Ask The Experts: Rachid El Boubou, No. 196
Butterfly Table Tennis Question and Answer

Question:

Hello,

My son is 9 years old. He is playing TT since 6 months now. Currently he is playing with a Yasaka Sweden Extra blade & Yasaka Mark V 1.8 mm rubber. He is comfortable with ​its speed.

Would appreciate if you could please advise :

1. We are thinking of upgrading the rubber for a bit more speed. Should we go with the same rubber (Yasaka Mark V) 2.0 mm / Max thickness or a more speedier rubber, say Butterfly Bryce, of 1.8 mm thickness.

2. What is the general rule while upgrading a rubber for a bit more speed, go for a higher thickness of the same rubber or go with the same thickness of a speedier rubber.

3. How much increase in speed (in percentage terms) generally does it make while one increases the thickness from 1.8 mm to 2.00mm & then to Max thickness of the same rubber ?

Thank you.

Cheers,

Sachin

Answer: 

ThisAsk the Experts question was answered by Rachid El Boubou. Coach Boubou is a senior coach at Triangle Table Tennis in Morrisville, NC and his response is as follows:

Hi Sachin,

 Thank you for question. There are several answers to your questions and I want to give you the best option.

 Answer 1: I would upgrade your son’s rubber to Bryce 2.1 mm on both sides instead of 1.8 mm. 1.8 mm will make it more difficult to put spin on the ball from mid-distance.

Answer 2: The general rule when upgrading rubber is to make sure that the upgrade is not so much that you lose control on touch shots.

Answer 3: There is no definite percentage in terms of speed increase from 1.8 mm to 2.0 mm. Where the difference is 10% will be in the trajectory being longer with the 2.0 mm. This will allow your son to be able to play from a longer range and still have control over the ball.

Blade suggestion: The blade that I believe is a perfect match to the Bryce for more speed is the Petr Korbel. It is Butterfly’s flagship all wood blade that is offensive. It is one of the blades that has a solid sweet-spot, but allows for touch shots 

 I hope this puts your son on the path for improvement.

 Coach Boubou