Introduction

Standard regulation 40 mm size balls usually come in white or orange.

Basic Serve in Table Tennis - PingSkills

Top of the line balls can cost anywhere from dollars a ball, which is really pricey. What you want to buy is training balls. They essentially are easier to use, especially for beginners. You can get a pack of Here. Spin is a really important part of the game, and to help you better understand spin, Stiga has spin training balls.

These are designed to help you easily see how the ball is spinning and in what direction. If you are looking for just regular balls to practice with then it would be smart to buy in bulk. I highly recommend a 50 count pack of Regail 3-star table tennis training balls; which are a great price for your money, not to mention they will also last you a long time. People step on them, they get hit too hard, some have defects or they simply get lost. Although, if you happen to have a club in your area, they might have ping pong balls already available for you to use.

But it's always smart to have some back-ups at home to practice with. Tables are one of the more expensive items on the list but they are worth it in the long run. Having a good durable table is important in playing table tennis.

You might not even have to buy a table; you might have one at a friends that you can use or your local club might have some. Regardless, if you have the budget and space, buying a table is one of the best ways to improve your game in a short amount of time. Gym shoes will work just fine for people starting out. Table tennis involves a lot of lateral movements when you get to the higher skill levels. I strongly recommend for anyone trying to get better to buy themselves a pair of shoes that work well with table tennis.

Day 1 – Grip

But don't worry, there are actually a lot of options when it comes to shoes. You can use Badminton shoes, indoor soccer shoes, regular tennis shoes, squash shoes, volleyball shoes, and of course shoes designed for table tennis. I have these particular shoes and they have worked really well for me. You will want to order half a size down from your size though. The basic rules are important to know when starting out. Serving the ball has a lot of rules involved to try to make it as fair as possible, so try to bear with me here.

When you serve you have to have the ball above the table in plain site and then you can throw it in the air and hit it. If you hide the ball with your body or an arm it is not a legal serve. I remember when I first started out and I just hit the ball right out of my hand. It took me awhile to get use to this new way of serving but it really improved my overall serving game.

Once you make contact with the ball it must first hit your side of the table then bounce over. Another thing you have to remember is that you have to make contact with the ball within the sides of the table. It must be hit behind the white line closest to you. You can, however, hit it as far back as you would like. When a let occurs neither opponent gets a point and the serve must be redone. But be careful if this happens to you. If you do it again right after however, it would give the opponent a point.

Here are some rules that you might see come up while playing. If someone hits the ball to you and it hits the very edge of the table on your side, even if it barely hits it and goes straight to the floor it would be the other person's point. These kinda shots are tricky to counter and can be kind of ridiculous sometimes but they are a part of the game.

Once your reaction time gets good enough, hitting these shots can sometimes be possible. You also must let the ball bounce before hitting it. This is how it differs from real tennis.

How to Play Table Tennis in 10 Days

If your opponent hits the ball before it bounces, and the ball was clearly going to hit the table, then they would lose the point. Say if you were to hit the ball and you hit it too hard over the table, and the other player hit the ball anyway, whether intentionally or accidentally, you would still lose the point so long as the ball was clearly going out of the table.

One of the best way to enjoy ping pong is to join a club. I recommend that you try using the internet to your advantage. Look for the closest club in your area, and if they have an updated number on file, try to call them and ask for hours of when they play.

A Beginner’s Guide to Table Tennis

Most of the time the clubs have a largely diverse playing field. For most people, playing at clubs is one of the fastest ways to improve your skills in the smallest amount of time. There are usually always people willing to practice with you and give advice and tips based off the feedback that they get from playing with you. That is why I always found it better to play with someone who knows what they are doing, even if they are 5 times better than me.

How to Play Table Tennis in 10 Days

There are three things that players have to concentrate on when doing the strokes: Let us go through each stroke so we know how these components work. To be able to do the backswing for the forehand drive, you have to assume the ready position that we have described above. Once you are ready, twist the upper body to the right if you are right-handed otherwise twist to the left from the hips. While twisting, shift the weight onto the foot behind and maintain the playing arm parallel to the ground. Forehand drive is the most commonly used stroke among the four. All other forehand strokes like the forehand loop and even the forehand block are drawn from the basic forehand drive.

Like learning to ride a bike

It is therefore important to make sure that the correct forehand foundation is mastered and developed. After the backswing, you are now ready to move towards the ball. The contact point is where your racket strikes the ball. This is done by twisting the upper body back to the ready position but with your arms moving upwards and by shifting your weight from the foot behind to the foot in front.

To complete the stroke, you have to do a follow-through. Upon contact of the racket to the ball, complete the shot by moving the arm forward and upward towards where you intend to place the ball. The ending point should always be near your forehead. For shadow exercises, repeat the stroke for as many as you can and until the movement is memorized. If you are in an actual rally on the other hand, remember to return to your original position right after the stroke so you can prepare for the next shot.

We would have to adjust the stance a bit to do the backhand backswing. Instead of bringing your one foot behind and the other in front, it would be better to make a square stance to make the backswing easier and more effective. For right-handed players, the backswing is done by shifting your weight onto the left knee and by bringing the racket near your stomach during the process. Backhand drive is also comprised of the backswing, the contact point and the follow-through. Unlike the forehand stroke, I personally think that backhand drive is the harder but maybe it is just because I spent less time practicing it.

So as beginners, try to devote as much time as you would with your forehand to practice your backhand. To strike the ball, distribute your weight back to both of your knees while moving your playing arm towards the ball. Upon contact, continue to more your arm forward and upward towards where you intend to place the ball. When doing the backhand follow-through, focus more on using your elbow rather than your wrist or your shoulder because the power comes from your forearm.

Using the wrist and extending the shoulder too much could only lead to lack of power and poor form. Backhand drive is generally done on your backhand side of the table. For the forehand chop backswing, you have to assume the above-described ready position as well but instead of bringing your playing arm in front of you, you have to swing it back and stick it out to the side of your body, still parallel to the ground. It is more of a defensive stroke and is generally used to receive and return an incoming short ball that could not possibly be attacked. The contact point is done by moving your playing arm from the side of the body towards the ball.

Do not stretch out your arm to reach the ball. Instead, move your arm from your elbow and together with your body and remember to keep your racket open at 45 degrees to be able to do the chop. The movement should generate from the elbow and the forearm and not from stretching out the entire arm. For the backswing, assume a square stance just like when doing the backhand drive. Instead of sticking out your playing arm in front of you, perform the backswing by bringing the arm towards chest and with an open angle.

To strike the ball, move the racket towards the ball by bringing it forward and downward from the elbow. Again, avoid stretching out the entire arm. Instead, move your arm together with your body to avoid distortion of the form. To complete the stroke, slice the ball underneath by moving the forearm downwards from the chest.

Forehand and backhand chop are generally done to receive a short ball. This means that the body has to move forward to able to reach it. Most of the time players are required to step their playing foot forward and inside the table to be able to complete the stroke without destroying the form. Good foundation is key to success in table tennis.


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All other complicated strokes and movements, including even your footwork, will depend on how steady and sharp your basics are. That is all you need to know to get started on table tennis. Makati Shaw Cavite Harrison Caloocan. Your Shopping Cart is empty. Basic Table Tennis Establishing the correct way of wielding your racket is important because as you progress and master each stroke and movement, the amount of power that you apply as you hit the ball will also depend on how firm you hold the racket.

Your thumb should be on the forehand side on the area between the rubber and the handle.