glues – 360TT Blog

Eyes, ears and the size of the hall: the science of reading the ball

Sat, 31 Oct 2026 18:30:00 -0300

Have you ever noticed that, when your opponent hits the ball hard, you “seem to know” how it is coming before you even see it cross the net? I have always had the impression that we react faster to a sound than to an image. Not because of the speed of sound or light through the air, but because of the time the brain takes to receive and decode each one.

Something else we notice often, and that many professionals talk about: in a big hall, the ball seems to travel less. Some players even adjust their racket for these venues, making it a little faster. In a small room, it is the opposite: everything seems faster. Part of this is perception and part is real physics, and I will explain both.

The idea for this post came from a conversation with my friend Luiza, who is starting out in table tennis at our Academy. Few people in the table tennis world know this, but I worked for many years in car audio, on systems built for in-car sound quality and competitions, which forced me to study acoustics and our hearing system; I also taught classes on loudspeakers and speaker cabinets at Senai Ipiranga, in São Paulo, for JVC do Brasil. Luiza is “just” an aerospace engineer and an acoustics specialist, which gives you a good idea of what our conversations are like. In this particular one, she mentioned that we react faster to a sound than to an image, and that matched what I have always seen at the table. I went to find out what science says. And the two impressions are more connected than they seem.

TL;DR: the sound of the hit arrives after the image, but the brain processes sound faster and, over the distance of a table, it wins the race. The ear gives the first clue about the spin: every racket has three sounds, and a study from the University of São Paulo showed you can recognize spin by ear alone. The eyes can be trained (in a German TV test, the fighter pilot scored average and Timo Boll came close to double), and sound even changes the speed you “see”: a ball that cracks loudly scares you more than it actually travels. In a big hall, sound, background, distance and cold rubber add up; the air only changes the game at altitude, where the same topspin lands longer. At the end, what the pros do and what to take to your game: arrive early at the hall, train with earplugs (the Deaflympics even ban hearing aids), use peripheral vision against glare and look after your eyes and ears.

Sound arrives later, but the brain reads it first

First, the physics. Light is practically instantaneous. Sound travels at about 343 meters per second (in air at 20 °C). With your opponent 4 meters away, the noise of the hit reaches you about 12 milliseconds after the image.

Now, the biology. In the ear, sound physically moves the cells that pick up the vibration, and the signal goes out almost immediately. In the eye, light has to trigger a chemical reaction in the retina before it becomes an electrical signal. Result: sound takes about 8 to 10 ms to reach the brain; the image, 20 to 40 ms (figures gathered in Kosinski’s review, from Clemson University, citing Kemp and Marshall).

This shows up in reaction time. On average in the classic studies, we react to a sound in 140 to 160 ms and to a light in 180 to 200 ms. A study with students (Shelton and Kumar, Neuroscience & Medicine, 2010) measured 284 ms for sound and 331 ms for the image: almost 50 ms of difference. A larger study, with 120 medical students (Jain and colleagues, 2015), reached the same conclusion.

Do the math: the ear starts about 40 ms ahead and loses about 12 ms on the sound’s journey. There is still an advantage left. Researchers call the distance at which the two tie the “horizon of simultaneity”: somewhere between 10 and 15 meters (an idea from neuroscientist Ernst Pöppel). At a table tennis table, well before that, sound wins.

And 40 ms seems like nothing, but a ball at 60 km/h travels about 67 cm in that time. That is a quarter of the table.

What the ear tells you before the eye sees it

In the post about the invisible enemy of your drive, I explained the Tau factor: the brain works out when the ball will arrive from how fast it “grows” on the retina. The problem is that Tau needs the ball to already be traveling. At the instant of the hit, it has nothing to measure yet.

Sound does. It arrives practically at the instant of contact with the ball and carries information about the hit: whether it was flat or brushed, hard or soft. A Brazilian study (Santos and colleagues, Journal of Human Kinetics, 2017) recorded the sound of forehands with four levels of spin and asked 34 players to identify each one by ear alone. They got it right 50.9% of the time, well above chance (25%). And training level (years of practice and hours per week) made no difference: everyone “hears” spin.

I usually tell my students that every racket has three sounds, and each one tells you how the ball is coming:

Contact mostly on the topsheet (the ball just brushes the rubber): it makes almost no noise. It is a ball with a lot of spin.
Mostly on the sponge: a characteristic sound, reminiscent of the “click” of the old speed glues. It is the stroke that sinks into the sponge, with speed and spin together.
Mostly on the blade: a louder, drier crack. It is the flattest ball, more power than spin.

🔬 Did you know: what the USP study measured

Researchers from USP in Ribeirão Preto invited 34 players during the 2014 South American Championship: 24 men and 10 women, with almost 10 years of practice and about 16 hours of training per week, on average. In the lab, a professional athlete played topspin forehands, all at about 50 km/h, changing only the spin; high-speed cameras measured the rotation of each ball. Then each player listened to 20 of these sounds on headphones and tried to say what the spin was.

Sound of the hit	Ball rotation	Correct
Flat	up to ~60 per second	76.5%
Medium spin	~105 per second	46.5%
Heavy spin	~140 per second (~8,400 per minute)	42.9%
Light spin	~84 per second	36.5%

The flat ball was by far the easiest to recognize: it is the crack of the blade. And the most curious part: players with more years in the game did not hear better. The authors’ hypothesis is that table tennis players train vision and touch a lot, but almost never the ear. In other words: game hearing is a skill almost nobody trains, and it is right there, for free, waiting to be trained.

But the ear does not replace the eye. In 2025, researchers from Taiwan (Lin and Liu, Psychology of Sport and Exercise) tested high-level university players with sound only, image only and both. With sound only, they still recognized the ball, but started the movement later and with more irregular timing. Vision is still in charge; sound is the clue that arrives first.

