Returning to table tennis, lots of change! Did I buy the wrong blade and rubbers?

[Crewdy]

Hi all. After a lot of years I have returned to table tennis and I’m able to introduce my son to the sport!

So after a few club nights with the new plastic/bigger ball and lots more attack/spin in the the game than I remember I bought myself a shiny new blade and rubbers!

After reading lots of reviews I went for a butterfly Innerforce ALC blade and the new Glayzer 09C rubbers.

Internet reviews say the Glayzer is Slow (which for a pro it probably is) but to my surprise it’s much quicker than the butterfly Ekrips I used back in the day. With the blade feels really quick and has a very high throw angle totally different from what I remember!! I feel like I’m having to close the bat angle to nearly Horizontal to return the ball and not hit long off the table!

I’m an average player with a better backhand than forehand. It feels quite natural playing backhand shots with the set up but I’m holding back on forehand for fear of hitting long which is happening more often than not.

Should I have ignored the internet reviews and gone with slower blade and rubbers?

Or is it worth sticking with and putting in more time!

 

[lodro]

Hi all. After a lot of years I have returned to table tennis and I’m able to introduce my son to the sport!

So after a few club nights with the new plastic/bigger ball and lots more attack/spin in the the game than I remember I bought myself a shiny new blade and rubbers!

After reading lots of reviews I went for a butterfly Innerforce ALC blade and the new Glayzer 09C rubbers.

Internet reviews say the Glayzer is Slow (which for a pro it probably is) but to my surprise it’s much quicker than the butterfly Ekrips I used back in the day. With the blade feels really quick and has a very high throw angle totally different from what I remember!! I feel like I’m having to close the bat angle to nearly Horizontal to return the ball and not hit long off the table!

I’m an average player with a better backhand than forehand. It feels quite natural playing backhand shots with the set up but I’m holding back on forehand for fear of hitting long which is happening more often than not.

Should I have ignored the internet reviews and gone with slower blade and rubbers?

Or is it worth sticking with and putting in more time!

you might have noticed that these days many players use different rubbers on the 2 sides. If you are comfy with the BH, why not get a nice "slow" rubber for the FH. Maybe you could try a Loki Rxton 5 or a H3.
No need to make too drastic changes.
I like the innerforce ALC and ZLC blades, they are very versatile.

 

[Lazer]

Glazer09C is very slow. The BTY innerforce ALC is not extremely fast either so the speed should not be too fast. I am surprised to hear this. I have one blade equipped with G09C on FH and regular Glazer on the other side. What may be a bit worse is that G09C is really hard.

Now, put rubber protectors on this and save it for later. Then buy a cheapie 5 ply wood blade rated all+ to off- and put Yasaka Rakza 7 or equivalent on it. Play with it for some months and then go back to Your first racket.

Cheers
L-zr

 

[turbozed]

You will need to give us more details about how long you've played and what your training experience is to get an accurate answer. Saying you're an "average player" doesn't help much. Have you had coaching? Do you do dedicated training drills? Have you mastered all the major strokes?

If you answered no to all of the above then you are likely a beginner at the club level and are likely better off with a slower all wood setup.

If you're holding back on performing techniques with the proper form because the setup is too fast, then the setup is probably too fast.

 

[TensorBackhand]

Hi all. After a lot of years I have returned to table tennis and I’m able to introduce my son to the sport!

So after a few club nights with the new plastic/bigger ball and lots more attack/spin in the the game than I remember I bought myself a shiny new blade and rubbers!

After reading lots of reviews I went for a butterfly Innerforce ALC blade and the new Glayzer 09C rubbers.

Internet reviews say the Glayzer is Slow (which for a pro it probably is) but to my surprise it’s much quicker than the butterfly Ekrips I used back in the day. With the blade feels really quick and has a very high throw angle totally different from what I remember!! I feel like I’m having to close the bat angle to nearly Horizontal to return the ball and not hit long off the table!

I’m an average player with a better backhand than forehand. It feels quite natural playing backhand shots with the set up but I’m holding back on forehand for fear of hitting long which is happening more often than not.

Should I have ignored the internet reviews and gone with slower blade and rubbers?

Or is it worth sticking with and putting in more time!

I find G09c quite slow without booster. but if it still feels fast to you, then just keep practicing with it.

In terms of moderen rubbers, it definitely isn't fast. You just need to get back up to speed.

 

[Crewdy]

Thank you for all the help and suggestions.

