First setup for basement player

[Pe-ter]

Hi lads,

Just wanted to say hi and have some opinion on my very first non-premade bat.
At 38 years of age, a career as a pro is long gone (I'm about 30 years late), as a basement/recreational player (have a table at home in the basement) who never played any pro nor semi-pro league.
As my son turned 7 we had some short funny sessions in the basement and he kinda likes TT. I've signed him for a team with a good coach and I'm fully supporting him in becoming a better player. But...at the same time, my passion for this sport was awaken too and I'd like to start at some low local league and have some fun as well.
Never had any "custom" made racket, just those pre-made where the majority of them can't be taken serious when joining a team.
Did some research, google, forums, reviews...The available options is a mile long list, many different manufacturers..to be honest, as a noob I was lost.
Long story short, in a hurry I did a mistake (at least I think of it as a mistake) in ordering a Yasaka Sweden Extra bat with the Rakza 7 2.0 on both sides. I kinda regret not choosing the Rakza 7 Soft for one side, so I could compare them and experience the difference. I think it could also help in choosing the next rubber set once this will worn out.

The very first balls with the racket went to the next Zip code area. Seriously, I thought I just wasted 100+ EUR on a racket that I'll never be able to use, as the bounces were anything near of what I ever experienced and was used to. Is the difference really so big in pre-made vs glued rackets? Is the reason of the bouncy racket that the Rakza 7 is considered a "hard" rubber, or is it due to the Yasaka Sweden Extra? I'm trying to understand why the racket behaves like that, or if it is normal and it's just my expectations that is out of the norm.

Later on I'd like to switch to DNA Platinum rubbers and Stiga Infinity VPS V or something similar.

Any advice is appreciated.
Cheers guys,

 

[darkky65]

the rubbers and blade should be fine.

you just need to get used to it, DNA and VPS would probably be unwise

if anything you could give the racket to your kid, who'll be getting coaching so he should be fine. then get yourself something slower, a pair of Loki Rxton 1 should do the trick, or any other well received beginner rubbers.

 

[Aizen]

Your setup is perfectly fine (fresh beginner to mid-high local league), rakza 7 is already mid-soft. Also rakza 7 soft won’t make any significant change. Actually any other setup won’t make sense as well.

Some of premade bats are basically a kind of paper board. So it’s normal to struggle at first.

My suggestion, as because you recently started playing (huge room for improvement), just play/train at least 6 months maybe even a year. Then you can consider alternative setups for your liking.

(In mean time you may try your friends bats etc, getting hands-on experience To avoid misleading marketing texts and reviews)

 

[Sims]

Hi lads,

Just wanted to say hi and have some opinion on my very first non-premade bat.
At 38 years of age, a career as a pro is long gone (I'm about 30 years late), as a basement/recreational player (have a table at home in the basement) who never played any pro nor semi-pro league.
As my son turned 7 we had some short funny sessions in the basement and he kinda likes TT. I've signed him for a team with a good coach and I'm fully supporting him in becoming a better player. But...at the same time, my passion for this sport was awaken too and I'd like to start at some low local league and have some fun as well.
Never had any "custom" made racket, just those pre-made where the majority of them can't be taken serious when joining a team.
Did some research, google, forums, reviews...The available options is a mile long list, many different manufacturers..to be honest, as a noob I was lost.
Long story short, in a hurry I did a mistake (at least I think of it as a mistake) in ordering a Yasaka Sweden Extra bat with the Rakza 7 2.0 on both sides. I kinda regret not choosing the Rakza 7 Soft for one side, so I could compare them and experience the difference. I think it could also help in choosing the next rubber set once this will worn out.

The very first balls with the racket went to the next Zip code area. Seriously, I thought I just wasted 100+ EUR on a racket that I'll never be able to use, as the bounces were anything near of what I ever experienced and was used to. Is the difference really so big in pre-made vs glued rackets? Is the reason of the bouncy racket that the Rakza 7 is considered a "hard" rubber, or is it due to the Yasaka Sweden Extra? I'm trying to understand why the racket behaves like that, or if it is normal and it's just my expectations that is out of the norm.

Later on I'd like to switch to DNA Platinum rubbers and Stiga Infinity VPS V or something similar.

Any advice is appreciated.
Cheers guys,

Hey.
That's a very good racket you bought and it's totally normal to experience what you described. R7 is a somewhat 'bouncy' rubber due to medium soft sponge and also a med soft top sheet but you will get used to it fairly soon, just jeep going.
A 'hard' rubber would actually be less bouncy as the sponge would flex less upon impact. The R7 sponge is easily compressed and then has a big catapult as it 'uncompresses' (if that makes sense) so the sponge is literally firing the ball off the racket.
The YSE blade is not the cause of the speed.
I would forget about Stiga or anything else for a year or more, this blade/rubber combination is highly recommended for beginners so stick with it !