Table tennis has known this for a long time. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the “combination” racket became fashionable: an offensive inverted rubber on one side and pips or an anti-spin on the other, both the same color. And it was not a choice: the rule at the time required both sides to be the same color. The player twiddled the racket in their hand between points (or during the point), and the opponent had no way of knowing, by color, which side had hit the ball. That left the sound, which is different for each rubber. That is why stamping your foot on the serve was such a great trick: it hid exactly the noise that would give the rubber away. The ITTF gradually closed the loopholes: in 1983, at the Tokyo congress, it began requiring two clearly different colors, required players to show the racket to the opponent and the umpire before the match (and at every racket change), and banned foot stamping on the serve; in 1985, it decided that one side would be black and the other red, a rule that took effect in July 1986. With color giving the rubber away, the foot-stamping rule lost its purpose and was dropped. Today, players who stamp their foot on the serve want to mask the spin, not the type of rubber.

Fast eyes can be trained

There is a video I have kept for years that came to mind while writing this post. It is a German TV report (the Planetopia program, around 2008) called “The magic eye”, about the vision of Timo Boll, then 27. “You have to get into tunnel vision and focus on what matters: the stamp on the ball,” he says, talking about the brand and model printed on the ball. From the spin of that stamp, he adjusts his arm and the racket angle “in fractions of a second”. (The cover of this post is Boll at the Beijing Olympics, in 2008, in a photo by Andre Kiwitz, CC BY-SA 2.0.)

The report was filmed at Ruhr University Bochum, with researcher Gernot Jendrusch, and has two tests. If you want to watch it, the video is on YouTube, in German; you can turn on subtitles with automatic translation into English.

The stamp replaced by numbers. They replaced the stamp on the ball with numbers from 0 to 9, and a machine fired balls at three speeds. Boll got 4 out of 5, then 3 out of 5, then 2 out of 5. The challenger was Benedikt, 21, an amateur player from the state league. At the highest speed, he got one more number right than Boll. The reason, according to Jendrusch: he followed the ball’s trajectory for longer and had a chance to read the number at the last instant. A word of caution: it was a test of reading the ball, not of hitting it.

The speed of the eyes. A ring with a gap moves across the screen, faster and faster, and the person has to “jump” their eyes to it and say which side the gap is on. The test measures up to what speed the eye can locate the target. A German fighter pilot joined the challenge, 40 years old with 3,600 flight hours in a Tornado fighter jet, who deals with planes approaching at about 500 meters per second:

Who	How far the eye located the target
Ordinary person (average)	180 degrees per second (~50 km/h)
Fighter pilot	180 degrees per second (average)
Benedikt, amateur table tennis player	205 degrees per second
Timo Boll	330 degrees per second (~90 km/h)

The pilot was average. Jendrusch explains that his profession does not demand that much from the eye muscles; racket sports do. As for Benedikt, he says the result comes from his age (he is young) and also from the sport, which taught him to perceive movement early. Boll’s motion vision, according to him, is 50 to 60% above the average person.

Behind the report there is serious work. Between 2007 and 2008, Bochum and the Aalen Institute of Optics put together a complete profile of the German national team’s vision. Boll’s motion vision was about 20% better than that of his teammates. In the interview that accompanies the study (Zeitschrift für praktische Augenheilkunde, 2008), he says he reads the stamp on the ball mainly on the serve; on hard balls, it is not possible. In the same work, racket sport athletes score well above athletes from other sports and people who do not play sports.

And the good part: according to Jendrusch, motion vision can be trained very well. In tennis and volleyball, there are already specific exercises for it. Boll himself says the same.

Sound also changes the speed you “see”

This is where it gets interesting. Sound does not just arrive first: it changes the speed you think the ball has.

German researcher Rouwen Cañal-Bruland and colleagues showed tennis videos in which the hit sounded louder or quieter, with the same image. The louder the sound, the farther people thought the ball would land (Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 2018). In a second study (Cognitive Research, 2022), with and without the sound of the hit, people judged the ball faster when they heard the sound, even though it was exactly the same video. In a simulated baseball test (eNeuro, 2023), a louder hit made people overestimate the ball’s speed.

And then there is the startle. A loud, sudden sound triggers an ancient body reflex that speeds up the reaction and puts more force into the movement. In a 2024 study, reaction time dropped from about 169 ms (image only) to 140 ms (image and sound) and to 108 ms with a 120-decibel startling sound. That is why we get “startled” by that ball that cracks loudly off the opponent’s racket, and often it is not even that fast. Beginners even blink, which makes defending that ball even harder. The body reacts to the noise, not to the ball.

Why the ball seems slower in a big hall

Now put all this together with what everyone feels in a big hall. There are four things adding up: two of perception and two real ones.

The same sport, two worlds: the table tennis venue at the 2008 Beijing Games and our Academy's room in its first year. Photos: Andre Kiwitz (Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0) and 360TT.

1. Sound spreads out

In a small room, the walls and ceiling are close. The echo of the hit comes back almost together with the original sound, and the noise gets louder and “fuller”. In a big hall, the ceiling is high and the walls are far away: with a wall 15 meters away, the echo arrives about 85 ms later, separate, weak, mixed with the noise from other tables and the crowd. The hit sounds smaller. And, as we saw, a quieter hit makes the ball seem slower. I did not find a study measuring this inside a hall: it is the link between what the studies show and what we experience at the table.

2. The eyes lose their reference

In 1931, psychologist J. F. Brown showed that the speed we perceive depends on the “frame” around the movement: in a larger frame, the same movement seems slower (Psychologische Forschung). In a small room, the ball passes in front of nearby walls and objects. In a big hall, the background is far away and dark, and the table even looks smaller.

3. Distance: the ball travels farther and really arrives slower

This part is not an illusion. In larger halls, there is often more space per table, and with more room behind the table we tend to step back further. A table tennis ball is light and loses speed very quickly in the air, especially today’s 40+ balls, which are larger than the old 38 mm ones (I told that story in the ball guide). By our calculations, a ball that leaves the racket at 72 km/h and flies 4.5 m instead of 3 m arrives about 19% slower and about 130 ms later. It is the factor that weighs the most.

4. Cold and humidity on the rubber

A big hall, air-conditioned or without sunlight, tends to be colder. And rubber is very sensitive to cold: it loses elasticity and plays slower. Humidity matters too: the rubber loses grip and the ball slips. It is no accident that so many players rub the rubber with their hand and breathe on it between points: the breath warms the rubber a little and, together with the hand, removes the dust. Sure, we live in a tropical country and it is hot here, but bear in mind that in many countries where table tennis is popular, winters are harsh and below-zero temperatures are normal.

