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Galatians 6:2

Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.

As Christians we are called to bear each other’s burdens, but what does that exactly mean? In Exodus, word burden is used to mean one of the following things:

• A load of any kind (Exodus 23:5)
• A severe task (Exodus 2:11)
• A difficult duty (Exodus 18:22)

As Christians we are called to give assistance or to provide a hand to one another. Galatians tells us to bear the burden and not to be a burden. The verse also doesn’t tell us to take another person’s burden. The word bear means to hold up; support. Therefore the word ‘bear’ has a sharing nature.

So why is bearing one another’s burdern fulfilling the law? In John 15:12, Christ has given us a specific commandment, that we should love one another, just as Christ loved us.

Proverbs 15:23

A man hath joy by the answer of his mouth: and a word spoken in due season, how good is it!

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According to this verse, the bible tells us that one of our sources of joy is in the way we answer through our mouth. This holds true whether our speech regardless of our intentions and speech. For example, as humans we like to sometimes like to give sarcastic answers. With the recent Australian federal election going on, observe how the politicians give challenging answers about their opponents.

However, Proverbs 15:23 also says that a word that is given at the appropriate time is good. Like fruit picked at the right time is sweet and satisfying. So should our words out of our mouths. Words of encouragement and love given at the appropriate time can up lift another person, especially in marriage. This should be the source of our joy and answers should be given in the right time.

Yes, I’ve been holding off for a long time on this blade. In the end, temptation was too great and I finally made the purchase and bought the Andro’s latest blade, the Andro Blax OFF. I’m also trying to put some structure and format to my blade reviews. Hope you like them and find it useful.

Materials Used
The basic core material used in the Blax series is balsa wood, which very much reminds me of the Andro’s Kinetic Explorer blade. I look at the Blax as the next generation of Explorer blades. Blax also has a new construction design in that it uses abachi wood as cross plies. In theory, this should help absorb vibration. The balsa wood is the covered with koto wood and finished with Andro’s special black veneer.

Flexibility
The Blax OFF is stiff which is not surprising for an Andro blade because most of Andro’s blades are stiffer compared to say Chinese and Swedish blades. During play however, the Blax feels to flex a little (not much) giving you a softer feeling to the ball.

Construction
Typical of Andro products, the finish and construction of the blade is very good. Only one word can describe it, quality. Since the blade is constructed from balsa wood, the blade is very light.

Speed
I’m at a loss here because the Andro blade is very flexible in terms of speed. If you want speed, it’s there to harness but if you want to play slow, it’s there too. Smashes and loop drives can send the ball flying! On slowing down the ball, it is possible to over do it causing the ball to the net more often. So some adjustment in stroke is required.

Control
In table tennis, balsa has been known to be the best wood to offer the most ball control. So it wasn’t surprising that the Blax OFF has superb control, excellent for placing balls and setting up your play.

Bounce/Sound
Doing a ball bounce on the different parts of the blade face, reveals that the blade has consistent bounce and feedback. The sound reminds of the Explorer which produces a somewhat high-pitched popping sound.

Test Rubbers
When testing blades, I try to limit the use of different rubbers. So for my test rubbers, I used Dawei Inspirit 2.2 mm on both the backhand and forehand. These rubbers were glued twice before.

Distance Play
• Close-to-table – playing close to table poses no problems to this blade. It will suit attackers very well.
• Medium distance – for medium distance playing, the Blax still performs well.
• Far-from-table – playing this far may pose some problems for the Blax because it requires the player to put in the extra power due to the distance.

Looping
Now we go into some stroke test, first looping. Forehand loops are not a problem for this blade despite the relative stiffness of the blade. This could be because I’m used to stiff blades. Other players find looping with this blade to be difficult and claim that it is not a looper’s blade. I strongly believe that this is a matter of technique because I have to admit that with the Blax, you do need to adjust slightly.

Pushing
This is my favourite. Off the bounce push using the Blax is excellent. Drop shots and cancelling the spin is just great. The ball dwells long enough for the player to execute the shots with grace.

Blocking
Performing blocks on the Andro Blax OFF can be done with ease. I would however recommend active type blocking where you try to put some spin or push/punch to the stroke.

Summary
In summary, the Andro Blax OFF is a superb blade. I call it the priest because it is a very forgiving blade in the sense that even though your technique and stroke isn’t perfect, you can make some last second adjustments. Since there is consistent bounce and feedback, off centre shots still manages to hit the table. I think I’ll go now and try some Plasma rubbers on.

You can easily spot the ones who are serious about table tennis and the one who aren’t. The person who takes his table tennis makes an effort to train and improve. Table tennis robots have been around for a while and like people robots come in different shapes and sizes.

I’ve had my Newgy 1040 robot for two years now and at this point I’d have to say that it has helped me a lot in improving my technique. One of my biggest hurdles in my table tennis training is that I cannot easily go to the club and access to a good coach is hard.

