Weekly Training Update - 31/07/2026

 This week I tried to develop my serves in terms of the 3rd ball attack.  My spinny serves - pendulum, reverse pendulum, tomahawk, lollipop and backhand - are all quite consistent now so I can predict the returns that come back.  Higher level players are very good at returning spinny serves and therefore a different strategy of serving simple and no spin serves is more usable.  This will take you straight into the rally.  Against higher level players, placement and consistency are more important than spin but against lower level opponents, spin is king.

Butterfly Rozena 

I also tried to develop my forehand topspin loop.  I noticed that I tend to hit flat on my forehand, a tendency that I have unlearnt on my backhand where I have more feeling and can hit topspin/sidespin combinations which are invaluable in competitive play and generally quite consistent.  I have no idea why my forehand lagged behind but it must be that I put a lot of effort into developing the backhand and neglected it.  Topspin is vital in table tennis because the table is so short.  Without topspin the ball cannot be hit hard and it will usually overshoot the table or end up in the net.  Flat hitting offers little margin of error but topspin offers quite a large amount of security.  Topspin loop on both wings is the predominant style of most professional and international players.

Kmp. Global Language Services- my sponsor for 2026-7

Presently I'm using a Butterfly Petr Korbel wood to train with.  It has a flared handle (also known as a master).  The flared handle is useful for maintaining backhand/forehand stability.  The Petr Korbel has a large head and a chunky handle which is very comfortable.  I'd recommend this blade to anyone, especially for beginners and improvers.  Its a joy to hit with, has a lot of feeling and control, and the ball can be felt on the blade.  Its an OFF style blade, given an 8 for control and 8.5 for speed by Butterfly.  The blade is linear, meaning that if the ball is hit hard it travels quickly.  This sounds obvious but carbon blades offer free speed (and spin) because they have a much bigger sweet spot.  The sweet spot on a wood like Petr Korbel is far smaller, roughly the size of a tennis ball, usually just below the centre of the blade.  A wood like this is invaluable for training since a beginner or improver is developing their strokes and looking for consistency rather than enhanced speed and spin.  When the strokes are consistent a carbon blade is preferrable to a wood like Petr Korbel, although this blade might have enough spin and speed for many league players.  I've used two other Butterfly blades, Timo Boll ALC and Primorac carbon.  I'll review these blades in a forthcoming blog article.

Our friend Jong Gil Kim who recently returned to Seoul in South Korea after playing for QUB TTC who were promoted to division 2 of the Belfast and District League 

The rubbers I'm using are Butterfly Tenergy 05 on my forehand and Butterfly Rozena on my backhand.  I think this is a good combination.  Tenergy 05 is an iconic rubber, famous for its speed and consistent spin.  I use it on a MAX sponge.  Rozena is simply a tamed version of Tenergy 05 and has less spin but more control.  It is 50% cheaper than Tenergy 05.  I use it on a MAX sponge.  I think maybe using Rozena on my forehand would be a good swop.  I feel very comfortable with these two rubbers.  

Birmingham Table Tennis Academy, my destination next week for their annual Table Tennis summer camp.