Table tennis is a
sport that requires a combination of physical and mental skills. Even though
it may seem complex, the game is based on four basic skills that even a
beginner can learn and practice to improve their game. These four basic
strokes are the forehand hit, the backhand hit, the right-wing movement, and
the serve. The forehand hit is perhaps the easiest of all
the basic shots out there and requires very little practice to master.
Your body posture is similar to that used when traveling
backwards. You should bring the bat backwards and slightly upwards, toward
your chest, to anticipate the shot. Instead of “hitting†the ball, try
brushing it gently with the rubber of the racket. Try to cut the ball so that
it stays relatively at the same level as before.
Most
players end up picking up the ball, giving the opponent a chance to crush
it.The backhand shot is the mirror of the forehand shot,
intended to return the attacking shots and throwing the ball to the
opponent’s back line. To throw a backhand hit, stand with your torso in the
way of the ball (instead of reaching out with your arm) and keep your posture
tilted toward the table with your free arm pointing toward the ball. The
backhand hit returns the short balls and prevents your opponent from
returning the attack. As with the backhand hit, the body should be placed in
line with the ball, instead of stretching the hand to the side with the
arm.The right-wing movement is a technique used to return
a serve or attack from an opponent.
Pointing down, towards
the table or forward, towards the net, produces several degrees of rotation,
so it is a controlled blow. Aim for a ball that bounces and lands on your
side of the table, passes over a net and bounces on your opponent’s side.An
easy way to find out if your bat is dead is to hold a table tennis ball and
rub it on the rubber surface. If you want to see all that visually, here’s a
video of coach Tao Li, a professional Chinese table tennis player and coach,
who teaches the basics of this movement to a young student.The
serve is also an important basic skill and it’s crucial
since it’s when you have full control of the ball and game. This technique is
usually one of the first techniques that all new table tennis players want to
learn in order to return service safely.
The following
video shows table tennis coach Tom Lodziak, based in Cambridge, explaining
this shot in detail.These four basic strokes are necessary to dominate attack
and defense from right and back. There’s also a wide selection of other free
and premium online table tennis courses for you to explore. It’s packed with
my best technical training items and will provide you with the sequence and
progress you need to fully develop all these important technical skills in
this game.