In my opinion, the Newgy 1040 is in some ways better than the 2040 model because you can position the robot on different places on and off the table. This allows for closer simulation of ball flight and spin. For example, with the 1040, you can force the robot to feed ball down the line. Of course the downside is that with the 1040, you cannot recycle balls. So once they run out, you have to reload.

The Newgy 1040 has three main features:

• Oscillation
• Ball Feed
• Spin/Speed

One feature that I like about the 1040 is the oscillation. The variety of spread options is enough to simulate most scenarios. In conjunction to the oscillator is the ball feeder and the combination of the two can surely give you a good workout.

Unfortunately most Newgy robots uses single head which means that spin and speed is the same.

When Andro came out with a blade made from Hinoki wood, I had the urge to get it. Hinoki is famous among Chinese blade manufacturers and Chinese players. The feeling of Hinoki and the hardness of the wood gives it a very unique feeling.

However, I’m a bit curious as to why Andro only came out with a Hinoki blade with an OFF and ALL+ rating. Looking closer at the construction of the blade, the Hinoki ply is used as the outer ply. The middle ply is made from Andro’s red ply.

I played with this blade for one season using the Quad 480 rubbers. The blade is also excellent for smashes and fast blocking strategy. I would not recommend it to loopers because there are other blades out there that can make looping easier.

I tried something unorthodox and glued up a Dawei long pimple and converted the blade into a defensive blade. The change in character of the blade surprised me. For an OFF rated blade, it’s not bad for defensive play. These days this blade now has the Andro Impuls rubbers on and my daughter has inherited this setup because she has started to learn table tennis.

The Andro Carbon Light has now been available from Andro for a while, but it was only recently that I acquired one. According to a good friend of mine, it is a nice blade. I have been delaying my acquisition because until recently I have only liked wooden blades.

With hesitation, thinking that this will be like the Andro Explorer, I eventually placed an order for the OFF+ version as I want speed in my game recently. When I got my Andro Carbon Light OFF+, amazement was the only word I can think of because of the light weight of the blade. I said to myself, okay; let us do the “click” sound test. I took the ball and bounced it on the blade. The high pitched click sound echoed in my room. Nice!

So I got two sheets of Butterfly Sriver EL (2.1mm) and glued it. The feeling was great but somehow the Sriver EL did not like with the Carbon Light. The speed was there, but somehow the control isn’t. Blocking, pushing and counter hit was average.

I then took two sheets of Andro Quad 480 with maxium thickness. The feel was better but this is due to the softer sponge of the Quad sheets. Speed was still there but now because of the max thickness, control is a little bit hard. The ball bounces almost immediately off the bat.

The Carbon Light is a good blade if your game is mostly built on block, push, counter hit and the occasional top spin. Top spins is relative easy but if you’re a looper and prefer flexible blades, I would not recommend this blade.

As always, Andro’s craftsmanship is excellent. The handle of the Carbon Light is slightly thicker than Andro’s normal handles. This probably compensates due to the light feeling of the blade. If you plan to get the Carbon Light, be prepared to adjust your timing due to its light weight.

Over all, it’s an excellent offensive blade.

My good friends at One Of A Kind Trading started importing Xi Enting blades and being a compulsive user myself, I had to get one. I was able to acquire the X054 Carbon Blade through eBay before and therefore familiar with Xi Enting blades.

I don’t have my X054 anymore because I gave it to my brother who lives overseas. He wanted to start playing table tennis. I was willing to give it up because I did not like the handle of the X054; it was short for my hands. My initial grip on the X460 blade has suggested that I may have to sand some of the edges to make the blade comfortable.

The label on the face of the blade of the X460 is better than the X054 because it is laser etched. The X054 had a light sticker / print that easily came off.

When I opened up the box and looked at the X460, it brought back memories of my ex-Andro Explorer OFF+ blade. The core ply of the X460 looks and feels like balsa wood, but I could be mistaken. The black plies on the X460 are not as stiff as the Andro Explorer and makes the blade medium soft.

The X460 suffers from not being the sexiest blade around. One of the reasons I picked this blade is because of the black veneer. I have a tendency to like blades that have black outer veneer rather than the normal wood colour. Mind you the craftsmanship and finish of the X460 blade that I got is acceptable but I think it doesn’t have a smooth finish.

Now for a quick sound test; this involves bouncing the ball on the blade without any rubbers glued to the blade. The bounce test revealed a high popping sound and not at a high pitch. I suspect that this is due to the core ply because I recall that the Andro Explorer makes the same sound. Vibration is also minimal.

I then glued up the Galaxy Mercury rubber to see how the blade plays with rubbers. Bear in mind that the Galaxy Mercury is a soft rubber, which complements the slightly stiff blade. The total cost of the setup all from One Of A Kind Trading is AUD$47.88, not bad for price!