To give some background it was 25 years ago when I stopped playing after leaving school! Had coaching etc through school years and played a few nights per week. I’m quite a bit older and slower now!! Maybe that’s part of the problem and it will take time to get back into the flow.

I don’t have my old blade and rubbers anymore so I’m going off memory but my new bat does feel quite different.

I will give it a bit more time on the table and then maybe change to a slower rubber as suggested then if that fails a slower blade!

I’m not looking to compete anymore I just want a decent set up which I can enjoy playing with on club nights and hopefully build on the skills I already had!

Thank you

 

[lodro]

Thank you for all the help and suggestions.

To give some background it was 25 years ago when I stopped playing after leaving school! Had coaching etc through school years and played a few nights per week. I’m quite a bit older and slower now!! Maybe that’s part of the problem and it will take time to get back into the flow.

I don’t have my old blade and rubbers anymore so I’m going off memory but my new bat does feel quite different.

I will give it a bit more time on the table and then maybe change to a slower rubber as suggested then if that fails a slower blade!

I’m not looking to compete anymore I just want a decent set up which I can enjoy playing with on club nights and hopefully build on the skills I already had!

Thank you

You'll be fine.
like you say: give it the time. You will be surprised how suddenly muscle- memory kicks in . Remember the old saying: It is like riding a bicycle, you never forget 😁

 

[JJ Ng]

I am going to disagree with others here.

There is no point playing if you cannot enjoy the sport. If the set up is too fast, it is too fast.

I would recommend a five-ply all wood blade and my favorite is Tibhar Stratus Power Wood. Then stick Neottec Katana either 2.0mm sponge or 2.1mm sponge, and you will like it.

Right now Neottec Katana is on weekly sales, that ends this Sunday, for $15.53 on Tabletennis11. It is a good Japanese rubber that is a bit tensor like. You might as well get 2.1mm for you forehand and 2.0mmg for your backhand, or vice versa.

Life is too short. Get something you can enjoy now. You can then upgrade to your Butterfly equipment later.

Seriously go for 5-ply all-wood blade right now.

I was away from the sport for 7 years before I returned to the sport in 2019. I was trained in penhold back then up to 2012 when I quit the sport. In 2019 I decided to switch to shakehand. I was playing with an old Yasaka Ma Lin Carbon that I had with Mark V on both sides. My club coached convinced me to buy a Butterfly Viscaria with T05 fx on the forehand and T64 fx on the backhand. What a mistake! It was too fast for me and it took the fun out of the game.

 

[Gozo Aruna]

I guess you are not ready to go for the full Gozo(tm) experience huh?

Introducing the Gozo Avenger(tm) Mark III ( Custom made 10.5mm One Ply Hinoki with Donic Bluestorm Z1 as FH and Andro Rasenter R48EC on BH ) Ultrafast ultra bouncy. One shot one kill. Defense? Who needs defense?

 

[NextLevel]

Hi all. After a lot of years I have returned to table tennis and I’m able to introduce my son to the sport!

So after a few club nights with the new plastic/bigger ball and lots more attack/spin in the the game than I remember I bought myself a shiny new blade and rubbers!

After reading lots of reviews I went for a butterfly Innerforce ALC blade and the new Glayzer 09C rubbers.

Internet reviews say the Glayzer is Slow (which for a pro it probably is) but to my surprise it’s much quicker than the butterfly Ekrips I used back in the day. With the blade feels really quick and has a very high throw angle totally different from what I remember!! I feel like I’m having to close the bat angle to nearly Horizontal to return the ball and not hit long off the table!

I’m an average player with a better backhand than forehand. It feels quite natural playing backhand shots with the set up but I’m holding back on forehand for fear of hitting long which is happening more often than not.

Should I have ignored the internet reviews and gone with slower blade and rubbers?

Or is it worth sticking with and putting in more time!

Everything is quicker nowadays and catered to players who train a lot with the new ball. That doesn't mean you have to be quick immediately, especially if you didn't play at an extremely high level as a youngster and glue a lot.

The main question is whether you are going to train and invest in some coaching. If so, keep what you have and hit with a coach to learn how to use it. A good coach should also be able to tell you what you should be reasonably using. If you aren't going to get coaching, then consider using modern equivalents of what you used before ‐ rubbers without Tension still exist, they just aren't promoted because they are cheaper. They let you hit and block more comfortably but they are relatively slow, and while being slower is not great in isolation, table tennis is a game where being slow can have advantages if you make gains in consistency and control.

