Here we are, I have now tried the H3 Provincial blue sponge for a week.
I have put it on the W968 that I bought here on the forum, so some words on the W968 as well. It is definitely a bit more rigid than the commercial Long 5s I was using before but it is really not that different. Backhand rubber is my usual, in the short game the W968 is a bit more bouncy, everything else, from open ups to blocks is more pleasurable to play, and especially when 1-2 metres behind the table open play is really fun. The setup is very heavy and especially head heavy. I like it but it is very noticeable and many people would hate it.
Now onto H3 Provincial BS, 40 degrees 2.15. I boosted it with National Yellow twice, waited and glued it on Sunday. I have trained or coached with it from Monday to Friday and played a double tournament today.
Monday, for the first two hours, it felt terrible, it felt very "muted" and a bit weird, I really couldn't get through it. The last hour of the training I felt like it "let go" a bit and I liked it more, and it got better and better. I would say it took 4-5 hours of play to fully break in but I enjoyed it from the 3rd hour of play.
Generally I really like its' features and I definitely will be using it for some months (boosting experts, second boost when? I was thinking in 4-5 weeks considering I'll play quite a bit less now during the Christmas holidays, let's say every other day?) but I definitely have a lot to say about it.
Firstly, it is quite sensitive to humidity and cold. I train or coach in the evening from 17:00 to 21:00, we have no heating in the gym and it's cold in these months out (let's say down to 5 celsius) (not super cold in the gym but let's say around 15 to 20 degrees celsius depending on the hour). It plays well in the first couple of hours, but when the gym gets full of people (it's a medium-sized gym, 8 tables fit nicely with enough room for movement for high level training) and it gets colder and also humid it becomes more and more unplayable. Ball slips and it mutes quite a lot.
Secondly, it is also sensitive to what tables and balls are used. We use Joola tables and quite heavy balls (we compete with nittaku premium and train with a similarly heavy and hard ball, Naraq 3 stars premium). This is also what I am used to train with and my "ideal" setup or what I'm more comfortable with. I feel like H3 is not really the best for this type of combination. Today I played in a tournament with butterfly tables (that "eat away" some spin and bounce quite high) and balls R40+, which I usually hate because I find them very light and fleeting, in the morning and it was quite dry (albeit as cold as usual during winter): I was impressed on how easy it was to play (it usually takes me a good hour to get used to it with my usual equipment and then I anyway usually feel like I have to play with lighter hands or the ball will fly everywhere). It really feels like the rubber is made for this kind of balls and tables.
If I was used to the opposite (used to playing with light balls and tables that bounce a lot) I would definitely not use it as I would find it unplayable with heavy balls and "slippery" tables. Since I already feel very confident on this kind of tables and I train all the time on them I really don't mind the trade-off and to finally feel comfortable when play away league matches and tournaments.
Now onto the playing:
Serve and receive are a real pleasure, easiest and best rubber for this (I think this is the part that most often wins or loses a match really). Spinniest serves, spinniest receives I have ever given and as short or as long as I want them.
I had imagined the first topspin on backspin would be the most loaded with spin than with any other rubber, but I found this to be quite untrue for me. However, the bounce it produces on the opponent side of the table is very low, very uncomfortable to counter-spin for high level opponents, especially the ones with a lot of sidespin too (I am a lefty). I find it also very controllable to place it where I want it, which also helps, but it is definitely not the most spinny opening.
It never bottoms out though which I love, and I find it a pleasure for varying the amount of sidespin I add to the topspin according to the serve I gave. (Example pendulum serve and then inside-out forehand or my normal lefty hook sidespin). I find many rubbers are very hard to manage in this peculiar shots and H3 seems made for this.
Countertopspin is quite easy as I said, no surprises there as it's a very hard rubber and this is what I suppose it's really built for.
I find it quite pleasurable to block with too (which I do in doubles, not really much in singles). Especially when adding spins and sidespins to the block, many times I caught opponents who were far and expecting a counter with a very uncomfortable kind of chop-block that really messed with their timing.
Flicking is a bit harder, I have to hit the ball harder than with the hybrids, but it's really just a matter of habit.
The rubber is really not fast, even if boosted. I don't mind slowish rubbers and find they compliment well my forehand if they give me the other characteristics this rubber gives.
Tomorrow I'm playing singles, let's see how it goes!
