OOAK Table Tennis Forum

inverted rubber only.
Ok guys so I am just wondering really what are the difference, with soft sponges if you have any experience but Medium sponges will be good too.
What is your knowledge and personal experiences.

Mainly want to know for shots like Pushing, FH block/counter, fishing, loops and counter loops.

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Back when we were using 38mm balls the usual advice was that beginners should start with 1.5mm sponge. Most of the better players (the loopers anyhow) would go to 2.0mm. Hardly anyone used max sponge - it was seen as being "too fast to control". Enter the 40mm ball. Suddenly many rubbers (ESPECIALLY cheaper Chinese beginner rubbers) are ONLY available in max sponge. Beginners now actually start with max sponge. The way I see it, these days, thinner sponge is for special purposes.. choppers (though most choppers also loop a lot these days and opt for thicker sponge), pips-out blockers, balsa blades, etc. In fact, you should be able to use even thicker sponge, the current max isn't the upper limit in terms of ball control in the short game. (The reason we don't is there are rules, of course.) Using thinner sponge would help with control over the table, but if you rely on topspin drives you will lose control when the rubber bottoms out, especially if you use softer sponge. (In the old days no one ever mentioned "bottoming out", maybe because the ball was so much lighter.)

So in short - thinner rubber gives you more control for pushes, blocks over the table, chops, because it's slower (this is with inverted rubbers, I'm not going to get into sponge/no sponge when it comes to long pips, which I know nothing about). At the same time, you can't generate as much spin with thinner sponge unless you're doing brush shots. This hurts when topspin driving - you won't be able to loop the ball as hard because you get less spin, and it's the spin that causes the ball to arc/dip and hit the table. You also lose control sooner due to bottoming out when looping.

Iskandar

I use 1.9mm now, but last season I used 1.7mm. All of my other inverted rubbers on various setups are max.

For me it's mostly about speed. I have to close my bat angle more with more sponge and I find that, especially in nervous situations, quicker setups make me significantly worse - I get more tense and end up playing half-loops. If I feel like I have the control to play a full-blooded loop however, even in tense situations, that's exactly what I'll do.

In terms of control on chops, I notice no difference. Pushes is a bit different - the ball "springs" off the bat a bit quicker with thicker sponge, which can be harder to control. Doesn't take long to get used to though.

The downside is the spin/speed on loops. I DO lose noticeable spin/speed even coming down to 1.9mm from 2.1mm. At some point I will transition back to 2.1mm, but I'll do it slowly over the course of the next few seasons. At the moment 1.9mm is the perfect balance for my game. If I was an attacking player however, playing more punches, "drive" type shots or half-loop/half-block type shots, the extra speed would be really useful.

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[Other gear I've used]
Blades: Butterfly Defence 3, Butterfly Defence Pro, Butterfly Innerforce ZLC, Butterfly Innershield, DHS Power G7, Stiga Offensive Classic Carbon
SPs: Friendship 802 (1.5), TSP Spectol (1.3, 1.8, 2.1), TSP Spectol Speed (1.3), TSP Super Spinpips Chop Sponge 2 (0.5, 1.3)
LPs: Butterfly Feint Long II (1), Butterfly Feint Long III (0.5, 1.3), Tibhar Grass D.TecS (OX), TSP Curl P1-R (0.5, 1, 1.3), TSP Curl P4 (1.3)