I have a few questions. What rubber would you recommend for someone with 0 experience in the game to tack onto timo boll spirit.

also should i give her a 5 ply blade instead or will controlling tbs be easy enough. I'm not sure if i should start her off with something with arylate carbon. i was thinking 1.8 mark V on both sides, what are you guy's thoughts.

should i just do 1.8 thickness on rubbers aswell since she wont have that feel for brushing for a while

well heres the thing, she can barely hit the table but she wants to get decent. i say decent meaning between 1500-2000. she also feels terrible playing with anyone because she feels like she's wasting their time and refuses to even try with someone good. this is where i come in. she's comfortable hitting with me for obvious reasons. I'm going to get her something decent to play with that i plan on getting all "banged up" i just need to know what rubbers would offer the best control and make things easy for her and if i should do a different blade all together.

i'm not trying to save money, thats not an issue. i just want the best possible product for someone new.

I started with Appelgren Allplay and Flextra, which I loved because it didn't react to spin at all and I could stay on the table a long time, even in a loss.  That was important when all my play was at a club where loser sits, maybe for a long time.  When I wanted to learn to loop I had to change equipment.  She has you for a practice partner, so if she likes the TBS with two tenergies she can start with that.  Lots of coached juniors start with fast stuff and they turn out okay.  If you are going to start with FH/BH hits until she gets 20/50/100 in a row like most beginner programs, it won't matter that much.   She just has to be happy.  We all know the saying about what happens when gf/wife is happy.

Yes, yes, yes and yes again!  Don't put so much thought into this.  You already just said that she wouldn't really know the difference in feel from this thing to that so what's the point in stressing about getting the perfect equipment?  Either let her use some of your spare equipment or just get her something cheap and controllable which she will do just fine with.  The main point is that she plays and develops strokes, no matter what equipment she uses she will just become accustomed to it and learn to play with it. 

Get a colestt.com buster special with XP 2008 in 2.0 or 2.2 and call it mission accomplished. She needs something that is modern, HERS, keepable, maintainable, serviceable enough to row with and she will be proud of it. Save your money for rewarding her progress with TT ACCESSORIES every now and then which she will also cherish and will not grow old.

 

it is WAY more important that she learn the basics of stance, movement, spin reading, rules and such. She will not perform well using ANY bat right now, not so important right now, maybe a little in a few years.

 

I play a pretty mean game with some of my backup bat I have made from cole (I prolly singlehandedly bought him out of 896 blade and XP 2008 rubber) I slap on a modern rubber for FH and use XP 2008 or whatever I got laying around and don't miss much (except a powerful loopdrive).

 

get the name brand expensive stuff AFTER she grows the basics.

She can surely do just fine with the TBS.  She could do just as fine with a cheap 5-ply blade from Cole, Zeropong, or any of the big manufacturers.  There are tons of great options out there for under $60, and even some really good ones available for under $20.

I would recommend shying away from any of the "Super Rubbers", but even they won't be a HUGE problem if she gets proper, frequent coaching.  

Which brings up what I feel is the biggest point...  Coaching!  I cannot overemphasize how strongly I feel about getting new players some coaching.  Starting out by learning a decent grip and technically adequate strokes is super-important. 

This brings up Part II or my coaching point... Regardless of your skill level - and even your coaching skill level - I recommend that you get her coaching from SOMEONE ELSE.  While there are exceptions, my experience (doing and observing) screams that getting someone else to teach her the basics and get her through the first major hurdles is a really good idea.  She may initially feel more comfortable "hitting" with you, but, in most cases, the second you start trying to coach, teach, criticize, or even suggest changes, things tend to get personal.  She will be mad at you for being critical, worried about letting you down, terrified of failure, and generally feeling stress.  It might make you crazy too.  Trust me!  If you are a fine player and very competent coach, you can watch her progress and make suggestions, but the suggestions should be made to the other coach - preferably our of her earshot.

If she does get regular, closely supervised coaching, her equipment choice is largely irrelevant. If, on the other hand, she plays or practices on her own, or simply without the coach around quite a bit, slower, more control oriented equipment is probably more important.  I like for my student to use relatively full swings using their best technique as much as possible.  By "full" I mean accelerating through the ball with a backswing, stroke, and recovery to ready.  I don not mean "full" as in "hit the ball really, really hard".  Super fast, spinny rubbers and rocket-fast blades often cause beginners massive control problems (imagine that), which, in turn causes them to NOT stroke the ball.  Instead they start decelerating at contact and frequently just kind of "tap" the ball.  This is a really bad habit, and one that, if not corrected early, can be hard to fix.  With a coach there to supervise, even high-performance equipment is probably ok.

Good Luck - hope things work out for you both!

bes

p.s. I'd probably get her a Allaround or All+ 5-ply wooden blade and two sheets of 1.9mm Flextra. That will work great for at least the first 6 months - maybe up to a year.  There are no strokes that can't be learned and executed with such a combo - anything from chopping to looping is in play.

 

This is the quickest way to figure out whether she is doing it for you or because she loves the sport.  A woman who loves the sport will not mind being coached by others.  A woman who loves you and not so much the sport will hate the suggestion.