Do you boost!!!!!!

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Hello everyone

Im making this thread so people can discuss boosting or ways of making your rubber or game better, also discuss what booster is best on what rubber
it would be good if reviews of boosters can be posted on this thread e.g how the booster changes the visual characteristics of the rubber and how the booster changes the playing characteristics of the rubber , any good boosters any bad boosters , any rubbers that react well to boosting/tuning and any rubbers that don't



Thank you
amd I hope many people will use this thread
 
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Boosting is very normal at the higher levels of play. Everyone thinks that it is supposed to give so much extra speed and extra spin, but that is only a half truth. When you are first starting out playing the best rubbers for you to use are softer ones. They provide the most spin and most control when starting out. Later when technique and strength are developed the faster harder rubbers are used and they typically provide much spin as well, but little control. This is because they rebound quicker due to their hardness. Boosting provides these hard rubbers with a small margin of speed, but most importantly it provides much more control because the harder rubbers become much more soft so that one is able to feel the ball much more thus adding more dwell time and spin.

If you don't like to boost don't, if you prefer to boost then boost, but the most important thing to remember is that you should be boosting only at the higher levels because otherwise your lack of skill and technique diminishes. It is very important to learn spin and strokes otherwise the boosting will only make you peak sooner. If you have solid basics and are training/competing a lot then boosting may help you to become more consistent. If you are simply playing at the club for fun and not focusing on competition then really it is up to your personal preference. You can choose to boost and lower your skill peak or you can work harder and gain those basics so that your will peak at a higher level.

I don't understand why people complain about boosting and such because it does not add such a huge difference that one cannot beat players. I've beaten players who boosted when I was not boosting and now that I do boost players have beaten me even though they do not boost. It is not a matter of it making you better, but rather providing you with much more control and consistency. To compare it to a motorized bike in a bike race is inaccurate. It would be more truly referred to as a lighter bike or carbon fiber bike that is more aero dynamic than the average bike or has an extra set of gears providing more options when biking up and down hill. But if you are not in condition to be biking up and down hill these extra gear options won't do you any good.
 
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Boosting is very normal at the higher levels of play. Everyone thinks that it is supposed to give so much extra speed and extra spin, but that is only a half truth. When you are first starting out playing the best rubbers for you to use are softer ones. They provide the most spin and most control when starting out. Later when technique and strength are developed the faster harder rubbers are used and they typically provide much spin as well, but little control. This is because they rebound quicker due to their hardness. Boosting provides these hard rubbers with a small margin of speed, but most importantly it provides much more control because the harder rubbers become much more soft so that one is able to feel the ball much more thus adding more dwell time and spin.

If you don't like to boost don't, if you prefer to boost then boost, but the most important thing to remember is that you should be boosting only at the higher levels because otherwise your lack of skill and technique diminishes. It is very important to learn spin and strokes otherwise the boosting will only make you peak sooner. If you have solid basics and are training/competing a lot then boosting may help you to become more consistent. If you are simply playing at the club for fun and not focusing on competition then really it is up to your personal preference. You can choose to boost and lower your skill peak or you can work harder and gain those basics so that your will peak at a higher level.

I don't understand why people complain about boosting and such because it does not add such a huge difference that one cannot beat players. I've beaten players who boosted when I was not boosting and now that I do boost players have beaten me even though they do not boost. It is not a matter of it making you better, but rather providing you with much more control and consistency. To compare it to a motorized bike in a bike race is inaccurate. It would be more truly referred to as a lighter bike or carbon fiber bike that is more aero dynamic than the average bike or has an extra set of gears providing more options when biking up and down hill. But if you are not in condition to be biking up and down hill these extra gear options won't do you any good.

it's not so much the speed or spin.
it's the sweet spot.
with a regular rubber you have to hit the ball just the right way or the shot is bad.
with a boosted rubber there is so much tension and explosion in that sponge that the result is a good shot most of the times.
 
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says 2023 Certified Organ Donor
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I boost my game through 3x a week lessons. I have tried boosting some discarded rubbers to slap them on 4th or 5th bat backups at work just to see what the buzz is all about. Done right, boosting can take a mediocre old rubber and make it more seviceable than a new sheet of Tenergy.

Boosting could be the price performance equalizer, but ITTF and Co will not let their backdoor income stream slip away.
 
says 2023 Certified Organ Donor
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Then we could also get the arguement...

"Is it ethical or right to boost?"

The "Factory" can boost and use a gazillion nasty VOCs in the process of manufactuering a rubber and tune the daylights out of the sponge. Since this was allowed by ITTF, we see many new rubbers costing a LOT of money.

The user is prohibited from boosting or speed gluing as that is using additives. ITTF president specifically mentions boosting and speed gluing by users as illegal. many individuals would rather take a $5-$10 sheet of Dawei rubber like XP 2008, tune the crap outta it, then slap it on their blade to get a few weeks of the same performance expensive rubbers provide.

Some users never go to sanctioned tourneys and tune all night long with a good conscience. Some users do participate sanctioned tourneys and could give a crap about ITTF rules. Detection of many boosting substances is very difficult to detect, even with the advanced equipment that costs an arm and a leg. Some users feel they are wrong to tune or boost, but continue to do it and actively seek to go undetected. Some users go to their country's sanctioned amature tourneys and there is absolutely zero racket control, or control over illegal serves for that matter.

Where do all of you stand on this matter?

I do not boost as I get a few good rubbers every month and a nice discount on any additional ones I want. These rubbers do not need tuning, at least for the first 4-5 weeks, and that is pretty much the end of their usefulness when you hit 4 hours daily. I do not feel disadvantaged by anyone boosting, I feel more disadvantaged by illegal servers who never get called by the scorekeepers here. I could care less if Joe Average boosts or if the entire WR 100 and above boost. Although I strongly suspect the ITTF and their sanctioning company and backdoor friendship wink/knod deals keep a lot of people in big money they otherwise would have had to earn the old-fashioned way, I can only suspect and be grumpy.
 
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I just started boosting Hurricane 3 and TG 3 and it makes them playable , and it's a lot cheaper than trying all different Tensor rubbers coming out of Germany. And those rubbers from the Tensor factories are using a booster, so I don't understand when people complain about boosters.
 
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