 

[JJ Ng]

the rubbers and blade should be fine.

you just need to get used to it, DNA and VPS would probably be unwise

if anything you could give the racket to your kid, who'll be getting coaching so he should be fine. then get yourself something slower, a pair of Loki Rxton 1 should do the trick, or any other well received beginner rubbers.

I agree. I would advise against getting DNA Platinum rubbers and Stiga Infinity VPS V.

If the set up is too fast, you can give it to your son.

Rakza 7 is known for its longevity so if you want to keep the setup (Yasaka Sweden Extra with Rakza 7 2.0mm on both sides) for yourself, then you should just get some coaching.

If you want to keep the blade (Yasaka Sweden Extra) and want to get a set of new rubbers, then you can consider classic rubbers like Mark V or Sriver, or Xiom Vega Intro.

 

[Zezima]

Bro you need a coach, like anyone who is better than you should be fine for the beginning and from there you just have to hit a lot of balls back and forth. Watch a forehand drive on youtube and just do that with a partner for a long time. Start slow and feel the ball leaving your racket. Tabletennis is a very hard sport and takes lots of time to do even the basic strokes. But you will get there eventually if you keep training!

 

[d3nium]

Yasaka Sweden Extra is a brilliant blade, you just need to get used to it.

 

[Silver Server]

I dont think R7 is a good suggestion for a pure beginner unless you play/train very often. The wood is fine, but I would go as far to recommend Mark V or any intro tension rubbers ie Rigen/Rigen Spin, Nittaku Factive, Vega Intro/Europe, etc.

 

[Pe-ter]

Thank you for the replies.

Maybe to add some light here, I'm not a pure beginner, used to train in my youth, played recreationally during the teenage years and had some home matches. So it's not the first time that I hold a racket in my hand. Last week I joined a training with the league players and I'd say that I wasn't far from being just a +1. That's why I opted for the R7 rubbers. Sure there is a ton of stuff that I need to learn and adapt in the first place.
I'm gonna stick with the setup for quite some time (at least for the next 6-9 Months).
What I experienced was that the racket was more bouncy than I expected, but at the same time bit slower as I'd like to. But this can be also the lack of being able to pull a really fast loop or BH flick.

On a side note: Why would (later on) the combination of VPS with the DNA Platinum M's not recommended?

 

[Silver Server]

On a side note: Why would (later on) the combination of VPS with the DNA Platinum M's not recommended?

You usually want to change one thing at a time to get used to it. So if you keep the YSE setup over the next year switch the blade to VPS if you want while keeping the same rubbers, or change the R7 to DNA on your YSE blade. VPS + DNA is hard and fast.

 

[Aizen]

On a side note: Why would (later on) the combination of VPS with the DNA Platinum M's not recommended?

I don’t know why do you thinking about VPS, it looks like you’ve been influenced by something. But it doesn’t differ from your blade significantly except marketing.

There are tons of interesting other blades and rubber for EJing 😄

 

[Crillo]

Thats a great blade and rubbers for you. Give it a few weeks and you will love your new blade and rubber! Don´t even think about a nervous VPS with Platinums. You will develop much faster with the blade you got now.

 

[Pe-ter]

After two months of playing with the YSE and Rakza's 7 on both sides, I picked up my kid's bat that he got from his trainer (Blackstone All+ 85, a 20 EUR blade) with used MX-P's on both sides and played with it for few hours. I can honestly say that my shots are faster with the MX-P even though the blade seems to be just a training blade. I have much more confidence with the Blackstone setup with the MX-P's on it. Honestly I can say that I play much better with my son's setup.
Here I'd like to ask you guys, is the difference in speed made by the rubbers?

 

[Sims]

After two months of playing with the YSE and Rakza's 7 on both sides, I picked up my kid's bat that he got from his trainer (Blackstone All+ 85, a 20 EUR blade) with used MX-P's on both sides and played with it for few hours. I can honestly say that my shots are faster with the MX-P even though the blade seems to be just a training blade. I have much more confidence with the Blackstone setup with the MX-P's on it. Honestly I can say that I play much better with my son's setup.
Here I'd like to ask you guys, is the difference in speed made by the rubbers?

MX-P is a faster rubber than R7 for sure.
You won't know if you're actually better with MX-P until you play some competition games and see if you can use it under pressure and control it in the short game.
Do yiu play league or anything competitive yet or just mess around for fun?
Because if it's just the latter then there is no wrong racket but if you want to compete and really improve over time then it's important to have rubbers yiu can really control, fully and MX-P (despite your initial observations) might be a little too fast.
Some folk use it as an alternative to T05 so it is known for its speed

 

[Lazer]

After two months of playing with the YSE and Rakza's 7 on both sides, I picked up my kid's bat that he got from his trainer (Blackstone All+ 85, a 20 EUR blade) with used MX-P's on both sides and played with it for few hours. I can honestly say that my shots are faster with the MX-P even though the blade seems to be just a training blade. I have much more confidence with the Blackstone setup with the MX-P's on it. Honestly I can say that I play much better with my son's setup.
Here I'd like to ask you guys, is the difference in speed made by the rubbers?

