I trained on the Newgy Robo-Pong 2040 table tennis robot with Coach Roger Dickson. He had me do several different drills. They started out somewhat basic and then he had me do more challenging ones that really got me moving and focused on the ball and my footwork.

First, I did a forehand drill where I started with a block up close to the table and then moved back from the table to hit a full stroke following through. I did that several times, first slow then with the ball frequency turned up. Then I switched to my backhand side and did the same thing.

Next Roger had me combine those two drills to make a more complicated drill. I had to do a forehand block up close to the table, then move back from the table and hit a full stroke, then move back up to the table to hit a backhand block and then back away from the table to hit a backhand full stroke.

Next I did a drill similar to the last one, but this time it was more like a square. I started again with the forehand block, then moved back to hit a forehand full stroke, then I hit a backhand full stroke and then moved up again close to the table to hit a backhand block.

Then he made it even more challenging by adding placement aim to the last drill to help me practice aiming at certain sides of the table. As I was hitting, he called out which side of the table for me to focus on hitting it.

Wheww! What a workout!

Jena Newgarden