It’s easy to get enamoured by the latest Tensor technology and the bright packaging of the Butterfly Tenergy series, but this equipment is usually not suitable for most people, especially players at the amateur/intermediate level.
My own personal rule is that nobody with a USATT rating under 1900 (or isn’t being coached) should be using very high-speed equipment like the Butterfly Tenergy 05 or an OFF+ rated blade. If you’re a developing player, or are in the market for your first competition-grade racket, pay attention.
It’s all about control
At lower levels, what you need is control, not speed. Most people can generate all of the power they need through good technique. The major problem that I see in developing players is that they get a high-speed carbon racket with Tenergy on both sides, and then can’t control their racket. The ball flies too far, serve returns are always long or high, and they end up looping with half-strokes because a full stroke would send the ball off the table.
For your own good, choose a medium speed racket with well-rounded characteristics, something like:
- Speed: 6 – 8.5 out of 10
- Spin: 8 – 9 out of 10
- Control: 8 – 10 out of 10
- Tackiness: zero to 7 out of 10
- Sponge thickness: 1.8mm to 2.0mm
Moderate speed and spin will give you more control and boost your confidence. As your confidence goes up and you swing with command, your technique will develop faster. Also, avoid highly tacky rubbers as they don’t suit every style, whereas a non-tacky up to medium-tacky rubber can be used for any stroke. You can’t flat smash with much power with a fully tacky rubber. Furthermore, a thinner sponge will reduce the punch on incoming and outgoing shots, allowing you to commit fully to an aggressive stroke. When you can swing your hardest on attack shots and expect it to land with consistency, that’s when you’re ready to get faster equipment. No sooner.
Here are some recommended blades and rubbers that you can’t go wrong with.
Blades
Rubbers
- Butterfly Sriver (1.9mm)
- Yasaka Mark V (1.9mm)
- 729 Cream MRS (2.0mm)
Using what Timo Boll uses doesn’t magically make you a professional, in most cases it makes you worse. Choose what suits you now and you’ll develop your game much faster!
Have you been stung by overly advanced equipment?
Tags: blades, Equipment, rubbers
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It is my opinion that most players I encounter should not play with tensor rubbers. They typically do not possess the skill necessary to master usage of these types of rubbers. Also, I think that tensor rubbers are much like cell phones: after awhile you can’t live without them. They have the ability to corrupt your game and lose can your form. And form is the most important thing about table tennis. I’ve seen little boys play with tensor rubbers, and with very little effort they generate speed and spin that they themselves can’t control when the ball is returned to them. Just my two cents.
Agree with this. I myself ( an old timer ) developed my game using wood ( all ) and yasaka mark v as well as sriver during my learning years. I developed my spin and flat drive ( with average speed ) which I can place on both ends of the table with great accuracy. This was my setup for 9 years.
When I went back playing table tennis, I did not jump immediately to buy the most expensive equipment. I settled for Stiga wood blade ( I forgot the model ), mendo energy and evo rubbers from stiga. I practice with this set up for 3 months and tried tenergy 05 on FH. I am amazed with the speed and addicted to it. I believe I can control this rubber because I have accurate placement of my spin and drives.
Speed is useless if you can’t control it.
Sorry, I have to disagree. When I started playing 30 years ago, all of the top players gave away the same advice, except then they said you shouldn’t be playing with Mark V because it’s too fast or too powerful, you won’t be able to control it, you should spend some time grooving your strokes, etc. Sound familiar? If it was too powerful for beginners then, then why would the advanced players be recommending it now? The truth is this has nothing to do with equipment. The human body is an exceptional instrument and capable of truly outstanding feats of coordination and athleticism. There’s no reason a young student couldn’t learn the strokes and shots from the beginning just as well using Tenergy. It’s only a matter of a learned skill, a developed touch. If you have the athletic ability, you’ll be able to learn with Tenergy just as well as Mark V. Of course, the advanced players will always want the younger students to use less advanced equipment. Why would they want them to have the exact same equipment, or should I say “weapons” in match play. From a human nature standpoint (and as something we don’t think), wouldn’t the advanced player want to maintain some type of advantage over them, some type of superiority? In most cases the younger players already have the advantage in speed, agility, and most importantly, the ability to learn and adapt to any situation. So we certainly don’t want them to use Tenergy! Against us in match play…no way.
I play with a newer player, although not a younger player. He started off with conservative equipment, but within a few months he wanted to get the fastest blade and the spiniest rubber. I supported that idea totally. Now, 8 months later, I don’t see him as a beginner that squandered time he should have been using developing shots. Instead his game has developed at a rapid rate, much faster than my game was developing. Friends, this is no time to be jealous. I’m ecstatic, I get much better matches out of him than I used to.
