What Equipment Should I Get As A Beginner?

A lot of good info here. Read the lengthy Intro, 5-10 minutes, well worth your time. Then you can come back here and make a better decision.

https://m.facebook.com/NorthLittleRockTableTennisGroup/

Try an all Chinese set up like ritc battle 2 forehand, yinhe mars 2 backhand and maybe a yinhe n-10 blade.

Hello

The main idea is just to not take something too fast

Like for a blade, one noted All or All+ like (All is for all around, it is a notation about the speed)
- Stiga all around classic (i played this one for 2 years)
- Donic Appelgren Allplay

About the rubbers, i think you have 2 things to know : First now a lot of rubbers are 'tensor' and it might be better to take theses new ones instead of all the old one (that are still very recommended as people were used to begin with it, in my opinion). Also one important factors is the hardness. Usually the harder it is, the faster it is. I think around 38/40° hardness is good to begin with

So why not try
- On the FH : Donic Acuda S3 in 1.8mm (a tensor not too fast)
- On the BH : Tibhar Vari spin in 1.8mm (it is not a tensor and slower but like that you will be able to test it and find out if you prefer to have something slower on your BH or maybe even on your FH). Here you're sure to have good control and i played it on both BH and FH and at the time i didn't feel a lack of power


Also a quick note on what Yogi_bear proposed, i don't really not what it is to be honest. But it seems to me that it is Chinese rubbers that is considered as harder to play with and requiring a better stroke. I think some people think it is a good way to be forced to do proper stroke but personally i find Chinese rubber to be too unforgiving and i would be afraid it damaged your stroke confidence

Wister said:

Also a quick note on what Yogi_bear proposed, i don't really not what it is to be honest. But it seems to me that it is Chinese rubbers that is considered as harder to play with and requiring a better stroke. I think some people think it is a good way to be forced to do proper stroke but personally i find Chinese rubber to be too unforgiving and i would be afraid it damaged your stroke confidence

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IMHO: Tacky Chinese typically offers way greater control than modern jap/euro rubbers. You get what you put into the stroke. You will either need to hit quite hard or brush the ball to get it over the net. Yogi's recommendation would be a great starter kit.

Wister said:

personally i find Chinese rubber to be too unforgiving and i would be afraid it damaged your stroke confidence

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Agreed, although there might be modern Chinese rubbers that are easier to play with.

The basic recommendation aside from Chinese material is always the same considering the blade: Allround plus/Off minus, classic examples being Butterfly Primorac, Stiga Allround Classic, Donic Appelgren Allplay, Tibhar IV L and many others from different manufacturers. All these blades can go a long part of the way or might evevn stick with you forever, since the combination with different rubbers forms different rackets.

What we at our club and many coaches disagree with is putting different rubbers on the beginner´s racket. Backhand thinner, backhand slower, that all usually ends with a self fulfilling prophecy: backhand = weaker side. Try identical rubbers to find out which side is your better side. All of the companies listed above have "classic" rubbers: Butterfly Sriver, Donic Coppa/Vario, Tibhar Rapid - the list is endless. You can go for 2.0 mm with these, it will not do you any harm (and I wish when I was young someone had given me that advice). Some companies offer entry level Tensor rubbers, which are a little faster than the classics, probably best chosen in 1.8 mm, and good examples being Xiom Vega Intro or TSP Ventus Basic.

Loopadoop said:

A lot of good info here. Read the lengthy Intro, 5-10 minutes, well worth your time. Then you can come back here and make a better decision.

https://m.facebook.com/NorthLittleRockTableTennisGroup/

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Could anyone make this available outside that FB sh*t? Just for few of us who opted out from that crap... thanks!

JST said:

Could anyone make this available outside that FB sh*t? Just for few of us who opted out from that crap... thanks!

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It's not worth the effort. You'd be better off reading UpsideDownCarl's previous posts.

+1 on most of Yogi's post..

N10 is a great starter blade and not expensive, 896 is another and I used it very well for my first 3 league years as recommended by Der Echte.