The subject is so serious in those countries that heated racket cases have appeared: one by Donic, called Rubber Warmer, and a case with a patented heating element that, according to the manufacturers, brought the rubber to 40–50 °C. Players who tried them say on forums that the racket gets much faster for about 30 to 40 minutes. The idea did not catch on, but it shows how big the effect of cold is.

What about the air in the hall?

That barely changes anything. Air pressure depends on altitude, not on the size of the room: it is the same in the big hall and the small one in the same city. Temperature changes air density a little: between 15 °C and 30 °C, the ball loses only about 1% more speed in the cold by the time it reaches you. Humidity changes the air even less. In other words: in a big hall, the culprits are the sound, the background, the distance and, perhaps, the cold rubber. Not the air.

At altitude, the air really changes the game

Changing cities is another story. The higher you go, the thinner the air, and that affects two things.

The first is air resistance: with thinner air, the ball loses less speed along the way.

The second is the Magnus effect, the force that makes a spinning ball curve. On a topspin, the spin pushes the ball down; that is why you can hit hard and the ball still lands on the table. And this force is huge: in our simulation, the same ball without spin would go more than 1 meter farther. The catch is that the Magnus effect depends on the air: with thinner air, the same spin curves the ball less.

Colombian researcher Jorge Escobar, a fluid mechanics specialist and table tennis player, says that in Bogotá (2,600 m) topspin drops less and balls go long (American Physical Society, 2012). We did the math for a topspin at 54 km/h that leaves the racket 40 cm behind the table, 15 cm above it, and lands near the end of the table at sea level. The same stroke, changing nothing:

Where	Air thinner than at sea level	The ball lands
Santos (sea level)	reference	at the end of the table
Belo Horizonte (~850 m)	~10%	~15 cm farther
Brasília (~1,170 m)	~13%	~20 cm farther
Bogotá (~2,600 m)	~27%	~46 cm farther (off the table)

The same stroke in four cities, to scale. 360TT simulation.

These are estimates from a simple model, not measurements. Temperature also plays a part: the same stroke lands about 7 cm farther on a 30 °C day than on a 15 °C one.

What this means in practice:

If you train at altitude and play on the coast, you feel the ball dropping sooner and arriving slower, the same feeling as in a big hall. It is worth raising your topspin arc a little and, if needed, making your racket a little faster. Playing closer to the table can also help.
If you come from sea level to altitude, you see the ball going long. The answer is to close the racket more and trade a little power for spin.
In both cases, use your first session in the new place to calibrate the length of your ball: pay attention to the sound and the depth of your ball, whether it is landing shorter or longer on the opponent’s side.

What the pros do

That is why so many professionals adjust their racket for big halls. In a 2021 video showing how he glues his rubbers, Dimitrij Ovtcharov says he uses more layers of glue when the hall is big. I also remember Samsonov saying he switched to a faster blade in these venues. Others use more booster. And this is nothing new: when the 40+ ball arrived, slower and with less spin, even Ma Long changed his blade to compensate (Ma Long’s lesson).

Boll, Ovtcharov and Steger, team bronze in London 2012, and Samsonov in Beijing 2008. Photos: Joel Solomon (Flickr, CC BY 2.0) and Andre Kiwitz (Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0).

And they all do one thing first: they get to know the hall. At major tournaments, the best players practice in the competition hall in the days before, precisely to recalibrate sound, background, distance and ball. We can say that acclimatizing to a new playing venue is extremely important.

What to take to your game

1. Arrive early and hit in the hall

A tournament in a big hall, or in another city? Arrive early and hit as much as possible at the venue. Your brain needs to recalibrate the sound, the background, the distance and the length of the ball. The first points of the match are not the place for that. And, between points, keep your rubber clean, dry and warm if the venue is cold.

2. Adjust your racket carefully, and never on match day

If you always play in a small room and are going to a tournament in a big hall (or coming down from altitude to the coast), you can do what Ovtcharov does: one more layer of glue. Our performance glues work exactly like that. With EasyGlue Green+, two layers keep the original speed of the setup, and from the third layer on the glue creates an elastic film that makes the racket faster with each layer. EasyGlue Carbon does the same with a more direct response, like a carbon blade.

EasyGlue Green+ glue360TT water-based performance glue: two layers keep the speed of the setup; three or more make the racket faster with each layer. Visit the store →

Two rules: test it in practice before the tournament (never change anything on the day) and remember that the glue film counts toward the ITTF’s 4 mm thickness limit. Booster is another option; I explained everything in the post Let’s talk about boosters?.

3. Train with earplugs

Wear earplugs in some practice sessions. You will notice how often the sound of a hard ball scares you more than the power of the ball: without the crack, that ball that seemed like a rocket arrives much more “normal”. You also learn to trust your visual reading more, which helps in a noisy hall. A German study (Petri and colleagues, 2017) found no difference in the stroke quality of beginner and advanced players when the sound of the ball was removed or its volume changed: you can play well without it.

🤟 Table tennis without sound: the Deaflympics

Deaf athletes do not compete in the Paralympics: they have their own Games, the Deaflympics, which have existed since 1924 (older than the Paralympics) and include table tennis. Brazil has already hosted one edition, in Caxias do Sul (2022), and the most recent was in Tokyo, in November 2025.

The most curious rule: to compete, athletes need a hearing loss of at least 55 decibels in the better ear, and hearing aids and cochlear implants are banned in the entire playing area. Athletes are checked at the entrance to the court and can be disqualified if they are wearing one. In other words: everyone plays without the sound clue, on purpose. It is earplug training taken to the extreme. And notice what this rule says: if hearing the ball made no difference, hearing aids would not need to be banned. The rule itself recognizes that hearing matters in the game, exactly what this post argues.

And the brain compensates. In a study with lights flashing at the sides of the field of vision (Codina and colleagues, Frontiers in Psychology, 2017), adults deaf from an early age reacted on average about 146 ms faster than hearing people. The advantage only shows up in peripheral vision, precisely the kind that helps follow the ball’s trajectory.

