I have been playing TT for several years. I'm probably more of a control player choosing to be a bit more defensive than offensive. I would like to become more offensive. The racket that I've used for a long time is a very heavy wood racket that a friend made. There is no rubber on the surface of this racket. Recently, I got a Panda killshot racket with a table that my family got for Christmas. I don't know how thick the rubber is on this racket but I am having a hard time adjusting to it. I saw that you recommend a Butterfly Primorac with Sriver 1.5 rubber. Do you think this will be a good choice for me?
The problem you are having is that you are probably now trying to use your old strokes with a new racket that requires different techniques - so shots that used to be correct don't work properly anymore. This is very frustrating, as you are finding out!
You really have two options:
- Go back to your old wooden racket, and keep doing what you are doing now. You'll be limited in how good you can get (due to the technical limitations of using wood to hit the ball instead of a rubber), but you'll continue to enjoy yourself if you are just playing recreationally.
- Stick with your new Panda paddle, and learn how to use it properly. It will require learning some new techniques, but if you stick with it you'll end up a better player. BUT, and this is very important, you need someone to teach you the new techniques properly. Find a coach or an experienced player at one of your local table tennis clubs, and spend some money on at least 6-10 lessons. This will give you a chance of learning the basics of how to play table tennis with modern equipment, without having to work it all out yourself by trial and error, and possibly developing a lot of bad habits along the way.
Trust me on this - the difference between your current technique and the technique you will need for using a modern racket is huge, and you will need some help on mastering the basics. At the very least you'll get a better understanding of what you need to do to use your new paddle properly.
Oh, and get your coach or a more experienced player to take a look at your Panda paddle as well. It's possible that it is too fast or spinny for you to use right now, and your coach should be able to help you decide whether it is OK or not. If you do need another paddle, then any allround blade (such as the Primorac) coupled with Sriver in 1.5 rubber would be a pretty good starting paddle - it allows you to develop your game without being too fast or too spinny to control.
At this point in time, if you really want to be a better player, you need good coaching more than anything else. After seeing countless basement players who tried to teach themselves to use modern rackets and ended up with poor technique, I really can't emphasise this enough.
Regards,
Greg Letts
