Blade choice for combination play

Yes, I contacted Achim, I asked him a BH slow as the attached vid.

https://youtube.com/shorts/wShn3RqcrU8

Now?

Funk Fu Master said:

I play with LP on one side, but, I've never been a fan of 2-face/speed combi blades...

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Pros need thick sponge on the long pips side, especially on the men's side because there is so much incredible amount of spin from the illegally boosted loops coming in, So if a player uses an OX rubber on LP side the ball will just bounce off the blade,
I have seen some matches where players like Ma Lin absolutely destroy the GOAT Joo Sae Hyuk. There is so much spin on the loops that EVEN Joo Sae Hyuk has problems keeping his backhand chops on the table as the ball digs deep into the sponge & bounces off the wood & sometimes even shoots long.

My point here is that since the pros need thick sponge, the wood is for lesser significance & dual mode blade may be of less significance but blade makers keep making defensive blades for pros that are really useless for lower level amateurs.

But before I proceed you must understand something clearly. It is not the lower “speed” of the long pips side that is of significance for a chopper or (shakehand backhand) blocker blade but it is the higher spin & the higher vibration (to enhance the long pips disruption effect) as compared to the stiffer forehand carbon side with higher speed & power top spin. This is why I refer to these blades as dual “mode” blades & not two “speed” blades


So moving on, for amateur players below rating 2200, they should not be using any sponge at all & must only use OX. This is because even a 0.3 mm sponge results in excessive loss of control & loss if built in dynamic variations (aka higher looper torture index) that a long pip provides and makes it far superior to short pips for blocking or chopping (on weakside) . Lot of clueless amateur players make the mistake of using thin sponge (below LP) because it may give little more back spin or thicker sponge (below LP) because you can smash a little faster…………or even make the horrible mistake of using short pips incorrectly thinking it can give more variations than long pips. Believe me I have tried this in scores of iterations over teh years craving for more spin but using this having a little bit of everything approach is a recipe for failure and an even bigger failure if you use short pips on weakside. Of course earning to flat hit with OX LP is much harder but once you land it, it is so dead that it almost never coming back & even if it did, you can attack your second ball much harder with your strong side. Another advantage is that if I twiddle & loop with my spinny inverted from my backhand side, it also will cause a weak return or outright point (if your opponent adjusts for your long pips dead ball kills and opens the racket wide open shooting the return long............all this I am talking about players below 2200 level & not pros or top amateurs, who can adjust )

So as I have established now as to why you should ONLY use an OX LP on weakside (whether you are an at the table blocker or away from the table chopper), this makes a dual mode blade far more essential for an amateur shakehand blocker or chopper.
Even for a Liu Guoliang / Mattias Falck type all out attack player (with short pips FH & spinny inverted BH), a more spinny backhand dual mode blade is far more critical for success.

So to emphasize my point again, a modern defender needs 3 items to be even moderately successful by somewhat slightly leveling the field in their favor

1. A high aspect ratio super long pips rubber
2. A dual mode blade with higher spin & vibration on weakside
3. A super larger blade to maximize back spin & variations on weakside & top spin (for loops, counter-loops & lobs) on strong side

You probably did not see much difference in the dual mode blades you used because

1. You were using low aspect ratio LPs listed on ITTF LARC that are maximum garbage in the 40+ plastic ball era

2. The dual mode blade did not have enough spin or vibration on weakside or enough speed & top spin on strong side (meaning the contrast suggested by the blade-maker is more of a cosmetic marketing gimmick than a real functionally useful difference in the 40+ plastic ball ONLY era)

3. Of course I am 200% sure you were using a compact or semi-large blade & not using a super large blade (about at least 172 mm X 172 mm) used by the likes of Pete May or lady GOAT Angelica Rozeanu


Unfortunately no such defensive blades are available on the market. Even if I make custom blade & I cannot find a Chinese inverted rubber large enough for a super large blade. All Chinese rubbers are like 165 mm max
And I am not spending $100 for a sheet of Dignics because to start with (or even $50 for those other Euro or Japanase low spin & unwanted high speed crap), it is not a super spin rubber like the Chinese rubbers


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I plead to ITTF to ban all pips & anti to release & set free all of ITTF's political prisoners (choppers / defenders)

Combination blades are amazing - even the FH SP, players like Falck and Jia Nan Yuan prove the concept at the highest level.

