What makes more difference - rubbers or blades

[MORTtheORT]

The original quesrion was which makes moee difference, rubber or blade. *more difference*. Both have impacts but which determines style and performance more? If you had a limited budget, would your budget go more into choice of rubbers or choice of blades?

Your point that you can use a variety of blades ro play woth 09c makes mine.

The original quesrion was which makes moee difference, rubber or blade. *more difference*. Both have impacts but which determines style and performance more? If you had a limited budget, would your budget go more into choice of rubbers or choice of blades?

Your point that you can use a variety of blades ro play woth 09c makes mine.

And as I said at the very start of this discussion. The blade, because you need the feelings. The thread has clearly moved to which is better for performance.

I would, without doubt, always spend more on the blade, with or without a budget. I have never heard anyone recommend otherwise. Rubbers are throw-away items that change as your game style changes.

 

[NextLevel]

And as I said at the very start of this discussion. The blade, because you need the feelings. The thread has clearly moved to which is better for performance.

I would, without doubt, always spend more on the blade, with or without a budget. I have never heard anyone recommend otherwise. Rubbers are throw-away items that change as your game style changes.

And that is my point. Your answer shows a very limited understanding of what is required to play table tennis well. In fact, I have watched many pros play table tennis with equipment they thought felt funny to use. I have played table tennis at pretty much my playing level with equipment I didn't like to use. Ultimately, the most important thing is that rhe equipment plays the way you expect it to and not about how it feels or the vibrations though they can be related. And biggest determinant of it playing how you want it to is the rubber. Usually, the blade issues can usually be more easily compensated for than the rubbers issues once we stay in the range of most commercially available equipment.

Again, would you choose a 1960s rubber with a modern blade.or a 1960s blade with a modern rubber?

 

[songdavid98]

@NextLevel , you are arguing against full-time unpaid marketing employees of tt equipment companies.

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

"Which makes more difference: rubbers or blade? The answer is TRAINING.

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

"Which makes more difference: rubbers or blade? The answer is TRAINING.

this is something that the EJ never want to hear (EJ + equipment suppliers).

But it is the hard truth

 

[MORTtheORT]

"Which makes more difference: rubbers or blade? The answer is TRAINING.

Lol, the elephant in the room.

 

[MORTtheORT]

this is something that the EJ never want to hear (EJ + equipment suppliers).

But it is the hard truth

Come off it....Not having the ZYRE-03 has got to be what is holding me back!!!! hahaha

 

[MORTtheORT]

And that is my point. Your answer shows a very limited understanding of what is required to play table tennis well. In fact, I have watched many pros play table tennis with equipment they thought felt funny to use. I have played table tennis at pretty much my playing level with equipment I didn't like to use. Ultimately, the most important thing is that rhe equipment plays the way you expect it to and not about how it feels or the vibrations though they can be related. And biggest determinant of it playing how you want it to is the rubber. Usually, the blade issues can usually be more easily compensated for than the rubbers issues once we stay in the range of most commercially available equipment.

Again, would you choose a 1960s rubber with a modern blade.or a 1960s blade with a modern rubber?

Talk about the feel, complain about the feel...then say it isn't about the feel. I am going to leave you with that one and stick to the proven developing feel of table tennis.

 

[NextLevel]

Talk about the feel, complain about the feel...then say it isn't about the feel. I am going to leave you with that one and stick to the proven developing feel of table tennis.

That's just an admission that you haven't tested ideas or talked to many TT players or teated much equipment. Very often adjusting to faster equipment requires you to olay with something uncomfortable until you adjust to it. Feel can be important but it isnt immutable and in some cases, it can adapt to new circumstances.

Though I have gotten to the point that your refusal to answer rhe posed quesrion about B lades ans rubbers drom 1960s vs nkw.says something about your motives.

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

Come off it....Not having the ZYRE-03 has got to be what is holding me back!!!! hahaha

yeah, what a pity, your past few years, decades has been wasted lol

where is the golden viscaria guy when you need him?

 

[PhoenixTT]

Ok. I was going to resolve the question once and for all for everyone by checking my total expenses for rubber and blades. Whichever made the most difference to my wallet is the winner. Unfortunately the total $$$ I've spent over the years for both was equal. So, sorry, can't help you all.

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

Ok. I was going to resolve the question once and for all for everyone by checking my total expenses for rubber and blades. Whichever made the most difference to my wallet is the winner. Unfortunately the total $$$ I've spent over the years for both was equal. So, sorry, can't help you all.

now we need to have an audit for everyone in this thread.

how many hours of coaching
how many hours of forum

and see how ones TT life looks like in the past 1 year/few years.
haha

 

[MORTtheORT]

That's just an admission that you haven't tested ideas or talked to many TT players or teated much equipment. Very often adjusting to faster equipment requires you to olay with something uncomfortable until you adjust to it. Feel can be important but it isnt immutable and in some cases, it can adapt to new circumstances.

Though I have gotten to the point that your refusal to answer rhe posed quesrion about B lades ans rubbers drom 1960s vs nkw.says something about your motives.

I am going to continue to listen to my doubles partner - Olympic medalist and his coach. They seem to know something about the game and their view of feel seems to disagree with everything you say. But good luck with it.

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

I am going to continue to listen to my doubles partner - Olympic medalist and his coach. They seem to know something about the game and their view of feel seems to disagree with everything you say. But good luck with it.

