Newgy’s Blog

4 Variations to the Forehand Loop in Table Tennis

Filed under: Samson Dubina — Tags: , , — by Jena on October 8, 2014 @ 8:00 am

by Samson Dubina

You probably know that you need to vary your loops in table tennis. However, it is very difficult to consistently give good variation if you haven’t trained for it in practice. In this article, I’m going to suggest 4 variations that you should add to your forehand loop to improve your table tennis game.

Vary the degree of spin. By adding more or less spin to each ball, you will be able to learn to better control the ball and you will make it more difficult for your opponent to comfortably block your loop. If you add the no-spin variation, be careful not to loop with too much speed. The more topspin that you add to your loop, the more potential for speed that you can have while still maintaining consistency.

Vary your distance from the ping-pong table. Against some blockers, you need to stay quite close to the table in order to loop. Against some counterattacking/smashing players, you need to give yourself a bit more distance from the table in order to loop. Regardless of who you are up against, it is critical that you be able to smoothly move in-and-out away from the table. If you have merely been practicing side-to-side footwork, it is time for you to add the in-and-out variations to your practices.

Vary your ball placement. Improving your ball placement is one of the fastest ways to improve your table tennis game. Against those players who are comfortable with both backhand and forehand, you should often target the center transition point. Against those players who are trying to play full-table forehand or full-table backhand, then you need to work the angles in order to make them play with their weak side. When practicing ball placement, try not to be too self-focused on your stroke, but instead be focused more on your opponent – his strengths and his weaknesses.

Vary the type of spin. By adding various amounts of sidespin to the ball, you can make it much more difficult for your opponent to block or counterloop. Practice adding slight amounts of sidespin to your topspin loop. Once you become consistent at that skill, next try to add more sidespin or even sidespin-backspin. The more topspin you apply, the more speed that you can add to your loop. If you loop with pure sidespin or sidespin backspin, make sure that you focus on control, not power.

Demonstration Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpQAQPsfIus&list=UUccR8NqOuVEMk6FYMTSAa8Q

Serving Precision in Table Tennis

Filed under: Samson Dubina — Tags: , , , , — by Jena on October 1, 2014 @ 8:00 am

 

When serving, many table tennis players focus on height, deception, speed, spin, and placement. These elements are very important. However, the main reason that you need to practice serving is to develop precision. If you have control over your serve, it is easy to control the rally when you are serving. Here are a few consequences of having poor precision.

A. You accidentally served long (when trying to serve short) and Ma Long rips the ball for a winner. With more precision, you would have been able to better control the depth of your serve. This is a very common mistake. You were expecting a push from your short serve, but you were punished by a surprise loop because you weren’t able to control your serve with proper precision.

B. You accidentally served short to the middle (when trying to serve to the short forehand) and Zhang Jike steps in for an easy backhand flip. With more precision, you would have been able to better control the placement to the forehand making it more difficult for him to use his powerful backhand flip.

C. You accidentally served long to the forehand (when trying to serve long to the elbow) and Wang Hao loops with extreme power wide to your forehand for a winner. With more precision, you would have been able to better control the placement making it more difficult for him to smoothly loop with his forehand. By serving long to the elbow, Wang Hao would have had to make a quick decision to use his forehand or backhand and would likely have given a weaker return.

D. You accidentally served short and high no spin (when trying to serve low heavy backspin) and Ma Lin finishes you off with a flip-kill. With more precision, you would have been able to serve with more backspin, forcing him to push or give a weaker flip.

In order to master this skill of precision and control on your serve, you should be practicing your serves at least twice per week. A good, tricky serve is only effective if you have control over it and can serve with the intended spin, speed, variation, and placement at the appropriate time. If you have precision when serving, you can somewhat predict why type of ball is possibly coming next. When you can predict what is coming, then it is much easier to form a game plan for the next several balls.

Sometime you should practice your serve when you are fatigued near the end of a hard workout session. Also, make sure that you play plenty of practice matches and are properly able to use your serves. Before each serve in the matches, consider the possibilities of various returns. Each point in table tennis begins with a serve and return. If you improve your serve and return game this year, you are well on your way to the next level in table tennis!

Samson Dubina