Question: Should Table Tennis Beginners Use Junk Rubbers? (i.e. Long Pips or Antispin)
Below are two common variations of a question I receive on a fairly frequent basis.
Hi Greg, I've been playing ping-pong for a few months now, and I'd like to try using some long pips or antispin because: What long pips rubber or antispin do you recommend I try?
Answer: I've dealt with the subject of Should You Use Long Pimples elsewhere, but in that article I was more concerned with the reasons why certain experienced players should or should not use long pimples. Right now I want to examine the issue of when is the right time for a new player to start using long pimples or antispin.
New Table Tennis Players Should Not Use Junk Rubbers
I'm going to say this straight up front - if you are a new ping-pong player then you should not be using long pips or antispin rubber yet. You should stick to a good all-round inverted rubber, such as Sriver or Mark V in 1.5mm to 1.9mm sponge. Here's the reasons why:- As a new player, you have not had enough time to fully develop your whole range of strokes properly. What you think of as a weakness on your backhand side may simply be a lack of enough hours of practice put into improving your technique.
- New players typically don't have a very good idea yet of what their natural style will turn out to be. After a few months, most beginners have a half-decent forehand attack and a bad forehand push, and a solid backhand push and a bad backhand attack - that's because the forehand attack and backhand push are easier to learn for the average person. So it's natural to think that you are a pusher on the backhand side. But given another six months to a year and enough practice, and most of these new players will develop a decent to good backhand attack as well.
For these players switching to long pips or antispin after only a few months would have been a mistake and hurt their long term progress, although it seemed to make sense at the time. This is where some advice from an experienced coach can help put things in perspective.
- The techniques of a new ping-pong player is a bit like clay - it's still moldable and easy to change for the better (or worse!). If you switch to junk rubbers prematurely, you may lock in the specialized techniques involved in using such rubbers, and you will find it much more difficult to develop the standard techniques if you decide later to go back and play a standard style of play. I also believe that it is easier to learn standard backhand strokes with a normal rubber first, and then learn to modify those techniques for long pips or antispin, than the other way around. And as I mentioned earlier, the odds are good that you will probably be better suited to an attacking game than a pushing game on your backhand, so for 90% of players, sticking with normal rubbers is the better bet.
Also, if you turn out to be like me, and decide to twiddle your bat so that you can swap the rubbers between your forehand and backhand side, it is much better to learn to play with normal rubber on both sides first, and then learn to use the long pips or antispin on either side when twiddling. If I had used long pips on my backhand straight away, I would have found it much more difficult to develop my backhand loop attack, which is now one of my best strokes.
- After only a few months of play, you still don't have a full appreciation of what your potential is, and just what you will be able to do out there on the table in the future. This can't be explained with words, it really has to be done out on the table with hundreds of hours of training and play.
Sticking with normal rubbers until you have fully developed all your strokes will allow you to understand what you can and can't do when playing table tennis, and it will also give you a taste of every option that you have in front of you in terms of styles. Once you have mastered the fundamental strokes, you will have the experience to be able to decide what direction you want to take your game in the future, whether it is aggressive, allround, or defensive. You will also have a much better understanding of your own strengths and weaknesses, which will make it much easier to choose a blade and rubbers that will complement your game style. Some players will reach this point after six months of hard work if they are training a lot, but for the average player a timeline of 1-2 years is much more realistic scenario.