The greatest example comes from China: Shi Ce, who was born with an ear malformation and started playing at age 9, won more than 10 golds at the Deaflympics. In 2005, Shi Ce won all four events at the Chinese National Games, against hearing athletes, in the strongest country in the world in the sport.

Then take the earplugs out and do the opposite: pay attention to the sound of your opponent’s hit (flat, brushed, muffled). In multiball, the coach varies the spin and you try to say what it was by the sound, before the ball arrives.

4. With glare in the hall: listen to the hit and watch the trajectory

In a hall with glare (light reflecting off the floor, a window behind the table) or with low contrast in the background (a white or light wall), the ball tends to “disappear” at some point along its trajectory. When you have the ball locked in your sights, that disappearance creates a pause: the brain waits for the ball to reappear before reacting, and you are late.

In these venues, I have always told my athletes to pay more attention to the sound of contact on the opponent’s racket and to watch the ball with their peripheral vision, following the trajectory instead of locking onto the ball. It seems the brain already identifies the trajectory and does not depend on the ball all the time. Science supports this:

The periphery of the retina is faster at picking up changes than the center, which is best for detail (Jendrusch, 2008).
High-level players do not always follow the ball with their eyes all the way: they jump their gaze to where it is going (Aoyama and colleagues, Frontiers in Sports and Active Living, 2022). With a slow ball, the eye glides along with it; with a fast ball, it “jumps” after it, and Boll’s brain, according to Jendrusch, already knows where the next jump has to go.
When the ball disappears for an instant, the brain completes the trajectory on its own, using experience and gravity (Bosco and colleagues, PLOS ONE, 2012).

Combine this with the sound of the hit, which arrives first, and the ball that disappears in the glare is no longer a problem.

Tip

The ear gives the clue; the eye confirms it. If sound and image “disagree” (a hit that cracks loudly, but a ball that comes slowly), trust what you see.

5. Keep your vision and hearing in check

None of this replaces eyes and ears that work well. If you have not read it yet, go back to the post on vision in table tennis and, when in doubt, see an eye doctor.

The same goes for your ears. We lose a little hearing over time, slowly and almost without noticing; age-related loss starts before old age, and years of noise (concerts, loud headphones, work) speed it up. If the sound of the ball is part of how you read the game, it is worth seeing an ENT doctor and getting an audiometry, the test that measures hearing. Hearing loss cannot be reversed, but you can catch it early, protect what you have and compensate in your game by relying more on your eyes.

The bottom line

The ball is the same in any hall. What changes is what reaches your eyes and your ears, and how your brain puts the two together. Sound arrives first, tells you the spin before the image does and even changes the speed you think the ball has. Big hall, small room, cold, altitude: each place affects that reading, and those who understand it adapt faster.

And most importantly: reading the ball is not a gift for the few, it is training. The eyes learn to follow the trajectory, the ears learn to recognize the hit, and a good amount of time in the hall before the match recalibrates everything. If you learn to hear the ball, you gain a few milliseconds that, on a 2.74 m table, are worth points. Train your eyes, take care of your ears and pay attention to the next crack that comes from the other side of the table.

And you, do you pay attention to the sound of your opponent’s racket? Have you ever noticed the ball “slower” in a big hall, or felt strange playing in a higher city or on the coast? Tell me in the comments.

SpeedUp Pro booster user manual

Thu, 20 Aug 2026 13:36:00 -0300

SpeedUp Pro is here for those who are not satisfied with the standard. If you scanned the QR code on the bottle, welcome to the more elastic side of power. If you got here through the 360TT blog, sit down, because class is in session.

This is not just another generic booster: it is a formulation designed to penetrate deep into the sponge and give back what a lot of rubbers lose over time: dwell time, deep arc and that catapult effect that makes the ball leave the racket “glued” to it until the very last millimeter. But, like any high-performance tool, the Pro demands method. Follow this guide and transform your rubber without losing control along the way.

SpeedUp Pro is the opposite proposal to SpeedUp X: instead of preserving firmness, it softens and “releases” the sponge to generate more spin and more arc on the topspin.

Phase 1: surgical preparation (cleaning)

Before thinking about elasticity, we need cleanliness. The Pro’s oil has to penetrate the sponge, and layers of old glue are barriers that prevent even absorption.

New rubbers: they usually come ready. You can skip to Phase 2.
Used rubbers: you must remove 100% of the old glue from the sponge.

Expert tip

Is the glue hard to remove? You can use a little SpeedUp Pro itself to soften the old layer. Another professional solution is to apply our EasyGlue glue (white version) over the old glue; its formula helps create a single film that makes removal easier without damaging the sponge.

Phase 2: applying it to the sponge

With the sponge clean and free of glue, let’s start the treatment. Thanks to the oil’s low viscosity and to the spray, which spreads the product in an ultra-thin, even film (no thick drops, no waste), the 30ml bottle of SpeedUp Pro goes a long way, even with generous doses.

Step by step

Application:
- On rubbers that are already cut: 12 to 15 sprays.
- On new rubbers, still square (not cut): 15 to 20 sprays, since there is more sponge area to cover.
Massage: cut a small piece of the applicator sponge provided. Spread and rub the product well, pressing on the rubber’s sponge to help absorption. The Pro’s ultra-thin formulation penetrates quickly, so work with light, constant movements.
Working time: let it work for 2h to 4h between coats. Note: the criterion here is different from what you may be used to. The sponge must be dry to the touch, not necessarily dry to the eye. Don’t judge by sight, judge by your finger.

How many coats should you apply? Since it is a very thin oil, with less mass per spray, we recommend 3 coats for the ideal result in elasticity and catapult. Went beyond that, my friend? You have left the tested and approved comfort zone and entered a lawless land, where the only guarantee is your own courage (and the integrity of the ball).

