Hallmark Supernova

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• Membre
• Age : 57 ans
• Messages : 488
• Classement : 16
• CD: Super Defense 40 Soft 1.3
• RV: Grass D.Tecs 0x
• Bois: Defense Plus

Lundi 10 Décembre 2007 16:42

Bonjour comme beaucoup de joueur à picot long lisse, je recherche pour la saison prochaine un remplacement à mon superblock. J'envisage eventuellement de jouer avec un grass dtecs mais à priori je pense que cela risque d'etre court en temps entre les deux phases. Je m'interesse aussi aux nouveautés de cher DrNeubauer et Hallmark à venir. Sur le supernova, j'ai recuperé les infos suivantes sur un forum anglais. Certaines personnes ont il essayé ce picot ou envisage t'il d'essayer ce picot entre les deux phases ?

Info interessante :
Playing experience with SuperNova has been posted by Roman Avaev from St.
Petersburg. He is known by his equipment reviews made for Russian Table
Tennis Magazine.

http://ttw.ru/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=548

http://def.kondopoga.ru/2007/12/03/supernova__shag_nazad_dva_vpered..html

Below my translation of his review:

Hallmark SuperNova: one step backward – two steps forward.

While ITTF and its leader Sharara are trying to poison certain styles in Table Tennis, Steve Hall is looking for a possible antidote. And now he has created magic SuperNova long pips - with friction to bypass new regulations, but playing much like good old frictionless. Now I have a pleasure to test this new equipment provided as a courtesy of Hallmark. Here we go...

The first impression was simply amazing. Pips are really tacky! No kidding - one can pick the ball with the bat from the table and it will hang on the surface for half a second. The rubber looks to be very hard - harder than Original, Superblock, let alone softer Inferno. As it has friction it is possible to create some rotation hitting the ball tangentially. However one could bounce rotating ball vertically with the flat (horizontal) bat - no need to adjust the angle.

For the playing test SuperNova have been glued on Andro Fibercomp blade. The other side of the blade was Inferno (taken for reference). Ratings are 5-level scale.

Speed. SuperNova on Hallmark 0.5mm sponge was slightly faster than Inferno 1.0 mm. But still very slow and controllable. The difference between two rubbers was negligible if compared, for example, to Andro Krypto which is much faster than both of them.

Ability to push. SuperNova is just excellent. While the ball is basically flat, however, is a very accurate one. One can easily adjust speed and placement of pushes. That is, the process has become less dependent on the incoming rotation. With frictionless rubbers I normally twiddle to smooth for pushing since it is very hard to push safe. Especially when you are late and trying to push a descending ball. This is not an issue with SuperNova. Rating - 5+ for pushing.

Block. You can play chop-block or stop-block, but this isn't not like with Original or Superblock. Spin reversal is much less than with Inferno. However it is fast and could be effective. On block SuperNova is worse than Inferno however much better and controllable than Andro Krypto, Grass Devil, etc. Rating - 4- for block.

Defense away from table. Neat! You are able to add backspin while defending. While you have to work harder returning good topspin - it is much more simple to vary direction and placement than with frictionless pips. Topspin with some amount of sidespin is also better to handle with Supernova than with frictionless. My opponents are not so good performing second topspin after the first returned by Inferno. Absolutely the same with SuperNova. I should admit therefore that there is not much difference in spin reversal while chopping against topspin with SuperNova and Inferno. Rating - just 5.

Offense. You can attack with SuperNova! Some tackiness allow to do flip-like attaching strokes. Hitting against backspin is also good. In my hands it is much better than Inferno. No more comments on offense since it is really not my favorite topic. Rating – 4+.

Conclusion. These pips really have to be invented even if there should have been no ban on frictionless pips. They should be excellent for players who practice defense near the table, occasionally moving away from table, who would like to push with pips not only from the bounce. Switching from Inferno to SuperNova took five minutes without much effort and adjustments. Chop-blockers or stop-blockers will probably need SuperNova in OX and a hope that it will promptly lose tackiness with time while retaining ITTF license .

I have ordered another blade to make a second combination bat with SuperNova. Who knows - may be it will soon became my primary bat? Tournament results should answer this question.