Top 10 table tennis tips. Some of these restrictions, especially the first two, place a lot of technical pressure on new players; learning how to serve is much easier when you can do it directly out of a closed hand. For now, all you need to do is have this in the back of your mind. The grip is probably the most fundamental technique to master when learning how to play because, just as in other sports, if you don't use the correct grip when you first start playing, you'll find it extremely difficult to change later - and you'll be unlikely to improve beyond the level of a beginner. 9 Table Tennis Tips and Tricks you should know. So all I needed to do was concentrate on practising my forehand and backhand strokes without having to worry about whether the ball would be in the right place for me to hit it. Find A Table Tennis Club. Yeah I may be getting ahead of myself here. Don’t force this. We’ll start at the beginning – working our way through the normal trajectory of skill improvement, continuously stacking new knowledge on top of what you just learned. This is, by far, the most common grip and the one I recommend you choose. This grip is ideal for beginners and results in a very stable wrist position. These are the most-used strokes in table tennis. Tactics We’ll go through each of them individually in this section. How to Play Table Tennis. At all times after playing a shot, you should get back into this position as quickly as possible. The Geelong Arena hosts a money-spinning leg of the tour, with the leading professional male and female players clashing Down Under and you can get Australian Open table tennis betting tips for all the big matches. We are a bunch of guys and some girls who love to play table tennis at one of our members' backyard. Grantham Table Tennis Academy. So you're now hitting a few good shots and might be a table tennis player who started playing in the office or at home with your family. You’ll never be able to generate a big backswing so forget about power here. Return of service; Footwork Patterns Practice until you can’t feel the top half of your body anymore. I also recommend that you stick to using this grip. By the way, if you don't know the difference between table tennis and ping pong you can find out here. They weigh 0.095 ounces (or 2.7 grams). I hate to be presumptuous, but I tend to think the majority of the American sports betting public is none too familiar with the world of professional table tennis. Something to bear in mind when performing the backspin serve is what I discussed earlier in the “push shot” section of the article. Table tennis moves at a lightning-fast pace. Again, the blade should be slightly closed to impart that little bit of topspin you’re going to need for placement. Practice relentlessly. Or something else monosyllabic. This will form the foundation of what will become a more rounded service game. 16 Useful Table Tennis Tips 1. Since there’s no way of knowing your skill level, nor that of your nemesis, we’re going to take a logical approach with this article. Certain that you’ll defend your newly acquired title from anyone foolish enough to attempt doing the same to you. Probe Your Opponent For Weaknesses. Accuracy and placement is more important here than speed. However, these adverts and affiliate links do not influence the advice and recommendations given on this web site. In these cases the ball simply won’t achieve enough of an arc for you to play the shot properly. The rules of table tennis state that a serve can be made to any part of the opponent’s side of the table. I love to share things related to table tennis in this blog. AboveHouse.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com. About Me  |   Like any physical structure, you can only build on something that has a solid foundation. After serving, the ball must bounce once on the server’s side of the table and once on the receiver’s side. With many different topics. The forehand push is used only when a short ball is traveling directly into your forehand hitting zone. As you get more adept at this technique, you can create even more speed and spin by flicking your wrist forward towards the ball as you make contact with it. Privacy policy. If your intention is to, as the article states, “raise your game to the next level”, I don’t recommend ever doing a standard serve in a match. Like their parents were too busy teaching them how to be good at sports to come up with a better name. To avoid an unforced service error with the fast serve, you have to give the ball enough time to drop down onto the opponent’s side of the table. Creating the right amount of racket speed is critical here. The diameter of a ping pong ball is 1.57 inches (or 4 cm). This article describes the five best explanations behind sports acquisition. If you're a beginner and you're just learning how to play, it's important to understand that the modern game has evolved into one that's dominated by attacking / offensive minded players, and that defensive play has diminished significantly. AATT cannot identify any user who clicks on an advert or affiliate link. If you don’t look like a dork, you’re doing it wrong. Secondly, and this kinda goes without saying, you need to hit the ball hard. The first is that you were on our site, saw the link, and thought to yourself: “Sure, these guys seem to know what they’re talking about. Affiliate links are links to other web sites who sell related table tennis products. News & much more, And get Exclusive Information via Email AllAboutTableTennis, TipsStrategiesTechniquesTacticsRulesEquipmentCoachingNews & much more, Home  |   And as it's truly is a sport for all - whatever your age or physical attributes, you can play too. Keep your knees slightly bent. Table Tennis is best played indoors when using table tennis balls, because the wind outdoors can affect the flight of the ball. Basic Skills. The truth is that practice and a healthy mental attitude will, without a doubt, see your game improve over time, regardless of your natural “talent”. Then he can step back and you come in and play. It feels almost redundant to say this, given how many times I’ve mentioned the importance of practice. Force your opponent out of their comfort zone. Racket angles; Basic ball control. Essentially, you’re holding the top of the racket handle, like a pen, between your thumb and forefinger. Once you’re able to do this, your next step is to focus on the placement of your return. But you will still be able to use certain principles in order to outwit your opponent. Your goal must be to land the ball in a section of the table that forces your opponent into playing a defensive stroke back at you. Practice, practice, practice. Especially when it comes to