Tagged “technique”
Secrets To Block Like a Pro Tutorial A-Z
In this tutorial video Seth Pech shares what he’s learned about that most foundational (and important) of table-tennis shots – the block.
Fundamentals:
- keep the racket in front rather than blocking on the side of your body. You can see it better and transition faster
- for the basic block just use the opponent’s energy – don’t add anything
- for backhand, block in your normal backhand posture (rather than a lollipop, or poking) to aid transitioning to attack
- don’t bend your wrist back lots – it’s painful. Bend it back just a little.
- timing: catch it on rise or at top of the bounce, rather than just off the bounce
- against a heavy-spin loop, let the ball come to you and push down on it. Don’t move into it
Backhand punch block:
- have a relaxed wrist
- small backswing – imagine your hand hitting a sheet of paper and getting a nice “smack” on it for a “pop” sound
- catch ball at the top of the bounce. Going early makes it hard to get over the net.
- ascend very slightly through shot for a tiny bit of topspin (but tiny, as it’s still a punch)
Super-reliable forehand loop technique
Nice video here from Tom Lodziak in which coach Emma Harradine demonstrates a forehand loop (against backspin) that just looks so spinny, safe and reliable.
I’ve always liked the idea of this shot – the archetypal third ball in the rally – being like a well-oiled machine, but have never quite nailed it. So I’m gonna study this!
The key points are:
- Drop the right knee and put weight on right foot
- Rotate hips and upper body so that non-playing shoulder, elbow face table and non-playing upper-arm is horizontal like table surface
- Drop bat below height of the ball
- Brush the ball
- Contact ball at top of its bounce – don’t let it drop
- Rotate hips, upper-body
- The key is consistency and spin. This shot is a set-up not a winner
- Next shot can be more direct and faster, but don’t blast it either – there’s no need. Going for position is really effective.
Backhand topspin attack - Amateur vs Pro (Tom Lodziak on YouTube)
Here’s a lovely slow-mo comparison of Liam Pitchford’s backhand technique versus that of an amateur.
The main things I take from it are:
- his posture – really low with weight forward
- how far in front of his body he strikes the ball – it’s way in front of his head and even in front of his non-playing hand, with impact at the back edge of the table
- the bat angle at the start (forehand side facing ceiling like you’re holding a frying pan)
- as he prepares, the bat’s left edge tilts up a bit and he gets slightly lower
- elbow moves forward (helping him rotate wrist back) but only as far as to create a virtual parallel horizontal line with the table’s back edge. This is the perfect stopping point for wrist pivoting (whereas I’ve let the elbow go further forward which is unnatural)
- uses wrist to bring bat tip way back to point back at his belly button – I think this greater “travel distance” might be crucial versus an amateur’s version of a wristy backhand
- then there’s a little forearm forward movement and a lot of wrist rotation to get the bat to the impact point
- stays low and on follow-through the bat only gets as high as his chin
These 3 Pro Tips Saved My Backhand (from Table Tennis Daily on YouTube)
In this video we go over the 3 pro tips from Liam Pitchford that helped transform Dan’s backhand!
My backhand is kinda shaky at the moment and I struggle with correct elbow and wrist position so this tutorial video is timely and helpful.
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