Most of the speed comes from the blade, but a little from the rubber. I find it strange to have more confidence in a faster setup...
Anyway its good to start with a slower one so that You learn to create the speed by yourself and not your equipment.

Cheers
L-zr

 

[Pe-ter]

MX-P is a faster rubber than R7 for sure.
You won't know if you're actually better with MX-P until you play some competition games and see if you can use it under pressure and control it in the short game.
Do yiu play league or anything competitive yet or just mess around for fun?
Because if it's just the latter then there is no wrong racket but if you want to compete and really improve over time then it's important to have rubbers yiu can really control, fully and MX-P (despite your initial observations) might be a little too fast.
Some folk use it as an alternative to T05 so it is known for its speed

I'm not playing competitive matches yet, but I train regularly with a team that does (I'm just not on their level yet). But playing against any of them with the YSE+R7 was more difficult compared with the MX-P's. Training matches only, but since I want to win, it's not just messing around. With the YSE+R7 I got beat day in day out, lacking speed, they were capable of returning my shots easily and when serving, I couldn't produce enough spin to give them a hard time returning them. Compared to the MX-P's, games were much more tight and I felt that I can control the ball much better than with the R7. Close to the table game was also much easier. As the R7 are great rubbers, somehow I feel better and more confident with MX-P's. Now I'm trying to understand if it is the blade or the rubbers.
And of course now I'm tempted to switch the blade and the rubbers for something harder/faster (compared with YSE+R7).

 

[Jan_]

I don't think it's too much, it's towards the higher end for a starter setup. Rakza 7 is considered a medium hardness rubber. The blade is as slow as you can get without going defensive and if you still find the rubbers too fast, you can try the mark v, old and slow, but perfect for beginners. If it's too expensive get 729 super fx or yinhe mercury 2.

But you should be able to get used to the rakza, it's perfectly fine for beginners and advanced players.

 

[Sims]

I'm not playing competitive matches yet, but I train regularly with a team that does (I'm just not on their level yet). But playing against any of them with the YSE+R7 was more difficult compared with the MX-P's. Training matches only, but since I want to win, it's not just messing around. With the YSE+R7 I got beat day in day out, lacking speed, they were capable of returning my shots easily and when serving, I couldn't produce enough spin to give them a hard time returning them. Compared to the MX-P's, games were much more tight and I felt that I can control the ball much better than with the R7. Close to the table game was also much easier. As the R7 are great rubbers, somehow I feel better and more confident with MX-P's. Now I'm trying to understand if it is the blade or the rubbers.
And of course now I'm tempted to switch the blade and the rubbers for something harder/faster (compared with YSE+R7).

Interesting.
Just read back your posts from Sept so maybe with your playing background you're ready for something faster and more dangerous.
If MX-P is working for you it might be worth to move straight to it but I can't comment much about it as I've never used it.
I personally changed to a faster blade first before changing rubbers so my recommendation to players is to find a blade with a bit more power that you can still control, to use it with their current rubbers until they are used to it and then to try the new rubbers they are thinking about.
It's often a pain in that ass trying to decide what to try next and it's easy to buy something you end up not liking so I wish you luck!
What do the guys you play against use? Have you tried any of their setups?

 

[pingpongpaddy]

Hi Peter
a key fact here is that you have a table at home and a practice partner!
Thus you can develop your touch with the blade by doing multi ball with your lad.
The most useful practice would be giving the backspin push feed. Study how the pros give the feed on YouTube and try to push accurately in all direction making sure the ball is low. You need to bounce the ball an inch and push it with table-scraping motion sliding under the ball as you do it. For yourself you could solo practice just over the net with good backspin, and also fast and deep backspin to the baseline. When you feed your lad put only slight backspin on the ball.
Come to think of it instead of replacing your rubbers you could afford a catch net and a box of practice balls. After watching your lad and his mates being coached will give you plenty of ideas
good luck

 

[Pe-ter]

Hi guys.
As there was a thing about recordings, I did my thing too. This is the first time I recorded myself playing a drill that I set just seconds before the recording, so please apologize me not remembering what I set 🙈🤷‍♂️. Also, I know that I do not have enough space behind the table (I could move the table more towards the other end but I need someone to help me out a bit as I'm lazy to disassemble the whole thing, move the table and then put everything back on).
Anyways, I'd appreciate any kind of feedback I can get (even though my feet are not visible in the video).

Cheers guys

Edit: Just to add some info, yes I'm just a basement player without any coaching at all.