Summary table: seven bats, seven profiles

The seven previous sections have described each profile with its internal logic, its nuances and its limits. The table that follows does not replace those descriptions — nuances do not fit in a cell — but it allows a comparison at a glance of the variables that weigh most in the decision: blade, rubbers, weight and the kind of player each combination serves.

Profile	Blade	Forehand rubber	Backhand rubber	Assembled weight	Typical player
12.1 Beginner	All-wood 5-ply, allround	Inverted control or soft tensor (≤ 42° ESN), 1.7 mm to 2.0 mm	Same as forehand	155-175 g	Beginner building technique
12.2 Offensive club	All-wood 5-ply, offensive	Medium tensor (42-47° ESN), 2.0 mm or max.	Same or slightly softer	170-185 g	Competitive club player
12.3 Modern attacking	Outer composite (ALC), 5+2 plies	Hard tensor (> 47° ESN), max.	Medium-hard tensor, 2-3° less	185-200 g	Advanced two-winged attacker
12.4 Chinese style	Outer carbon or all-wood 7-ply	Boosted Hurricane (~ 40° DHS), max.	Medium European/Japanese tensor	190-200+ g	Technical attacker with physical conditioning
12.5 Classic defensive	All-wood 5-ply, defensive	Medium or medium-low tensor, standard thickness	Long pimples, thin sponge or OX	155-175 g	Defender (chopper) with counter-attack
12.6 Blocker	Stiff, 5-7 plies or composite	Medium or medium-low tensor	Short pimples or anti-spin, thin sponge	165-180 g	Blocker close to the table
12.7 Modern allround	Inner composite (inner carbon)	Soft tensor (< 42° ESN), max.	Same or very similar	170-185 g	Versatile player, varied game

A few readings the table makes easier.

The assembled weight traces a clear arc: the extreme control and defensive profiles are the lightest, the pure attacking ones the heaviest. That is no accident. The passive power that mass provides benefits the attacker, while the manoeuvrability that lightness gives benefits the defender and the beginner, as argued in 11.5.

The asymmetry between sides grows as the profile becomes more specialised. The beginner and allround profiles mount almost identical rubbers on both faces; the defensive and blocking ones combine radically different surfaces. The degree of asymmetry is, in itself, an indicator of the kind of game the bat proposes, following the logic described in 11.4.

The blade marks the boundary between families. The first three profiles and the allround share an offensive vocation and differ by type of construction — all-wood, outer composite, inner composite. The defensive and blocking ones start from different premises, where the stiffness or the flex of the blade is after not speed but control of the incoming spin. The Chinese style is a case apart: it shares a blade with the modern attacker but combines it with a rubber whose operating philosophy — friction of the topsheet plus boost — alters the character of the assembly completely.

None of the seven combinations is superior to the others in the abstract. Each resolves a different problem for a different player. The choice begins by identifying what kind of player one is — a diagnosis taken up in chapter 15 — and what style is played or is meant to be played — chapter 16. This table is the map; those chapters, the compass.