myth: too fast equipment hinder development

The problem with using fast rubbers from the start is that new players have little technique, and when using fast rubbers, these players tend to play more passive in order to keep the ball on the table. On the flip side, with slower paddles, fuller strokes are necessary to get the type of power needed to get the ball over the net. However, these fuller strokes don't work very well when out of position, so having slow paddles also provide the type of motivation to improve footwork as well. This advances development much more so than starting with tensioned rubbers, which encourage players to block more often, or use mostly arm to return the ball, and not the whole body.

Furthermore, with slower paddles, there's a pretty obvious observation on the lack of spin newbies put on the ball. With tensors, the ball pops back fast and spinny automatically. It makes you feel good, but you really don't get the type of feedback on how to increase spin, essentially because most of the spin is done on your behalf. With a slower setup, the impetus is there to consciously adjust your stroke to create a spinnier ball, and the feedback is a lot more apparent on how your stroke affects spin.

That said, this really comes down to your personal philosophy on development. There's nothing wrong with the self-gratification of tensors and faster paddles that help you win more games. It's also not necessarily false that you cannot develop your game using faster equipment. However, without a good coach/teacher to guide you through, self learning is optimal with slower setups that give the type of punishing feedback that improves your fundamentals. Fast paddles punish you but do not often enough teach you anything except to weaken your output or merely adjust your paddle angle. Making mistakes with slower paddles create more interesting questions inside a players mind on why something did not work out.

just my 2 cents...

There was an old paddle called a Joola R2 I believe. It was so fast I don't know why anybody would want to use it. It was only good for flat hitting. I know this is an extreme case but faster is not always better. Beginners play close to the table. Fast paddles and rubbers are not required there.

Almost no pro use an off+ blade, and there's a reason for that, so why should amateurs do it.

Kids who get coached typically use "fast" setups from very early. Tb alc + t05/64 is probably most common I have seen. Yet they develop into advanced players fine.

Equipment isn't the main factor in improving or not, coaching is. If you get quality coaching often as a beginner, especially if you are starting as a kid, you get good. If you don't get any coaching or wait until you play a while to start it, you will never be very good. So you might as well use fast equipment *if that's what you like*. It's not really going to make the difference one way or another.

Early, frequent coaching = good player. No or late coaching = bad player. Equipment might as well not be in the equation.

I believe the answer is in front of you when you go to club with starting players and very low ranking leagues/tournaments. If there are people who choose fast equipment then a) most of the balls end up long or just too high and got smashed (so they loose badly) or b) they somehow adopt(ed) to the speed and can win some points but with only few awkward strikes which are typically outside of any standard movement which could be developed further. You simply see it on their style that they are on dead-end street where they might improve in certain direction but then your moves and position and all the rest won't have anywhere to develop. If such player is 40+ and spends two hours a week (max0 playing while being happy when beats his old friends in minor league then it's fine. But you cannot expect more.

The hint to use slower blade/rubber combo with more dwell time and control (ALL+/OFF- 5-ply all-wood blade typically with slower/thinner inverted rubbers) is meant for people who don't want to just beat the people in their beginner's class at the end of this lesson but they want to keep up with development for years and go by 10+% in the ranking every year. Because TT is so specific fast and technical game there hasn't been found another way than few hand/footwork coordination styles which have proven to lead from total newbies who barely keep the ball on the table up to professional players. That's why you get this hint from any couch or experienced player, because it simply works. Yes, you might be that 1% which find different way and it might work for you. But the statistics proven by millions of kids who were trained and observed all over the world in all the countries says start with that kind of set-up and only when your footwork, reactions and feel in the hand allow you then go to faster blade and rubbers.

Brs said:

Kids who get coached typically use "fast" setups from very early. Tb alc + t05/64 is probably most common I have seen. Yet they develop into advanced players fine.

Equipment isn't the main factor in improving or not, coaching is. If you get quality coaching often as a beginner, especially if you are starting as a kid, you get good. If you don't get any coaching or wait until you play a while to start it, you will never be very good. So you might as well use fast equipment *if that's what you like*. It's not really going to make the difference one way or another.

Early, frequent coaching = good player. No or late coaching = bad player. Equipment might as well not be in the equation.

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Very valid! Again general recommendation to start with ALL+/OFF- all-wood blade and reasonable fast inverted rubbers is based on assumption that there are very few people who have access to such coaching. In rare cases you will get so much one2one training sessions that you will learn correct moves and feel in the hand even if you use TB ALC from the day one. But it's unlikely. As soon as you need to rely on your own feeling and observations and as long as you train through standard drills with players of similar level then again statistically it's proven that slower all-wood blade allows you to improve and stay on the good path towards high level. (just higher chance, no guarantee

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The Joola R2 paddle mentioned above is the Joola R*1. A super fast frame with a balsa core measuring 1cm!
I own one and i can tell you its very non-linear. If you hit hard the ball is a bullit, if you hit slow it goes extremely slow. It's mainly used with one side L.P. I like it a lot but now it's beter for me to play with linear off- frames.

As a self-coached adult player, I'd like to post my opinion on this. I started with an extremely fast setup (Timo Boll ALC with Tenergy 80 on both sides was my first non-premade racket).

I regret it.

There are a lot of fundamental flaws in my technique, and although those I'm slowly fixing over time, I think the fast setup has ingrained a blockers mindset into my play. I'm an offensive player with generally big strokes, but the moment I start playing a match, I get quite passive.

It's impossible to say for sure whether a slower setup from the beginning would have changed this (since I didn't have coaching), but I feel it's quite a big factor.

