Racket for 7-yr-old kid? Racket for 55-yr-old dad of the kid?

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Hello all,

This is my first post here.

During a recent vacation, one of my 7-year-old daughters (I have twins) became curious about table tennis as she watched some children play at the hotel.
When the children left, we took the rackets (made of plastic and rubber) and started playing.
In five or ten minutes she wanted to quit, just as she was starting to throw some balls back.
But from that day on, she wanted to play every day and to this day I think she has become fond of it and has a certain competitive desire.
When I got home, the first thing I did was try to locate a club and a coach, but despite living in a large city, the COVID issue makes things very complicated.
At home we don't have room for an official size table, but I have bought a 1m x 2m (3ft x 6ft) table for her to practice a bit.

I have also bought a pair of 25 euros rackets at a local sports store, just to have something to play with, but I would like to buy my daughter a decent racket to start learning and maybe another one for me too. I understand that the logical thing would be for a coach to recommend us what equipment she needs, but at least until after the summer that will not be possible.

The last time I played must have been my last year of college in 1990. I still have my racket from then, in good condition and in its original blister. It is a Butterfly Primorac Attack with Flextra rubbers. I have played with it for a while and was surprised that it still works better than either of the two new rackets.

Any suggestions will be appreciated.

Rod
 
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Hi Rod,

Like you I'm a 55 year old dad to a 7 year old, except I have a boy, so I'm very interested to hear responses to your post.

My son played with a small sized bat previously, a cheap Artengo blade with good rubber, he now uses my old full size Nittaku (Septear Lead) blade with worn Rakza 7 and Barracuda rubber on it.

The set up is quite fast which may not be a good thing for his stroke development however he's not power player so I'm going with it.

The weight of the bat worries me the most and is the thing that fatigues my son. Once indoor play completely reopens in the UK I'm going to replace his heavy, old rubber for AK47 blue which I understand to be light and cheap.
 
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Fun that she wants to play. I think maybe in the beginning it is not so important what racket she plays with as long as she finds it fun.

I like that you are enthusiastic and engaged but I also think it is good if you try to do it too much in the beginning. As a coach for youth for many years I find it very good that parents are involved but I have noticed that som well meaning parents make the kids stop play because the pressure becomes to much.

so if she just have started out maybe you guys do not need to think so much about equipment and just try to play and have fun.

Then after a while you guys can upgrade. You will get much more equipment for the money if you buy from a tabletennis store. They have good premade rackets and probably blade and rubbers that you can put together that are not much more expensive. I would go with premade racket then an all wood blade with rubbers without built in glue effect like Yasaka original or MarkV or similar. Do not need to be fast as long as the rubber have grip so she can learn the correct strokes.

good luck and have fun!
 
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Fun that she wants to play. I think maybe in the beginning it is not so important what racket she plays with as long as she finds it fun.

I like that you are enthusiastic and engaged but I also think it is good if you try to do it too much in the beginning. As a coach for youth for many years I find it very good that parents are involved but I have noticed that som well meaning parents make the kids stop play because the pressure becomes to much.

so if she just have started out maybe you guys do not need to think so much about equipment and just try to play and have fun.

Then after a while you guys can upgrade. You will get much more equipment for the money if you buy from a tabletennis store. They have good premade rackets and probably blade and rubbers that you can put together that are not much more expensive. I would go with premade racket then an all wood blade with rubbers without built in glue effect like Yasaka original or MarkV or similar. Do not need to be fast as long as the rubber have grip so she can learn the correct strokes.

good luck and have fun!

Hi Lula,

I like your advice and appreciate it comes from experience but wondering, as a playing parent and novice coach, what the balance is. Without technique I think (though I could be wrong) that it's hard for a 7 year old to play a rally and enjoy the game. So how much should we practice drills and use match play? Games on the table or the thrill of competition? I guess they can be mixed and it depends on each child. Be interested to hear your thoughts.

Regards

 
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Hi Lula,

I like your advice and appreciate it comes from experience but wondering, as a playing parent and novice coach, what the balance is. Without technique I think (though I could be wrong) that it's hard for a 7 year old to play a rally and enjoy the game. So how much should we practice drills and use match play? Games on the table or the thrill of competition? I guess they can be mixed and it depends on each child. Be interested to hear your thoughts.

