How to get used to new rubber ?

Hello,

Very sorry if I'm a bit out of topic here, please just delete my post/thread, if its really out of place.

I'm new here and currently curious about training methods to adjust to new rubber.

I has been playing with my blade BTY Innerforce Layer ZLF with Xiom Vega Tour 2mm(FH) and Xiom Omega V Europe 2mm(BH) for a year.

Now, my coach ask me to change the rubber to Tenergy 64 on both sides.
This makes my play "all over the places" (literally) :
50% of my loop out of the table and the other 30% on the net.
60-70% of my push too high and easily got smashed/punched.
Only my blocks seem to be much faster and easier, even though sometimes (maybe around 20%) its not to the direction that I intended.

While, i know, I'll need to adjust my technique,
but other than my coach training (mostly multi-ball), is there anything I can train on my own to speed-up the adaptation to tenergy 64...?
Any recommendation on any drills ???
Or maybe, this is the way of my coach saying that I should change my playing style ???


Thank you very much,
 
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I am not a coach, but I will respond with some questions and comments.

How long have you been playing Table Tennis? What is your approximate level? I ask because you already have pretty fast equipment and your coach is asking you to use the fastest Tenergy rubber instead. What did the coach say was being limited by your existing rubber?

Something doesn't make sense. Your existing equipment should be good enough to let you be a very good player.

Regards,
Tim
 
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Personally i find it a bit surprising to want you to change your rubbers and at the same time your playing style, it's seems a lot of adaptation to do. And with the % you describe, it seems that you really don't adapt well to the rubbers, so maybe it is not a good idea to play with it ?

It sounds a bit like the throw angle is very different that you're used, so maybe you'll get used to it finally (it's not just because it's too fast). But also maybe your technic don't fit this kind of throw angle and it's not worth changing your technic ?

Except a lot of regular drill not sure what you can do. But if after a month you're still not very well adapted, maybe it's better to go back to something you like
 
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I am not a coach, but I will respond with some questions and comments.

How long have you been playing Table Tennis? What is your approximate level? I ask because you already have pretty fast equipment and your coach is asking you to use the fastest Tenergy rubber instead. What did the coach say was being limited by your existing rubber?

Something doesn't make sense. Your existing equipment should be good enough to let you be a very good player.

Regards,
Tim

I second this. Your current equipment is more than good enough. Here in Belgium some offensive semi professional players play with a slower paddle than you are using right now. So I really don't see any reason to go even faster.
 

NDH

says Spin to win!
Ultimately, your coach is your coach - They are the ones who have seen you play and can advise what they feel is best.

No offence to anyone here, but assuming your coach is legitimate, they will have significantly more insight into what you need to do than any random person on the internet.

Personally, I'd be asking questions about my coach.

Are they qualified?
What experience do they have?
What other people have they coached and how good are they?

Also, ask your coach why you've needed to change rubbers - What are the benefits of using T64 on both sides for your game?

There are some coaches out there who will simply blindly believe a certain set up is the absolute best for everyone.

I'm struggling to think of why anyone would suggest T64 on both sides, especially if you aren't a top player. Maybe it's just your coach continuing what they think is best without really analysing the situation. Maybe they aren't a very good coach?

Ultimately, if you trust your coach, you should ask them these questions.

If you don't, get a new coach.

As for what you can do to get used to new rubbers..... Practice, practice, practice.

Just play as much as you can. Matches, drills, robots - Whatever you have available to you.
 
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Good advice and of course you are right if you say that his coach is in the best position to give advice on equipment.

Maybe there is a legitimate reason to tell a pupil to take two Tenergy 64 rubbers but I have never heard a good coach tell something like this. Sometimes a coach here gives a young student, who has improved to a decent level, the advice to change an all wood blade to a faster carbon blade. It also happens that they tell their pupils to go for a harder rubber on forehand or backhand.

I just don't see the point of changing two high quality 45° tensor rubbers, which the topic starter obviously likes, to two tenergy 64's which have a similar hardness but are a lot faster.
 
