Mr. Steve,
I figured you were just trying to create a stir and it is good to hear you are a backpin shooter
so I can now add two more to the list, Mr Steve (still don't know your name) and Garry Burgardt
I was being asked about my backpin at a tournament in IA Chris Traynor and I went to yesterday (8/30) and Mark Murray said, "I never thought I would say this, but after watching your backpin, I can see that it is a legitimate tournament shot" I said I thought it was the best shot on the table and he said after seeing this and thinking about all the possibilities, he thought it was too.
I said one of the bogus things I hear is the distance from the goal compared to front pins or even pulls and I showed him why this was an erroneous conclusion. I won’t go into right now but it is not a valid assumption.
A couple of thoughts - far as vertical power goes, of course the backpin can generate plenty of power ("speed") especially if you shot it open-handed like Tim Miller does but even with the wrist only (which I assume the rest of us do) the amount of “speed” is only limited by the shooter’s capability just like any shot
-horizontal speed is also limited by the shooters athleticism but of all the shots, it is the most difficult to create immediate horizontal speed…the take off is much hard than all the other shots because of the muscle groups involved when holding the ball in a pinned position…in my prime, when I was young and my young muscles responded better and my hand speed was at its peak, I overcame this and could go head to head with a goalie speed to speed to the corners
I think if you saw my shot now you would think it was fast enough but I am rarely going to beat people to the corners with pure speed (no fakes just a straight race) but the great thing about the backpin is that this is not necessary
-last, it will never catch on with the masses, way too much work when you can get a reasonably threatening, and cool looking/feeling shot in the rollover in less than a year practicing part time (and you would feel good about it long before then).
Also, you could have a world class roller in 2-3 years (mechanically) if you really worked at it (you would still need to learn defenses and how to shoot in tournaments but I just mean the capability) – I mean look at Rico, he has dominated with a Euro Pin in the US (and around the world) for over 10 years now and you have seen no movement toward people picking the EuroPin up in the US…so, the BC (Backpin Club), we few, we happy few, we band of brothers aren’t going to convince the people to adopt the backpin even though, all things being equal..
THE BACKPIN IS THE BEST SHOT IN TABLE SOCCER