I think the biggest issue is your choice of blade, getting used to carbon requires practice. But if you have ge resources, invest in some coaching to learn new technique, keep the setup and over time reap the rewards.

 

[kapahoo]

Well. I also find G09c a lot faster than most here on the forum. Speedwise to me it is in the same category as it's bigger siblings. But it is very hard compared to older rubbers and might feel strange in that sense.
Softer modern rubbers are bouncier in the short-game but don't have same speed when hitting.

 

[jammmail]

From what i remember playing back when you did, Ekrips was quite Mark V like (which I used with Tibhar Rapid Dtecs that was a great rubber too ) which back then was reasonably fast top end rubber - but in modern terms is very slow, and without the catapult effect of modern rubbers. Slower than the Glayzers even.

It is a very different game now with much more pace and almost flat hitting in comparison of the spin of the older game (21 points 38mm ball etc). And also coming back to the sport after a big break a while back like you, you will have to change technique -I imagine the throw angle maybe the biggest problem that you are experiencing with G09c.

The rubber and blade you have chosen are very good - they aren't the issue (though i much prefer the Glayzer series on outer carbon blades - but that would not be a good choice for now). It will be technique that isnt right and feel strange, but it will come with practice.

You have two options - stick with it, (ideally with coaching) if not too demoralising atm, or switch to something that will feel similar to Ekrips an older generation rubber - Mark v, Roundell, Sriver etc.

But a word of caution if i may - it is very rare people underestimate there skills after a long break, more often than not they overestimate (or have rose tinted spectacles on certainly when thinking back - we never remember the aspects we weren't as good at

If i was you I would chose option one - dont spend anymore on equipment right now and spend it on coaching.

I am pretty much agreeing with what @NextLevel is saying - just in more words - but i would stay away from H3 or something like that on FH coming back to the sport.

 

[JJ Ng]

Lol, it sounds like I am still the only one telling him to change his equipment. I understand that inner carbon is "not that fast." And yes Glayzer 09c is also "not that fast."

But the OP has been away from the sport for 25 years. We need to start with 5-play wood with non-tensor rubber.

Lots of people's advice here is, get a coach and you can tame the equipment soon. But how soon is soon? Three months? Six months? Two years?

We don't know the OP's playing level even 25 years ago.

I was away for the sport for 7 years and when I came back I decided to switch from penhold to shakehand since we all got older. My coach convinced to ditch my old Yasaka Ma Lin Carbon and embrace Viscaria with Tenergy fx on both sides. Yes my strokes looked good since I started playing when I was 13. But man, that combo was a disaster for me. I stuck with it for 3 months and changed my equipment and I am a lot happier now.

I think sometimes we keep on thinking people should train to get better. But sometimes people just want to have some fun, NOW.

Therefore I am sticking with my original recommendation for the OP based on the fun factor now and his gradual improvement technique wise coming. Tibhar Stratus Power Wood plus two sheets of Katana is literally 77 USD right now. That's not a lot of money to pay to enjoy a sport that you like for the next 12 months at least.

 

[The_TT_Bat_Guy]

Hi all. After a lot of years I have returned to table tennis and I’m able to introduce my son to the sport!

So after a few club nights with the new plastic/bigger ball and lots more attack/spin in the the game than I remember I bought myself a shiny new blade and rubbers!

After reading lots of reviews I went for a butterfly Innerforce ALC blade and the new Glayzer 09C rubbers.

Internet reviews say the Glayzer is Slow (which for a pro it probably is) but to my surprise it’s much quicker than the butterfly Ekrips I used back in the day. With the blade feels really quick and has a very high throw angle totally different from what I remember!! I feel like I’m having to close the bat angle to nearly Horizontal to return the ball and not hit long off the table!

I’m an average player with a better backhand than forehand. It feels quite natural playing backhand shots with the set up but I’m holding back on forehand for fear of hitting long which is happening more often than not.

Should I have ignored the internet reviews and gone with slower blade and rubbers?

Or is it worth sticking with and putting in more time!

What blade did you use back in the day? My standard recommendation for players changing equipment is to only change one thing at a time. Changing to a whole new setup tends to mean lots of training time needed to adjust to it

If I was to recommend something before you bought the new setup I would have suggested a cheap training level setup like a Yinhe N10/N11 with Yinhe Mercury 2 on both sides or Sanwei CS with those same rubbers. So, I'm in the 'gone with slower blade and rubbers' camp and don't spend more than you need to enjoy yourself (which usually involves setups that help you keep the ball on the table - it's less fun to miss!)