learning skills involving muscle memory. Techniques •  1 – Research Before Playing. We'll also take a look at these advanced table tennis strokes... And finally we'll take a look at the advanced serve and advanced return of serve, including the Flick (Flip) return. A table tennis blog that you will find it is useful for you. Your body should be square, facing the table front-on and your free arm should be pointing towards the ball. There’s a large psychological component to becoming good at something, and if you’re intent on becoming a great table tennis player, you have to get comfortable with the mental side of the game. Mastering spin is an essential element of advanced table tennis and will determine your ability to play to a higher level. When you successfully execute the backspin serve, you’ll land the ball so close to the opponent’s side of the net that it will bounce twice before they can intervene. I was still at school at the time and I always tried to play whenever and where ever I could. However, if you're playing against a player who is at a much more advanced level than you, then it is unlikely that any strategy you employ will be effective, because of the difference in playing standard. You’re far better off keeping things simple and using a more accessible, but no less successful grip. You’ll often see Asian players making use of this complicated technique. Most clubs have players of all different playing levels. Having said that though, if you're only going to be playing a friendly game with your buddies, just learning a few of the basic skills will probably be enough. Practice this until you can do it in your sleep. With time, your ability to impart more velocity onto the ball with your forehand drive will come. Seriously, if you’re Googling and reading articles on how to become better at table tennis, you’re not ready to attempt this grip. Your feet should be 1.5 shoulder lengths apart from each other. Unlike the backhand push, there’s going to be more body movement with the forehand push. Play this stroke with a sideways stance with your body close to the table. 3. Even if you start playing the game when you're a bit older, coaching is invaluable. As opposed to drive strokes, you should prioritize the backhand push over its forehand counterpart when the ball is traveling towards your body. You want to create the opportunity for them to either set up a winning shot for you, or to make an unforced error. Actually, you realized that technique doesn’t mean anything against experienced players. To win, you need ninja-like reflexes, the control and coordination of ... Keep reading Naturally my development accelerated as I was exposed to new training methods and expert coaching. The only difference is that you’ll have to aim for the section of the table directly opposite to the direction the ball is spinning to. Reading the position of your opponent’s body and making it as hard for them to reposition themselves is something that takes time and a huge amount of practice. Returning these two different serves requires different techniques and body positions. Here is a compilation of tips from the best coaches of table tennis from all over the world. Must Check:- Top 5 Best Table Tennis Paddles for Beginners. Fortunately, you don’t need an opponent to practice serving. basic ball control and the 4 basic strokes, advanced serve and advanced return of serve, including the Flick (Flip) return, 6 table tennis tactics to improve your game. Use it until you become some kind of ping pong god, and an uncontrollable compulsion urges you to make life difficult for yourself. The stroke is played with a forward horizontal movement of the forearm, with the blade open towards the ceiling to create a little bit of backspin. The three imperatives that are included in table tennis include basic movement patterns and footwork in table tennis, appropriate table tennis grip and the stance and ready position adopted by the player in table tennis. Sadly, we don’t have those kinda resources here at Above House. Over-extending your arm because you want to hit the ball too hard will cause you problems with placement and may even result in an unforced error. They’ve dished up a perfectly returnable shot, but because you’re unfamiliar with the basics of stroke play, you’re gone and hit the ball into the net, or failed to make it bounce on their side of the net. It should be your end goal, however. These drills are intense, and they may seem like overkill to some of you, but trust me on this, doing them frequently helps improve your game immeasurably. Get your body into it. The major difference between these two shots is that you’re not going to be rotating your body as much with the backhand stroke. It’s NOT a spin shot. Always bear in mind that most novice opponents have no idea how to return a back-spinning serve with an attacking stroke. Next, we'll take a look at the basic service rules and how to serve in accordance with those rules, and the basic principles of how to return the service. Serving in table tennis is governed by some pretty specific rules. Due to the nature and context of playing a push shot, using a backhand stroke is easier and more effective than a forehand. So many that you’ll feel like you’re never going to escape the bottom-tier of your office or club leagues. I am Warren. Exhilarated by the knowledge that you’ve toppled Ben/Jane from their throne. This is critical if you want to take full advantage of having the first strike in a point. The server’s free arm must not obscure the opponent’s view of the ball. However, if you want to succeed more, go through these 5 fundamental skills of table tennis described above, and become an expert in each. Table tennis is all about improving by matching up with better opponents. That means that both of your feet should extend a tad beyond their corresponding shoulder. AllAboutTableTennis.com (AATT) is completely free to use. Think about each failure, each lost point, not as an obstacle towards improvement, but as a lesson learned. It falls way outside of the scope of what we’re trying to teach here. Great footwork is an essential part of stroke-play since you’ll never be able to play the right stroke successfully from an incorrect position. How to serve and when to serve in this case? Do this and you’re guaranteed to see results. When you know the correct stance required for each of the 4 basic strokes, you'll be able to practice these strokes and techniques in order to provide a solid foundation for your game. It’s also the best stance from which to reposition your body, should you need to. As with any sport, mastering the basics is essential - and table tennis is no exception. We covered these in our article on the rules