How to choose a new table tennis blade and rubbers

Choosing New Table Tennis Blade and Rubbers

Table tennis certainly has evolved since it was first created by the British back in the 1800s. It originated as an after dinner form of entertainment for the well to do. The wiff-waff as it was first called was played with rackets made of stretched parchment over a frame or using a book hitting a golf ball over a row of books. What started as a simple form of fun entertainment has now transcended into an Olympic sport in 1988 where the best table tennis players from around the world show off their skills and compete for the gold.

Ping-pong players are divided into beginners, intermediate and advanced players based on their skill levels. The game has become so refined that the paddles (rackets) are even customer built or custom designed by the players. You can of course go out and by a racket ready to use off the shelf but for the more discerning, you play with your own blades and rubbers for your skill level.

Skill levels are basically determined by:

• The types of shots that you can take
• The delivery to your opponent and how you strategically return back.

There are special blades and rubbers for different purposes that can each be purchased separately and assembled together creating the perfect customized paddle just for you and your skill set. As your skills jump from beginner levels to intermediate and finally advanced your equipment will become just as refined as your game.

Table Tennis Net – For Beginners

Beginners should start out with the basic equipment to learn what their style is and then they can expand their blades and rubbers to customized pieces that works well for them. To get started choose a well-rounded paddle that offers a lot of control at a reasonable price. Good quality brands for beginners include 729, DHS, Yasaka, Stiga and Butterfly.

• The Primorac All-blade by Butterfly is recommended for beginners supplying them with the proper speed and control to get started.
• Tube All-round, STIGA Energy WRB
  and Classic All-round blades made by Stiga are also great blades for beginners.
• Good rubbers for beginners include the YASAKA Mark V
  series or the Butterfly Sriver series because they provide more controllable speed.

Table Tennis Net- Intermediate Players

Now that you have gone through some of the learning basics as a beginner you now know whether you are an offensive or defensive player and need to purchase blades and rubbers accordingly. The best type of blades for intermediate offensive players are moderately priced carbon blades. However you can pay as much as you wish for carbon blades because they can be quite expensive if you so choose. Butterfly and Stiga make the finest carbon blades for intermediate players.

Table Tennis Net - Intermediate Offensive Players

Out of the two brands, Butterfly will supply you with the better quality if you use the Primorac Carabonor the Gergely Carabon blades. Either one of these blades used in conjunction with Mark V, Sriver or Flextra rubbers will provide great control with these very fast blades.

Table Tennis Net - Intermediate Defensive Players

For defensive or all-round players wood blades are the best blades for your skill level. A good combination for intermediate players to use is Stiga All-round blades with Mark Vs or Sriver rubbers.

Table Tennis Net - Advanced Players

Once you finally reach the advanced stage in table tennis you can really reach for the stars in the type of equipment you can select. Advanced players should be using extremely fast blades or at least moderately fast blades. Butterfly makes a nice fast blade called Schlager Carbon and another one equally as fast is Primorac Carbon.

Table Tennis Net - Advanced Offensive Players

If you are a very advanced player who can control the blade and the game at lightning speeds you could go with the high speed blades just mentioned and rubbers from any of the Bryce series for offensive players. Now if you want a fast blade for good control check into the Srivers. An excellent moderately fast blade is the new blade made of Arylate Carbon technology called Butterfly’s Kong Linghui Special.

Using good offensive speed blades which allow you to maintain control could be matched up with anyone of the Butterfly high tension rubbers such as Cermet, Catapult, Bryce or Sriver G2.

Table Tennis Net - Advanced Defensive Players

For defensive or all-rounded players Maze Arylate Carbon is a good blade for great speed and maintaining control by Butterfly. Used in conjunction with high tension or tensor rubbers made by Stiga, Sriver or Mark Vs you have a great racket for advanced players.

Where To Buy Your Equipment

A great source for blades and rubbers is Amazon.com. Here is a small list of great table tennis rubbers and blades

• They have the Butterfly Grubba Carbon blade, which is excellent for the intermediate or advanced player.
• If you want all-round control for offensive moves this is a great blade. They also have the DHS HURRICANE-KING
  blade recommended for top players. It offers great control with a 5 star rating from consumers.
• Another addition is the Stiga Boost TP Table Tennis rubber providing sensitive touch for excellent speeds and spins.
• They also carry the Yasaka Mark V rubber sheet,which is famous for world championship plays.

I hope that this post was useful and contributes to your progress in table tennis

Related Posts:

1. Table Tennis Rubber-Find The Best Rubbers From Butterfly
2. Table tennis rubber guide
3. Top 10 table tennis rubbers
4. Sriver Vs Mark V