberg and you can't tell me otherwise

[@Peeg7]

Is this real

[@CasperTimor]

Yes. It's an educational video

[@webpro8108]

8/6/21

[@Stadtpark90]

Könnte von Loriot sein.