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Basic Strokes - Forehand Chop
Steps: |
1. |
Anticipate your opponent's attack and retreat a step or two from the table. Plan to hit the ball when it has dropped to about thigh height. |
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2. |
Backswing away from your body, allowing your torso to pivot so that your nonpaddle shoulder is facing your opponent. |
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3. |
Hold your paddle at about head height and cock your wrist back toward your head. Keep the face of the paddle very open, facing almost fully up. |
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4. |
Pivot your body back toward its original position as your begin your swing, and drop your paddle-shoulder down in synch with the ball. |
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5. |
Swing from your elbow as the ball reaches waist height. |
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6. |
Accelerate your forearm and wrist at the last second, swinging underneath the ball at about thigh height, with a very open paddle. |
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7. |
Snap your wrist at the moment of connection with the ball, and keep the paddle face pointing almost completely upward. |
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8. |
Follow through down and forward until your arm is fully extended, holding the paddle about waist high. The ball should land short on your opponent's side of the net, with heavy backspin. |
Tips: |
Practice this swing several times without the ball. When you are actually playing, you will not have time to think in terms of step-by-step.
The follow-through is very important on this shot. Try not to hold back or stop as the paddle strikes the ball - swing right through it. |
| Tip: Experiment to Find the Right Table Tennis Equipment |
| Early in your playing career, experiment with lots of table tennis rackets and sponge. Borrow ping pong rackets from other players to try out. You need to learn what's available, and find out what feels right for you. But once you find a combination that you like, stick with it until you have a very good reason for switching. This doesn't mean you shouldn't try out new types of equipment – testing is OK, just don't get stuck in a cycle of constantly switching your equipment, and never getting really comfortable with anything. |
Basic Strokes - Backhand Chop
Steps: |
1. |
Anticipate your opponent's attack shot and retreat a step or two back from the table to allow the ball to drop. The harder your opponent attacks, the further you must retreat from the table. |
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2. |
Pivot your hips and shoulders as you draw the paddle across your chest to about head height. Cock your wrist back toward your head. |
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3. |
Point your elbow toward your target. |
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4. |
Swing from your forearm, leading with your elbow, as you chop down on the ball. Keep your paddle face very open (facing up). |
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5. |
Snap your wrist as your strike the ball. |
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6. |
Time your chop to take the ball at about thigh height. |
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7. |
Strike the ball in the center of your paddle, keeping its face very open. |
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8. |
Follow through, down and forward, until your arm is fully extended and the paddle is at about waist height. |
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9. |
Make sure the motion of your stroke is continuous from beginning to end, with no stopping. |
Tips: |
Practice this stroke without the ball. When you are actually playing, you will not have time to think in step-by-step terms. Practice enough so that your paddle moves on a fixed path.
Work for control in the beginning, and the backspin will come on its own. |
What to think during a Table Tennis match?
Too often players worry about their stroke techniques while playing a match. The end result is they try to consciously control their shots. The more they try to do this, the worse the shot gets; and the worse the shot gets, the more they try to consciously control the shot. The end result is disaster! Instead, think of only two things in a match. First, think about tactics – how you will use your shots. The shots themselves will take care of themselves – or at least will do better on their own if you let them go then if you try to consciously control them and make too many "fixes" in mid-match. Second, if a shot feels wrong, then the way to fix it during a match isn't to try to over-analyze it. Instead, think about the feel of the shot, and try to get the right feel. Save the stroke analysis for after the match – it rarely helps during a match.
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