Mars 2 I have never personally tried, but battle 2 I found a little too sensitive to incoming spin as a beginner, maybe that was just my lack of ability when I first started ?

A number of lower division players in our league have recently moved to Yinhe Moon and I have seen them have great consistency with it. I had a little try now that I have moved up the level a little and I was able to generate a good amount of spin with it. (https://www.ttequipment.co.uk/product/yinhe-moon-rubber/)

Also, +1 for what Airoc said....

" Try identical rubbers to find out which side is your better side. "
When I didn't do this I found myself twiddling the bat too much to see which I preferred and didn't concentrate as much as I should have done on the actual shot and game itself !!

Even if you use max thicknesschinese rubbers with a not so fast blade itis easier to control. I had a lot of beginner players before even using chinese hobby bats which made them develop strong fh loops due to them practicing atrokes using their own effort and not relying with the bat.

Ahah not so easy subject finally..

Again really the main idea is to find something where you can have good control and be confident to stroke fully. Personally it happened to me 3 times to take something too fast and difficult to play for my current level and then needing to downgrade to something easier. Each time i think it was really a good idea to do so. So if after 2 weeks / 1 month with a set up you don't feel great, then it means that maybe you should change


For the blade, I agree with Airoc

The basic recommendation aside from Chinese material is always the same considering the blade: Allround plus/Off minus, classic examples being Butterfly Primorac, Stiga Allround Classic, Donic Appelgren Allplay, Tibhar IV L

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About the rubbers, and the Chinese rubbers, mart1nandersson explain well what is the effect i think.

IMHO: Tacky Chinese typically offers way greater control than modern jap/euro rubbers. You get what you put into the stroke. You will either need to hit quite hard or brush the ball to get it over the net

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The good thing is it is less bouncy but you need to stroke with a good brush to make it go over the net. I just played 2 months with it after 3 years of TT (and i play a lot and worked on having good technique) and even if it worked Ok and even great most of the time, there is time where it will make you make a lot of errors, especially while you don't know how to loop consistently

Maybe if you have a coach that is here to correct you a lot it can be Ok



Then about the rubbers, again i would say the one i'm pretty sure about : Vari spin, Desto F3, Acuda S3 in 1.8mm. It's what i see a lot, even among player that have an intermediate level

Rubber: KTL Pro XP (max thickness). (Around $9)

Blade: Any ALL or ALL+ blade.

Quality( Yasaka Sweden Extra or Yasaka Sweden Classic)

Value. (KTL Instinct+ as a combo with the rubber $27 USD total). http://m.eacheng.net/KTL-Instinct-Shakehand-with-2x-Pro-XP-p12308.html




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Recently my personal choice for beginners is Timo Boll OFF-. I find it to be a very "flat" blade - which meens that it doesn't show any property shining over the others and no property would benefit or disturb any aspect of a beginner development. Xiom Vega Intro both sides would be one of the best choices.
If the OP is going to be regularly coached and wants to invest in a longer term bat, Rossi Emotion is a very good blade, suitable for all levels. With proper coaching it may be paired even with T05fx, a lot of the beginners in our club start with T05 from the beginning, but its not advised if not regularly coached.

Yinhe Mars 2 is a beginner friendly rubber and is not spin sensitive.

Ok, Mars 2 is a good rubber and is cheap. Its not fast and is controlable.
One thing I don't like in it for a beginner is its low trajectory. Maybe more appropriate for a budget intermediate.

The thing i like with Chinese rubber (newer ones) is that its slight tackiness slows the ball and makes you do effort in your strokes to properly execute it which in a beginner stage is very important.

Chinese tacky rubbers are very sensitive to spin. IMO, it's hard to use for beginners. But non-tacky Chinese rubbers like Yinhe Mars 2 are cheap and easy to use for beginners. And I recommend Yinhe MC2 (regular version) blade for beginner, decent speed with a lot of dwell time and good throw angle. This setup will cost you about $40 on Aliexpress and will last you for at least a year before you need to upgrade.

Chinese rubbers fine for beginners as long as they are being trained or being supervised.