Whether you are a complete beginner or a well-seasoned veteran at playing table tennis, you should consider getting a pair of table tennis shoes. Now, you might be thinking that your regular pair of sneakers that you usually wear while you play is just fine.
While there is nothing necessarily wrong with playing a game of table tennis in regular everyday sneakers, there are some qualities you should look for in a pair of shoes that will help improve your game. Luckily, obtaining a quality pair of shoes ideal for playing table tennis should not be expensive at all.
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Characteristics You Need To Check
When trying to find an ideal pair of footwear to play table tennis in, you should look at a few characteristics. First, a good pair of footwear for playing table tennis should be “grippy.”
The sole of the shoe needs to be able to grip the ground well, as the absolute last thing you want to have happened to you while playing a game of table tennis is to slip and fall accident because the soles of your gear were too slippery.
Another characteristic to consider when buying a pair of table tennis shoes is the hardness of the sole. An ideal pair of shoes for playing table tennis will be hard and mostly flat. It allows you to move sideways much easier than with a softer soled shoe.
A thicker and softer, almost spongy sole will make moving from side to side much more complex and could even cause you to trip up and fall.
Once you have learned and mastered all the correct footwork for playing table tennis, wearing a quality pair of footwear will make a world difference.
Shoes that are ideal for running are designed with the forward movement in mind and thus are not a good fit for table tennis. There are many sides to side movements in table tennis and little if any, forward motion.
That is why a pair of footwear with all the qualities listed above is more ideal than regular sneakers. And remember that a quality pair of shoes does not mean they have to be expensive.
Elasticity
Everyone wants their shoes to be flexible and with good elasticity, but what is the elasticity? The shoe’s sole needs to be thicker for having good elasticity and the material used is denser. With this, the sole is firmer and gives you more elasticity.
Wearing this type of shoe does not necessarily give you elasticity. It depends on your playing technique and style. It would help if you had good playing skills to exert the shoe’s advantages for good elasticity.
Correspondingly, the sole itself must be hard and thick enough to give sufficient support to the feet. If the sole is too thin and too soft, it will be through when it is stepped on. It is easy to hurt the foot and the knees and prevent a player from moving smoothly.
For players who play close to the table are just the opposite. They need shoes that are light and easy to wear, such as Butterfly Lezoline shoes. This type of shoe is suitable for moving left and right, laterally squatting, and sliding.
Nice Fit Your Feet
You are the one who knows the best if a shoe is comfortable to wear or not. The shape of the legs is different for Asians, Europeans, and Americans. The shape is different in terms of the foot’s width, the height of the arch, and the point of running.
Therefore, as an indoor professional sports shoe, the Asian brand like the Butterfly has accumulated more foot data of the Chinese to design a shoe to be more suitable for Asian needs. While for Europeans and Americans, there are also brands that specially cater to their feet’ characteristics.
The companies that make excellent table tennis shoes for Europeans and Americans are Stiga and Joola. You can check out some table tennis shoes released by Joola here. You can buy the shoe according to your leg’s shape so that you can have a well fitted and comfortable table tennis shoes.
Breathable
Professional table tennis shoes mainly rely on the mesh surface and bottom to breathe. Airblown into the shoe and hand placed on the side of the vent hole on the side of the shoe determines the exhaust’s efficiency.
Or you can make an approximate judgment by placing the part of the ventilating hole under the light and watching its light transmission performance. Bottom penetration not only assists in breathing but also reduces weight at the same time.
One thing that you need to know is how the shoe prevents debris from entering inside. It generally is taking care of by the shoe companies which are having a high design level. High-grade table tennis shoes will be protected by metal mesh at the bottom.
As the saying goes, good steel is used on the blade. The focus of breathability of sneakers is naturally the most appropriate distribution of sweat glands.
The distribution of sweat glands in the human foot is most common in the feet’ soles and the arch of the foot, followed by the heel and the toes. The more significant part of the bottom foot is not the main part of the perspiration.
The part of the sole must be made of mesh. However, due to the foot’s arch, when a player moves his feet, the heat from the sole is easier to get discharged from both sides of the shoe. Because of this, a large area of mesh is placed on both sides of the arch, which is the most economical ventilation design.
Although the foot surface is not the focus for the upper, having more than one ventilation area will make the ventilation to be smoother. So there are usually mesh and air holes placed in the upper and the forefoot.
Warren Davies
