Hello there guys. I'm an advanced recreational player. I've been playing for about 6 months now. I've noticed I tend to be more of an offensive player, so I want to upgrade my equipment (I'm playing with a pre-assembled Butterfly Wakaba 3000) and I need some advice (excuse me if some of the answers are too obvious, I have never built my own racket):
There have already been plenty of threads around this topic.
Well, I ain't one of the above mentioned guys but maybe you can still value my answers to your questions.
To your first question:
1) Taking into account I want an offensive racket, do I need both rubbers to be offensive? Would it make sense to have one very fast rubber and a very slow one? (at least for practice purpouses)?
it's a very common mistake to think the fastest setup will also be the best.
Generally there's no such thing as a best setup 'cause everybody's got their preferences. So what can be good for Player X could be very bad for Player Y and ofc vice versa.
So if your a beginner or recreational player and want to improve your TT-skills, there are other things to look out for than just pure speed.
These things would be consistency and confidence. So getting an All to All+ fullwood blade with mid-tempo rubbers that provide plenty of control would really be helpful.
Ofc if you don't want to improve as much and rather are looking for fun and recreational purposes just get the fastest and hardest setup available like ZJK SLZC with Bryce Highspeed.
But this is NOT very recommendable.
Blades that actually come to my mind would be something like Yasaka Sweden Extra, Stiga Allround Classic or Evolution, and so many others in that range.
Rubbers would be something like Yasaka Mark V, Donic Vario, and quite a few others. If you're on a budget then the above mentioned Dawei 2008 XP could be a very good alternative.
To your second question:
2) Looking at the stats at tabletennisdb, which feats make a rubber more offensive/defensive? I'm guessing speed would be the main one for off. and control/tackiness for def.?
these specs can be quite tricky 'cause everyone feels things differently, they just can give you a hint towards the direction, so i wouldn't give too much about these specs, same goes for the specs provided by the TT-Companies. But you're actually right, more speed is towards off or even off+ / less speed more control rather def. But tackiness is rather related to spin ability than something like Def or off.
To your third question:
3) Is an anti-spin rubber worth trying for myself as an advanced recreational player?
PD: This is what I've shortlisted so far, any recommendations welcome:
- Blade Galaxy N-9
- FH Giant Dragon Superveloce V12 FX
- BH Gambler Reflectoid 14 (not sure yet)
- Free Chack glue
Thanks in advance.
it depends how "advanced" you are. But none of the coaches I know would recommend this type of rubber to a beginner / recreational player. Same goes for All kinds of pips. No matter if Short, mid or long.
This just isn't recommendable to someone trying to improve. All coaches I know would first want you to have a consistent technique that doesn't fall apart at serious gameplay and hence first would recommend to stick to double inverted rubbers. At least until your technique is there.
But it's actually quite the same as your first question. If you just want to play for the fun of it, then you should go for anything providing more fun, but this wouldn't be recommended to someone who is trying to improve.
Hope this helps a little.
Anyhow here's a link to the thread the knife (theKleifheit13) has mentioned from not too long ago. Maybe this can help you sort out things as well.
https://www.tabletennisdaily.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?12227-Advice-for-a-new-bat&p=134881
In case carl hasn't answered yet, this could help a little.
Well anyhow: good luck then.