Hello,

Very sorry if I'm a bit out of topic here, please just delete my post/thread, if its really out of place.

I'm new here and currently curious about training methods to adjust to new rubber.

I has been playing with my blade BTY Innerforce Layer ZLF with Xiom Vega Tour 2mm(FH) and Xiom Omega V Europe 2mm(BH) for a year.

Now, my coach ask me to change the rubber to Tenergy 64 on both sides.
This makes my play "all over the places" (literally) :
50% of my loop out of the table and the other 30% on the net.
60-70% of my push too high and easily got smashed/punched.
Only my blocks seem to be much faster and easier, even though sometimes (maybe around 20%) its not to the direction that I intended.

While, i know, I'll need to adjust my technique,
but other than my coach training (mostly multi-ball), is there anything I can train on my own to speed-up the adaptation to tenergy 64...?
Any recommendation on any drills ???
Or maybe, this is the way of my coach saying that I should change my playing style ???


Thank you very much,

The results you got with T64 bot sides is absolutely logical.
T64 is a fast, direct, low throw rubber, suitable for blocks and punches.
To execute a somewhat decent loop you need to take the ball lower and at longer distance.
At mid and closer distance its alnost imposible to loop unless you jave the perfect feel and technique.
Frankly said I don't get the point of your "coach" at all.
My advice is to keep to your current setup and to change the coach.
 
I am not a coach, but I will respond with some questions and comments.

How long have you been playing Table Tennis? What is your approximate level? I ask because you already have pretty fast equipment and your coach is asking you to use the fastest Tenergy rubber instead. What did the coach say was being limited by your existing rubber?

Something doesn't make sense. Your existing equipment should be good enough to let you be a very good player.

Regards,
Tim

Hello Tim,

I'm playing for roughly 5 years, by australian ratings, I'm around 1100 now (maybe not good enough to use Tenergy series). My style is pretty much mid-distance attacker (with some occasional close to the table too).
He said, that my current equipment can be improved, its time for upgrade, and he suggest to use Tenergy 64 on both sides to increase my attacking power. About my previous settings, he explained that my FH (Xiom Vega Tour) is pretty decent but my backhand rubber should be softer to support my punching.

I posted this after thingking for a while as well, since my last couple of game was completely messy.

I was wondering, how to adjust to this faster, since its feel sucks and restless to play messy game.
 
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Personally i find it a bit surprising to want you to change your rubbers and at the same time your playing style, it's seems a lot of adaptation to do. And with the % you describe, it seems that you really don't adapt well to the rubbers, so maybe it is not a good idea to play with it ?

It sounds a bit like the throw angle is very different that you're used, so maybe you'll get used to it finally (it's not just because it's too fast). But also maybe your technic don't fit this kind of throw angle and it's not worth changing your technic ?

Except a lot of regular drill not sure what you can do. But if after a month you're still not very well adapted, maybe it's better to go back to something you like

Yes, about those percentage is basicaly my success rate (I usually count how much I make a succesfull shot in 10 attempt -- so if I made 6 out of 10 shots, its 60%)

Well, at the moment, yes, I should admit that I can't control this Tenergy 64 yet. I'm still struggling after a week of using it.
Hmm, yes, so you think, its not worthed to change my technique just for the sake of adapting to a rubber, I'll keep that in mind.

Maybe, I'll try to endure and keep trying for a month, let see if I can adapt.

Thank you very much for the advice.
 
I second this. Your current equipment is more than good enough. Here in Belgium some offensive semi professional players play with a slower paddle than you are using right now. So I really don't see any reason to go even faster.

Alright, Thank you very much for your suggestions, will certainly keep this in mind.
 

NDH

says Spin to win!
Yes, about those percentage is basicaly my success rate (I usually count how much I make a succesfull shot in 10 attempt -- so if I made 6 out of 10 shots, its 60%)

Well, at the moment, yes, I should admit that I can't control this Tenergy 64 yet. I'm still struggling after a week of using it.
Hmm, yes, so you think, its not worthed to change my technique just for the sake of adapting to a rubber, I'll keep that in mind.