360TT safety alert

The recommended limit is no more than 20 sprays per coat and no more than 5 coats. That said: only a madman, or someone who truly isn’t afraid of waking up with an impossible-to-control catapult racket, would get to 5 coats. Consider yourself warned. 😄

Bubbles and lifting

Each coat makes the sponge stretch more and more. The problem is that the top sheet does not keep up with this growth at the same speed, and this mismatch is what increases the tension on the glue line. As a result, the ever stronger impact of the ball when you hit a drive can favor the appearance of bubbles. That is why you should respect the recommended number of coats: the goal is extra elasticity, not a ruined rubber.

Material sensitivity

Note that rubbers react in different ways:

Sensitive rubbers (tensioned, porous European/Japanese): they already have a more pliable sponge, so the Pro’s effect tends to be faster and more intense. Use it in moderation so you don’t lose control.
Dense rubbers (Chinese/hard sponge): they are the Pro’s ideal target audience, since it penetrates deeply to soften stiffer structures. They may benefit from more coats to reach the ideal elastic effect.

Phase 3: professional assembly

Once the treatment is done, you will notice the rubber has become visibly softer and more pliable to the touch, the sign that the elasticity has been released in the sponge structure.

When the sponge is dry to the touch (remember: to the touch, not to the eye) and shows no traces of oil, it is ready to be glued.

The official recommendation

After releasing so much elasticity in the sponge, the choice of glue is what will define the final character of your setup. We have two recommendations, depending on your style:

EasyGlue Carbon: for those who want to balance the Pro’s extra softness with firmness and precision. The glue creates a more direct connection, holding back a little of the released elasticity and giving back that precise, crisp feel on fast balls.
EasyGlue Green+ (2026 release): for those who want to go the opposite way and extract the absolute maximum catapult effect and dwell time, adding the glue’s elasticity to the elasticity already released by the booster. This is the pair for those who think only about topspin with a deep arc.

If the rubber is very pliable and you have trouble gluing it, contact our team. We are here to help.

Now it’s your turn. Assemble your racket, go to the table and feel the wonderful sound and deep arc on your very first topspin. Enjoy your training!

At 360TT, it’s quality by players, for players.

SpeedUp Pro booster360TT ultra-thin spray booster: maximum elasticity and catapult effect, with a working time of 2h to 4h per coat. 30ml bottle. Buy in the store →

SpeedUp X Booster User Manual

Mon, 12 Jan 2026 20:02:00 -0300

SpeedUp X is for players who won’t give up precision, even under pressure. If you scanned the QR code on the bottle, you’ve found the booster that delivers power without losing a firm touch. If you got here through the 360TT blog, get ready to understand the technology behind the brand’s new generation of optimizers.

Unlike traditional treatments, which usually soften the sponge to gain speed, SpeedUp X takes a different path: it works on the structure of the material to generate propulsion without compromising the original firmness (stiffness) of the rubber. The result is a lethal attack with the same direct, solid response you already know, without that feeling of “excessive softness” that gets in the way of control. As a bonus, the formula also improves the glue’s grip on the sponge, helping prevent that annoying lifting at the edges of the rubber.

SpeedUp X is the opposite approach to SpeedUp Pro: while the Pro penetrates deep to make the sponge extremely elastic and pliable, the X preserves the structural firmness for solid, direct strokes. If you are looking for the middle ground between the two approaches, SpeedUp 360 is the in-between choice.

Phase 1: surgical preparation (cleaning)

Before thinking about speed, we need cleanliness. The booster has to penetrate the sponge, and layers of old glue are barriers that prevent even absorption.

New rubbers: they usually come ready. You can skip to Phase 2.
Used rubbers: you must remove 100% of the old glue from the sponge.

Expert tip

Is the glue hard to remove? You can use a little SpeedUp X itself to soften the old layer. Another professional solution is to apply our EasyGlue glue (white version) over the old glue; its formula helps create a single film that makes removal easier without damaging the sponge.

Phase 2: applying it to the sponge

With the sponge clean and free of glue, let’s start the treatment. The 60ml bottle of SpeedUp X has an applicator nozzle (no spray here) and a safety cap.

Step by step

Application: draw a generous “X” of SpeedUp X on the sponge, covering the whole surface well.
Massage: cut a small piece of the applicator sponge provided and use it to spread and rub the product in well, pressing on the rubber’s sponge to help absorption.
Waiting time: unlike other boosters in the line, SpeedUp X has a high-viscosity formula, which means a longer curing time. Let it work for at least 12h, but the ideal is to wait 24h per coat for a complete effect. The sponge must be dry to the touch, with no trace of oil.

How many coats? We recommend 2 coats for the ideal result: power with the firmness intact. Went past 3? Good luck. You’ll need it.

360TT safety alert

The recommended limit is 3 coats at most. Go beyond that and you are no longer optimizing the rubber, you are challenging physics, and physics, historically, always wins.

Bubbles and lifting

As with any booster treatment, applying too many coats can increase the tension between the sponge and the top sheet, making bubbles more likely to appear. This risk is the same with any booster, regardless of the formula. What SpeedUp X reinforces is something else: the glue’s grip on the sponge, helping prevent it from coming loose on the underside with use. But that does not replace being careful with the number of coats.

Material sensitivity

SpeedUp X has an interesting profile precisely because it does not push the sponge to a single extreme:

Sensitive rubbers (European/Japanese): they are naturally softer already. The X helps keep them from becoming even looser, preserving response and control even with the gain in power.
Dense rubbers (Chinese/hard sponge): if you like the natural firmness of these rubbers, the X is excellent: it adds speed without softening what already works well.

Phase 3: professional assembly

Once the treatment is done, you will notice the rubber has curved, forming a dome. The rule here is the same as with SpeedUp 360: the higher the dome, the more tensioned and faster it has become.

When the sponge is dry to the touch and shows no trace of oil, it is ready to be glued.

The official recommendation: EasyGlue Carbon

To unlock 100% of SpeedUp X’s potential, the combination is essential: the stiffness of the carbon particles in EasyGlue Carbon complements the firmness preserved by the booster treatment, creating a setup with maximum speed and absolute precision.

Since SpeedUp X reinforces the glue’s grip on the sponge, successive coats of booster can make that grip more sensitive. If you have any trouble when gluing, contact our team. We are here to help.

Now it’s your turn. Assemble your racket, go to the table and feel the explosive power without losing precision on your very first attack. Enjoy your training!

