OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Do any penholders here use euro/jap rubbers on their forehands? Why do modern penholders favor hard, tacky FH rubbers?

I'm a penholder that's been playing for about two years now and I've always used some combination of H3 NEO or TG3 NEO on my forehand and a euro-style rubber like 729 focus 3 or donic acuda p2 on my backhand.

I've had many comments about my lack of being able to properly get arc and topspin on the ball, and I've tried to fix it for some time with no avail. After getting frustrated with how linear and unforgiving the forehand was, I turned the racket over during practice yesterday and played with focus 3 on my forehand and oh my goodness! The spin and quality was significantly greater! I could see the ball bending on my shots and I felt so much more confident with a euro rubber on my forehand.

I'm sure my form is certainly part of the problem, and that a proper chinese loop requires me to graze the ball, but I feel that euro rubbers are so much more forgiving and has a lower margin of error especially for advanced beginner players like me.

'd like to know if any penholders here have any experience with euro/jap forehands and what possible rubbers they recommend for it? Should I try to stick it out with tacky rubbers? and if so, what can I do to fix my aforementioned problem?
I'm currently considering trying out:

DHS Goldarc 8
Xiom Vega Pro
Mark V (Too slow?)
Rakza 7 (or Rakza X?)

Tenergy is not an option, I'm a college student on a budget.

Hi,

Yes, modern tensors are more forgiving. But once you get your racket speed and proper motions down pat, you can get much high "arcs" with hard tacky rubbers.

That being said, there are penholders choosing these even at the world stage.

Both Wong Chun Ting and Kaii Yoshida use(d) Tenergy 5.

From your list, Rakza 7 and Vega Pro would both be fine. Or Mantra M which is a closer analogue of Tenergy at a similar price as the Rakza.

Don't expect night and day differences to your game by just changing a rubber. As your skills develop, all rubbers start to feel the same.

Yup, proponents of hard-sponged H3 and such are always writing about how good they are for beginners because they're so unforgiving and force the adoption of proper technique.. I don't know if I agree (of the recent rubbers I've tried on the forehand I like the tacky ones - Reactor Tornado, 729 Bloom Power/Spin - better than the non-tacky ones - Tuttle Octopus and Three Sword Red Dragon), but this would be the flip side to that argument. of the rubbers you mention perhaps Rakza 7 would be the one to try, being soft. But then again something like AK47 Blue might work as well. Or why not just Focus III?

Iskandar

Copy and pasting a few general tips on improvement:

-Stay low, as low as you can and constantly remind yourself to get lower. Never get up. Bend those knees, lower your head, bump out that ass. Keep reminding yourself, then repeat, and repeat again...and keep repeating. Its too easy to get tired, forget, and stand up. Tattoo this on your knees so you get extra reminder. Tattoo it on your forearm too, so that when you wipe sweat off your forehead you get another reminder.

-Forget about "snap". To generate maximum racket speed: try to find cohesion between leg, waist, shoulder, forearm and wrist movements as well as associated muscle groups (move everything together, not one after the other). Muscle group synergy determines racket speed, not wrist snap, not "whipping", the only thing that matters is how fast the racket is moving at point of contact. For top-spinning, don't "dig" into the ball, brush only. If you want more power, brush faster, only hit "into" the ball on high balls. Smashing is a different skill set, and you do need both.

-Move your feet you get into position for optimal contact point. Your "strokes" should be fixed, the rest depends on where your body is. Any time you have to "reach" you are doing something wrong. Before my coach retired, he used to train new players by having them hold a mesh bucket between the right arm and chest while being fed multi-balls. He refused to teach "strokes" until a player can catch balls at a decent consistency by just moving the feet. I can tell you its harder than it looks, I can barely keep up more than a minute.

Anyone remember this?



Probably the best practical advice I've seen yet - something concrete you can easily work on and practice. And it really does work, even in low-level table tennis.

The part about "brushing the ball" works for me - if the rubber is at least a little tacky. And it works with Rakza 7. But when I first put on Three Sword Red Dragon, which is completely non-tacky, brushing didn't work AT ALL. It had me really confused for about an hour, and then I learned to hit the ball flatter. And then it worked really well, produced a lot of spin. Weird, since I HAVE used non-tacky Tensoroids in the past, like MX-P.

Iskandar

i started out with euro/jap before sticking with a tacky rubber (no pun intended )

one of the euro/jap rubbers ive used on my forehand before would be the 729 Focus 3. pretty fun rubber, i loved it ever since i first played with it in training

you should prob get 729 Focus 3 on both sides. it might probably be worth it as you will save money while also have fun and perform well enough to play with people

the only thing i dont like about the 729 Focus 3 is that its too bouncy for me in the short game but its manageable

Speaking of Focus III - anyone figure out the "Snipe" part yet? What's the connection with ground-dwelling birds?



Iskandar

I've always thought about it as related to "sniper"...

Thanks so much for the well-thought out responses! I actually tried that method in lasta's video and I noticed some improvement.

Next week, I'll put ckylin pro or focus 3 with a harder sponge on my spare blade and I'll see how it goes.

CKYLIN???? Stay away from Ckylin... Or just get a sheet and see why..

Iskandar

A sniper is a highly skilled marksman. A snipe, however, is a type of bird. A "snipe hunt" is a practical joke in the form of a fool's errand.



Iskandar

Hi, I think you should try a rubber that offer something from both words. I'd recommend Tuttle 888 ET. Not crazy fast, tacky, very spinny when you brush the ball, but also with good spin and pace when you loop like you do with Focus 3! And much spinnier on serves for sure.