Is this yet another bat / rubber dilemma or ...???

Hi there Alois and Jeff,

First of all let me compliment you on your efforts and the great video lessons and advice you are willing to share with players all over the world like myself.

I am in my 30s and recently took up table tennis after some 20 years or so J. It’s been great fun so far, and we meet at least weekly for about 2 hours practice and play. The issue I have is with consistency on my returns and hits and the ability to return strong, fast balls. At times I am able to hit good returns, but I think that I should be able to do it way more often. I don’t know why that is – could it be my technique, inappropriate bat/rubbers, fatigue kicking in after an hour of play? My style is on the defensive side, I like to spin and opt for accurate placement over speed. I must admit that I am an intuitive player without any formal lessons – I learned by watching older kids play and tried to imitate their moves without getting any theory behind it. Now that I’ve been watching your videos and also the other players at the club (who are above my level most of the time) I am actually analyzing the game properly. This brought me to the following conclusion: beside the technique and building up table tennis stamina, how big a part does the selection of a proper bat/rubber play in me improving my game? I mean, should I just forget about selecting the ideal rubbers right now - stick with what I have now and just practice, practice, practice?

I first bought this bat that was on sale and seemed to be good value for money:

CORNILLEAU Impulse 3000 Table Tennis Bat

·        Cornilleau Performa 2  rubbers

·        Offensif ++ blade

·        2.2mm FAST sponge covering for optimised speed and excellent spin 

·        Speed = 10, Spin = 10, Control = 5

Good spin, but it seems to be lacking in control

JOOLA ATTACK TABLE TENNIS BAT (All-round (stage 3) Table Tennis Racket, Pimples in Rubber with Sponge)

• Fiest rubbers
• Speed: 80,
• Spin: 84,
• Control: 86,
• 154g.

This one just feels and sounds awkward.

So, do you think there is much point in investing in a custom made bat at this stage???

I have found custom made specialist in the UK. Just wondering what you thought of their selection and which bat would you say is worth considering – if any? http://www.customtabletennis.co.uk/home.php?cat=262&sort=price&sort_direction=0.

Obviously, any advice from other members will be much appreciated.

Greetings from Bristol, England.

-Karol

Hi Karol,

The main thing with these sorts of bats is the quality of the rubber.  Without feeling the rubber it is difficult for me to tell how good they are. The ratings onthese often don't really reflect how they play. 

If any of the readers have played with these, they may be able to help you.

There are different levels of custom made bat. You don;t want to spend too much on the bat while you are learning technique.  The main thing is to get a bat with a good quality rubber that will allow you to generate god topspin and backspin.  This will help in the development of your serves.

Hope someone can help you.