What shoe you should wear when you play Table Tennis?

This is my experience, so it may not be applicable to you. I weigh 220 lbs, and have a wider shoulder and heavy body. My legs are lean. The shoes with medium to high sole gives me comfort when I play, however it causes me a lot of knee pain after the play. I will have hard time getting up after I play with heavy sole shoes – my knee simply hurts. I tried a New Balance (NB) Court shoe wide width, and it caused me a lot of knee pain.

I prefer shoes having low sole height – like canvas shoes – with rubber sole. It weigh light also. The most of the table tennis companies like Butterfly, Stiga, Joola make such shoes. I don’t have knee pain when I play in such shoes. However, what I noticed is that the rubber shoes lose its traction slowly, and becomes slippery on wooden floors. I was not satisfied by any NB (New Balance) shoes except their off road light weight shoe. This shoe has good rubber at the bottom, and is not slippery - but this one gives me a knee pain.

This is what I do when I play on wooden floors which are slippery. I will clean the floor before the play which will remove a lot of dust and particles. I keep a wet cloth or paper on the side of the table and dip the tip of my shoe regularly – don’t wet the sole of the whole shoe. If I don’t have access to wet cloth or paper, I just pour water on the side. So, to do this carry a water bottle with you. If you carry drinks like Gatorade, it can help in worst situation, but I don’t prefer that. Another thing you have to do is clean the sole of the shoe before you play.

I don’t have problem playing on rubber floor, cement floor (unless it is so smooth) or carpet. In such situations, I always use my butterfly shoe.

I tried few table tennis company’s shoes. The Killerspin kinetic shoe is very good if you don’t have wider feet. The Butterfly radial shoes have a lot of padding on the sides, and that is what I like most – it is wider for any feet.

Based on your weight, you have to choose a shoe which has good traction with the floor. When you buy a shoe to play table tennis, consider factors like the height of the shoe sole, rubber sole rather than PVC, mesh which gives good ventilation and width of the shoe. The table tennis stores sell shoes made in Europe. When you buy brands like DONIC, STIGA make sure it can fit your feet.