of table tennis, but for the sake of keeping you focused here, I’ll give you a quick summary. There are two good reasons for you reading this article. Your hips will rotate and there will be a slight transfer of weight from your back foot to the front. As mentioned above, if the ball is traveling directly at your body, attempt to reposition yourself for a forehand drive. Crucially, you’ll lose the benefit of striking the ball first and forcing your opponent into a defensive stroke. What I’m saying is that it’s pretty important for you to supplement reading this article with practice. So despite how awkward this stance may seem to you initially, get comfortable with it. Since a push shot is the only way most novice players know how to return a back-spinning ball, you’ll want to take advantage of this by aiming for their forehand hitting zone. If you see your opponent hitting the ball with backspin, wide towards your forehand zone, your only option will be to play this slightly difficult shot. Most of the time, t… Firstly, and this will be a challenge to implement consistently, you have to let the ball drop as low as possible before striking it. If you can consistently execute it, you’ve got a seriously dangerous weapon in your arsenal. In this advanced skills section we'll take a look at how to master spin. By mixing your target zone up, and doing so with a serve that moves fast enough, you’re going to catch your opponent off-guard. Listed below are the rules that relate only to HOW you’re allowed to serve, I’ve deliberately omitted those that just relate to gameplay. What this implies is that you’ll not only need to execute the fast serve perfectly every time, you’ll also have to be able to mix up your target “zones” without making mistakes. Only a coach who’s able to watch you play and notice mistakes you’re making in your positioning can do this. » The main trade-off is a slight loss of flexibility in the wrist. Many times. Let’s start with the base of your foundation: your feet and stance. Some of them play all sorts of shots with sometimes awkward, sometimes funny movements and yet they win matches. In table tennis there are four strokes that form the fundamentals of stroke play. For playing doubles, it is just like finding the ideal couple for you to married to. So let's get started. The technical differences between backhand and forehand shots are so pronounced that this stroke can’t simply be described as: “the backhand equivalent of the forehand drive”. Boost Your Brain. This is more of a “push” shot than it is a swinging shot like the forehand drive. Mastering them is one of the most critical steps towards playing a consistent game that avoids a player’s biggest enemy: the unforced error. I'd highly recommend that you try to get some good coaching as early as possible in your playing career as this'll give you a solid foundation for your game - and it's vital if you're going to play at an intermediate or advanced level. Mix up serves of different length and spin. The shallow shakehand hold is very similar to the deep shakehand, with the exception that the thumb is not resting on the blade itself, but rather extended across its base. You quickly realized that there is more to tennis than just fancy technique. So you've already bought one of the best table tennis tables based on our product reviews and have been playing at home for a while now.. The only way to do this is with practice. You’re going to make mistakes. They do not cost you anything to use, and any products you choose to buy will not cost you any more than if you went directly to that web site. Most players are able to play with more accuracy using forehand shots. Gao Jun and Cherry Zhou can help improve your game and teach you to play like a champion! Practice how to simply get the ball to bounce on your side and then on your opponent’s side of the table while obeying the service rules. Every player whether professional or newbie can do with quality table tennis tips once in a while. I’ll say it again though: if you practice these techniques frequently, you will grow as a player. Too much of a downward angle will land the ball close to the net – giving your opponent plenty of room to play a winner and end the point. When you master all of the basic skills, you should quickly incorporate your body (hip, waist, legs, abdomen) into your stroke. Your thumb and index fingers will be touching some part of the blade, with your remaining three fingers curled around the handle itself. Another major difference between drives and pushes is that the latter are played with backspin rather than topspin. That’s why I suggest first learning how to just do a legal serve without any spin or speed. Performing a successful backspin serve consistently is also not an easy thing to learn. When playing in a same-hand doubles team you have to run to the back and around the other player. Initially, rather err on the side of letting it drop too far than striking it too soon. But you should never forget the following... As with any sport, practice, practice, practice is the key. Despite being number three in our list of the basic table tennis strokes, the backhand push is one of the easiest shots to play. Hold Your Bat in a Proper Way. Crouch down at the waist as far as is comfortable for you. If you want to engage in playing table tennis, you should possess agility, stamina, and accuracy. You’re using a push to place the ball in such a way that your opponent doesn’t have the opportunity to play an overly attacking shot back at you. Our table tennis tips can help you master many of the aspects of table tennis, however, only by practicing regularly will you become a better player. Personally, I think a player should mix up their serves for different length and spin. What’s also critical to raising your game to a higher level is to avoid the frustration that so often accompanies learning a new skill. The last thing you want is the runner-up complaining afterward how they only lost because the winner played with a better paddle or that the ping pong table wasn’t up to their elevated standards. This is the generic stance when receiving a serve and is also called the “ready stance”. Sure, this is a service technique that advanced players can employ effectively, but it’s important that we make a distinction between the normal backspin serve and the ghost serve. With backspin rather than any other style this case played with backspin than! Be holding the top half techniques and strategies in playing table tennis your foundation: your feet should extend a tad beyond their corresponding.! This case keeping things simple and using a more accessible, but may include others time. 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