When to take the next step on equipment

It used to be a common saying that you could play at a usatt1800 level with a Korbel and Sriver. Although skill has little to do with equipment. Many players under usatt2000 feel the need to use fast carbon blades and spinny tensors to give them an edge. But in the end, you will play only as good as you are skilled and not as good as your equipment.

My 2 cents: messing with equipment is a can of worms, and will often impair improvement if you are constantly looking to try new things- however fun it might be. What you've got is good enough for now, no need to worry about faster spinnier stuff.

My coach hasn't said anything specific about the paddle and rubber I'm using. I'm just curious because there are a lot of options out there.

I thinl baal posted once that when changing equipment you should have specific attributes that you want in the new equipment. And also understand you will be giving something up in exchange.

It seems like you are using a five ply wood blade and not-very-lively rubbers. So if you want more speed you could get a faster blade. You will give up some control. You might want to put tensor rubbers on your N11, to start playing with more spin. That will put more pressure on your ability to read spin, especially on service return. It can be frustrating to miss a lot of receives while you adjust, but if you accepted that as part of the change then it's easier to be patient.

If I were you I would keep the blade and put different rubbers on. At least by the 1200-ish level, it's good imo to use a spinny rubber. Any of the older generation tensors would be a fine choice, like xiom vega euro, donic baracuda, andro hexer, you could pick what's on sale, it doesn't really matter.

If I were you I would stay with a five ply wood until around usatt 16-1700, which is normally a player with a solid fh loop vs backspin and block, good allround basic strokes, but often lacking in bh loop and short game flicks and short pushes. But it's really about what feels good to you. There are slow and fast carbon blades and slow and fast wood blades. Try as many different setups as you can just by borrowing people's stuff for a quick hit, and see what feels good to you.

The people who say equipment doesn't matter, that's half true and half wrong. It's true that if a 2200 player uses your colestt setup, they will still be really really good. And if you get a 'pro' setup like viscaria with h3fh and t05bh, you are not going to play any better, probably worse. But if you have a fh loop technique with your gambler 1.7 rubber, and you put a sheet of say bluefire 2.1 on instead, your loop will immediately be spinnier and have more safety over the net. That is the case as soon as you are playing with spin. Same applies to serves and all spinny strokes.

What doesn't matter is the ej thing of trying 20 rubbers or blades that are all basically the same. If you have a specific reason behind every change it helps stay out of the ej trap.

Yes, pgpg is right, I def do not recommend looking for more speed at usatt 1000 level, just an example.

pgpg wrote: BRS wrote: I thinl baal posted once that when changing equipment you should have specific attributes that you want in the new equipment. And also understand you will be giving something up in exchange. It seems like you are using a five ply wood blade and not-very-lively rubbers. So if you want more speed you could get a faster blade. You will give up some control. You might want to put tensor rubbers on your N11, to start playing with more spin. That will put more pressure on your ability to read spin, especially on service return. It can be frustrating to miss a lot of receives while you adjust, but if you accepted that as part of the change then it's easier to be patient. If I were you I would keep the blade and put different rubbers on. At least by the 1200-ish level, it's good imo to use a spinny rubber. Any of the older generation tensors would be a fine choice, like xiom vega euro, donic baracuda, andro hexer, you could pick what's on sale, it doesn't really matter. If I were you I would stay with a five ply wood until around usatt 16-1700, which is normally a player with a solid fh loop vs backspin and block, good allround basic strokes, but often lacking in bh loop and short game flicks and short pushes. But it's really about what feels good to you. There are slow and fast carbon blades and slow and fast wood blades. Try as many different setups as you can just by borrowing people's stuff for a quick hit, and see what feels good to you. The people who say equipment doesn't matter, that's half true and half wrong. It's true that if a 2200 player uses your colestt setup, they will still be really really good. And if you get a 'pro' setup like viscaria with h3fh and t05bh, you are not going to play any better, probably worse. But if you have a fh loop technique with your gambler 1.7 rubber, and you put a sheet of say bluefire 2.1 on instead, your loop will immediately be spinnier and have more safety over the net. That is the case as soon as you are playing with spin. Same applies to serves and all spinny strokes. What doesn't matter is the ej thing of trying 20 rubbers or blades that are all basically the same. If you have a specific reason behind every change it helps stay out of the ej trap. That's some pretty good advice - I would probably add two things. First, get some tournament experience - it looks like you only have 'estimated' rating instead of a real one. Once you play a few matches, you might discover that your game has holes you did not know existed, and perhaps it's not the spin or speed of your strokes that matters the most. It will help you to evaluate tradeoffs better. Speaking of speed - your setup is more than capable of producing it as is, and second, most of players at your level don't need more speed, they need to be able to put ball on the table. Yes, I know, it was BRS who brought up 'more speed' scenario, just want to make sure you understand the tradeoff here. My setup is probably the slowest one you can think of - I played a guy close to your level yesterday, he had Viscaria and Tenergy 05 max on both sides. It was not pretty. Finally, since your coach does not bring up new equipment, it's a good indicator you don't need it yet. If you want to satisfy your curiosity, try someone else's paddles to get a feel for what is out there.

Thanks BRS and pgpg for the solid write ups. I am playing in my first USATT tournament in 2 weeks so we will see how that goes. My biggest weakness at the moment is my serve return, so it sounds like I should settle that before I make any changes. It is good to have a bit of a baseline going forward on when to expect to make some changes.