At 360TT, it’s quality by players, for players.

SpeedUp X boosterHigh-viscosity 360TT booster: power without losing the rubber's firmness. 60ml bottle with applicator nozzle. Buy in the store →

SpeedUp 360 booster user manual

Tue, 06 Jan 2026 17:03:00 -0300

If you just scanned the QR code on the bottle of your new SpeedUp 360, congratulations: you now hold the right tool to unlock the full potential of your equipment. If you got here browsing the 360TT blog, get ready for a technical lesson.

We will show how our universal booster works (it acts on any brand or type of rubber, including pips!) and, most importantly, how to apply it safely so your racket does not become uncontrollable.

SpeedUp 360 is technology and science working for your game. But, like any high-performance tool, it requires method. Follow this guide to get a “national team level” result.

Phase 1: surgical preparation (cleaning)

Before thinking about speed, we need cleanliness. The booster has to penetrate the sponge, and layers of old glue are barriers that prevent even absorption.

New rubbers: they usually come ready. You can skip to Phase 2.
Used rubbers: you must remove 100% of the old glue from the sponge.

Expert tip

Is the glue hard to remove? You can use a little SpeedUp 360 itself to soften the old layer. Another professional solution is to apply our EasyGlue glue (white version) over the old glue; its formula helps create a single film that makes removal easier without damaging the sponge.

Phase 2: applying it to the sponge

With the sponge clean and free of glue, let’s start the treatment. A bottle of SpeedUp 360 goes a long way: it treats up to 10 rubbers (one coat) or up to 6 rubbers (two coats).

Step by step

Application: spray an even coat of 8 to 12 sprays onto the sponge.
Massage: cut a small piece of the applicator sponge provided. Spread and rub the product well, pressing on the rubber’s sponge to help absorption.
Waiting time: let it work until there is no visible trace of the product. The sponge should be “dry to the touch”. This usually takes 12 to 24 hours.

Want more speed? Once it is completely dry, if you want even more speed, apply a second coat following the same process.

360TT safety alert

Don’t get carried away! We do not recommend more than 15 sprays per coat, or more than 3 consecutive coats. If you overdo it, the rubber can become excessively fast and almost uncontrollable. Balance is the secret.

Material sensitivity

Rubbers react in different ways:

Sensitive rubbers (soft European/Japanese): they react quickly. They may be ready in less than 12 hours, as long as there are no traces on the sponge.
Dense rubbers (Chinese): hard sponges are less permeable. They may need a longer wait and, sometimes, more coats to reach the ideal effect.

Phase 3: the secret trick (reviving the top sheet)

SpeedUp 360 is not only for the sponge. It also revitalizes the surface (top sheet), restoring grip to a rubber that already feels tired.

Deep cleaning: clean the surface thoroughly with our SpinUp cleaner to remove sweat and grease.
Light application: apply only 3 to 5 sprays of SpeedUp 360 to the rubber, spreading it well.
Don’t rub: just spread it gently.
Rest: let it work for a few hours until no trace of the product remains on the top sheet.

Phase 4: professional assembly

Once the treatment is done, you will notice the rubber has curved, forming a “dome”. The rule is simple: the higher the dome, the more tensioned and faster it has become.

When the sponge is dry to the touch and shows no traces of oil, it is ready to be glued. But note: gluing a tensioned (curved) rubber requires a glue that can hold it.

The official recommendation: EasyGlue Green

To finish the setup in style, we strongly recommend EasyGlue Green. Why?

Catapult effect: Green creates an elastic layer that produces a “spring effect”, boosting the work done by the booster even further.
Reliable grip: it was designed to keep a secure bond even under tension, so the effect lasts longer.
Optimized performance: we recommend 3 or more coats of EasyGlue Green on the rubber to get the most out of this potential.

If the rubber is very curved and you have trouble gluing it, contact our team. We are here to help.

Now it’s your turn. Assemble your racket, go to the table and feel the difference on your first drive. Enjoy your training!

At 360TT, it’s quality by players, for players.

SpeedUp 360 boosterUniversal 360TT booster: works on any brand or type of rubber, including pips. Treats up to 10 rubbers per bottle. Buy in the store →

Why Is Your Glue Water-Based Today? The "Speed Glue" Crisis

Fri, 31 Oct 2025 17:56:00 -0300

If you’re a veteran player, you probably remember the smell. A strong, chemical smell that took over every competition hall. If you’re a newer player, maybe you’ve heard people talk with nostalgia about the “click”, the iconic sound the racket made in the 80s and 90s.

That smell and that sound came from the same place: “speed glue”. For decades, it was the elite’s secret for generating absurd speed and spin. But it was also at the center of a health crisis that forced table tennis to change forever.

To understand why your TENSOR rubber is so elastic and why your glue is water-based today, we need to tell this story. Our analysis is largely based on a fantastic historical article by Jens Fellke, the author of the Jan-Ove Waldner biography (“When the Feeling Decides”). In a report for USA Table Tennis Magazine (Mar/Apr 2009), he detailed this saga.

Chapter 1: the magical “click” (the discovery)

The story begins by accident in the 70s with the Hungarian player Tibor Klampar. During a practice session, frustrated with his game, he peeled off his rubber and glued on a new one. He didn’t like it, peeled it off again and re-glued the original. Suddenly, he heard a “click”.

Klampar realized that his original rubber was suddenly much faster and had more spin. He had found the jackpot: applying fresh glue with volatile solvents (VOCs) before playing “supercharged” the rubber. The game became faster and more aggressive, allowing the famous topspin-against-topspin rallies with players meters away from the table.

Chapter 2: the hysteria and the dark side

Klampar kept his secret for more than a year. But once it was discovered, the table tennis world changed. Gluing became a “hysteria”.

The ritual was to apply coat after coat of glue before every practice and every match, sometimes six times a day. Players traveled with cans of highly flammable glue smuggled in their suitcases.

🤓 360TT technical view: the real risk

The problem was health. The solvents were toxic. Fellke’s article cites several alarming incidents:

A player in Scotland passed out after spilling a jar of glue and inhaling the fumes.
Doctors warned about neurological risks, headaches, concentration problems and even a link to birth defects.
The situation got so serious that doctors advised athletes to wear gas masks while gluing.