Maybe, I'll try to endure and keep trying for a month, let see if I can adapt.

Thank you very much for the advice.

Can I ask why you are expecting worthwhile answers from an internet forum when you have an actual coach?

I can understand the questions if you don't have access to a coach, but I'm not really following what you think you'll be able to gain by asking here, rather than a fully qualified coach (assuming they are).
 
Ultimately, your coach is your coach - They are the ones who have seen you play and can advise what they feel is best.

No offence to anyone here, but assuming your coach is legitimate, they will have significantly more insight into what you need to do than any random person on the internet.

Personally, I'd be asking questions about my coach.

Are they qualified?
What experience do they have?
What other people have they coached and how good are they?

Also, ask your coach why you've needed to change rubbers - What are the benefits of using T64 on both sides for your game?

There are some coaches out there who will simply blindly believe a certain set up is the absolute best for everyone.

I'm struggling to think of why anyone would suggest T64 on both sides, especially if you aren't a top player. Maybe it's just your coach continuing what they think is best without really analysing the situation. Maybe they aren't a very good coach?

Ultimately, if you trust your coach, you should ask them these questions.

If you don't, get a new coach.

As for what you can do to get used to new rubbers..... Practice, practice, practice.

Just play as much as you can. Matches, drills, robots - Whatever you have available to you.

Thank you very much for the response, I really appreacite your insights.

While its true that my coach has been trained me since the very beginning, I respect him very much, but I think I should have some courage to question some of this decision. (its a bit hard, since I'm coming from conservative old "asian" culture).

Yes, I've made firm decision to ask him,
After reading answerin this thread, it seems no other way to adjust to new rubber except keep training and trying (ahh, maybe I should hire a robot from neighbour club, thanks for the idea). I'm planning to try it for a month. if its still not going anywhere than I'll ask my coach to change back to old set-up.

Thank you very much
 
Last edited:
Good advice and of course you are right if you say that his coach is in the best position to give advice on equipment.

Maybe there is a legitimate reason to tell a pupil to take two Tenergy 64 rubbers but I have never heard a good coach tell something like this. Sometimes a coach here gives a young student, who has improved to a decent level, the advice to change an all wood blade to a faster carbon blade. It also happens that they tell their pupils to go for a harder rubber on forehand or backhand.

I just don't see the point of changing two high quality 45° tensor rubbers, which the topic starter obviously likes, to two tenergy 64's which have a similar hardness but are a lot faster.

Noted, thank you very much for the insight.

I'll certainly ask, and we'll see from there.
 
The results you got with T64 bot sides is absolutely logical.
T64 is a fast, direct, low throw rubber, suitable for blocks and punches.
To execute a somewhat decent loop you need to take the ball lower and at longer distance.
At mid and closer distance its alnost imposible to loop unless you jave the perfect feel and technique.
Frankly said I don't get the point of your "coach" at all.
My advice is to keep to your current setup and to change the coach.

Ahh yes, thank you very much for your advice,

I should really study and research the rubber first before buying it. Lesson learned.
 

NDH

says Spin to win!
Thank you very much for the response, I really appreacite your insights.

While its true that my coach has been trained me since the very beginning, I respect him very much, but I think I should have some courage to question some of this decision. (its a bit hard, since I'm coming from conservative old "asian" culture).

Yes, I've made firm decision to ask him,
After reading answerin this thread, it seems no other way to adjust to new rubber except keep training and trying (ahh, maybe I should hire a robot from neighbour club, thanks for the idea). I'm planning to try it for a month. if its still not going anywhere than I'll ask my coach to change back to old set-up.

Thank you very much

OK, that makes sense.

It's worth bearing in mind that the majority of coaches I've come across are not equipment experts......

If your coach can tell the difference between T80, T64, t05 and T25, I'd be impressed.

You will eventually get used to the equipment, but if it's too fast for your ability, it will mean you'll learn slower (and maybe never be as good as you can be).

That being said, if you've been playing (and have had coaching for 5 years), there's a chance you are good enough, and you just need to get used to it.

