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 Tip of the Month Winner Yazel Boudour Seattle, WA |
Unique Footwork Drill
Always doing the same stroke may be a wrong thing to do as it is rare
to have the partner at the club serving you balls consistently the same
way in a match, even in practice. Have your ping pong robot send balls
(underspin or topspin) to the middle of the table at a low frequency so
you have time to:
- Hit, loop, or push the ball with your forehand, depending on what stroke you want to practice.
- With your free hand, first touch your backhand corner and then your forehand corner of the table.
- Execute a backhand stroke (your choice).
- With your free hand, touch first your forehand corner and then the backhand corner of the table.
- Repeat.
It just adds a little bit of randomization and helps to better integrate the environment. Once you can successfully do this drill with the ball sent to the middle of the table, try this drill with the ball sent slighlty to either side of center. Another variation is to change the depth of the ball. E.g., set up one drill with the ball landing midways between the net and endline of the table and then another drill with the ball landing either shorter or longer than in the first drill.. I suggest 3 minutes each drill. Have fun, Yazel.
(Editor's Note: I did this drill and it is surprisingly fun to do. It has a pleasing variety of body movements and is very good for helping footwork It blends table tennis movements with non table tennis movements, so it feels strange to someone used to doing traditional ping pong drills. Also it is mentally challenging because I had to keep myself focused on the proper sequence of motions. Depending on how forceful your strokes are and how good of shape you're in, you may not be able to do this drill for an entire 3 minutes. Vary the duration of your drill accordingly. This is somewhat similar to the Chair Drill, where actual strokes are combined with other movements.These types of drills are a great way to add variety and spice to your workouts.)