Inner ALC blades are not that fast compared to outer carbon blades but they're still usually faster than all wood blades and almost all (or all) of them are faster than a typical allround 5 ply all wood blade.

 

[Crewdy]

From what i remember playing back when you did, Ekrips was quite Mark V like (which I used with Tibhar Rapid Dtecs that was a great rubber too ) which back then was reasonably fast top end rubber - but in modern terms is very slow, and without the catapult effect of modern rubbers. Slower than the Glayzers even.

It is a very different game now with much more pace and almost flat hitting in comparison of the spin of the older game (21 points 38mm ball etc). And also coming back to the sport after a big break a while back like you, you will have to change technique -I imagine the throw angle maybe the biggest problem that you are experiencing with G09c.

The rubber and blade you have chosen are very good - they aren't the issue (though i much prefer the Glayzer series on outer carbon blades - but that would not be a good choice for now). It will be technique that isnt right and feel strange, but it will come with practice.

You have two options - stick with it, (ideally with coaching) if not too demoralising atm, or switch to something that will feel similar to Ekrips an older generation rubber - Mark v, Roundell, Sriver etc.

But a word of caution if i may - it is very rare people underestimate there skills after a long break, more often than not they overestimate (or have rose tinted spectacles on certainly when thinking back - we never remember the aspects we weren't as good at

If i was you I would chose option one - dont spend anymore on equipment right now and spend it on coaching.

I am pretty much agreeing with what @NextLevel is saying - just in more words - but i would stay away from H3 or something like that on FH coming back to the sport.

Thank you. I probably have overestimated! Also access to internet nowadays, watching all the pro players I set off to club nights thinking I’m Fan Zhendong 😄

 

[Crewdy]

What blade did you use back in the day? My standard recommendation for players changing equipment is to only change one thing at a time. Changing to a whole new setup tends to mean lots of training time needed to adjust to it

If I was to recommend something before you bought the new setup I would have suggested a cheap training level setup like a Yinhe N10/N11 with Yinhe Mercury 2 on both sides or Sanwei CS with those same rubbers. So, I'm in the 'gone with slower blade and rubbers' camp and don't spend more than you need to enjoy yourself (which usually involves setups that help you keep the ball on the table - it's less fun to miss!)

Inner ALC blades are not that fast compared to outer carbon blades but they're still usually faster than all wood blades and almost all (or all) of them are faster than a typical allround 5 ply all wood blade.

Thank you for the suggestions. I used a butterfly mazunov (all wood) back in the day. So you’re probably onto something!

 

[SFF_lib]

I would say your current setup is a big step up from your old one. ALC + butterfly rubbers is at least twice faster than your old setup.

If you have the money I would go for a hard 5-ply wood + 1.9mm Tenergy

 

[job59]

I would like to agree with the recommendations to start with a "quieter" setup.

When I started playing table tennis again 2.5 years ago, I stuck new tensor rubbers (Xiom Vega: Asia FH, Europe BH) on my old Butterfly Primaroc (5 ply) - and even that was clearly too fast and bouncy. Especially on the forehand in passive play. (!Tenergy and Dignics are significantly faster than the Xiom!) I tried a few rubbers and in the next step I ended up with the Xiom Omega 5 series (also because these rubbers were significantly cheaper). Omega 5 behaves much calmer in the short game, so that with a little training you are able to play returns of acceptable quality again. The same goes for blocks.

With a view to the offensive game, I would also say that there is a great danger of getting used to the wrong shot technique with a set-up that is too fast.


After about one year I tried Hurricane 3 (boostered) on FH and was quickly enthusiastic. I don't want to present this as a general recommendation here. You can try it - and then you like it or not. The point here is, they are not bouncy.

m2c

 

[Tembel]

I would advice against going the non tensor route if you played on a reasonable high level in your prime, 25 years ago. I couple of years ago I was in the same place as you, returning from a 25 years break. My first bat was a Stiga Intencity NCT with Rakza7 on FH and MarkV on the BH. It took med 3 training sessions to realize that the MarkV was way too slow.

 

[Der_Echte]

Did you get the WRONG bat??? !!!

Hey @Crewdy ... YES. You are WRONG.

You did NOT get a National Long 5 from the uncle who knows the cousin of some CNT training hall waterboy.

You did NOT get a National version of H3 boosted using the top secret boosting protocol of the Ninja Warrior H3 BCT Clan sect...

You did NOT spend over $1000 USD on your setup.

You did NOT gloat over your purchase.

Yup. Epic Fail written all over it.