OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Hi All,
Subject says it all really.
I've played 3 seasons of A-Grade table tennis comp now, and I'm learning some things.
I started playing with a Stiga AllAround Classic, with Dr Evil on both sides. So basically, a hardbat.
I beat all but two players in the first season. Same second second, still lost to the same two players.
In the interest of improving, I swapped to Yasaka Extra Gatien 3D with Mark V on both sides. Suddenly I had to learn how to deal with spin.
My results were much the same. Still lost to the same 2 players, but found it much harder to beat the others.

Heading in to my 4th season, I've realised I get frustrated with the spin and inverted, and enjoy it less.

So I want to go back to pure hitting game, where my bat doesn't react to spin. The only problem with the Dr Evil is that I find occasionally the bat is inconsistent in its response, causing a ball to fly long, or hit the net.

So I'm wondering if very low spin pips with a thin sponge might be better? Or a very low spin inverted with thin sponge?

Does anyone have any suggestions for me?

Can you hit with anti-spin? I even wonder about getting a really crappy, pre-made inverted bat that might suit me quite well?

Any suggestions would be really appreciated, other than "you should learn to deal with spin". I've been down that path and don't find it as fun. I only play once a week, so I'm not terribly concerned about improving, mainly about enjoyment.

Cheers!

While Evil is generally fairly slow it's good for attacking because it's quite fast when hit hard. The problem with anti is that most are very slow and not suited to a primarily attacking game. There might be some exceptions, Neubauer's Power Attack for example might be worth a try on one of the thicker sponges.

Other option might be a relatively spin insensitive short/med pimple on thin sponge. I know less about them, but check out Armstrong Attack 8, could be worth a try.

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2. S&T Black & White / Armstrong SH-I 1.8 / TSP Curl P3 Alpha R OX

Thanks heaps Dusty. Maybe a different blade might give me more of a consistent response with the Dr Evil? I do like it.
Do you know generally what type of bats are good for ox short pimples?

Trying a different blade is good idea. You might get the control you want with Evil on a defensive blade.
Have you tried Gambler Peacekeeper? My father likes that just as much or more than Evil, perhaps you would too.
Sorry I have no experience with short pimples. My dad uses fast balsa blades with his short and medium pimples but if you want more control it may not be the best choice for you.

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2. S&T Black & White / Armstrong SH-I 1.8 / TSP Curl P3 Alpha R OX

Dusty,

I always tell myself i’m Going to buy Dr. even l and have fun hardbat. But what’s peace keeper better at?

Red atlas, the best cheap med. pip is probably yinhe Pluto. I tried to be a med. pip player. I love ai fukuhara’s style. But Armstrong attack is harder to get and expensive so after lots of reading on the forum made me choose Pluto. But alas i’m not a medium pip player. But I think dusty told you some good options. Also, spinlord has some interesting medium pips that have come out recently that you might want to look at.

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"When you have to shoot, shoot. Don't talk."

Ehimle, I don't know about Peacekeeper, I'd have to ask my dad, I just know he likes it. I think it plays similar to Evil because he swaps between the two. Might be a bit softer, which wouldn't be difficult.

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2. S&T Black & White / Armstrong SH-I 1.8 / TSP Curl P3 Alpha R OX

Sorry to say this Red, but there really is no setup that let's you totally ignore spin. The things you mention about the ball coming off Dr. Evil inconsistently and dumping in the net or flying long comes from the spin (or lack of it) on the ball. Yes pips and anti let you deal with many spins more easily than inverted, but you still can get caught out from spin. Spin doesn't generally grab the pips like it can with inverted and fly its own way, but it can if you put your bat angle to flow with the spin. But when it comes to dealing with the ball that gives you some surprises, such as reaching in further than you expected to a no spin ball, or a ball floating with n spin deeper than you expected, and all those nasty things that happen to us in TT...the bal won't always do what we want. Good luck in finding what suits you best, but bear all this in mind.

