OOAK Table Tennis Forum

So initially, i wanted to be a chopper. I used an addoy racket when i was still casually playing so i was getting all them chops in. But when i started training, they told me to get a new racket, i didn't know a thing about setups so i told my coach to get one for me. he gave me this setup:
XVT Balsa Hinoki
FH: Sanwei Gears (http://www.tabletennisdb.com/rubber/sanwei-gears.html)
BH: Sanwei T88-ii (http://www.tabletennisdb.com/rubber/sanwei-t88-ii.html)

Now that i'm training, i'm leaning in to attacking more, because chopping gets hard with this. How is my setup? i actually just stated training 2 months ago. I still want to be able to chop tho, but is it possible with my setup? or should i just give up on the whole chopping thing?

It appears you're the guy Quietus referenced here: viewtopic.php?p=282252#p282252

Read keme's reply. IMO the rubbers are OK, but you should get a standard ALL blade.

yeah I am. I'm looking for more info on the setup but not much is said in reviews, so i'm looking for more responses from people here.

But yeah, noted that, thanks!

like agenthex said, get an ALL/+ blade. Balsa blades are only good for flat hitters and power-drivers. I know, I've played against one and tried a balsa blade.

As for your rubbers, what thickness are they in? Thinner rubbers tend to be slower which tend to be easier to land successful chops in. But if you want to be a dedicated chopper, try LP on the backhand. Otherwise, go find a 1.8mm sponged rubber.

If I remember correctly, those Sanwei rubbers you're using are pretty heavy. If they are, then look for a softer sponged rubber. I can't really remember properly but long ago (when I first started learning competitive table tennis) I tried chopping with a BTY Primo Vitesse and 2.0mm 729 Focus 3, was pretty okay at chopping.

_________________
Primary:
Xiom Stradivarius
Xiom Vega China [Forehand]
Yasaka Mark V [Backhand]

Secondary:
Globe 583 "Whirlwind"
This Space For Rent [Forehand]
Yasaka Mark V [Backhand]

I don't know how serious the OP is about chopping. But IMO it's better to learn basic offensive shots with standard inverted first to get a feel for the ball. This can take a while. Chopping tends to be more unintuitive for most people, and it's harder to put in a solid stroke.

The problem with selecting rubbers for both is that thicker elastic rubber is better for offense and poor for def, and vice versa for thin deader rubber. Maybe OP can get a very slow/thin rubber to try on the BH to see how naturally he adapts to chopping and if he has the defender mentality, but otherwise any standard rubber generally designed for OFF is going to be hard to use.