Feel is important when you are learning how to touch the ball and are just developing those skills of learning how to make deep or thin to contact on different kinds of shots and when to use each. When you are skilled and know how to do that, and have a sense for when different touch is going to be more useful, feel starts being primarily about liking and enjoying what you are playing with but it won't change your level much if you are using something that does not have that feeling. If you are decently high level and you walk up to a table and are given a setup that is quite different from what you normally use and has much worse feeling, your level won't change much with different equipment; you just won't love the equipment you are using....maybe only at first, and then you get used to it....or, maybe even after you get used to it, you still won't like it. But the change in equipment shouldn't change your level much. If you were fairly low level and did not have the skills to loop backspin consistently on open ups and to counterloop consistently, the change in equipment could mess you up. But if those skills are solidly under your belt and you are making choices like when to make thinner contact and make slower spinnier loops or deeper thicker contact for heavy spin with speed and power, then a setup that does everything you need but feels lifeless is not going to change your level much. If you played someone you are close with but win almost all the time even though it is close, you will likely still win using the setup that feels lifeless but does what it should.

As far as old blades or old rubbers: I would take a blade from the 60s with new rubbers every day of the week. And I would never take a new blade from today fitted with rubbers that were used and popular in the 1960s. Sriver on a Viscaria....nope.

And if you read between the lines above: the answer is still training.

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

Feel is important when you are learning how to touch the ball and are just developing those skills of learning how deep or thin to contact on different kinds of shots. When you are skilled and know how to do that, feel starts being primarily about liking and enjoying what you are playing with but it won't change your level much if you are using something that does not have that feeling. If you are decently high level and you walk up to a table and are given a setup that is quite different from what you normally use and has much worse feeling, your level won't change much with different equipment; you just won't love the equipment you are using....maybe only at first, and then you get used to it....or, maybe even after you get used to it, you still won't like it. But the change in equipment shouldn't change your level much. If you were fairly low level and did not have the skills to loop backspin consistently on open ups and to counterloop consistently, the change in equipment could mess you up. But if those skills are solidly under your belt and you are making choices like when to make thinner contact and make slower spinnier loops or deeper thicker contact for heavy spin with speed and power, then a setup that does everything you need but feels lifeless is not going to change your level much. If you played someone you are close with but win almost all the time even though it is close, you will likely still win using the setup that feels lifeless but does what it should.

As far as old blades or old rubbers: I would take a blade from the 60s with new rubbers every day of the week. And I would never take a new blade from today fitted with rubbers that were used and popular in the 1960s. Sriver on a Viscaria....nope.

And if you read between the lines above: the answer is still training.

I like to add something about "feel".

I work with a lot of world level players, some of them might not be top 50, but they can beat top 50 players.
I also know a lot of players in the top 50.

I hear the sentence, "I have no feeling today", quite often.
The feeling, they talk about is a matter of winning and loosing and is probably the most important aspect for any pro player.

Feeling is every time you contact the ball and instruct where the ball should go and to see if the ball obeys your command.

So this is not just for the "learning" stages. This is also important for pro stages.

and while this thread is now 7 pages long, the correct answer is indeed training.

 

[vanjr]

Comparing pro level or full time players with the old guy (me) playing 3 times a week with a few tournaments a year is insane/irrelevant.
Also saying coaching is the answer is also somewhat crazy-many of us have NO access to a coach-either due to finances or time or due to geography or all three.

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

I like to add something about "feel".

I work with a lot of world level players, some of them might not be top 50, but they can beat top 50 players.
I also know a lot of players in the top 50.

I hear the sentence, "I have no feeling today", quite often.
The feeling, they talk about is a matter of winning and loosing and is probably the most important aspect for any pro player.

Feeling is every time you contact the ball and instruct where the ball should go and to see if the ball obeys your command.

So this is not just for the "learning" stages. This is also important for pro stages.

and while this thread is now 7 pages long, the correct answer is indeed training.

I would call what you are talking about touch. But yeah. Being in sync with how you touch the ball (having feeling for the game on a given day) is important at any level.

But when someone is talking about how the setup they are using feels, or whether the setup has good feeling, I don't think that is what you are referring to. How the setup feels and whether the setup allows you to feel the quality of your contact well, is something that helps players develop certain skills.

So, you sometimes have to look at the context of how a term is being used.

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

Comparing pro level or full time players with the old guy (me) playing 3 times a week with a few tournaments a year is insane/irrelevant.
Also saying coaching is the answer is also somewhat crazy-many of us have NO access to a coach-either due to finances or time or due to geography or all three.

Yeah. Sometimes you have to accept that you can only do what you can. And, in the end, it is most important to enjoy the game while you are playing it or training. Training can be just with a partner of similar level. It does not have to mean training with a coach: I know that I did not mean training with a coach when I used the term above.

But if you have access to coaching, it can really help you improve much faster. A good coach will see what you need to work on much sooner than you will see for yourself. But I know plenty of very good club level players who never had any coaching.

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

I would call what you are talking about touch. But yeah. Being in sync with how you touch the ball (having feeling for the game on a given day) is important at any level.

But when someone is talking about how the setup they are using feels, or whether the setup has good feeling, I don't think that is what you are referring to. How the setup feels and whether the setup allows you to feel the quality of your contact well, is something that helps players develop certain skills.

So, you sometimes have to look at the context of how a term is being used.

Everyone from east to west uses the word feeling.
Of cause this is also equipment related with the gluing, the hall conditions etc

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

Comparing pro level or full time players with the old guy (me) playing 3 times a week with a few tournaments a year is insane/irrelevant.
Also saying coaching is the answer is also somewhat crazy-many of us have NO access to a coach-either due to finances or time or due to geography or all three.

It is relevant for this people that buy hundreds of blades and rubbers, as that crosses out finance and time