Bad equipment ≈ Good player?

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When playing in a club setting with guidance on how to become a better player ...

Does a rubber that is not able to generate a lot of spin force a player to get better at generating spin, or does it make a player adapt into having a style of playing where one does not play a lot of spinny balls? Is a blade that is, lets say, good for blocking, but a bit unstable (high flexibility) in smashes, make a player into developing a blocking style or does it make a player extra powerful because the blade itself takes a lot of power out of the ball? ... and other examples of the same question.

Wouldnt it be better, then, to train with worse and cheaper equipment?
 
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In my experience no, not really. It depends on a lot of factors, but as far as my knowledge goes, its to your advantage to have equipment that makes it easier to play your style. For example, if your style are controlled topspin rallies, you should get something that makes it easy to get resonable speed and spin. As far as your first example goes, I think it would be the latter. You need to feel the spin generation, and if you dont, youll just learn to play without it.
 
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When playing in a club setting with guidance on how to become a better player ...

Does a rubber that is not able to generate a lot of spin force a player to get better at generating spin, or does it make a player adapt into having a style of playing where one does not play a lot of spinny balls? Is a blade that is, lets say, good for blocking, but a bit unstable (high flexibility) in smashes, make a player into developing a blocking style or does it make a player extra powerful because the blade itself takes a lot of power out of the ball? ... and other examples of the same question.

Wouldnt it be better, then, to train with worse and cheaper equipment?
you consciousness will bring you to perform more successful strokes and things that work better for you with your current equipment. A setup bad for spinning will never bring a beginner to even that out in generating even better technique to still get good spin. No, you will probably just play smashes. I think Gozo is a good example of this. I think he played a lot with a one-ply wood which is probably not the greatest blade for spinning and so he became used to rather smash than spin if given the choice.
 
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in the ideal world, you have a teacher to teach you skills and technique.
in table tennis, that would be a coach.

what you use, is what you can adapt into, and how well you adapt is depending on whether a coach is good or not (for fundamentals, most coaches should be good) and this will not just provided good technique, but also shorter the learning time.

if you choose not to have a coach, no matter what equipment you use, you bound to develop horrible techniques and bad habit. So, in this case, I would say, it makes no differences as either way, problems are accumulating.

So the problem is not so much on what equipment you start off with, but rather, who is helping you to start off with and the development of the player (including that of equipment pairing) can be managed by experts that is involved with the player, or not.
 
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in the ideal world, you have a teacher to teach you skills and technique.
in table tennis, that would be a coach.

what you use, is what you can adapt into, and how well you adapt is depending on whether a coach is good or not (for fundamentals, most coaches should be good) and this will not just provided good technique, but also shorter the learning time.

if you choose not to have a coach, no matter what equipment you use, you bound to develop horrible techniques and bad habit. So, in this case, I would say, it makes no differences as either way, problems are accumulating.

So the problem is not so much on what equipment you start off with, but rather, who is helping you to start off with and the development of the player (including that of equipment pairing) can be managed by experts that is involved with the player, or not.
NO! My Hurricane WILL force me to learn proper technique since it doesn't create any power for me!!!
 
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NO! My Hurricane WILL force me to learn proper technique since it doesn't create any power for me!!!
and i'm sure we both willing to gamble in the same hat, that without proper coaching, a beginner using hurricane incorrectly will just lead to injuries on the shoulder.
 
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and i'm sure we both willing to gamble in the same hat, that without proper coaching, a beginner using hurricane incorrectly will just lead to injuries on the shoulder.
I remembered when I used Butterfly Flextra ( ol'skool non-tensor grippy rubber ) both side, after the sixth session I felt my shoulder pain that was not apparent before.

Gozo is ever thankful to Tensor & spring sponge! Gratitude 🙏🏽
 
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When playing in a club setting with guidance on how to become a better player ...

Does a rubber that is not able to generate a lot of spin force a player to get better at generating spin, or does it make a player adapt into having a style of playing where one does not play a lot of spinny balls? Is a blade that is, lets say, good for blocking, but a bit unstable (high flexibility) in smashes, make a player into developing a blocking style or does it make a player extra powerful because the blade itself takes a lot of power out of the ball? ... and other examples of the same question.

Wouldnt it be better, then, to train with worse and cheaper equipment?
When you are a beginner or close to I think what matters is a set up that:

- Has decent speed but not too much.
- Not too much catapul
- Not too spin sensitive.

I remember a guy in one of my clubs who came equipped with Primorac carbon and T05 and T05FX. As soon as you put him under just a tiny bit of pressure he hit long. I think eventually he gave up…

It’s also important to find equipment that you feel comfortable with and that feels good. This makes the journey much more fun. How fast or how spinny is individual, but I do firmly believe that you should choose something slow and not spin sensitive as you first setup. Once you learned how to okay with this you know yourself what next step is…

Cheers
L-zr
 
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NO! My Hurricane WILL force me to learn proper technique since it doesn't create any power for me!!!
You mean shoulder problems?

I remembered when I used Butterfly Flextra ( ol'skool non-tensor grippy rubber ) both side, after the sixth session I felt my shoulder pain that was not apparent before.

Gozo is ever thankful to Tensor & spring sponge! Gratitude 🙏🏽
Oh hey there you go! 🤣
 
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Oh hey there you go! 🤣
Gozo, going through the pain on your behalf so that you don't have to.

Gozo: Helping the EJ community since 2021!
 
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Yes and no. Your body adapts to the equipment. So with a weak racket you will learn power and spin generation but also ingrain bad habits such as an overly large backswing. And the opposite applies with a powerful racket where you have compact movements but depend on the racket for spin and speed. A good example is shown here from Gozo's post where you can see the contrast:
Of course these are pros, but you get the point.

The best way is to learn spin and power generation with a slower setup, then cut the bad habits with faster equipment. After that you will be able to use whatever you want. This is the most recommended path with proven results.
 
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