When to upgrade rubber?

[pedro.dantas]

I'm a new player who still is developing technique, and have tried vega europe and vega korea on BH. I realized vega europe was too soft to me, than i changed to vega korea, wich i really enjoy play with, since it's not too soft or hard, and also is forgiving and spinny. The thing is i don't believe forgiving equipment is great to have in the long run, since it will hide some weakness, delaying the technique development, but at the same time, it helps a bit begginers like me to get confidence and build solid fundamentals.
Is there any way to know the best time to change equipment? I pretend to test dignics 05 sometime in the future, but need some training to get there.
PS: Using 36.5 ALXi as blade and Rakza Z FH.

 

[TackyForehand]

There no perfect science to this. After a while, 3 months, or when the rubber is worn, get something else you think may be better. Just like how you felt the need to move to Vega Korea, you'll feel the best time to change naturally.

 

[Tyce]

I believe:
When you can execute difficult strokes easily, both in placement and power, but they lack danger in matches, you may need a step up in equipment.
When you can't execute basics reliably, you may need a step down in equipment or step up your training.

But the margins are enormous for amateur players. There are national level amateurs with allwood blades and super soft 38d ESN rubber, and also those with hard and stiff blades with 55d rubber.

If you like the feeling of your blade, stick with it, whatever it is.
If you like the general feeling of a rubber, just stick with it. Get it slightly harder or softer according to your needs, and stick with it.

 

[Lazer]

I'm a new player who still is developing technique, and have tried vega europe and vega korea on BH. I realized vega europe was too soft to me, than i changed to vega korea, wich i really enjoy play with, since it's not too soft or hard, and also is forgiving and spinny. The thing is i don't believe forgiving equipment is great to have in the long run, since it will hide some weakness, delaying the technique development, but at the same time, it helps a bit begginers like me to get confidence and build solid fundamentals.
Is there any way to know the best time to change equipment? I pretend to test dignics 05 sometime in the future, but need some training to get there.
PS: Using 36.5 ALXi as blade and Rakza Z FH.

I could make my rubber last a year, but I say they should last you at least 6 months. This goes for Chinese and most ESN rubbers…

Cheers
L-zr

 

[pedro.dantas]

Thanks guys, i just ordered a new sheet of vega korea cause mine is damaged from BH flick training haha, next time i’ll try the dignics.

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

There are people who have that theory that you need to use the unforgiving equipment that will make it so you have to be perfect to use it and that is better for a developing player than more forgiving equipment.

The flaw in that theory is, what happens to a player who does not have the precise control of the blade face to make very precise contact on the ball, is this:

1) The contact is poor and the ball flies off in all kinds of directions that were not intended.
2) Then the player subconsciously messes with the stroke and the stroke mechanics become bad, because he does not have the control of the blade face to make the right contact.
3) What this leads to is THE WRONG KIND OF CONTACT and A COMPROMISED STROKE.
4) These bad habits become ingrained because, with a mechanically flawed stroke, less impact, the wrong impact, and some other things that should not happen, the ball does land on the table but the quality of the ball is not good.

What more forgiving equipment does is help you develop a good stroke and start improving the quality and kind of contact when you do not have the control of the blade face to make the precise contact needed for higher level, less forgiving equipment.

Try the first one (the one Freitas labels "Warm Up") on a wall. If you can do it on a wall very solidly, with a lot of control, then you can try it on the edge of a table.

Try the one called "Change the Ends". When you do it, you should be able to do it while keeping the ball rolling on the blade face and edge (NOT Bouncing).

Try the the catch part of "Grabbing and Punching". You are trying to catch the ball without it bouncing.

If you can do those three, you probably can develop the control of the blade face well enough to be using rubbers that require more precise contact soon. If those are hard to do, if controlling the ball and how you touch the ball, makes those a little hard, it means you still need to improve how you control the blade face when you contact the ball.

If you can really do the first one with a wall and do it for at least a few 100 hits, that means you have decent control of the blade face. If you are not able to do that, most likely, using some of the higher end rubbers that are more spin sensitive will mess up your strokes and make it much harder to develop good spin contact because, you will only be able to get the ball on the table with bad contact (non-spin contact) and while cutting off your stroke and making your stroke SLOWER....too slow for a good stroke and spin contact.

It is worth knowing, some of the Chinese tacky rubbers that are really good, help you create massive spin but are also very forgiving. Like H3, if boosted it and used something like that, it affords players the high end quality, while still being forgiving enough for a newer player to use it well.

 

[pedro.dantas]

There are people who have that theory that you need to use the unforgiving equipment that will make it so you have to be perfect to use it and that is better for a developing player than more forgiving equipment.

The flaw in that theory is, what happens to a player who does not have the precise control of the blade face to make very precise contact on the ball, is this:

1) The contact is poor and the ball flies off in all kinds of directions that were not intended.
2) Then the player subconsciously messes with the stroke and the stroke mechanics become bad, because he does not have the control of the blade face to make the right contact.
3) What this leads to is THE WRONG KIND OF CONTACT and A COMPROMISED STROKE.
4) These bad habits become ingrained because, with a mechanically flawed stroke, less impact, the wrong impact, and some other things that should not happen, the ball does land on the table but the quality of the ball is not good.

