Tenergy 05 Table Tennis Blogs

Boz wanted to see my paddles so here they are.

From the top left to the bottom right they are:

1. Butterfly Cypress X with Soft D13 on both sides.  I played with this paddle in college.  The Soft D13 is now closer to anti because it is about 38 years old.  It was used to hit 38 mm balls.  The rubber on both sides is red because there wasn't the red and black rubber rules.  I did have a pre made Stiga paddle before this one with short pips on sponge on one side.   I also had reworked hard bat with blue Sriver on it.

2. After 38 years I started playing again and I bought this Stiga Metalla in August or July of 2009.   It is very light.  121 gm.   It wasn't good for playing back from the table at all too slow and not enough spin.   The bad part is that I got used to extremely light paddles.

3. My TBS+T05+SA.   Originally this was a TBS+2xT05.   I read the forum and thought that T05 was a better Sriver.   Well yes but it is much faster and spinnier.  I didn't like the weight 181 gm and I couldn't handle the incoming spin at first.   It is the typical rookie with T05 story.  Too much, too quick.   I recently put Butterfly Super Anti on this paddle because one T05 sheet was damaged, I wanted to try an anti rubber and reduce the weight.  Exchanging the SA for T05 reduced the weight by 20gm.   Also the Super Anti allows me to slow down the game and still attack.   I have also learned how to chop with T05 and can do it very well.  I am just not fast enough to move around too much.

4.  My Samsonov Alpha+Apollo+Mark V max.    Originally it had Mark V 1.5mm and Scramble 1.5mm on the FH and BH.  The two rubbers are similar.   This was my get back to basics paddle.   The rubbers were too thin for my liking but I did learn to loop chopped balls and loop back balls from below the table level with the Mark V.   I called this paddle my Ball Whacker because it was really better at flat hitting.  I have since upgraded the Scramble to Mark V max and then later I upgraded the Mark V 1.5mm to Apollo.   This combination is as fast as I want to go for now.   I bought Apollo because I had never played with a tacky rubber and I wanted to see if I could serve better with a tacky rubber.   I like Apollo.  It isn't too fast and it pushes and loops well but the looping is hurt by the weight.   Apollo is heavy.

5.  My Gambler paddle with Red gambler Aces Pro and black Four Kings Pro.   I like this paddle.  I got this paddle because I had never played with a Chinese paddle and rubbers.   My practice partner noticed that I played much better with this paddle than with the Samsonov Alpha paddle.   I was consistent but also the extra spin an newly acquired real loop skills made the ball jump out low and fast.   I could do this with my TBS+2xT05 but I was not as consistent.    I will keep this paddle the way it is.   It isn't as fast as the TBS+T05 paddle or the Carbo Balsa X5+Red Diamond+ Black Power.   It is my speed.   It is a Goldilocks paddle.

6.  I bought the Butterfly Carbo Balsa X5 because I found it on sale and it was a light paddle.   Mine is 78 gm.   I bought Red Diamond and Black Power to see what all the buzz was about on the mytt forum.  I like Red Diamond but it is on the fast side just like T05 is fast.  If Red Diamond to be close enough to T05 that I won't bother to get T05 again.   Even so I probably won't buy Red Diamond again because it is fast.   Black Power is too fast without the spin to help spin the ball down onto the table.   I have a black Nittaku Best Anti ready replace the Black Power.  I think this would slow down the combination and play much like the Super Anti seems to make the TBS+T05+SA more comfortable to play with.

7. My Instinct+2xReflectoid paddle is my fun and relax paddle.  It is not fast and although Reflectoid is a defensive rubber I use it to attack.  I play close to the table with paddle.   It can't play like I did with my Ball Whacker.   It has too much spin and not the same speed.   I play a more controlled attack using placement and spin with spinny openning loops.   Originally I had Air UpUpUpUp U5 Ox LP on the BH.   This was not a good experience.   I wanted the soft version of Air UpUpUpUp but colestt.com had the labels wrong saying that U5 was the soft version instead of UQ.   I found playing with Air UpUpUpUp U5 OX LP to be very difficult.    It is kind of like making a beginner play with T05.   The U5 version was difficult to play with.   Also, the LP rubber was coming off at the edges.   I don't think the Instinct paddle is a good paddle for LPs.

8. My most recent paddle is the 729 Bomb+Reflectoid+CTT National Pogo LP.  It too has LP but this time I found out which LP is easy to play with.   It was almost unanimously Pogo.  The 729 Bomb was recommend as a good paddle to use with the Pogo and I have found it to be so.   I didn't want a FH that was too fast so I went with Reflectoid.    This paddle is a keeper.   I recently figured out how to do BH loops with Pogo.  There is a video on youtube where someone is doing BH loops with LPs so I though I would give it a try.   The people at the club think I play best with paddle.   Since I just figured out how to loop with the Pogo I think I will be even more deadly.

Wow, the picture is BIG!