Character must come as the highest priority in table tennis, before winning. Table tennis players must give their best at all times, yet still remain honest and have excellent sportsmanship throughout the table tennis match.
In the past, table tennis has had one major controversial issue – double hit. Because it was very difficult for umpires to be 100% sure, the decision was often left to the honesty of the players. The honest players were calling it on themselves. The dishonest ones were cheating. To correct this, ITTF (International Table Tennis Federation) has changed the rule as of September 1, 2010.
Previously, the rule stated that a point is won:
2.10.1.6 if an opponent strikes the ball twice successively
Now, the rule states that a point is won:
Note that the hand that is holding the racket counts as part of the racket and that making a good return off one’s hand or fingers is allowed. As of September 1, 2010, it is not a fault if the ball accidentally hits one’s hand or fingers and then subsequently hits the racket.
Samson Dubina
Today I trained and played table tennis with my dad, Joe Newgarden. This was the first time in a VERY long time that we have played table tennis together. I know he is so excited that I have finally started playing table tennis.
We hit the ball around on the table some and also practiced on the Newgy Robo-Pong 2040 table tennis robot. We started out by just playing on the ping-pong table first so he could get a feel for how I am doing so far. I think I am doing pretty well for a beginner, other than the fact that I feel like I am completely blind sometimes when I miss a ball that goes right by me and I swing my paddle and miss it. I’m still having trouble with my footwork and being able to move to the far side of the table to hit a ball instead of just leaning in to hit it. I think my dad forgot sometimes that I am a beginner and hit some balls with underspin to me. I was able to hit some of them back but most didn’t make it back over the net. We also worked on getting me comfortable with hitting my backhand and forehand appropriately depending on which side of the table the ball comes to.
Then I practiced some on the Newgy Robo-Pong 2040. My dad had me practice my strokes and make sure I had the proper form. He is very big on keeping my left arm up for balance and my knees bent. He kept reminding me of that. I did some simple drills of just forehand and then just backhand and then he made it a little more challenging and made the Robo-Pong oscillate to two different positions on my forehand side. One of them was very close to the edge of the table so that helped me work on my footwork to get over there to those balls. I am pretty exhausted now. More to come next week…
Jena Newgarden
To maximize your potential, it is important to start by building a solid foundation for your table tennis game. It is best to build this foundation by developing each skill one step at a time.
1.Start by developing the proper blade grip:
When you play you see the ball but your blade angle and direction of swing is by feel, therefore you must develop a feel for the blade angle. You can develop this feel by bouncing the ball on the blade; forehand side 25 bounces, backhand side 25 bounces, next alternate 1 bounce on the forehand side and 1 backhand side for 10 bounces. Make sure you can do these drills with no more than 2 misses.
2. Stance:
The width between your feet should be greater than the width of your shoulders, knees bent, and lean forward until the heels of your shoes start to come up off the floor, now you are in position to do your footwork.
3. Footwork:
The outside foot moves first, (example) when you want to move to the right direction, your left foot is the outside foot, to move left your right foot is the outside foot.
Watch for my next blog which will teach you how to develop perfect strokes in table tennis.
Carl Hardin
So I’m on week 2 of my table tennis training. I had a really busy week and am still getting over a bad cold so I was only able to play table tennis one day this week. I played with Liliana, one of the members of the Newgy Table Tennis Training Center. We had a lot of fun playing and I feel like I got a great workout. After just hitting the ball around for awhile we realized I was playing mostly with my backhand, even on shots that clearly should’ve been hit with my forehand. I guess I just feel more comfortable with my backhand so far. So we decided to work on my forehand and alternating between the two. I had to really make a conscious effort to hit the ball with my forehand. After a little bit, I started to feel more comfortable with it. That is something I will definitely be working on now.
Also, I noticed that when we were practicing alternating between my backhand and forehand strokes that I wasn’t moving my legs enough. I think I was leaning into the shots more and that made me end up missing some of them because I couldn’t get close enough to the ball. It’s just so much to think about at once – getting my stroke right, keeping my eye on the ball and moving my legs the right way. Table tennis truly is a sport that benefits your coordination.
Serving. Now that takes coordination. I just can’t do it very well. That is something that I am going to be practicing this coming week. After talking to other people that play table tennis, they all say that is one of the most challenging aspects of learning the sport of table tennis. More to come next week…
I was much honored to be selected to attend the first ITTF/IPTTC Level 1 Coaching Certification and Course Conductors Seminar by the USATT Coaches Committee at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado, Sept. 5-11, 2010. Twenty-three table tennis coaches from all experience levels and regions of the USA came to share, learn and to be humbled by Glenn Tepper – the ITTF Executive Director of Development. Mr. Tepper created the structure for the ITTF coaches program and wrote the book, so we were lucky to be learning from the master!
One of the unique parts of this class revolved around the large amount of actual practical application time that was spent by the participants working through the skills and drills included in the book. Mr. Tepper wanted us to wear both the student and coaches hat nearly all the time so we could not only see the WHAT and HOW but the bigger reason WHY we teach the sport of table tennis the way we do and new ways to approach our teaching.
Having combined forces with the ITTF, the Para-Table Tennis portion of the course included an introduction to the classification system for Para-Athletes and a simulation where the coaches participated as different classes of athletes! It was truly an experience to see the various difficulties that are unique to each class and how important the tactics are! Luckily we had Daniel Rutenburg, the USA National Para coach and Christian Lillieroos, long time USA Para coach and PTT board member, to show us the best way to help these unique and inspiring athletes!
Much to Mr. Teppers’ surprise and delight, all 23 of the participants were able to pass the Level 1 practical and meet the standards to pass the educational section of the program. Now we must fulfill the needed application hours to complete the course.
Roger Dickson