How did I get worse with a better table tennis racket?

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I'm a beginner player who has just been playing a matchevery day or two for the last few months, and have been really enjoyingit. My boss and I have been having great rallies, hits and digs. Now I've decided to take it up a notch and check out a local table tennisclub. Before playing with them, the coach sold me a new racket that hadthicker rubber/sponge and much stickier, which I take it is great for spin.

I played my first match against one of the worse clubplayers, and when she served I’d basically just block the ball to go back overthe net (with no forward force or movement at all) and the ball went springingover the net and out. I was astonished,and chalked it up to some sort of secret-serve she used which must have had alot of top spin to make the ball barely touch my paddle and go over andout. She continued to use the same serveand I slowly adapted, angling my paddle lower and lower so that I would justblock the ball with the lowest angle ever, then the ball would barely make itover the net to stay in. If I lost focusand had what I felt would be a “normal” angle with my other paddle, it would goflying.

I then played another guy and the same thing happened –was this club teaching these players the same serve and was beyond my skilllevel? Overall I managed to get morepoints than them, but it was an epic struggle just to control the ball. Note I did not really ever swing the paddlewith forward movement the whole night…it was all I could do to keep the ballin.

After that strenuous evening I went back to play with myboss the next day, thinking I had an evening of great practice and a new racketguaranteed to punish him. He served tome and the same thing happened – the ball bounced off my racket and went to themoon. Now wait a minute…he wasn’t doingany special serve…he was as clueless as I was. So what’s going on here?

I’m guessing it must be the new racket, and the thicker rubber/spongeis propelling the ball much further to the point that my control is a 1, notthe stated 10.

So what do I do? DoI go back to my cheap racket and start amassing points but limiting my growth,or do I learn to use the new paddle? Ifso, how do I use it? Is it only designedto be used with the most top spin of my life on every single shot? I’m hoping this is a common problem for beginnersand someone has an explanation, because so far I feel that it’s an extremelysteep learning curve just because of the new paddle.

Thanks in advance, looking forward to learning and growth
 
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Could you tell us what are the rubbers and blade you bought?

Anyways, it's definitely your new setup. The ones table tennis players use are much faster, but I think that depending on what your setup is, you'll be able to adjust to the speed.

Sometimes I land my racket to some of my friends and the same thing happens, they can't really handle the speed and can't get any control at all.

You're probably just not used to it and just need some practice. It's good that you're on a table tennis club, since practicing with others and a coach is better than trying to fix your technique alone.
 
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Anyways, lots of things going on. First, "better racket" is really relative. What is better for me, is not better for you. In this case, you are used and know how to deal with the older racket, so, that one is "better" for you now, but you should really get used to the new one.

It would be good if you could tell us which was the older racket (blade + rubbers) and what is the new one.

It is normal to need some time to adapt to a new setup, but it seems that what is happening is that your older racket didn’t get spin at all, and now you're having to deal with it for the first time, which is even harder with “sticky” rubbers, plus, the new one is probably faster.

If I understood it, you have a coach, so he should teach you how to deal with spin, but youtube videos like the ones username12345 suggested will help you for sure.
 
says Spin and more spin.
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I'm a beginner player who has just been playing a matchevery day or two for the last few months, and have been really enjoyingit. My boss and I have been having great rallies, hits and digs. Now I've decided to take it up a notch and check out a local table tennisclub. Before playing with them, the coach sold me a new racket that hadthicker rubber/sponge and much stickier, which I take it is great for spin.

I played my first match against one of the worse clubplayers, and when she served I’d basically just block the ball to go back overthe net (with no forward force or movement at all) and the ball went springingover the net and out. I was astonished,and chalked it up to some sort of secret-serve she used which must have had alot of top spin to make the ball barely touch my paddle and go over andout. She continued to use the same serveand I slowly adapted, angling my paddle lower and lower so that I would justblock the ball with the lowest angle ever, then the ball would barely make itover the net to stay in. If I lost focusand had what I felt would be a “normal” angle with my other paddle, it would goflying.

I then played another guy and the same thing happened –was this club teaching these players the same serve and was beyond my skilllevel? Overall I managed to get morepoints than them, but it was an epic struggle just to control the ball. Note I did not really ever swing the paddlewith forward movement the whole night…it was all I could do to keep the ballin.

After that strenuous evening I went back to play with myboss the next day, thinking I had an evening of great practice and a new racketguaranteed to punish him. He served tome and the same thing happened – the ball bounced off my racket and went to themoon. Now wait a minute…he wasn’t doingany special serve…he was as clueless as I was. So what’s going on here?

I’m guessing it must be the new racket, and the thicker rubber/spongeis propelling the ball much further to the point that my control is a 1, notthe stated 10.