I think many advanced players today when they see a younger player missing shots or taking half-swings to keep the ball in play misinterpret this as having equipment that is too hard for them to control. There is another more likely reason – they just don’t have that level of coordination or athleticism yet, they just haven’t learned that skill yet. Maybe they will, maybe they won’t, but it depends on the individual, not the equipment. If it was based on equipment only, then everybody who played with Mark V and a conservative blade for let’s say 10 years would eventually become a 1800+ player. But we know that isn’t the case at all. Some people never advance past 1000; some people make it to 2000. It depends on the degree of individual athleticism and has nothing to do with equipment. Given that, why shouldn’t a 1000 rated player (or less) have the fun of using Tenergy? Come on, it is exciting; I think everybody should use it and have the same fun and excitement as the better players. It’s sort of like amateur golfers. They can hack the ball all over the course with no consistency in their shots every single week, but if they hit one solid drive for the round, they’ll savor the memory of that shot for the whole week, playing it over and over in their head in anticipation of doing it again next week. Out of roughly 90 strokes, that one solid drive made it worth their while, made it fun for them to keep playing, keep trying week after week. The same is true in table tennis. Let’s all have fun, and if it’s more fun to use Tenergy, why not?
Interesting opinion, Donic Fan. What if it’s a combination of athleticism and equipment? For the player that can’t seem to get past rating 1800, maybe he would reach that point earlier if he started with lesser equipment.
It’s like training wheels. If we go with the principle that we should start at the top difficulty, then training wheels wouldn’t exist and kids should always start on two wheels only. I think in most cases, people progress faster with several steps of increasing difficulty.
Hello Arthur, let me first say thanks for what a good job you’ve done with this website and for valuable contributions in reviews and advice, etc.
Yes, I think it can be a combination of athleticism and equipment depending on how much training the individual has had. Even experienced players note certain rubbers are too fast to control on certain blades, etc. But with lesser experienced players, we don’t have to assume equipment is the only reason. They could be missing shots because they just aren’t hitting in the center of the blade often enough, and in that case they would be missing shots just as much with Mark V as they would with Tenergy.
I would think all true “beginners” need the training wheels. Where we differ is when can they take the training wheels off and start learning stunts and tricks. I tend to feel the younger the better while the ability to soak up new information and develop new skills is at the highest part of the curve.
How interesting. Mark V was labeled as too fast for beginning players when it came out 30 years ago… The thesis here, is that Mark V is now recommended largely, simply (not sure of the word that best fits here) because it is slower than the Tenergy class of rubbers. In other words, if it was too fast to allow development then, it should be too fast now. This is pursuasive.
I went ahead, based on Arthur’s advice, and got the Andrzej Grubba bat with Mark V @2.0 and I don’t consider it too fast for my 783 rating, but I wonder how much that very slow bat (third slowest rating of all bats in the database) may be slowing down the “speed” of the rubber. Query how much faster the combination would be on the recommended Korbel bat. Query if I would be happy with that combination.
I may try a faster set up to test the theory, suggested here, that learning on the fast stuff may be just as effective as the slower stuff. Just not sure if I will go full bore and test an off+ bat with Tenergy or simply get a bit faster bat (Petr Korbel is arguably much faster) with something now considered slow like the Mark V.
Seems there are many levels of “faster.”
Agree with this. I myself ( an old timer ) developed my game using wood ( all ) and yasaka mark v as well as sriver during my learning years. I developed my spin and flat drive ( with average speed ) which I can place on both ends of the table with great accuracy. This was my setup for 9 years.
When I went back playing table tennis, I did not jump immediately to buy the most expensive equipment. I settled for Stiga wood blade ( I forgot the model ), mendo energy and evo rubbers from stiga. I practice with this set up for 3 months and tried tenergy 05 on FH. I am amazed with the speed and addicted to it. I believe I can control this rubber because I have accurate placement of my spin and drives.
Speed is useless if you can’t control i
Hello, Do you have any suggestions for a penhold player? I play reverse backhand as well.
The suggestions in the post are good for penhold players as well. If using a backhand side, you may want to try lighter rubbers, since two-sided penhold rackets end up pretty heavy.
Hi,
I am really thankful for your experience and for you help in choosing table tennis bat. actually I am a beginner player and I got hocked to this sport, I am a fast learner and I have improved to much in about 5 weeks, I have never used brand name bats, so I am so so confused in getting my first brand name bat. I am planing to get a new bat within 25-35 $, I don’t want to buy expensive bat at my first time, I like to play as a offensive player, so would you please recommend me a table tennis bat.
Also which bat is better for me?
http://www.teessport.com/table-tennis-bats-c3/butterfly-butterfly-boll-700-table-tennis-bat-p807
or
http://www.teessport.com/table-tennis-bats-c3/butterfly-butterfly-boll-500-table-tennis-bat-p810
Please recommend a bat for me as I am going to buy a new one within 2 weeks.
BR,
Hatem
Don’t buy either of those premade rackets. The speed and spin will be around 5/10. For a little bit more, you can get a much better racket. What country are you in?
I disagree, with regular practice and athletic ability; one can succeed with any type of set-up. Once a person has developed a simple loop, they can transition to faster blade or rubber. Some rubber is extremely fast, as in the Adidas rubbers, but they also have great control.