OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Dear fellow table tennis players,

"Cho-le!", one of the most uncommonly heard celebratory chants in the United States. All around the world many nations demonstrate their respect toward table tennis as large crowds of people cheer on table tennis players. While here in the United States we have a lack of support for the table tennis community. Many people laugh at table tennis because they believe table tennis is not a sport. I disagree and I believe many of you table tennis players out there think the same. Right now as a senior in high school I run a Table Tennis Club at my school, Boston Latin Academy Table Tennis Club. This club was a club that began as the laughing stalk. Many people laughed at the club with its 7 members, broken paddles, and its one run down table. However, after a year passed my friends and I agreed to grow this club, not only to cease the laughs the club obtains but, stop the laughs table tennis obtains. We were dedicated to the club and to table tennis. As a group we coordinated with our club advisers and began promoting, fundraising, training, and learning. Today we have 3 well maintained tables, more paddles, over 30 members, and over 60 other students interested in joining our club. We even established a small team within the club that is committed to playing table tennis more competitively. We grown significantly but, right now we have a hindrance, an insufficient amount of table tennis equipment. We decided to set up a Donors Choose post to ask for 3 more new tables and 144 new paddles to try to accommodate for the growing club size. I am asking all you table tennis players to find it in your hearts to donate and help my club grow. Maybe right now we are only making a difference in our school. However, with more equipment we can make a difference in our community. These are the small steps we as a table tennis community must take in order to popularize the table tennis and establish respect toward the sport in the United States. I know that some of you may not be in the United States but, regardless where you are we are all part of the same table tennis community. We must unite and stand as one to support table tennis. I am asking this table tennis community we have to please donate to our Donors Choose page so that we can slowly help gain the respect table tennis deserves. Thank you!

Here is our Donors Choose page: https://www.donorschoose.org/project/in ... g/2347247/

Sincerely,

The Captains and members of the Boston Latin Academy Table Tennis Club

Paddles? You mean the members don't own their own, each blade and rubber sheet individually chosen?

Iskandar

No, most of the students can not afford their own paddles. Many of the captains and leaders in the club take out their own money to help purchase some paddles for other club members to use. Of course, some of us do have our own custom paddles but, many do not.

I can understand this type of situation happening in some countries of Africa, but not the USA. Are the members or aspiring members treating table tennis as a sport themselves? Are they prepared to save their own money or persuade their parents to save up for them? I am excluding your fine self as you have obviously been doing this. This may be the issue.

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Retriever (sometimes golden, but often leaden)
Moderator, Inverted Retriever Technique sub-forum - http://ooakforum.com/viewforum.php?f=74

Many of us are treating table tennis as a sport. Occasionally, we have some people who come to the club to fool around. However, we do not let those people get through to us. The fact is that I know paddles are not extremely expensive but, many people do not know if they want to invest money into table tennis yet. Some of these people love the sport but, simply is not sure if they will continue it when they go off to college. Keep in mind we are still high school students trying to figure out what we want to do with our lives. Although, we are not as poor as some of the schools in Africa we are poor enough to not have enough money to provide suffice equipment for clubs in popular demand. I know that this is a lot to ask but, the captains and I still want to be able to provide the a sufficient amount of equipment to our members just in case people want to continue playing this sport. Right now we have about 10-15 of the competitive members with personal paddles because they know they want to continue playing table tennis. A good chunk of these students simply do not know yet. So donating to our club would indefinitely help promote table tennis, help us train competitively, and help students figure out what their passions and desires.

Why do you need 144 paddles in the first place? If you end up with 6 tables, at most you will need 12 (assuming no one showed up with their own, but some already do). Double that to be safe and you only need 24 or so.

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USATT: 1807 | League: 1887

The idea is to always have back ups. Since we go to a high school some students are not as mature as the older students so they do not take care of some of the equipment that well. In addition, those paddles could last us years without going back on Donors Choose again. We do not get funding for our clubs so we have to obtain as much equipment to save for future years.

I'd think 24 should be plenty, just get some proper cases for them and teach the members about bat care. Most will probably end up getting their own shortly, since they'd not want to use the common pool bats. Get some Yinhe pre-mades, or this M8/Batwings combo:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Free-Sh ... 20589.html



Iskandar

Hmmm...

STIGA Performance 4-Player Table Tennis Racket Set • Amazon Business $29.74 11 $327.14

I suppose most of us would turn our noses up at Stiga pre-mades - most of these are pretty awful, but I suppose they'd serve OK. Still, 4x11 = 44 bats, not 144. Maybe the 144's a typo?

Iskandar

"Steven Tong 12" You say that some students don't look after some of the equipment very well & that was my first thought when I read your post. Premade bats are not very expensive but if they have to buy their own you would find they would be less breakages. By all means have some bats for starters with a part of your clubs joining agreement to purchase their own bat. Maybe have as a lot of clubs do a few new premades on hand that your members can purchase from the club? I wish you luck & TT is certainly a sport!

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Setup 1: Blade: TSP Trinity Carbon | Joola Golden Tango black 1.8mm FH & Tibhar Grass D.TecS acid green OX BH
Setup 2: Setup 2: Blade: TSP Trinity Carbon | Joola Golden Tango PS black 2.00mm FH & Tibhar Grass D.TecS red OX BH
Setup 3: Blade: TSP Trinity Carbon | Joola Golden Tango black 1.8mm FH & Spinlord Gigant anti-spin red BH
See the ball, be the ball...

Aha....

https://www.amazon.com/STIGA-Performanc ... ref=sr_1_2



Is that what Stiga 3 star balls used to look like??? Hmmmmm....

To be honest I don't think these would be any good, not if anyone serious is using them. Probably quite slow and heavy, not to mention the topsheets might come off after 3-4 months and the sponge will be impossible to remove if you wanted to re-rubber them. I'd suggest these instead:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Origina ... 01058.html



I have one, it plays excellent, weighs about what a N11 with two sheets of rubber weighs (fairly light), has two sheets of Yinhe 9000 (excellent rubber) on it, which can easily be changed if necessary. Best of all they're $10.79 each if you buy two or more (this includes shipping), and you get racket head cases with them. Buy an even dozen, and then if you need more, order another dozen. And when a kid gets serious and wants one for his/her own, sell them one!

For balls I suggest a box of these things:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Free-sh ... 36872.html

$21.93 for a hundred balls. And you will NEVER find a better ball anywhere, at any price. I don't care how many stars are on them. Get two boxes while you're at it, they don't make these any more, and most other places want $60+ for them.



Iskandar

The table they want to order:

https://www.amazon.com/Butterfly-TR26B- ... ref=sr_1_1



Butterfly actually makes this? Looks a mite flimsy. (Note the bat and ball holder... ) Most modern rollaway tables are in two pieces, much easier to handle, move and store, not so easily damaged when moving. $500 odd isn't particularly cheap, either, I'd think for that price you'd get a better table than this.

Perhaps this?

https://www.amazon.com/JOOLA-Inside-Tab ... ref=sr_1_3



These two look a lot sturdier (though they are more expensive). You do want tables that will last 10 years or more, right?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00C590B3A?psc=1



https://www.amazon.com/Hathaway-Victory ... ref=sr_1_4





(Can't say I've heard of Hathaway but that's one gonzo table... Net set looks a mite flimsy, though..)

Iskandar

Steven, I don't know if this is of any help, but I'm selling my own recreational TT table. It's an old model, but in good condition. if you're interested, please send me a personal message.

He's in Boston, I believe, so shipping will be a nightmare.

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USATT: 1807 | League: 1887

Belgium to Boston.. yup...

Iskandar