Technique vs Equipment in Table Tennis / Ping-Pong

Many new table tennis players (and quite a few older ones!) get caught up in the quest for the perfect ping-pong paddle, spending many hundreds (if not thousands) of dollars testing different combinations of blades and rubbers.

This is a mistake.

A few years later, with a heavy heart (and lighter wallet), many of these players will come to hold the opinion that equipment is not important, but the player's skill and technique is all that matters.

This is not right either.

The relationship between technique and equipment in the modern sport of table tennis (not the basement version) is more complex than either of these two extreme points of view. I've outlined it in a simplified form on the accompanying graph, and I'll explain it in more detail below.

In order to play the modern topspin table tennis style, a player needs to have the ability to apply and control both the spin and the speed of the ball.

Wood

Wood is the granddaddy of all table tennis equipment, and is probably the hardest gear to play a modern style with, because it produces so little spin. You can certainly vary the pace, but without the ability to produce a heavy spin on the ball, it would take almost superhuman technique to be able to play a modern topspin style with only a wooden racket.

Hardbat

Hardbat is simply a racket with ordinary pimpled rubber and no sponge. While some spin can be produced, the rubber face is not very grippy, making it very difficult to produce heavy spin consistently. While technically possible to play a modern topspin game with a hardbat, it it still very tough to do so and would require incredibly good technique. Hardbat can be used very successfully to play an allround game of attack and defence using flatter, less spinny strokes, but this would not be considered a 'modern' style.

Allround Equipment

Without getting bogged down in a myriad of technical details, allround equipment can be considered to consist of an allround blade (not too slow or fast), with inverted rubbers that are not too fast or sticky (opinions vary on this, but something like Sriver in 1.5-1.9mm sponge would be OK). Allround equipment is generally the most forgiving in terms of the technique needed to play a modern topspin game. It has more than enough grip to allow loops to be played with confidence, and is not so grippy that controlling your opponent's spin becomes difficult. The racket will be fast enough to accommodate both aggressive and defensive play, allowing both softer touch play and more aggressive harder strokes to be played equally well.

This is why allround equipment is recommended for 99% of new ping-pong players. It will allow you to develop your game and will work well for the first couple of years as you improve your technique. It is also usually a little cheaper than much of the more offensive equipment out there, which is a bonus.

Offensive Equipment

As the player's technique improves, he will be able to handle more offensive equipment, assuming he is a typical attacking player. This more offensive equipment is generally capable of producing more speed and/or more spin. But there is almost always a trade off - less control.

This lessening of control can occur in a number of ways, depending on the equipment chosen.

1. Some more offensive blades and rubbers are designed to be at their best when hitting the ball with power, and have less response when playing softer touch strokes, such as for serving, short pushes and drop shots. The racket is what some players would call 'high geared', being good for power play but harder to play the short touch game with. The player has to adjust his strokes to compensate for the different response of the racket at different speeds.
2. Other offensive blades and rubbers have more speed on all their strokes, but this increase in speed can make the touch strokes very difficult to play, since it is harder to produce softer strokes. This is also a problem with the use of speedglue, an advanced equipment modification.
3. Some rubbers are very grippy, which allows more spin to be produced, but also makes the racket more responsive to the opponent's spin. This makes controlling the ball more difficult when the opponent has placed significant spin on the ball.

As you move further to the right of the graph, towards increasingly offensive equipment, the problems with control increase, and then start to level off as you near the limits of today's equipment. This is why the technique requirements begin to level out. Also, as you move further to the right of the graph, the cost of the equipment also tends to increase.

This relationship between technique and equipment is the cause of many players' problems. Most of us are conditioned to expect that you get what you pay for, and in many racket sports this is generally true. Up to a point, a more expensive tennis racket from a reputable manufacturer is probably better than their cheaper models, and will make the ball easier to hit and control. Not so in table tennis! That more expensive equipment that you have your eye on may actually make things harder, not easier.

Conclusion

The bottom line is this - you must keep the difficulty of controlling the equipment you use within your technical ability. Wood and hardbat are hard to play the modern game of table tennis with because their lack of spin demands near-impossible technical precision (and if your technique is that good, you would have even better results using an offensive racket!). Highly offensive (and often expensive!) equipment is also hard for a beginner to play the modern game with because they require a high level of technique and skill to control them enough to take advantage of their benefits. Allround equipment is easier to control for a new player, and will allow the beginning player to master the modern techniques as quickly as possible, while being more forgiving of technical deficiencies. The fact that allround equipment is often cheaper is a bonus, and should not be a considered a negative aspect.

As you improve your skill, you can start working your way further along the right hand side of the graph, but make sure you stay within your technical ability.