Hi guys.. and gals..
i have a story to share, i have been away from the game for about 5-7 years, and when i came back in early 2013, equipment has changed alot. no more speed gluing.
with the speed glue ban, i couldn't rely on my dwelly top spin forehand that i played with back in 2005
so i had to find a new set up in the modern era.
playing with forehand dominate style game, i needed a racket that slightly flexes and some decent power too.
in the past i had a gambler carbon arylate straight fat handle with tibhar torpedo speed glued, and that combo was great. but with out the glue, that set up with the 40mm ball sucks.
coming back into the game my body and legs were out of shape and so of course the skills were not where it used to be... so i had to start off slowly.
while looking for the best rubber and blade type to match my game i ended up buying over 10 rackets,
forehand rubber - chinese style Hurricane 3 (neos, blue spong, 50 red sponge)
backhand rubber - donic blue fire m2, tenergy 64, tenergy 05
yinhe T8 - great handle - too fast - not enough dwell
butterfly AL - short small handle didnt like - very dwelly but not fast enough
butterfly innerforce ALC - short small handle didnt like - dead feel, just a little too fast
butterfly mike maze - - short small handle didnt like - crisp feel, nice dwell, over all too light (83) grams
butterfly viscaria - short small handle didnt like - crisp feel, nice dwell, 87 grams second best blade, will keep for backup
yasaka ma long soft carbon - short small handle didnt like - crisp feel, nice dwell - head shape is too small, too light
yinhe W2 - great handle - nice dwell, 90 percent speed of Viscaria - will keep for 3rd backup
and the one i liked best is Stiga
Stiga Clipper Classic - legend handle - hand is the best of all blades i have tried - perfect pitch sound - just dwelly enough for spin and great power for both FH and BH , 94 grams perfect weight for tournament style playing.
weight of the stiga is 94 grams and some might say that it is too heavy for them. but i say when your playing a 2200 level player that hits a hard spinny loop at you, you need to stick the block. and to stick blocks is to have a heavy set up that when the incoming ball hits your blade, it doesn't move. the force of the ball can not over come the weight of your blade. i have found my cut line for weight is 185 grams or higher will give me this stability for good blocking. and of course if youre hitting a ball, the heaveir set blade will be more stable too. over course you can't have it too heavy as you can not get a good flick or accelerate, but i have concluded that 94 gram blade is a great start for me.
anyways, the irony of it all is i spend gobs of money on modern high tech blades and what i ended up with was just a classic all wooden blade.
when i quit playing table tennis in 2005 i was rated around 2032 usatt rating.
now with 2 years under my belt from the come back , i am now rated 2128 usatt. never though i would be this high but with continued drills on serve returns and playing this classic chinese style forehand with the clipper i can see myself going a little farther..
so my moral is don't buy all that fast carbon high tech stuff, just stick with classics, in my case it was the clipper classic that shines in my hands..
phamster
Don't you love that snap that you get when you really dig into the ball? And how much dwell time you get even though the blade is fast. It feels like the ball is on the rubber for ever so you can really spin it.