Every now and then I'd also use my student's rackets to demonstrate something (when I don't have my own on hand), and there's so much more feeling in the arm on each hit.

That said, I did start with a carbon blade, which isn't what you're talking about in the OP, so the situation could be vastly different.

Brs said:

So you might as well use fast equipment *if that's what you like*. It's not really going to make the difference one way or another.
Early, frequent coaching = good player. No or late coaching = bad player. Equipment might as well not be in the equation.

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I agree here.
My wife as a late starter has no problem handling Rasanter rubbers on an off minus blade since she gets good coaching from day one.
However, some players at our club who have never had any training lessons will struggle to put a ball on the table with a 1,5 mm Sriver.

iamsan said:

I disagree.
First we are all amateurs playing for fun more than for money.
We don't have to get real quick better in a short time.
Second the passive blocking game is way hard underrated. Also I wasn't talking about fast equipment u can only block with, like mentioned in the last sentence of my initial post, it's about playing with a comfortably fast equipment where u can generate quite a good speed and spin level with less effort.
Third I don't think professional coaching is necessary on amateur level. U will adapt to most things just by playing. Furthermore u can always learn from higher rated players practically and by reading stuff theoretically.

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Ok, but your question was about "development" and watcher and JST gave the correct answers.
There is a great difference between systematic training and nonsystematic self adapting.
Of course it depends on the reason why you want to play TT and what level you want to achieve in order to feel happy.
If you have the opportunity to observe the development of children starting with AR and self adapting players with OFF, just after a year you will notice that a child with an AR is able to execute consistently much faster balls than the OFF+ in the hands of the self adapting player.

iamsan said:

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now i train in a club with players above average and a lot of them are playing controlled strokes, u can see the power is generated more from equipment rather than from their strokes (e.g. no fast acceleration, more upward that forward motion etc.)
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Your perception of reality could not be more wrong.

Well, kids first here use off- blades and average speed rubbers.
I believe that's the good way. Fast and spinny rubbers like an MX-P are bad for development. It's easy to generate high speed and spin, but beginners can't control it correctly. First you want stability. Stability comes from doing drills without errors. I've seen slow rubbers as a compensation for lacking technique. It's easier to land the loops with a slow rubber as you don't need as much spin as with a faster one. But do don't learn the technique from the equipment. Visit a coach, record yourself playing, understand how TT works and you will improve.
But in general, I think equipment doesn't matter that much regarding development. Just follow a few rules: don't use too fast or too slow equipment and use something that helps you feel the contact, so you can feel what did you do wrong.

iamsan said:

I disagree.
First we are all amateurs playing for fun more than for money.
We don't have to get real quick better in a short time.
Second the passive blocking game is way hard underrated. Also I wasn't talking about fast equipment u can only block with, like mentioned in the last sentence of my initial post, it's about playing with a comfortably fast equipment where u can generate quite a good speed and spin level with less effort.
Third I don't think professional coaching is necessary on amateur level. U will adapt to most things just by playing. Furthermore u can always learn from higher rated players practically and by reading stuff theoretically.

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Well it depends where you wanna go and what goal you're trying to reach.
(Too) Fast equipment might help generating speed but definitely hinders in generating spin. Period.

But at the end of the day it also depends on yourself.
Some might get a kick out of joking around and making awkward looking shots, but me myself i have fun in playing good, and funnily: the better i play the more fun i have.

I also find myself loving the speed of the game and getting addiction to adrenaline rush from the tempo.

But that might just be me.

iamsan said:

U will adapt to most things just by playing. Furthermore u can always learn from higher rated players practically and by reading stuff theoretically.

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I can say for sure the progress my wife makes is down to what the coach shows her 1 hour per week and me and her practising these things for another 5 to 6 hours.
The level of tuition and correction is just awesome, something I (as the better player than her) cannot achieve methodically. I can show her, but not without the flaws I have in my own game, as everybody has.
And she only plays for fun, not in competition, but she wants to learn it right. However, she has a good feeling for the ball anyway, which helps her lots.

Generally though, for beginners I would recommend a slower set-up, but wouldn´t go so far as some who recommend thin Srivers in 2018. An off minus blade like Primorac with a classic like Donic Vario in 1,8 or 2,0 mm or an entry level Tensor like Vega Intro in 1,8 should do the job. This is what I gave to my niece, as opposed to what she had before: A very slow blade with Tibhar Super Defense in 0,6 and Tackiness D in 1,0 - I hope we can all agree that much "control" will hinder development all the same

I think beginners can use some slow setup first to learn the technique and upgrade the speed as they get better. Slow setup will allow them to "feel" the ball and learn how to generate power and spin from their body and arm instead of relying too much on the racket. Certain technique like long push, short push, serve return, block are much easier to learn with slow and spin-insensitive setup.
Eventually they will get to a certain level/limit, they are able to control the ball and are consistent with all basic strokes, they feel they can handle a faster setup, that's when to upgrade the weapon.

Depends on your standard of development really. How you gauge it.
If it's by win-loss ratio then yeah it will hamper your development for a long while.

From my own experience, when I switched from 5 ply allwood OFF blade with average speed rubbers to a 5+2 composite blade with fast rubbers, I had to adjust my playstyle a lot. My long strokes became very short and my shots became much less stable, and my touch game suffered as well. After a few months, I finally realized the fast setup was not good for me and I switched back to allwood blade. I'm so glad I did. Now, every aspect of my game has improved. I will only switch to a faster setup when I'm absolutely ready.