Table Tennis, anyone?

Richdog

Richdog

Richdog

Caporegime
Joined
8 Sep 2005
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Location
Utopia
Did a search and can't find much for this, and personally it's one of my favourite sports to play... fast-paced, tactful, and increasingly rewarding the more time you put into it, especially if you have a mate of a similar or higher level to practise against.

So, any players on OCUK? And while i'm at it, can anyone reccommend me a decent bat under £30 for an aggressive player who likes his spin? :)
 
I play on the odd occasion with a bat given to me by the make Stiga. Has thicker foam then normal and takes a lot of the power out of shots which helps when playing with spin!
 
Used to play at school and represented my college a couple of times, can be very intense :)

Most fun I remember was playing in a hall that had a strobe light. Closed the curtains, dim light and strobe on, messed your eyes up like mad lol
 
Play now and then. Actually had a game tonight. I'm quite good, but often find I don't have anyone good to play against. One of the most satisfying games ever, outsmarting your opponent :D
 
Richdog said:
Did a search and can't find much for this, and personally it's one of my favourite sports to play... fast-paced, tactful, and increasingly rewarding the more time you put into it, especially if you have a mate of a similar or higher level to practise against.

So, any players on OCUK? And while i'm at it, can anyone reccommend me a decent bat under £30 for an aggressive player who likes his spin? :)
Click to expand...

A lot of people buy blades and rubbers which score highly on power and spin and then go on to find out that the bat is completely unsuitable for them. If a good player serves at you and you can't judge the spin (comes with a lot of experience), the ball will go flying off your bat uncontrollably. You may also find you have little control over your shots, especially if you're playing someone you've not played before or who is a few notches above you in standard.

I would recommend joining a 'pay as you go' table tennis club and chatting with the people there. You will also likely find lots of people willing to lend you their bats to try. At my local club, they have an account with tibhar and get blades and rubbers at a decent discount.

Ideally you want to buy a freshly made bat rather than a ready made one that's been sitting in its packaging for months if not years. A lots of places let you choose rubbers and blade and will make it up for you at a small fee if you're not confident at doing it yourself.

You'll also want bat cleaner to keep your rubbers free of grease. If it's all getting too expensive, you can use fairly liquid and a sponge but use it sparingly.
 
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I played it every week for 4 years and got quite good at it (a Trophy as proof !) but then stopped soon as I went to uni.

I'd love to get back to it now, I miss the rallies that you can get into, either smashing the other player off the "court", or fluke one to the corner of the table, or changing the spin from top spin to a drop shot. All very satisfying.

Sucks when you lose though and I need to work on my serve again, I used to be able to serve Aces against people !
 
my only really good thing i did in table tennis was get a point against one of the lasses who played for England. Only got it through her mistake but all the same it was a point:)
 
Cheers guys some good feedback here, glad to see there's some fellow players! I played outside yesterday but meh, I really don't enjoy playing on outdoor tables with even a hint of wind... give me a quality indoor table any day.


Hamster said:
A lot of people buy blades and rubbers which score highly on power and spin and then go on to find out that the bat is completely unsuitable for them. If a good player serves at you and you can't judge the spin (comes with a lot of experience), the ball will go flying off your bat uncontrollably. You may also find you have little control over your shots, especially if you're playing someone you've not played before or who is a few notches above you in standard.

I would recommend joining a 'pay as you go' table tennis club and chatting with the people there. You will also likely find lots of people willing to lend you their bats to try. At my local club, they have an account with tibhar and get blades and rubbers at a decent discount.

Ideally you want to buy a freshly made bat rather than a ready made one that's been sitting in its packaging for months if not years. A lots of places let you choose rubbers and blade and will make it up for you at a small fee if you're not confident at doing it yourself.

You'll also want bat cleaner to keep your rubbers free of grease. If it's all getting too expensive, you can use fairly liquid and a sponge but use it sparingly.
Click to expand...

In the end I did buy a pre-made bat and ordered it yesterday, the Dunlop Venom Power. I'm sure a separate blade and rubber combo is better but I really want to get back into it before I start splurging (as I inevitably do). From all reports its a decent bat for my playing style (spin server, fast attacking play, not too hot on defense), so i'll get to know it and then see what's what.

always4lora said:
used to play at school.

Awsome vid, bare in mind the score!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBXQlGNAx_Q
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Bwhahahaha, awesome, especially when my suspicions let go and I realised that it wasn't a setup. :D
 
Richdog said:
In the end I did buy a pre-made bat and ordered it yesterday, the Dunlop Venom Power. I'm sure a separate blade and rubber combo is better but I really want to get back into it before I start splurging (as I inevitably do). From all reports its a decent bat for my playing style (spin server, fast attacking play, not too hot on defense), so i'll get to know it and then see what's what.
Click to expand...

I used to use a Dunlop bat a long time ago. People were telling me that I'd made a bad choice but I really enjoyed playing with it. Hope it works well for you and make sure you clean the rubbers regularly. Enjoy :)
 
Hamster said:
I used to use a Dunlop bat a long time ago. People were telling me that I'd made a bad choice but I really enjoyed playing with it. Hope it works well for you and make sure you clean the rubbers regularly. Enjoy :)
Click to expand...

Yeah, to be honest I don't have any reservations about the bat... i've played well with far worse and cheapy ones, and the Dunlop bats get good user feedback, not to mention they are on sale at the moment from Sportsdirect for £8 down from £20. Equivalent 4 star bats with 2mm rubber cost well in excess of that in general. I'm sure it'll be fine for me to get back into the swing of things, pun mildly intended. :)
 
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