The legendary Stellan Bengtsson had a famous story: he told of parents arriving to pick up their beginner kids at the club and seeing the main team’s players wearing gas masks, thinking they had walked into a “chemical warfare exercise”. The sport’s image was being seriously damaged.

Chapter 3: the ban and the modern era

The ITTF tried to ban speed glue in 1993, but failed. Pressure from players and the lack of a reliable test made the federation back down.

However, the pressure for a “green” and safe sport continued. In 2004, the ITTF voted for a definitive ban on all solvents (VOCs), a rule that took effect on September 1, 2008, right after the Beijing Olympics.

Chapter 4: the solutions (today’s game)

The ban created a vacuum. How do you get speed without speed glue? The industry, which was already preparing for this, answered with two innovations that define today’s game:

“Tensioned” rubbers (TENSOR / High Tension): manufacturers such as ESN (with TENSOR technology) and Butterfly (High Tension) figured out how to put the “spring effect” in from the factory, inside the rubber. They come “supercharged” permanently and safely.
VOC-Free glues (water-based): the new glues, safe and approved by the ITTF, were created. They are 100% water-based and their job is no longer to “supercharge”, but to fix the tensioned rubber to the blade as efficiently as possible.

360TT expert analysis

The speed glue era was exciting, but it was a “chemical war” that fortunately ended. It changed the game forever, forcing the sport to become faster and more athletic.

It’s even a little ironic to look at how the market has evolved. In the 90s, many of us used classic rubbers like the Yasaka Mark V with a 2.5mm sponge. With speed glue, that sponge swelled and easily reached 2.7mm. Curiously, one of the biggest releases of 2025, the Butterfly Zyre-03, is treated as a major innovation precisely because it has a sponge of… 2.7mm. The sport has come full circle.

Fortunately, today we no longer need gas masks. Performance now comes from the technology built into the rubbers (TENSOR) and from modern glues that, besides being safe and 100% within the rules, also help performance. Solutions like EasyGlue Green and EasyGlue Carbon (with its carbon technology) are the best example of this evolution: maximum performance, with total safety and respect for the current rules.

Now I want to hear from you: did you live through the speed glue era? What is your memory of the “click”? Tell me here in the comments.

Discover the full EasyGlue glue line

Table Tennis Serve: 5 Tips to Surprise Your Opponent (and the Equipment That Helps)

Wed, 22 Oct 2025 20:24:00 -0300

The serve in table tennis is your first attack and the most controlled stroke a player has. Unlike any other moment of the game, you have complete control over it, with no interference from your opponent.

The main goal of a good serve is to disrupt your opponent, pulling them out of their comfort zone and, ideally, either winning the point outright or setting up a decisive attack. If you can turn your first attack into a powerful play, your whole game becomes much stronger, because your opponent will constantly worry about what you’ll do next.

Here are 5 essential tips to improve your serve and catch your opponent by surprise.

TL;DR: the serve is the only stroke you fully control, and surprise comes from disguising the spin, varying the height of the toss and forcing your opponent to move. Since most points are decided in the first three balls, set up the next attack and keep the no-spin serve as a lethal weapon. The right equipment amplifies spin and control, and training with targets and multiball completes the package.

5 tactical tips to surprise your opponent

1. Master the art of disguise (variation is key)

The essence of a surprising serve is illusion. A serve that is always obvious and telegraphed won’t fool experienced players, making your opponent’s return easy.

The secret is to make your serves, even with different spins and speeds, look identical until the last second. Use a semicircular motion (down, sideways and up) and accelerate into the contact. That way, your opponent won’t be able to tell which part of the arc the contact happened on, making it harder to read the spin (backspin, sidespin or topspin).

Of course, an “obvious” serve can be used on purpose, to set your opponent up for a variation on the next play. What can’t happen is for it to be obvious because of a lack of technique.

360TT tip

Exaggerate the racket’s follow-through in the direction opposite to the intended spin (for example, finish downward for a topspin serve, or upward for a backspin serve).

2. Use a high toss to break the rhythm

Although the rule requires a minimum toss of 16 cm, there is no maximum height. Varying the height of the toss is a powerful tactic to confuse your opponent’s timing.

A serve with a high toss can take a few seconds for the ball to come down. If you repeatedly use a high toss and suddenly serve with a minimum toss, your opponent, who expected more time, may have muscles unprepared for the quick movement. Besides, a higher toss makes the ball fall faster, which can be turned into extra spin and speed at contact.

3. Mix short and long, aiming at the extreme points

Ball placement is a crucial tactical element. The goal is to force your opponent to move, pulling them out of their comfort base. Even if it’s just one step, that forced movement already hurts the quality of the return.

One of the best combinations is to alternate between short serves to the forehand and deep serves to the backhand (the extreme points of the table), since it’s hard for the receiver to prepare for both.

Short serves: the bounce should land close to the net, making a full-motion attack difficult.
Long serves: fast and aimed at the corners, they are effective as a surprise.

360TT tip

One particularly effective placement, which contrasts with the extremes, is to aim at your opponent’s middle (the elbow of the racket hand). When the ball is played there, your opponent is forced to make a quick decision (use forehand or backhand), which hurts the consistency of the stroke.

4. Set the stage for a fierce attack

Remember: in high-level matches, the majority of all points are won in the first three balls. The serve and the first return are the most important shots.

Your serve will be ten times more threatening if it is followed by a vigorous attack. If your playing style is offensive, short serves let you apply a topspin (attacking stroke) on the next ball, taking the initiative and preventing your opponent’s first offensive action.

5. Master the no-spin serve

The no-spin serve (with no spin on the ball) is a lethal variation. You can imitate the motion of a backspin serve but, instead of brushing the ball, make contact close to the handle (where the surface moves more slowly) and simply push the ball gently.

Your opponent, expecting backspin, will probably lift the ball, handing you an easy attack. If they expect topspin and close the racket, the ball goes straight into the net.

