Front Desk Items

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Contents

Checking for damaged equipment

  • Front desk will report lost or damaged equipment on the database. Lost and damaged items are also reported automatically by a script to AHEC weekly.

Buying replacement equipment

  • During business days (M-F), go to Front Desk and get the damaged item. Recycle if it can be recycled. Repair if it can be repaired at low cost.
  • Talk to the AHEC treasurer about funding and purchase replacements appropriately.
  • Do not update the SQL database of front desk items yourself unless you are merely correcting a spelling error or such. Front Desk has an interface (at http://ashdown.mit.edu/frontdesk/) to do this themselves and they will do so as you give them items. If you add and remove items from the system yourself, you may confuse Front Desk.
  • During business days (M-F), give Front Desk the replacement item and let them enter it into the database themselves. Do not give new/replacement items to weekend or holiday staff.

Ping-pong equipment

  • It's worth spending on more than beginner racquets (but not extravagantly) on them because people do make good use of them at an advanced playing level, we have a table in-house (therefore it promotes in-house social life), and ping-pong racquets are easy to maintain. A Tianjin-based company called 729 makes decent competition-grade racquets at reasonably low prices for what you can buy in the USA ($20-30 for racquet alone + $10-15 per rubber). Butterfly, DHS and other companies are of course well-known and great but their prices are sometimes through the roof for what we need. Shop appropriately.
  • Buy only ITTF-approved racquets and ITTF-approved rubbers as they may be used in Ashdown IM matches. Please check every item you buy.
  • Please make sure that each racquet has one black rubber and one red rubber. This is required by ITTF regulation.
  • Having 2-3 types of racquets is appropriate. Avoid having too many more types of rubbers and racquets, as this creates a headache for Front Desk when people check them out.
  • Do not buy new racquets if the paddle is good but the rubber wears off. Learn to replace the rubbers (ask ping-pong players). Rubber cement works okay in the absence of proper ping-pong glue. Do not use any other type of glue, including superglue, Elmer's, Gorilla, etc. as they will damage the racquets.
  • Tacky rubbers collect dust, so they may not necessarily be worn out. Before replacing a rubber, try taking a damp paper towel and wiping the surface lightly. Do not wash the racquet in running water.
  • All-around good websites to shop for ping-pong equipment:
  • I qualitatively estimate that the majority of residents who check out from Front Desk like high-spin tacky rubbers over anti-spin and fast rubbers. I have had good feedback from many residents about the following rubbers, both of which are ITTF approved: Dheera 14:04, 18 September 2009 (EDT)
  • I have had good feedback about the RITC 729 Bomb racquets which are ITTF-approved, overall good for both beginners and intermediate players, and come in versions optimised for both penhold and western grips. Dheera 14:08, 18 September 2009 (EDT)
  • Buy ONLY 3-star balls, please.

Badminton equipment

  • Do not bother buying expensive badminton racquets. $15-30 range is probably what to look for. Unlike ping-pong rubbers, badminton racquets cost time and money to re-string. Badminton racquets are also overall easier to break than ping-pong equipment. They also do not promote in-house social life to the same extent that ping-pong does. Residents who play at an advanced level should purchase their own racquet and care for it.
  • Do not bother re-stringing cheap racquets. It costs more than buying a new cheap racquet.
  • Here are a couple cheap beginner racquets that I have had good feedback about from beginners: Dheera 14:16, 18 September 2009 (EDT)
    • Yonex B-700-DF-Plus
    • Yonex B-600-DF
  • Front desk does not normally stock shuttlecocks because they really do not last long. Beginners who visit the MIT Badminton courts can ask around and realistically find dozens of used, 90% good shuttlecocks, trashed by experts, that are good enough for beginner play. Experts will disagree here, but they always will have their own equipment and won't use Front Desk for anything.
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