Practice with cheap equipment

So far, I have been playing table tennis for about a year and I want to get to the point of more of an intermediate to advanced player. But, as it is summer, I only have access to home equipment (I can't get better ones, since it isn't in my parent's budget). All I have is a Starter Paddle, that isn't very good. At my school, there is a Ping Pong Club, which runs every week in the school year only. There, we get to use better inverted rubber bats. But, during normal school PE classes, during the Table Tennis units, we use the PLASTIC ONES! I have a brother that I can practice with over the summer, but I am just wondering if there are any ways at all to practice and get the most out of these short-pimpled, no sponge, tiny-spin bats. I want to be able to train to be very good in Ping Pong club next school year with just the equipment I have.

Hello Anson,

I'm glad to hear that you want to continue your table tennis journey and become an intermediate to advanced player over the summer even with home equipment.  Even when limited to the cheaper rackets, there are still plenty of practice drills you can do.

Concentrate on developing your fundamental strokes such as your control of the ball. Once you feel comfortable with this then you can start to hit attacking strokes with the racket.

At the school club make sure you take full advantage of the better inverted rubber bats and practice more advanced shots such as topspin strokes and trying to increase their spin and speed.