How the right equipment improves your serve

Technique is fundamental, but to get the most spin and control, the right equipment works as an amplifier. Based on the tactics above, here is what you need to know:

1. To generate maximum spin (tips 1 and 4)

You need rubbers with a tacky top sheet (upper surface). Chinese rubbers are famous for this trait, letting you “grab” the ball and generate extreme rotation, essential for disguising the spin or executing the no-spin serve.

Our recommendation: take a look at the DHS Hurricane or the PF4-50 lines, which are masters at generating spin.

2. To keep the serve short and low (tip 3)

Control is everything. Rubbers that, by nature, help keep a lower and deeper ball trajectory (especially harder Chinese rubbers) make it easier to execute serves that are hard to counterattack. Combined with a blade with good feel (control), you’ll have the sensitivity needed to make the ball “die” on your opponent’s side of the table.

Our recommendation: explore our 5-ply or 7-ply blades that prioritize control and sensitivity.

3. To ensure consistency (the “do it yourself” factor)

The quality of your gluing directly affects the feel of your racket. Using a quality glue, like 360TT EasyGlue, ensures an even layer and the perfect adhesion so that the rubber performs exactly as expected.

Our recommendation: learn to glue your own racket. Check out our EasyGlue glue and the SpinUp Cleaner to keep your equipment at competition performance.

Bonus: tools for focused training

Improving your serve takes repetition.

Targets (target zones): use tape or markings on the table to define specific areas (lines, corners, elbow). Mastering placement is what separates high-level players.
Multiball training (robots or basket): this is the best way to train serve and receive technique. With a basket of balls, you can focus 100% on executing the motion, refining speed, spin and direction without interruptions.

Conclusion: practice and surprise

A good serve is built with repetition and intention. Start by choosing one or two of these tactics to train in a focused way. You’ll see how, in a short time, your confidence to start the point will grow and your opponents will get more and more uncomfortable.

Now I want to hear from you: which of these 5 tips will you train first? Leave a comment below!

Discover the rubbers at the 360TT store

Which 360TT Glue to Use? The Definitive EasyGlue Guide

Sat, 27 Sep 2025 20:16:00 -0300

Equipment guide

When it comes to building a racket, every table tennis player knows how important the blade and the rubber are. But the most detail-oriented players understand that glue is not just an adhesive: it is a performance component. The layer that bonds your playing tools together can drastically change the speed, the feel and the precision of your strokes.

That is why at 360TT we take glue seriously. The EasyGlue line is the result of research and development with Brazilian athletes, created for our climate and our style of play. Under the motto “Quality from those who play, for those who play”, we created a solution for every goal. Find out which one is yours.

EasyGlue performance guide: find yours!

From a practical, safe gluing job to an explosive gain in speed, there is an EasyGlue for your game. Here are the details of each one:

For convenience and confidence: EasyGlue

EasyGlue is the solution for those who want efficiency and respect for the original characteristics of their equipment. It is the ideal choice for a professional racket assembly with no complications.

Low viscosity: its more liquid consistency lets you spread the glue evenly and effortlessly.
Neutral feel: preserves 100% of the original feel of your blade and rubber, without interfering with performance.
Neutral speed: adds no speed, keeping full control of your setup.
Clean removal: makes changing rubbers easier, letting you peel off the old glue film without damaging the material.

See EasyGlue in the store

For control and easy removal: EasyGlue VISC

For the table tennis player who demands absolute control over every detail, EasyGlue VISC offers precise application and incredibly easy removal. It was created for those who value a clean, efficient process.

High viscosity: the thick consistency prevents dripping, ensuring controlled application and an even layer.
Simplified removal: the thicker layer turns into a single film, making removal quick and clean.
Slight speed increase: adds a subtle speed “plus” to your strokes, without changing the original feel of your setup.
Neutral feel: keeps intact the feel and characteristics you already know from your racket.

See EasyGlue VISC in the store

For offensive performance and spin: EasyGlue GREEN

Developed for offensive players, EasyGlue GREEN is a true performance upgrade. Its technology goes beyond bonding, acting as a power layer that propels the ball.

Spring (catapult) effect: when you apply 3 or more coats, the glue creates an elastic film that significantly increases the speed of your strokes.
Elastic feel: gives a softer sensation, increasing the contact time with the ball (dwell time) and, consequently, the potential for spin.
Higher throw angle: the formula results in a higher launch angle, ideal for attacking strokes.
Optimized performance: to get the most out of it, applying 3 or more coats to the sponge is essential.

See EasyGlue GREEN in the store

For explosive speed and precision: EasyGlue CARBON

Meet the world’s first carbon glue! EasyGlue CARBON is the peak of performance, designed for the aggressive player who wants the most in speed, power and precision.

Extreme speed: its formula, with 3 or more coats, unleashes maximum potential for low, powerful and deep attacks.
Direct, precise feel: inspired by carbon rackets, it creates a direct and crisp sensation, resulting in greater precision in blocks and fast attacks.
Visible technology: as it dries, the glue reveals the carbon particles, the visual proof of the technology that is about to boost your game.
Energy transfer: the firm layer, reinforced by carbon, acts as an extension of your racket, catapulting the ball with impressive speed.

See EasyGlue CARBON in the store

Quick comparison table

Model	Viscosity	Main goal	Player profile
EasyGlue	Low (liquid)	Convenience and confidence	All levels
EasyGlue VISC	High (thick)	Controlled application	Those who change rubbers often
EasyGlue GREEN	Medium	Offensive performance	Offensive players
EasyGlue CARBON	High (thick)	Power and precision	Aggressive players

Safety and approved quality

Your health and compliance with the rules are our priority. The entire EasyGlue line is VOC-free (volatile organic compounds), meeting ITTF standards for use in any official competition. In addition, the bottles have a safety cap to prevent leaks and child opening.

Conclusion: upgrade your performance

Now that you know the science and the goal behind each glue in the EasyGlue line, it is easier to choose the right tool for your game. From total control to explosive speed, 360TT has the ideal solution to take your performance to the next level.

Now I want to hear from you: which glue do you use on your racket today, and what do you miss most about it? Tell us in the comments!

Choose your EasyGlue in the 360TT store