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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:

  1. keep the racket in front rather than blocking on the side of your body. You can see it better and transition faster
  2. for the basic block just use the opponent’s energy – don’t add anything
  3. for backhand, block in your normal backhand posture (rather than a lollipop, or poking) to aid transitioning to attack
  4. don’t bend your wrist back lots – it’s painful. Bend it back just a little.
  5. timing: catch it on rise or at top of the bounce, rather than just off the bounce
  6. against a heavy-spin loop, let the ball come to you and push down on it. Don’t move into it

Backhand punch block:

  1. have a relaxed wrist
  2. small backswing – imagine your hand hitting a sheet of paper and getting a nice “smack” on it for a “pop” sound
  3. catch ball at the top of the bounce. Going early makes it hard to get over the net.
  4. 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:

  1. Drop the right knee and put weight on right foot
  2. Rotate hips and upper body so that non-playing shoulder, elbow face table and non-playing upper-arm is horizontal like table surface
  3. Drop bat below height of the ball
  4. Brush the ball
  5. Contact ball at top of its bounce – don’t let it drop
  6. Rotate hips, upper-body
  7. The key is consistency and spin. This shot is a set-up not a winner
  8. 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

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