OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Hello guys, I am brand new to this forum so if this is the incorrect section for this post then, I'm sorry feel free to delete this.

I've recently started playing some table tennis again after 4 years of not playing at all, and it turns out I'm completely terrible (horrendous).
I'm currently using the butterfly tenergy 80fx for both the FH and BH side of a Joola Kool, and believe this might be a really bad bat for me.
I was wondering whether I should stick to my current bat, or opt for a more 'beginner' table tennis blade and rubber.
Furthermore which blade and rubber do you guys recommend for what is essentially a beginner?

Thank you for the advice guys

As you can imagine, you're not the first to inquire about this. There are several threads in the forum on this subject, but below is pretty comprehensive:

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=2349

There are 2 schools of thought:
Get a "beginner's bat" slowish rubbers, ALL wood, inverted, and work on technique.

Get an "advanced bat", with tensors or tenergy (fast/spinny), and an OFF blade but ONLY if you will be getting regular coaching from a decent coach. Your deficiencies will be amplified by the faster setup, and flaws easier to identify and then fix. But this is only a good idea with someone showing you the correct techniques. (the thread above disagrees with this one).

Generally speaking, I usually hear people giving the advice to get a slower setup whether or not you have coaching.

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So about 6 and half years ago I stopped playing after a little over 3 years of playing in 2 clubs 3-4 times a week with group coaching every now and then.

When I came back I could not control my setup and forgot my technique so I bought a Stiga ALL classic with 2x Mark V 2.0 and played with that 2-3 times a week for about 3 months with plenty of training and a little multiball.
I then got new rubbers 2xStiga Mantra S and didn't feel I needed my Blade upgrade till another 3 months. But all this was with a lot of training including multiball.

and in all honesty I probably didn't need the blade upgrade.

I would definitely suggest the Stiga ALL classic blade with Mark V or Sriver 2.1/2.0/1.9 and that should do you for a year tbh

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Do you prefer the balsa feel of the kool? I know a lot of people do. I used to.

If so, switch out for some thinner slower rubbers.

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Chasse Patate

Keep the rubbers if they are newish. Change the blade. You can get a really good blade for around $30 US. My fave is yasaka sweden classic, but lots of people recommend donic appelgren allplay.

That way you still get a lot of spin from the tenergies, and get used to playing with spin, but every ball does not fly to the wall because the blade is too fast.

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What's a Joola Kool?? Whether or not you should change blades would depend on what this is, exactly.

4 year old Tenergy 80 would probably be long dead - Tenergy supposedly only lasts a few months, after which all the boosting chemicals are gone.

Iskandar

It was one of the early thick balsa (7 or 8mm?) blades and highly popular with texalium plies. 5+2. OFF+. +++. One of the fastest blades 10 years ago. Probably still one of the fastest blades now.

I used one for a year or two with tango extrem on it. Terrific looping blade.

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Chasse Patate

It's still play very good even after the "boost" has gone.

Kool was one of the favorites few years back when Joola was one of the featured brands. Unfortunately Joola has taken a back seat in recent years.

You (OP) should get another slower blade for now and could use the Kool again if wants to at later date.

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That does sound like an overly fast blade....

Texalium, it turns out, is just glass fiber cloth treated so that it has this metallic look. Purely for cosmetic reasons. And yes, it was meant to be put on the OUTSIDE of an object - hiding it away between wood plies defeats the purpose...

Iskandar

It was a very good blade. If I was using one when I stopped I'd probably pick it up again

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Chasse Patate

Thank you for the advice guys, you were all very helpful!
The rubber is actually a few months old since it was recently replaced by my father who wanted to try that blade (I can't remember what the old rubber was, but I doubt it was too slow). So currently I think I'll go grab a slower blade to go with the current rubber, and change back to the Joola Kool later (if I get good enough) as I enjoyed playing with it. In the meanwhile I'll get a few coaching sessions to try and fix my form.
Again thank you for all the help guys

Update: I've started getting table tennis coaching and changed to a blade where I felt like I had a bit more control.
I can generate quite a lot of speed/spin without too much effort with the current setup, yet I'm wondering if it's better to use slower equipment to try work on my stroke. So should I continue to work on my stroke with faster equipment or switch to slower equipment assuming I continue coaching. I'm already using the butterfly spin art for my forehand as it feels a bit slower to me.
I also realise newer players such as myself should not be changing equipment all the time so if I change my equipment I'll probably stick with it for quite a while.
Again thank you for reading this

P.S. If I should be making a new thread instead of replying to an old one please let me know, cheers!

I would say stay with the slower equipment until your technique is honed in and becomes second nature. You want to be able to go all out when trying to loop or generate spin. Once you are consistent, then you can ask your coach about changing equipment. You will find that once you become really good, you won't miss the faster setup all that much. Technique is key, because once your technique is good you can start using your own power more and more. This will give you way more speed and aggression than you can get with faster equipment where you are tentative and not going all out. Does that make sense?

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