Detailed racket design (rubber & blade selection) guide for older players

[Jacobv]

Rubber & blade selection guide for older players
1. If you are social “ping pong” player, you can stop reading & ignore
2. The following is not meant for children. It is written with older players in mind & requirements are drastically different for both age groups in table tennis.
3. The following is written for competitive older table tennis players who will play in tournaments such as senior games or other events.
4. A racket is made of a blade (the wood part) and usually two rubbers on either side, sometimes only on one side as is in the case of penhold grip or American grip. The blade is also referred to as frame or baseboard in some countries. Almost all competitive players in table tennis, even at the lowest level buy the rubber and blade separately & then glue the rubber to the blade themselves.
5. Rubber consists of two parts, the top sheet which actually makes contact with the ball & the sponge below it, which usually comes from factory glued to the top sheet on one side. The other side of the sponge gets glued to the blade. If you but a readymade racket, the entire racket comes assembled. But almost all tournament player buy the rubber & blade separately & glue them together themselves.
6. The pimpled out rubber (with pimples facing outward and contacting the ball cam come with either sponge or without sponge. If it has no sponge, it is called OX rubber. The smooth spinny rubber or anti smooth rubber come with sponge already attached. The rules allow use of pimpled out rubber without sponge (OX) but smooth rubbers, either spinny or anti must have some sponge under it per rules, whether thick or thin.
7. Smooth spinny rubbers are generally used for creating the heaviest to spins (loops). This is the most common rubber type but not recommended for older players who starte din the sport late. The smooth anti rubber is a defensive rubber & may be suitable for some (but not all) older players on their forehand. The short pips rubber with sponge is what older players must start with on their forehand if they are starting late in the sport. Long pips (with no sponge or OX) is also what older players must start with on their backhand . Short pips or smooth rubbers (anti or spinny) definitely should not be used as starting rubbers by older players.
8. If you are an older player who started in the sport late & never learned to heavy top spin (loop) in your youth or you cannot because of other reason such health related , then lose your spinny smooth rubbers. Use short pips with sponge on forehand & long pips with no sponge (OX) on backhand.
9. The rubbers on either side of the blade can be same type rubber but not required to be. While smooth spinny rubber I strongly recommended for children, different types of rubber on either side of racket is highly recommended for older players, especially if you took up sport later in your life. Most coaches (especially those who coach children) do not understand this key difference and blindly recommend a racket with smooth rubber both sides to everyone regardless of age, which is a fatal mistake.
10. No I am NOT Chinese & I do not work for any Chinese manufacturers. I am just giving you practical advice based on my 45+ years of experience at relatively higher levels of tabletennis as a player, administrator & coach as well an advance tennis player. If you are just playing for fun & not a competitor, of course feel free to use any rubbers & blades you like.
11. Japanese & European smooth spinny rubbers are vanity rubbers. They are designed for young professional players . They do not work for older players.
12. Modern table tennis at youth & adult levels is based on ability to create extreme top spin strokes called the loop. To cerate loop strokes you need spinny smooth rubber . But if you are someone who took up the sport late & never learned to use the loop stroke well, using smooth spinny rubber is actually a big liability.
13. Backhand is the weaker side for most (if not all) human. There may be 5% exceptions who may have a stronger backhand.
14. So the best racket for an older player is a racket with short pips with sponge for your forehand & long pips with no sponge (known as OX) for your backhand. If you learned to topspin a lot from your forehand from an early age ,you can then use smooth spinny rubbers on your forehand ONLY. Using smooth rubber both sides of a racket is only for younger players such as those who are getting started in the sport.
15. If you do not top spin (loop) like mad on either forehand or backhand, smooth spinny rubber is the biggest liability mostly because since spinny smooth rubber is the most used rubber, everyone knows how to play against it , especially used in a defensive mode such as blocking (or chopping & lobbing though to a lesser extent)
16. Do NOT use a racket with smooth rubber both sides unless you have learned this from an early age and top like mad from both your forehand. If not smooth rubber is a huge liability especially if you do not know how to do heavy top spins (loops) consistently and not just sporadically then you should NOT use spinny smooth rubber both sides especially on your backhand (weaker side for most humans though everyone refuses to believe that). Manufacturers like everyone to use smooth spinny rubbers because they are not only the most expensive but also needs to be replaced every six months or so. So if you use smooth spinny rubbers on only one side of a racket, then they lose 50% sales on expensive smooth spinny rubbers. Most older amateur players do not need smooth spinny rubbers at all. If I was starting a young child in table tennis, of course I would definitely start him or her with a racket with smooth spinny rubbers both sides until they are at least 18. But if I started a 40+ year old man or woman in table tennis, I would start them with smooth spinny rubber only on the forehand and long pips with no sponge (also called OX) on the backhand & switch them quickly on forehand to short pips with sponge if they do not have the ability to heavy top spin (loop) consistently from their forehand & this is the case for most older players but most older players blindly use racket with smooth spinny rubbers both sides because lot of coaches keep recommending rackets for younger players (smooth spinny rubber both sides) to older players which is a huge mistake.
17. Do not waste your time using anti spin rubbers or short pips rubbers for your backhand. These are the worst rubbers for your backhand. However short pips with sponge is the best rubber for your forehand. You can also try anti spin rubbers for your forehand if you like, if you cannot top spin(loop) . But there is one & only one rubber for backhand for most older players, which is long pips with no sponge (known as OX)
18. Chinese rubbers are more than good enough for most older amateur players. I know there is lot of politics about buying Chinese rubbers but I do not want to get involved with it. Yes the Japanese & European rubbers have higher quality rubbers but the quality of Chinese rubbers is more than good enough for most amateurs. Also for most amateurs the smooth spinny rubbers from Europe & Japan do not produce enough spin needed by amateurs to pull the ball down on the other side of the table. These European & Japanese rubbers would well for pros however but because the pros have the correct technique to be able to use & succeed using these rubbers despite their lack of spins. Most pros also use illegal techniques called boosting to increase spins. The pros achieve heavy top spins not from top sheet of the rubber but from boosting the sponge of the rubber. But Chinese smooth spinny rubbers can provide heavier spins using their top sheet with the need for boosting.
19. Amateur older players also do NOT need expensive European & Japanese blades. Chinese blades are more than good enough in quality. You can also find a Chinese clone of any Japanese or European blades. I am not at all asking you to buy illegal knock off which have the same name as original brand but are fake.
20. No I am NOT Chinese & I do not work for any Chinese manufacturers. I am just giving you practical advice based on my 45+ years of experience at relatively higher levels of tabletennis as a player, administrator & coach as well an advance tennis player.
21. Most rubber & blade dealers also carry Chinese blade & rubbers but they will probably only recommend Japanese & European items because of course the profit margin is higher. Nothing really wrong with that or nothing illegal but as a buyer you should shop smart. I personally make my blades & buy all my rubbers from http://aliexpress.com . Of course there is lots of politics going on about buying products from China etc but it is what it is & it is a personal choice you make.

[TBJ 782]

Are there any places inside USA to buy rubbers & blades ?