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I'm always in the dark, but the Dark sheds lights upon everything!! Beauty is only pimple deep! Beauty is in the eye of the pipholder!
S/U 1: Blade: Bty Gergely . FH Black Andro Rasant 2.1 . BH Red Tibhar Grass Dtecs
S/U 2: Blade: Bty Gergely . FH Black Hexer+ 2.1 . BH Red GD Talon
S/U 3: Blade: Bty Gergely . No rubbers...thinking of adding Red Dtecs and Black Rasant
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What's "A-Grade Table Tennis Comp."?

Just trying to get a feel of the level here. Obviously the next step up from hardbat would be pips with sponge - yes, it reacts to spin but not as much as inverted would. And it does have drawbacks - you're forced to play close to the table, for instance, and take things off the bounce. And unless you get better than them, those two people will still beat you, won't matter what you use. Maybe you should just learn to handle spin rather than trying to avoid it, it'll get easier the more you practice.

Iskandar

I think there's nothing wrong with your setup at all. My only observation, based on my own fairly significant experience of using Dr Evil, is that it's hard work to vary speed, and unless your timing is perfect you end up using a lot of body to generate pace, which is inefficient and error-prone.

In terms of spin reactivity, Dr Evil is about the least sensitive SP. You can get it with sponge underneath, but it does lose some of its effect.

I agree with with Reb -- you can't hide from spin -- you just need to practice and get used to it.

I'd say there's merit in considering some sponge - a generic chinese SP with eg 1.8 mm sponge is a good place to go - 802 or 799.

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Yasaka Sweden Classic | 802 OX | C8 OX
Check out my blog - LordCope's Latest Learning Log - 10+ years of accumulate mistakes!

It's a valid point Isk. A grade is usually the top grade of a competition, but the level of the competition can vary greatly from place to place. I have played "A" grade since 2010, but we have 5 divisions of A grade on Mondays and Thursdays. I've risen from A5 to A2 on Mondays in that time and from A4 to A1 on Thursdays. The amount of spin you deal with from top A grade down to bottom A grade is huge. In country areas the A grade can contain a range of players that could fit into 3 or 4 divisions at a club like mine and might only have the top players fit into 2nd or 3rd division. So it does help to know something like the Ratings Central ratings or something to give an indication of the level and hence the spin being faced.

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I'm always in the dark, but the Dark sheds lights upon everything!! Beauty is only pimple deep! Beauty is in the eye of the pipholder!
S/U 1: Blade: Bty Gergely . FH Black Andro Rasant 2.1 . BH Red Tibhar Grass Dtecs
S/U 2: Blade: Bty Gergely . FH Black Hexer+ 2.1 . BH Red GD Talon
S/U 3: Blade: Bty Gergely . No rubbers...thinking of adding Red Dtecs and Black Rasant
Aussie Table Tennis Shop / Aussie Table Tennis Facebook Page / Equipment Review Index / Read my Reb Report Blog: click here.

Yeah, it's just a local comp near where I live. I imagine it's not a high standard comp, but I live in a rural area, so it's the best I can get. They have three "grades" A, B and C.

I have no idea about rating. Aussie.

So you want to beat the other two players, but you don't want to learn to deal with spin, because it's not fun.

I can suggest a stiffer blade for more predictability, but that's about it. Eventually you will reach a plateau and not be able to improve without putting in hard work and learning about spin. It may not be as fun, but it's rewarding in the long term. I don't know if you've reached that plateau yet, but when you do, you will need to decide whether to accept your current results and have fun, or put in the hard work to improve your results.

Correct. My question was simply if there is a better bat than I'm currently using to try do that with.

I don't think there's any setup that doesn't react to spin. About the closest you get is a medium pip, but even those still require different hits for back/top spin balls.

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SOULSPIN CUSTOM BLADES
Fh: Spinny rubber
Bh: Not so spinny rubber...

One other possibility is to go for a soft tensor with a thin sponge. They tend to be insensitive to spin because they bottom out so easily, and they block & flat hit very well with little adjustment for spin needed. Something like Xiom Yanus DF in 1.5mm. They will still be considerably more sensitive to spin when receiving serves (compared to Dr Evil), but hitting/blocking hard helps.

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