So what do I do? DoI go back to my cheap racket and start amassing points but limiting my growth,or do I learn to use the new paddle? Ifso, how do I use it? Is it only designedto be used with the most top spin of my life on every single shot? I’m hoping this is a common problem for beginnersand someone has an explanation, because so far I feel that it’s an extremelysteep learning curve just because of the new paddle.

Thanks in advance, looking forward to learning and growth

I figured I may as well do something to make your original post readable to those who cannot see it.

There are a few things going on. First, it is likely that your original racket, rubbers may have been old and had no grip. Second, it seems like the guy who sold you the new racket may not have taken the time to see you play and see what would really be best for you.

Learning how to play with the new racket may or may not be useful to you. Part of the reason it is hard to tell is, you have not told us or showed us what the old racket was and what the new setup is.

What is your old racket? What is the new one? Can you take a photo of each and post it so we can see? It may help. A 2 min video of you taking a few hits with the old racket and the new racket might also be useful. It is hard to see if something is okay for a person without knowing anything about how they actually play.
 
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This stuff happens all the time when a basement/Church player gets a sponged bat and plays vs the lowest club level players.

Then, suddenly, shyt gets real... really quickly.

This is a reality of amateur table tennis beginners.

I think you simply tried to play matches before you get well enough in the fundamentals. Happens all the time. The determined ones stay with it, get better, and enjoy club TT.

This vid is typical of how it goes in a club with a new player...

 
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The thicker sponge will give you less control. I had the same problem many many years ago, after a long layoff from tt.

I was a very good club level player, when I started playing again, the equipment had changed a lot. I had been using 1.5 mm sponge then saw 2.5 mm sponge available, went for it. Mistake, couldn't adjust to it.
 
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Wowzers, I wasn’t sure people even used this forum much, but apparently they do! Thanks for all the help and advice everyone! Sorry for the bad post; I’m having troubles with this site, and had no idea the font and background defaulted to that for me. I can’t even type normally in this for some reason as it doesn’t capture all my keys, and I’m now typing in a Word document just to copy and paste into it…so strange. Oh great, just tried posting and it did it again…wtf?

Anyway my first racket was a $20 Walmart one, it says it’s an Eastpoint with EPS Rubber 4.0. Not sure on the thickness of the rubber/sponge, but looks a lot less than my new one so guessing like 1.5mm’ish? It’s not sticky at all, despite not being that old or used. I had good control with it except when I went to hit hard it would be difficult to keep down, obviously needing a little topspin.

My new one the club coach sold me is a $75 Reactor CK-2 blade, RITC 729 Friendship rubber, guessing 2mm’ish. It’s much thicker and a 1000 times stickier than the other one. With a quick google it looks like it may be a bit of an attacking type paddle, and I’m beginning to think I’m more of a defensive type player, but I’m still brand new to the sport and will see how it goes.

I can’t believe the learning curve from one to the other, but I’ll take all your advice and watch tutorials, try to practice when I can, and stick it out with the new one for awhile before giving up on it. My serves are actually quite good with it (not that I even know how), but just my returns and after-play is brutal. I have my first coached session on Aug 17th so I’m sure that will help, and the coach would probably advise me of any problems I have along the way (with just a bit of a language barrier…lol).

Thanks so much guys, I’m very determined to improve and have fun with some skill…one day
 
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I think this is pretty common. Your old racket had little grip in the rubbers so they Did not react much to spin because the ball Do not grip. Your neew racket have more grip. With more grip you can create spin because the rubber surface actually grips they ball. But because of this you also get more sensitive to incoming spin.

Keep on using the new racket. With this racket you actually have the possibility to learn the correct strokes and to learn to create spin. This was not possible with the old racket. But spin in tabletennis is very difficult and you Will have problem with this for a while. All have this. But like everyone else you Will learn spin and this Will br easier in the future.

A a tips could be to think of their angle when they serve and where they hit the ball. Which way is the ball going to rotate? Then try different ways, like adjusring rhe angle and hitting in different direktions ans you Will learn What to Do on What kind of serve. If your return goes to the moon they have topspin in the serve. Then you need to close the angle and hit forward.

Ask the coach aswell. He is a coacxh because he likes to learn other the stuff he knows.
 
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says Spin and more spin.
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With a racket where the rubber surface is sort of slippery, you don't have to know how to read and compensate for spin the way you would with a racket that grips the ball.

The good news about this is, with a racket with rubbers that don't grip, it is highly unlikely that you would learn how to read and compensate for spin simply because you won't even realize the effect of the spin. But with the racket that coach sold you, you will actually have the potential for learning how to play the sport.

The blade is good. The rubbers are good. They are not too offensive for you. That is a good beginner's setup. But with those rubbers, the angle of your racket will have to take into account the kind and amount of spin on the ball. Also, thinner, more brushing, tangential contact will make it more possible to use the incoming spin of your opponent to your advantage. But you have to learn how to do that as well.