Regards

I feel that the majority of the parents should be more engaged, so it is fun to read about a dad like you! I think priority number one is that she find it fun and keeps playing. So do what she likes! Do not matter if she learns everything perfect and stop playing one month later. Also proably more important to get a feel for the ball and many balls over the net than doing the strokes perfect. Maybe easy exercises like fh-fh or bh-bh or she can play over the whole table against you and you to one place could make it more fun for her since it becomes a bit easier to get more balls over the net. And if she becomes better by lerarning the strokes maybe she would find technique fun. Summary: make it FUN!

 
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so if she just have started out maybe you guys do not need to think so much about equipment and just try to play and have fun.
Thanks for the advice. We are having a lot of fun, trust me! I just want to avoid the usual vices that one takes at the beginning. I think that in addition to the YouTube videos, a few classes would be good for her (and for me as well).
 

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Hi,for beginners I recommend Yasaka Sweden Classic blade (aprox 30€) and Nittaku Factive (ALL / 29,9€) or Xiom Vega Elite (ALL / 35,9€) .This is for allround play. I play table tennis 9 years and I before I used Butterfly Innerfoce Layer ALC and because it's fast I reather play with Yasaka Sweden Classic blade. If you need more speed just put faster rubbers. Nitaku and Xiom are ALL rubbers.

https://revspin.net/blade/yasaka-sweden-classic.html
https://revspin.net/rubber/nittaku-factive.html
https://revspin.net/rubber/xiom-vega-elite.html
 
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Make sure You buy something not too heavy. Look for a child or junior blade at a big manufacturer like Butterfly, Tibhar or Joola etc...
Then put a beginners rubber on it, make sure the rubber also is light. It doesn't matter so much yet how the racket plays. The only thing is it should not be too fast.

Cheers
L-zr
 
says toooooo much choice!!
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Hi Rod,

Like you I'm a 55 year old dad to a 7 year old, except I have a boy, so I'm very interested to hear responses to your post.

My son played with a small sized bat previously, a cheap Artengo blade with good rubber, he now uses my old full size Nittaku (Septear Lead) blade with worn Rakza 7 and Barracuda rubber on it.

The set up is quite fast which may not be a good thing for his stroke development however he's not power player so I'm going with it.

The weight of the bat worries me the most and is the thing that fatigues my son. Once indoor play completely reopens in the UK I'm going to replace his heavy, old rubber for AK47 blue which I understand to be light and cheap.
Hi,

I’m 55 this years and kids are 10 & 13.
II got them both the same set ups Tibhar IV-L balsa blade, very light!! Tibhar Aurus Sound rubbers, soft, light reasonable speed, good spin. A light set up!!
Only problem is that since COVID lockdown kicked in, they haven’t played for over a year, When I said that the coaching sessions they use to attend were likely to start again Mid May, they both said they weren’t bothered about playing again!!

 
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Hi,

I’m 55 this years and kids are 10 & 13.
II got them both the same set ups Tibhar IV-L balsa blade, very light!! Tibhar Aurus Sound rubbers, soft, light reasonable speed, good spin. A light set up!!
Only problem is that since COVID lockdown kicked in, they haven’t played for over a year, When I said that the coaching sessions they use to attend were likely to start again Mid May, they both said they weren’t bothered about playing again!!

😪 That's tough to hear, I'm hoping that starting junior coaching groups will mean a new circle of friends and a pull to the game.

 
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Hi,

I’m 55 this years and kids are 10 & 13.
II got them both the same set ups Tibhar IV-L balsa blade, very light!! Tibhar Aurus Sound rubbers, soft, light reasonable speed, good spin. A light set up!!
Only problem is that since COVID lockdown kicked in, they haven’t played for over a year, When I said that the coaching sessions they use to attend were likely to start again Mid May, they both said they weren’t bothered about playing again!!

It is fortunate that the UK has already vaccinated a large part of the population. Here in Spain we do not even reach 9% and at the rate we are going the clubs do not believe that they will open until the end of the year.

 
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