Videotape is always the best solution.
That is true. I think that is probably the best thing we can do here is recommend ProPetrov get some video footage of him playing at his best so we can have an idea of his actual level.
That were some good points Carl!
I know how a normal 4 months begginer looks like, I've played with a lot of begginers, and I know that my level is way higher than that. I know I've been playing for only 4 months, but I waesn't just playing ping pong with a friend, I was training in a high level table tennis course with the best spanish players like Jesus Cantero WR nº233 plus a 16 hours a week with almost an invididual coaching (we are only 4 serious players in our club). I won easily 2 of them (they are playing more than 2 years).
See, the thing is, you are comparing yourself to "beginners" and I think we may have different terms for things.
I accepted as soon as you said you were playing 16 hours a week and you were getting coaching, that your level of progression would be different than that of someone who got 1 hour of coaching a week and played for 16 hours a week. In fact I thought: "what if you had taken 16 hours of coaching a week with the best crew of coaches from China and they were training you as though they wanted you on the Chinese National Team." And I concluded that for you to reach the level I was referring to, you would have had to be trading 40 hours a day 36 days a week for 4 months and you still would probably not have reached the level I was referring to. Nor would you with 30 hours a week of training in 1 year, even if that training was from the best team of coaches in the world.
So let me give some definitions.
1) Not Worth Considering: someone who has played tennis and had a table in their basement and plays "Ping Pong". That is one step below a beginner based on the realities Tournament Level Play
2) Beginner: someone who has been playing in a REAL CLUB and been getting coaching, usually for about 4 years or less. If you want that level as a USATT Rating: lower than 1600!!!!! That is what a beginner is.
3) Intermediate Player: someone that is actually really darn good in comparison to what someone who plays only casually would think is good. A person who does not REALLY play would think an Intermediate level player is A PROFESSIONAL. Really, an intermediate level player would be between 1800-2200 (USATT rating). So there is a gap between where beginner ends and Intermediate player begins. The players between 1600-1800 are low level intermediates or high level beginners depending on how you want to look at things.
4) Elite Player or Semi-Pro: these guys need just a bit more work to get up to the pro level but their technique is on the amazing side of things. For USATT rating: 2200-2500.
5) Pro: over 2500.
6) World Class Player: over 2750.
If you look at my post, I said that, those Carbon blades you are thinking of WILL, most likely, HINDER YOUR PROGRESS, unless you have reached the level of A SEMI-PRO. Which I honestly doubt you would have with 16 hours of coaching a week for 4 months or even a year: even with top flight coaching. Most extremely talented players actually wouldn't reach the level I am talking about with 30 hours of coaching a week in their first year.
I can do the slow spinny loops vs a 2nd National Division player (semi pro).
My question had more to it. Will the 2nd Division player hit the ball long because of how much topspin you have on it? Can you simply spin that player off the table where they get to the ball, get their racket on it, but have trouble keeping the ball from jumping off their racket and going long and high past the table on your side?
That would tell me something valuable.
I've tried most of the OFF- blades you've mentioned and they fell too slow for me. I'm looking for a blade that can help me develop my game but also be very good at tournaments. I know I'm not good enough yet to play with Butterfly Schlager Carbon, but I thing that a blade like a DHS Hurricane King II or similar can help me with my development.
Your thinking is right in line with how most people who are decent players but not playing very long think: "I need a faster blade!"
One of the things that a blade that is not too fast does for you tactically is this: when you loop, it is easier to get a spinny moderate paced ball to land close to the net at a high angle. A faster blade won't let you do this. With the wider angles, the increased spin that YOU WILL GET with a blade that is not quite so fast, and the extra ability to place the ball, tactically you would be able to control the table better and make your opponent have to move more and take more awkward shots from out of position.
Because a faster blade necessarily gets less spin and gives a flatter arc, your shots that have the heaviest spin will still usually be landing farther away from the net which will mean you will have much less of an ability to get those higher angled shots that really help your development from a tactical standpoint.
But, it is very hard to get someone who has only been playing 4 months to understand why, from every perspective you can come up with, an All+/Off- all wood blade is better for developing technique until you are at the level of those division 2 players you mentioned.
It would be great to see some video footage to see what you play like. But probably a good coach who knows how you play, what you are good at, what you need to work on, would know what equipment would be best for you.
From my perspective, if you are as good as you think you are, you SHOULD be playing with top of the line "Tensioned" rubbers like Tenergy 05 or Evolution MX-P but you should not be using a carbon blade yet.
If you wanted something that was Off Speed instead of Off- you could get something like one of these:
1) OSP Virtuoso Plus
2) Nittaku Tenor
3) Tibhar Kim Jung Hoon
4) Butterfly Petr Korbel
Those would still be okay. But Virtuoso Off-, Acoustic, Stratus PowerWood, Peter Pan, Offensive Classic would probably be better for you.
One last note:
Ma Long played with a Nittaku Acoustic till he was about 18. If you look at his shots from back then, they were faster than his shots are now. That is not just the blade! That is technique. However, his shots now have more power because he has developed and they have more spin. But that is still technique and not the blade he is using. And his technique is so good at this point that he can get more spin with a faster, carbon blade than he could back then with a slower all wood blade. Technique, technique, technique!!! This sport is about technique. Not equipment.
And if you really understood the subtleties, you would know why you want a blade that helps you develop better technique rather than one that makes the ball go faster without you doing as much.
But of course, since the Nittaku Acoustic is not fast enough for you and you need something faster, PERHAPS that means that in 4 months of training you are better than Ma Long was when he reached the top 10 in be world. [emoji2]
Sent from the Oracle of Delphi by the Pythia