The finer details of this sport, the more technical aspects of the sport, they all have to do with spin, how to generate spin, how to compensate for spin, and even how to avoid your opponent's spin when you are returning a ball that has a lot of spin.

How do you "avoid" spin? When a ball spins, it spins on an axis, just like how the earth spins on an axis. If you know the spin of the ball, you can figure out where the axis of the spin is. A pure topspin shot has an axis that is perpendicular to the direction the ball is going. Sort of like the axis of a wheel on a car. So, therefore, the left and right sides of the ball are where the axis of spin would be on a pure topspin shot. Same with a pure backspin shot.

Why does this matter? On a pure topspin ball that is coming at you, if you contact the ball on the side of the ball (either the left or the right side), there will be less spin there. Whereas, if you contact the back of the ball, the spin will have a much greater effect on your racket.

For topspin, if you are not going to avoid the spin, and you are going to hit a topspin ball back, you would then need to contact more the top of the ball and use that topspin with the angle of your racket to project the ball forward rather than up. If you contact the back of the ball, the ball will go up. And if you contact the top of the ball with a gentle brushing contact, you can use that incoming spin, to help you generate a lot of your own topspin. Or, if you avoided the spin by contacting the side, you could put whatever kind of spin you wanted on it. And yes, you can contact the side of the ball and direct the ball forward. And you can do that with a normal stroke. :)

When you are playing you don't really think about this stuff. But as you learn to play and handle incoming spin and generate spin of your own, you just naturally read and adjust to the spin you see coming to you.

It is actually pretty cool. There will be a time when you think back to those balls flying up off your racket with amazement about how much you have learned about reading and responding to spin. Those coaching sessions you do will help.

Good luck.
 
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says Spin and more spin.
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A second note on this, the racket the coach set you up with, it will be good for you to learn ALL modern strokes. So, even if you end up becoming a defensive player, that is a good racket to use for learning all the strokes. The racket you had would not let you learn the fundamentals. The new racket will.

If you did, over time become a defensive specialist, you would need to learn the strokes with a racket like the one you have first before a more defensive setup would be useful to you.

The first racket simply masked that you were not reading spin and allowed you to put the ball back without knowing what you were doing. You would never really learn anything with that. The new racket, you can learn with. Stick with it.
 

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Wannabe Pro,

This forum is a wonderful source of information and help and friendliness.

I have been playing with a little gap for nearly 40 years and am a reasonable player.

I have been given wonderful and inspiring and sometimes tough advice from some of the people on here.

Upside down Carl and Der Echte and Lula are like my table tennis fairy godmothers ;), LOL they are actually table tennis gurus and offer some great advice.

I would listen to them and try to develop and stick with it.


Wowzers, I wasn’t sure people even used this forum much, but apparently they do! Thanks for all the help and advice everyone! Sorry for the bad post; I’m having troubles with this site, and had no idea the font and background defaulted to that for me. I can’t even type normally in this for some reason as it doesn’t capture all my keys, and I’m now typing in a Word document just to copy and paste into it…so strange. Oh great, just tried posting and it did it again…wtf?

Anyway my first racket was a $20 Walmart one, it says it’s an Eastpoint with EPS Rubber 4.0. Not sure on the thickness of the rubber/sponge, but looks a lot less than my new one so guessing like 1.5mm’ish? It’s not sticky at all, despite not being that old or used. I had good control with it except when I went to hit hard it would be difficult to keep down, obviously needing a little topspin.

My new one the club coach sold me is a $75 Reactor CK-2 blade, RITC 729 Friendship rubber, guessing 2mm’ish. It’s much thicker and a 1000 times stickier than the other one. With a quick google it looks like it may be a bit of an attacking type paddle, and I’m beginning to think I’m more of a defensive type player, but I’m still brand new to the sport and will see how it goes.

I can’t believe the learning curve from one to the other, but I’ll take all your advice and watch tutorials, try to practice when I can, and stick it out with the new one for awhile before giving up on it. My serves are actually quite good with it (not that I even know how), but just my returns and after-play is brutal. I have my first coached session on Aug 17th so I’m sure that will help, and the coach would probably advise me of any problems I have along the way (with just a bit of a language barrier…lol).

Thanks so much guys, I’m very determined to improve and have fun with some skill…one day
 
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Thanks!

Haha UpSideDownCarl has me scared now with all that spin talk…with my bad eyes, I’m not sure how much I will be able to tell what the ball is doing!
I’m guessing for me it will be more about “feel” and will only be discovered with time and practice. Now I just wish I had more time and practice available
 
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Don't worry the basics are not this much complicated and after a while it get really more clear what you have to do in each situation, there are not this many different situations (of course we can always find a lot of nuances and variations)

One very important tips about handling spin is that you need to be active on the ball, like really hit or brush the ball. If you just wait and put your racket in opposition without action, you will eat all the spin. But if you are active and impart your own motion / spin, it will be way easier to control the spin

Good luck :)
 
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