What more forgiving equipment does is help you develop a good stroke and start improving the quality and kind of contact when you do not have the control of the blade face to make the precise contact needed for higher level, less forgiving equipment.

Try the first one (the one Freitas labels "Warm Up") on a wall. If you can do it on a wall very solidly, with a lot of control, then you can try it on the edge of a table.

Try the one called "Change the Ends". When you do it, you should be able to do it while keeping the ball rolling on the blade face and edge (NOT Bouncing).

Try the the catch part of "Grabbing and Punching". You are trying to catch the ball without it bouncing.

If you can do those three, you probably can develop the control of the blade face well enough to be using rubbers that require more precise contact soon. If those are hard to do, if controlling the ball, the way you touch the ball, makes those a little hard, it means you still need to improve how you control the blade face when you contact the ball.

If you can't really do the first one with a wall and do it for at least a few 100 hits, probably, using some of the higher end rubbers that are more spin sensitive will mess up your strokes and make it much harder to develop good spin contact because, you will only be able to get the ball on the table with bad contact (non-spin contact) and while cutting off your stroke and making your stroke SLOWER....too slow for a good stroke and spin contact.

Thanks! This will be my goal!

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

Thanks! This will be my goal!

You will find it interesting how weird exercises like those, off the table, will help you improve your contact.

Some of these are similar but the video breaks down and explains the exercises. These will also help you assess the quality of your contact and how much control you have over the blade face of your racket. Without the control of the blade face, you can't really:

1) make tangential contact, while getting the topsheet to really grab the ball,
2) get the ball to sink into the topsheet and sponge to the depth you want for the shot you are taking,
3) and get the ball quality (amount of speed and spin) you are trying for with the particular shot you are talking.

Not being able to feel and control the blade face very precisely makes rubbers that are highly spin sensitive and have springy type sponge (catapult, trampoline, spring, whatever you want to call it....some just say bouncy but none of those terms are quite right) a liability to a developing player.

 

[pedro.dantas]

There are people who have that theory that you need to use the unforgiving equipment that will make it so you have to be perfect to use it and that is better for a developing player than more forgiving equipment.

The flaw in that theory is, what happens to a player who does not have the precise control of the blade face to make very precise contact on the ball, is this:

1) The contact is poor and the ball flies off in all kinds of directions that were not intended.
2) Then the player subconsciously messes with the stroke and the stroke mechanics become bad, because he does not have the control of the blade face to make the right contact.
3) What this leads to is THE WRONG KIND OF CONTACT and A COMPROMISED STROKE.
4) These bad habits become ingrained because, with a mechanically flawed stroke, less impact, the wrong impact, and some other things that should not happen, the ball does land on the table but the quality of the ball is not good.

What more forgiving equipment does is help you develop a good stroke and start improving the quality and kind of contact when you do not have the control of the blade face to make the precise contact needed for higher level, less forgiving equipment.

Try the first one (the one Freitas labels "Warm Up") on a wall. If you can do it on a wall very solidly, with a lot of control, then you can try it on the edge of a table.

Try the one called "Change the Ends". When you do it, you should be able to do it while keeping the ball rolling on the blade face and edge (NOT Bouncing).

Try the the catch part of "Grabbing and Punching". You are trying to catch the ball without it bouncing.

If you can do those three, you probably can develop the control of the blade face well enough to be using rubbers that require more precise contact soon. If those are hard to do, if controlling the ball and how you touch the ball, makes those a little hard, it means you still need to improve how you control the blade face when you contact the ball.

If you can really do the first one with a wall and do it for at least a few 100 hits, that means you have decent control of the blade face. If you are not able to do that, most likely, using some of the higher end rubbers that are more spin sensitive will mess up your strokes and make it much harder to develop good spin contact because, you will only be able to get the ball on the table with bad contact (non-spin contact) and while cutting off your stroke and making your stroke SLOWER....too slow for a good stroke and spin contact.

It is worth knowing, some of the Chinese tacky rubbers that are really good, help you create massive spin but are also very forgiving. Like H3, if boosted it and used something like that, it affords players the high end quality, while still being forgiving enough for a newer player to use it well.

This is really hard, i tried for some hours and this was the best i could do hahaha, but it's fun also.

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

This is really hard, i tried for some hours and this was the best i could do hahaha, but it's fun also.

Trying those exercises will help improve your touch and control in the game. A lot of times, newer players don't see the reason for them. But without that kind of control of the blade face, it makes it much harder to really increase the amount of spin you are putting on the ball. And for sure, your touch in short game will improve noticeably as a result.

Your attempt for that one is pretty good. Those are not as easy as they seem they might be. That one, the catching the ball, and the one against a wall (edge of table when you have serious control), are excellent for helping that control of the blade face that you will need for using those higher end spring sponge rubbers.

Good luck.