OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Sorry but to be brutally honest , you should not be using hardbat especially if you are younger.

I am not going to get into detailed explantion of why I am sure that the great era of hardbat has come and gone 70 years ago etc. Hardbat was great when it lasted but modern sponge era tabletennis has irrevrsibly evolved in a different direction (and good for the most part.... though there exist some serious problems it is still a better option than hardbat).

If you are ayounger player I refer you to this thread below
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=39277

If you are older player who does not loop, you may want to consider short pips with sponge on your primary or attacking or stronger side & long or medium pips (with or without sponge) on your weaker or secondary side.

Or if you plan to learn to loop , use smooth spinny rubber on one side and long pips on the other.

Unless of course you have have been brainwashed into believing that hardbat is holy & smooth rubber is bad & long pips are dirty.

BTW I also do not think modern tabletennis is for anyone who is worried about spending a few bucks

PS :- I am not saying hardbat should not be legal in ITTF. Hardbat should continue to be legal (for the sake of much older players). In fact I see no reason why sandpaper also cannot be ITTF legal. But demanding special entitlements such as separate events in tournaments is absurd except may be age over 60 events which may make some partial sense.

Regards,
KW, President for life
Intercontinental ClipBoard PingTennis Federation

Younger player, don't think any part of the modern game is "evil", just like playing with a hardbat. Why the attempt to dissuade from it? And what was the point of me reading that other post? Should I buy new shoes first?

I would be happy to answer that question but before that let me first ask you this
Have you ever tried to play tabletennis with a sponge racket ? If not, why not ?
If yes, why do you like hardbat better over sponge tabletennis




Only a small part of that other post was about shoes

Only about 15% of my collective playing time has been hardbat. I usually play with friends at a bar or in a garage where space is limited and I stay close to the table. I used to use a donic balsa blade with a hurricane 2 fh and mark v bh. Also played an epox ar with yinhe tensor rubbers after that.

The strokes with hardbat & sponge era smooth spinny rubbers are very different. Attacking strokes or blocks with hardbat strokes are with a more open racket and more closed with a sponge inverted racket. Chopping with a hardbat is easier & chopping with smooth inverted is a different stroke & rarely used & not even recommended at lower level as it is mostly suicidal

Even among pros I don't think even half of the sponge rubber pro players can make this transition back and forth successfully.

For most amateur players this transition back and forth is not easy. This is one of the reasons I object to younger players playing with hardbat. This confuses & stunts their development in the manistream tableetnnis and is a much bigger problem for youth than veterans. There are other more important reasons for youth not playing hardbat which I have explained in many forums & I will repeat them later here when I can get to it.

If you are hust hiting around in a bar then it does not really matter but then when you ask about legality in ITTF tournaments then you are a competitive player & not a recreational player. In tabletennis it seems to be fashionable to claim that they are fun or exercise players as an excuse when they start losing in tournaments.

So if you want to play in touranments i would suggest everyone choose either hardbat or sponge & stick with it. . But for younger players hardbat is a big no no IMO & I strongly urge you to stay away from hardbat at least until you have realized your potential in mainstream sponge tabletennis.

As much as I don't like hardbat movement , as an older person I myself would not mind playing in hardbat tournaments & can pick it up easily on my backhand since I am a chopper who uses OX rubber. But it would screw up my sponge game big time because I naturally chop on my backhand & naturally tend to loop or counter-loop on my forehand though of late I have a good forehand chop as well but still afraid to ue it in tournaments. I also twiddle & loop on my backhand also which will be a probem if I play hardbat.

So I kind of understand having hardbat events fro 60+ crowd but not completely because it is like they want special entitlements , just like all boosted up two winged loopers asking for separate events for themselves because they hate pips & anti . But the worst problem is that some national associations liek USATT run junior hardbat events which is sheer nonsense.