Setup for a kid just starting out.

The "Budget Looper" combo or the "Pre-Made Buster" combo at www.colestt.com make sense. The first has rubbers that are soft for a Chinese rubber, but the second has medium hard rubbers. Both use light blades so should be OK. He can use them and grow with them and they cost $35 or so US. When it comes time to replace the rubbers he can get the same for $8 per side or upgrade for $14-$20 per side.

Basten4 said:

Hi Everyone,
Wanted to get an advice on a setup for my son. He is 8, started playing recently, seems to be enjoying it and this is the only sport so far that I see him doing well at. Still at the very beginner level.

Right now he is playing with Stiga Evolution pre made. So far it is fine for him, but I was thinking of getting him something else in the near future.
Needs to be light, fairly hard rubber, I would say allaround+ speed.

Thanks.

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Why it has to be fairly hard rubber? it's a lot less forgiving than soft rubbers. soft rubber doesn't automatically mean slow rubber if that is your concern. I played with ak47 blue rubber (very cheap and very soft rubber) and it had plenty of speed. I don't think 8 year old kid can benefit from hard rubber. But I might be wrong.

Basten4 said:

I am not looking at rubber for him in terms of speed. More in terms of developing correct strokes.

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Well thats Ok, but you have to consider that 8 years old is not as strong as an adult. what is medium or soft for you might end up pretty hard for him. Also please keep in mind that alot of pro playes use quite soft rubbers on backhand. Did they end up with not proper stokes?

Yinhe N10 with Mars 2 both sides.

Budget?

He's so young consider a small handled all round 5 ply wood blade. Butterfly Grubba or Donic Applegren all play, you can't go wrong. Pair this with maybe a couple of Vega intros and I think it would be perfect for the next 2-3 years at least. Then can consider an upgrade to more modern rubber.

FruitLoop said:

Budget?

He's so young consider a small handled all round 5 ply wood blade. Butterfly Grubba or Donic Applegren all play, you can't go wrong. Pair this with maybe a couple of Vega intros and I think it would be perfect for the next 2-3 years at least. Then can consider an upgrade to more modern rubber.

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I agree with this.

I also do think some of the budget buster combos from ColesTT.com could be fine and would be less expensive. But I would still go with FruitLoop's suggestion. It is a really good suggestion.

Blade - Palio Cat - lightweight small handle inexpensive

There are so many damn possible combos it is silly. Kleifheit and FL have suggestions and hundreds of others could work.

Every outfit makes several middle of the road options for blade and rubber.

I have seen 8 yr olds train with Viscaria/H3/T05 combo for 3 yrs and bust through 2000... more than one of these warriors. It can be done with stuff that is "too fast" as well.

The middle of the road suggestions will work just fine and both are right, that stuff doesn't need to be hundreds of Dollards USD.

Cole will get it all done well under $50 complete with bat case and shipping. Yinhe 896 and medium soft rubbers... he has several.

You could go to any Joe-Schmo USA reseller website and get Xiom Vega Europe or Pro at $30 a sheet to make it around $100...

Paddle Palace has similar class of combos for around that price range, some a little lower, some higher.


Way too many ways to go and if you don't know where to get stuff, you often get the wrong stuff.

Another thing is to get the gear from someone who plays the sport locally... just about every serious player has something in that class used and it would be way cheaper than new and you et to try it out in person.

TTD member erm is always giving out bats of that class to clubs and individuals he knows.

FruitLoop said:

Budget?

He's so young consider a small handled all round 5 ply wood blade. Butterfly Grubba or Donic Applegren all play, you can't go wrong. Pair this with maybe a couple of Vega intros and I think it would be perfect for the next 2-3 years at least. Then can consider an upgrade to more modern rubber.

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Valid questions/remarks.

When my son started playing at 9, a year or two ago, we went to my old coaches table tennis shop. I bit my tongue and just looked what happened as my old coach and my little boy worked things out between them.

They did end up with a fairly lightweight blade with a small handle (Andro Nightmare ALL, now discontinued I believe) and Tibhar Rapid rubbers - medium-soft, grippy, control-oriented. The setup has a very good feedback, and requires the player to add the power.

Now I'd never have arrived there myself, but this setup still works very well for my little boy. Especially the small handle, I'd say.

Budget matters. That Andro blade has been discontinued, but I know that Butterfly has a few blades with "XXS" handles (Petr Korbel OFF, Primorac OFF, Timo Boll ALL) and would certainly consider handle size for a young(ish) child.

Basten4 said:

Yinhe N10 discontinued and no longer available

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Then go with N10S, the same thing

Basten4 said:

For Rubber, if, as suggested, I will go with Vega Intro, should I get 2.0 or max?

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Vega intro isn't hard, but if you want to go with it, then 2.0mm

Yup Vega Intro or Yasaka Rigan if you want something softer.

Basten4 said:

So I've decided to go with Yinhe Galaxy N9s. Do they make them with smaller handles and if yes, where can I buy it? Description says 90gr, which seems heavy. That means I need to pair it with lighter rubber if I want to keep the weight around 175-180 grams.
Going back to Vega Intro, I know Vega Pro is quite heavy, what about Vega Intro? How about Mark V?
Again, based on all that I have read, I'd like a medium hard rubber.

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No, they don't have smaller handles
N9S is heavier than N10S and the same thing, not sure why you went for N9S and not N10S....

Vega Intro isn't heavy at all.
My guestimate would be 175gram combined

for smaller handle, Gewo Youngster is a good option

N10 is N10S, just newer handle and artwork
same as N9 with N9S

The N10/S is allround+, however its artwork says offensive.
N9/S is offensive - hence the heavier weight
I haven't tried E3