OOAK Table Tennis Forum

With the global pandemic ongoing, and tournaments being spotty at best, time to go back into EJ mode. I've been a long pip player for the last 26 years and have enjoyed reasonable success (current USATT 1860) but I've always wanted to recreate a stronger version of my game (more offensive minded, stroke oriented), I am not a long pip chopper, but close to the table hitter/blocker.

The problem I run into with changing to faster equipment if I don't adapt to it immediately, I am quick to give up on the new rubber which is totally unrealistic.

However, at this stage in my career I'm coaching as much or more than competing, so when I am working with my students, I can slowly adapt to the new rubber, I do not train students playing long pips, I have a double inverted paddle for that. Here's the only video I can find of Gepard but after I receive my order from TT11 I will put up some videos of my general impressions.



Table tennis for All!

Spinlord Gepard is surprisingly easy to play with, lifting chop spin is almost as easy to do as with long pips, though much faster, I need a loose, relaxed wrist.

There's not much spin reversal but it does seem to happen randomly, I haven't played with it enough to figure out when/why it's happening.

Also, topspin can be attacked with a punch block, I haven't played a heavy topspin looper, so I have no idea how it will deal with the heavy spin...yet. I plan to film tonight to give a general impression how the rubber plays with my limited skill set. As advertised Gepard doesn't seem to react much to spin but speed definitely effects it.

I will report more when I learn more.

Table tennis for all!

So far, I love and have switched to Spinlord's Gepard.

It's like it was created for this fool who has been trying to attack with long pips for 26 years, with topspin looking counter-drives, difficult at best. Gepard excels at lifting against heavy chop and punching through heavy topspin, so far, very limited testing at present.

Though the rubber is super-fast to me, I cannot reach or be too much out of position but so far, I am able to return serves with ease which has stopped me in the past to changing to a more offensive rubber.

Ok, I need tons of practice with the Gepard, but here are a couple of videos, the first is me warming up with the rubber on the backhand. I'm the very bald and now surprisingly skinny, tall guy.



And here's a video of the last game of our match.



I can't remember if these links come through or not, if not just search youtube under Spinlord Gepard 1.5mm sponge. I'm playing with the 1.5mm sponge to slow it down as much as possible. But I like it, I hope I still do in a week

More videos to follow, I have a horrible time chop blocking with it against our top looper, about the heaviest looper I've ever played, and he's a lefty and he also uses a touch of sidespin; he's Great! But the Palm Desert club was packed, and I only got him for the final 10 minutes.

More footage forthcoming! Cheers all!

Here's the backhand technique video I meant to upload first...oops.

If you're a long pip attacker, switch to Spinlord Gepard, 'nuff said.

Waiting for the OX version. The videos posted here and elsewhere all show Gepard users sending too many balls off the end of the table.

On the sponge package it states no good in ox, though they sell it in ox, it is fast compared to long pips.

Upon further review Spinlord Gepard is awesome!

Hi Friends, I have been testing this rubber for a couple of weeks in 1.5mm
Rubber is very interesting.
Very easy to use, fast and will not change your game much if you have been playing with short pips.
The best: Easy to smash , good disruption , insensitive to spin, you can chop block and deadly blocks
The worst: The sponge has too much tensor effect. Receiving is not easy because it is too reactive. The throw is very linear and you will put a lot of balls off the table.
The active block is a bit complicated due to the high speed and low friction of the rubber.
And the most important for me, the most important is that there is the Der Material Power Pipes rubber which is much more lethal both in blocking and smashing.

In spite of everything, it is a very interesting rubber and very good for active close play on the table, perhaps if there was a 1mm version it would be much more effective.

May I suggest, against left handed players, when you chop block. Maybe a little bit of right to left motion to your downward motion, that should offset his lefty side spin (forehand, I am supposing) loops

How much variation can you put on pushes with Gepard, and what are your options against incoming backspin in general?

Eg. I find with Spectol that I can produce a pretty good amount of my own backspin when pushing incoming backspin if I wait until the peak of the bounce and have an extremely open angle and a very wristy push. Alternatively, I can give a deader ball by pushing right off the bounce with a stiff-ish wrist and a more closed angle (still pretty open). I can also pretty easily do a sort of bump/'lift' shot with a more-or-less vertical racket and an upward motion. I'm not great at punching/hitting through backspin, though I can occasionally pull it off to good effect. I have found the 'sideswipe' shot against backspin, which is pretty easy to pull off with sponged P1R, does not work for me at all with any of the SPs that I have tried (Spectol, Spinpips, and one or two versions of 802).

_________________
Seeking joy and fitness in recreational modern defense.
My blog: "Two rubbers, one racket"
Kill the game against long Pimps with Coach Li!

Currently experimenting with short pips:
VKMO+ Gambler Volt-T + TSP Spectol Blue (1.5)
Joola CWX + Nittaku Hurricane III Pro Turbo Orange + Spinlord Gepard (1.8 )

I slapped a sheet of Gepard (blue, 1.8 ) on a Joola CWX blade and played with it a bit today. LOTS of doming when I glued it with cheap Chinese "organic" glue. I put a sheet of Nittaku Hurricane 3 Pro Turbo Orange (black, 2.0/max) which had been sitting in its plastic wrap taunting me since before the pandemic on the other side; surprisingly, that didn't dome at all.

Gepard plays pretty fast. Feels like a short pip, consistent with what it says "on the tin". Maybe a little less spinny than Spectol when pushing against backspin, but hard to tell in the limited play time I had. The pushes were pretty easy to control, in any case.

I was actually able to play topspin drives pretty easily with this, unlike what the package said. Not ideal for counterlooping back from the table, obviously. Some clickiness, which was neat. Probably less topspin generating ability than Spectol, and definitely less than Spinpips.

My initial feeling is that chopping feels pretty good, though I'll need a lot more practice (and practice against higher-end competition) to determine what the control and top-end spin are like against real heavy-slow loops and power-loops. I also found it pretty easy to control the weird "falling ball" pushes where I'm rushing back to the table from afar when the opponent unexpectedly pushes one of my chops.

Overall, I am pleased with this.

_________________
Seeking joy and fitness in recreational modern defense.
My blog: "Two rubbers, one racket"
Kill the game against long Pimps with Coach Li!

Currently experimenting with short pips:
VKMO+ Gambler Volt-T + TSP Spectol Blue (1.5)
Joola CWX + Nittaku Hurricane III Pro Turbo Orange + Spinlord Gepard (1.8 )