So how does the blade perform in a match? I took my new setup to my weekly training at the club. After a few hits, it is easy to adjust strokes to the new setup and since the rubbers are good for spinning, creating loop rallies is good fun.

Power from close to medium distance is present in the X460. The feel for the ball during rallies and touch strokes is also excellent. The blade is also very tolerant to off centre strokes. Overall, the X460 is an average blade, but for its price/performance, it comes in high. The X460 is great for players who have learned the basic techniques of table tennis and are ready to move on to the next level.

Many of us today seem to ignore the health issue of modern day society. Obesity is a major concern. Today, modern society requires us to exercise less. In fact, we don’t walk as often as we should. Indeed, why take the stairs when we have elevators and escalators?

About two years ago, I was getting huge. I wake up every morning and look into the mirror and I was just getting bigger every week. The bath room scale wasn’t looking too good and it was slowly becoming my most dreaded enemy.

Then I took up table tennis as a sport and realised how unfit I was. Then on one season, one of the players at the club died of heart attack while playing in a competition. This really prompted me to think about my own health. Will this happen to me too? Will my family see me suddenly drop as I was playing table tennis?

At that stage, I began my research. I tried diet and boy that was a big disappointment. Heart disease is a number one killer and my risk factors in getting a heart attack are increasing; middle age, overweight, etc … Something had to be done. Besides I wanted to become a better table tennis player and running around with extra weight is not good.

One of the things that I came across during my research is the term called, body mass index (BMI). It is an indicator of how overweight a person is. One thing to note is that BMI does not apply to people who are into body building.

I’ve came across the Dawei brand a long time ago but never had access to any of their products. Until recently, through One Of A Kind Trading, I can now buy some of the Dawei products. So I went out and bought the Ultra Speed Power Carbon.

The reasons why I choose this particular blade are:

• - OFF+ rating
• - Carbon blade
• - Medium/Hard feel

When I got the Ultra Speed, the craftsmanship is noticeable. It was excellent. The blade is light weight and the face size is just right. Though a quick checked by aligning it together with an Andro blade, reveals that it is almost of the same size.

I’ve tested this blade using Dawei 388A-4 rubbers. Since I do not use speed glue, the test was conducted on unglued rubbers. During blocks, the blade is excellent offering a good feeling for the ball. The control is superb allowing me to place the ball where I want it, but this could be due to the extra stickiness of the rubber.

Looping is nice and easy even for under spins. The blade’s power is in smashes and straight counter hit. However, with the Dawei 388A-4 rubbers, the setup feels like an All-round bat. Therefore the next step was to put faster rubbers on the Ultra Speed.

Next I glued new sheets of Dawei Super Power 2008. With this setup, I felt that the blade was offering more. Speed was definitely there and I would be even bold to say that it is comparable to the Schlager Carbon speed! Though, I would say that the Schlager Carbon would probably have more control.

I would recommend the Dawei Ultra Speed Power Carbon to players who have attacking, close to table style. Counter hitters and blockers would also appreciate the blade but I would recommend medium fast rubbers. For a pure aggression game, put on fast rubbers and dare to win.

As of this writing, I know of three Australians who play professional table tennis overseas. This is good news and if you look at local web sites by table tennis distributors, you’d be amazed at how many juniors are now sponsored by top table tennis brands. Also, with the recent Junior World Tournament held in Geelong and the foreign entrants in the Australian Open, there is definitely an increase in interest in table tennis of late.

Unfortunately, Australia hasn’t won any major international competitions in Table Tennis such as the Commonwealth Games and the Olympics. In fact, there aren’t many top Australian players who participate in ITTF’s Pro Tour and in some of the European Opens.

In my opinion, here’s a recipe to increase Australia’s profile in table tennis and become a world player.

Increased Junior Sponsorship
We seem to have started off on the right track. Increasing junior sponsorship is investing in our future. Juniors should be motivated and encouraged. Although the level of training received by juniors here is far different to that in China, who happens to be the world’s best, we have to learn how to train smarter.

Import World-class Coaches
China and Europe are the leaders in table tennis, okay Korea also. The Europeans do not have a large pool of table tennis players compared to China, but the ones that they have identified to have the talent, the European are able to develop. Australia should therefore learn from the Europeans. I therefore recommend that Australia import some world class coaches and train up our elite squad as a lead up to any major competition. If European coaches are expensive, as a fall back we could always get a Chinese coach. Kong Linghui just recently retired from competitive play to become a full time coach. Maybe with the right offer we can get him to train our elite squad?

Media Coverage
Like many non-mainstream sport, media coverage is almost none at all. I’m not saying that we should have table tennis coverage daily, though that would be nice, but in major local and international tournaments we should broadcast some highlights at the very least.

With good media coverage, winning in international competitions and a pool of younger players, this will definitely attract attention and a lot of interest. This results to sponsorship. Companies will start investing into the sport.