Even still, T64 on both sides just seems wrong (in my opinion).

I would love to know what your coach says.
 
that's harsh :D

Fully agree with everyone above, it sounds strange... One thought though: maybe your coach tries to sell you?

At least I was not buying from him. :D
But, yeah, I'm really put everyone advice in mind, now.

I should be more proactive to ask and do some research first, not just blindly follow.
 
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Ahh yes, thank you very much for your advice,

I should really study and research the rubber first before buying it. Lesson learned.

This is true but besides the point. Rubbers are different but not so different that you can't learn how to adjust to them once you get a feel for what the rubber is supposed to do. Tenergy 64 is more speed oriented but it is still a very spinny rubber. It blocks and pushes well. I believe CCY of Chinese Taipei still uses it.

To adjust to any new equipment, use your basic stroke. After using it for a while, just learn to adjust to the incoming spin by changing

1) where your racket starts the swing,
2) where in your mind you make contact on the ball
3) where in your mind you finish and
4) how much of the wood you feel in your racket while swinging.

Topspin strokes have a curved racket path so they turn/spin the ball, so to speak. You can by making changes to the 4 variables above get an idea of what your rubber does and get good expectations on what you need to do to make certain shots.

IF you are a very advanced player and are set on a certain type of equipment, the instinctive changes might be longer to get used to. But at your level, it shouldn't be too hard honestly to just change your swing slightly and see how the ball responds to it. I have rubber preferences, but if I get a new rubber, I can play with it, it just won't suit me immediately, but if I had to use it for a week (say I travelled to another country and it was all I had), I would use it reliably after a while. You just have to learn what it does and adjust and stop trying to swing exactly the same way as you did with your old equipment and assume that it will work exactly the same way.

Equipment is rarely too fast if you have coaching or you train a lot and can move to the ball. The extra speed is at the margins for tricky balls (if you are always getting to the ball late or you are often playing balls you can't read precisely or are above your level in quality). Just learn where to hit on the ball and you will be fine, it will rarely be the same if you change equipment, and learning to adjust your swing to the equipment, the hall conditions, the opponent's timing etc. is part of being a good player.
 
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Can I ask why you are expecting worthwhile answers from an internet forum when you have an actual coach?

I can understand the questions if you don't have access to a coach, but I'm not really following what you think you'll be able to gain by asking here, rather than a fully qualified coach (assuming they are).

OK, that makes sense.

It's worth bearing in mind that the majority of coaches I've come across are not equipment experts......

If your coach can tell the difference between T80, T64, t05 and T25, I'd be impressed.

You will eventually get used to the equipment, but if it's too fast for your ability, it will mean you'll learn slower (and maybe never be as good as you can be).

That being said, if you've been playing (and have had coaching for 5 years), there's a chance you are good enough, and you just need to get used to it.

Even still, T64 on both sides just seems wrong (in my opinion).

I would love to know what your coach says.

Thank you very much @NDH,

I'll certainly keep your insight and suggestions in mind, "the majority of coaches I've come across are not equipment experts" is could be true in my case.

Although, in the past, his recommendation seems working well:
1. my first 2 years, I'm playing with Stiga Allround classics with Yasaka markV 1.5mm (I upgraded to MAX in second year)
2. my third year, he advice me to upgrade to either Primorac or Korbel (I choose primorac) with Yasaka MarkV HPS
3. then (I brougt Innerforce layer ZLF after tried my friend's bat -- and very much like it) -- he suggest my previous set-up (Xiom Vega Tour and Omega V Eur/Rakza7)
Then, a couple of weeks ago, when this question began... I should admit, I started to be a bit skeptic, but I respect and trust him very much.
(but still, I guess some important question still need to be asked indeed, I'm really grateful for this insight)

Again, I'm not that talented, thats why this insight :
"You will eventually get used to the equipment, but if it's too fast for your ability, it will mean you'll learn slower (and maybe never be as good as you can be)."
is indeed very important note for me.

I'll update it after I asked my coach.
 
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