OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Now this is interesting...





My coach is of the same opinion, however I've got one-and-a-bit feet in the former camp. Can you really generalize this for all beginners, as I definitely know some beginners who shouldn't be using max rubbers (The most popular rubber up here is Tango max).

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Chasse Patate

I dont find thickness matters much as long as you get it right at the start. Defenders should use 1.9 or under. Attackers 1.9 or above. This is the general rule, but can be changed to whatever suits your needs.

What is the most crucial to me is the hardness of the rubber. A lot of beginners tend to use Tango Max which is fairly fast but extremely soft. The soft sponge and topsheet compensates for alot of miss hits and hides bad techniques. Also once they progress to more advanced stages, they find that their technique is flawed and the speed of the soft rubbers is holding them back.

I agree Sil... 2.0 (or less) is normally more suitable for most beginners...

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Tango 1.5 plays similar to many other rubbers in 2.0

It is slightly faster and a lot spinnier than unglued Mark V, Sriver EL, Magna, & Sigma. As an added bonus the underspin from chops is far more disturbing.

My level instantly went up by changing- I used to have off againg/on again trouble f/h looping, but the problem seemed to vanish once I changed.

Am I hiding poor technique? Probably. One day I'll drive to Sydney (4 hours) and get some coaching, but in the mean time...

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Custom Re-Impact OFF
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Yeah the thin sponged Tangos are a whole new animal. I have used the Tango def 1.2mm in the past, and I could loop quite well with minimal changes in my stroke, and the chopping capabilities were devastating. I really should go back to it, but it is so expensive in the US.

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I think it all depends on whether the player is getting proper coaching. If they are learning their strokes correctly from the start (as is probably the case at the clubs Schlager frequents) I think that it's fine to start with thicker rubbers and faster blades. Cheng Yinghua, one of the top players and coaches in the U.S. and former practice partner to Jiang Jialiang and Chen Longcan is of the same opinion, but most of his students start out learning strokes correctly from him and don't have lots of bad habits they need to break.

However, if like many players the beginner is self-taught, has no coaching and mostly plays games rather than doing practice and drills, then it's a much better idea to start with thinner rubbers and a slow blade as the faster and spinnier blades and rubbers will magnify their poor strokes.

I think this is particularly the case with beginners who played for years in their basements against their friends with pre-assembled paddles, or pips out no sponge hardbat or sandpaper. They often have lots of bad habits they need to overcome before they can even land the ball on the table with a standard speed blade and 2.0 or greater thickness rubbers.

-- Andrew