Don't be ashamed, but definitely make sure you find the right combination for you, each combination has its own types of points [esp. with your own limitations] where you can drown less familiar players with. For example with FH SP, you have an advantage in receiving [pips have less spin sensitivity], countering/attacking high balls [i.e. a slow loop or high push] and the ability to play different gears of spins with how you contact a ball [low/no acceleration at contact -> light to no spin] but a heavy acceleration will lead to medium to high spin generation.

This becomes hard to track for the opponent, especially since your smooth rubber is also a part of the equation.

Basquests said:

Combination blades are amazing - even the FH SP, players like Falck and Jia Nan Yuan prove the concept at the highest level.

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You mean a combination "racket" not "blade"..

Basquests said:

Don't be ashamed,

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Easier said than done.
A significant number of players who do not use spinny inverted both sides of racket are consumed by guilt & by lack of self esteem & are constantly brainwashed by the looper controlled ITTF that something is wrong with you if you use pips or anti & your behavior is not socially acceptable.

Basquests said:

make sure you find the right combination for you,

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Only Dr.Neubauer makes decent combination blades but only for non defensive players.
Even Dr.Neubauerdoes not have blades that meets all 3 requirement I listed in my earlier post for defenders (even blocklers let alone choppers)​​​​​
SP is THEORETICALLY the best FH rubber if you are talented enough to use it
But how many FH pips out hitters exist, even penholders at any level ?
I cannot think of any other FH shakehands player other than Falck

Basquests said:

the ability to play different gears of spins

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I don't think so. SP has the least number of gears compared to other four types of rubber (Spinny inverted, Anti, Medium Pips & Long Pips)
But it will work on FH despite that because of the most extreme offence possible (with block & smash at high speeds) from very close to the table.
But again as I pointed out earlier, only a very small % players are talented enough to do this.
Having the least numberof gears also makes SP the least suitable rubber for BH.
Yet a ridiculous myth exists that you can vary spins with short pips especially more than long pips. Fact of the matter is that OVERALL you can vary the spins the least with SP than other 4 types of rubbers. This is the very nature of design of short pips. They sit in the dead center of the spin continuum with long pips on back spin end & spinny inverted on top spin end.
Again of course there are attempts by manufacturers to try to make short pips behave like long pips for marketing purposes, but even that does not equate short pips to long pips in terms of spin generation or spin variation, because the length & aspect ratio (AR) of short pips are set & limited by ITTF ( AR cannot exceed 0.89) . Also the spin production capability of ALL PIPS has also been greatly reduced by the Pip Distribution Density Reduction Regulation of 2004, which reduced the number of pips per sq.cm from 50 down to 30 . (a whopping 40% reduction)

Basquests said:

[low/no acceleration at contact -> light to no spin] but a heavy acceleration will lead to medium to high spin generation.

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This is incorrect.
Unless it is a touch return or you are purposely varying spins (lower acceleration) , a player generally needs maximum acceleration at contact whether it is flat hit (no spin) or a top spin or back spin
The spin or lack of it , is determined by contact angle .If make contact close to 90 degrees that is a flat hit. You still need maximum accelaration at contact to maximize speed. No acceleration as you say means constant hand velocity (Velocity is the rate of change of distance. And acceleration is the rate of change of velocity. In other words from the principles of calculus, velocity is first differential of distance & acceleration is the first differential of velocity & therefore acceleration is second differential of distance) .
The unit for distance is meters. The unit for velocity is meters / second. The unit for acceleration is meters / second / second
Constant hand velocity which means zero acceleration will produce neither maximum speed for a flat hit nor maximum spin in a loop or a chop.
Therefore unless it is a touch shot you want maximum acceleration of your hand whether you want to maximize speed in a flat hit or spin in a loop.
To maximize spin you contact the ball at more of a tangential angle to "brush" the ball and contact angle is alamost 0 degrees. Your hand must still be accelerating & reach maximum during contact if you want to maximize spin (top spin for a loops or back spin for a chop and side spins added on top takes you to the next layer of complication). This is why new loopers miss 95% loops initially & even pros miss close to 5%. (Have you not see a tennis player hit the frame when they try to loop & mishit the ball goes up 30 or 40 feet towards the ceiling ?) .

BTW as far as spin "generation" goes, short pips (even the modern fake long pip type short pips) have the least spin "generation" capability of all 5 rubber types. This is due to reasonn I explained above regarding ITTF defintion of SP as well as the 2004 Pip Density Reduction Regulation

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I plead to ITTF to ban all pips & anti to release & set free all of ITTF's political prisoners (choppers / defenders)