When you speed glue, your rubbers will wear out faster. This is due to a couple of reasons, these being:
- the constant removal and reattachment of the rubber helps to break the little cells inside the sponge, causing it to lose its bounce; and
- the speed glue that is absorbed into the sponge can sometimes damage the original glue holding the pimples to the sponge, cause them to come apart or 'bubble', making the rubber illegal.
It has been estimated that a normal unglued rubber can withstand more than a hundred strikes of the ball in the same place on the rubber before needing replacement, while a speed glued rubber can only last for about 25 strikes before it is worn out. I can't vouch for whether this is completely accurate, but as someone who has speed glued many times over the last few years, I can say from personal experience that my speed glued rubbers lasted about a third as long as those rubbers I did not speed glue.
Inconvenience
As we'll see in later parts of this guide, it is fairly normal for players to remove the rubbers from their bat before putting them away for the day - to avoid stretching the rubbers and wearing them out prematurely. This means that you will need to glue your rubbers onto your bat whenever you want to play. The speed glue effect only lasts a certain time as well (typically 3-4 hours), so there may be times when the effect is beginning to wear off and you still have matches to play. If you don't have time to reglue your bat, you will either have to play with a bat that is losing its extra power and spin, or have a second bat ready to go - which also means extra expense in gluing up two bats at once.
Decreased Control - Sometimes
When using speed glue, you will lose some control when you attempt to play strokes that do not involve you spinning the ball. When you try to float the ball, the increased speed that you get is not countered by the increased spin, and so you will have a loss of control.
Increased Speed of the Ball - But What About You?
The increased speed that you get from speed gluing can also be a disadvantage at times, if you are not careful. It is very easy to get caught up in enjoying the extra pace, and forget about whether your reflexes and footwork are fast enough to cope with it. Remember, if you hit the ball 20% faster to your opponent, the ball will get to him that much faster, and the ball will come back to you off his racket faster as well - this means that you have less time to get ready for your next shot!
So unless your footwork and reflexes also improve by 20%, you may actually play worse against an opponent who is capable of returning the faster balls that you are hitting! It takes a very self-disciplined person to realize that this is happening in a match and decide to slow down his shots to compensate.
Sloppy Technique
Because of the advantages in using speed glue, some players come to rely on the speed glue to help compensate for flaws in their technique or footwork. As they start to rise in level, these players will find that their opponents will also be speed gluing, and will be able to take advantage of these flaws. So it is important to keep using good technique and footwork when playing with speed glue, in preparation for those more advanced players. Remember, at the top, all players are speed gluing - so you will be on a level playing field. You can't afford to allow your opponent the sort of edge that poor technique or footwork will give him.
Variable Effects
Human beings being what we are, we don't always do thing exactly the same way twice. This means that every time you reglue, the effect will be slightly different. Provided that you are fairly consistent in how you reglue, this will not be important most of the time - but there will always be that odd occasion (usually at the worst possible time!), when you reglue and the rubbers feel completely different to normal. You will have to decide very quickly whether to try and reglue again, and possibly make things worse, reglue a backup bat, or try to play on with a table tennis bat that now feels very unfamiliar. This can be a tough decision to make when you are in an important tournament and the clock is ticking.
Health Concerns
There is also the matter of your health to consider. Table tennis speed glues use certain solvents which can be hazardous to our health when inhaled. While people will argue from both sides as to whether the risks are significant or not, it is still something to be aware of. The ITTF at the time of writing this article are heading towards the use of water-based non-toxic speed glues by around 2008, which will hopefully have less health risks.
Conclusion
Despite the cons, almost all professional players and most advanced amateur players reglue their table tennis bats, simply because the advantages still heavily outweigh the disadvantages. But should you speed glue?Next: Should You Speed Glue?
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