Gregg Letts has produced another tutorial, with video, for your entertainment and education. Enjoy!

Table Tennis/ Ping-Pong Basic Strokes - Backhand Banana Flick Return of Serve.

Greg Letts is an above average Australian player ( ranked 32 in the Commonwealth in 2005) who writes a table tennis blog. Any table tennis player could learn from his musings on the philosophy of life, based on his table tennis experiences.

I’ll just pick out a few gems. Firstly for the ‘oldies’ among us…

• The kids of today are the champions of tomorrow. Sooner or later they will overtake you.
  • But with cunning and experience, you can put off that day as long as possible!

• There will always be those who embrace change, those who fight against it, and those who feel things were better 20 years ago.
  • Over time, you will be in each of those categories at least once!

and some things we all need to remember during the coming season…

• The goal is to hit one more ball on the table than your opponent - whether other people like the way you do it, or with what equipment, doesn’t matter. There are no points given for style.

• Win or lose, give a firm handshake and a sincere “Thank you”.

Think about it!

Well, clearly it was a golfer! Most people credit this comment to Gary Player or Arnold Palmer, but Lee Trevino and Tom Watson also get mentioned as possible sources. It was supposedly in response to a spectator’s wisecrack about a lucky shot in holing out from a bunker. But is there anything more to it, and could it apply to table tennis?

We’ve all played against opponents who seem to get more than their fair share of net points or edges, and we tend to think they’re rather lucky. On the other hand, when we get an edge, we regard it as a well placed shot and a richly deserved point. Can this really be the case? Or is there a way to become as lucky as our opponents and still play good shots?

Maybe there is. If “practice makes perfect”, then perhaps we should be practising aiming at the edges or keeping the ball low over the net to better our chances of getting more of those “lucky” points. The better players hit their shots with greater accuracy, and guess what? this accuracy isn’t pure luck! Hours and hours of practice lie behind this ability to place the ball where they want it, with the speed and spin they choose.

So, if you want to become a luckier player, get down to the college on a Thursday evening over the summer and practise, practise, practise. If you want to develop a good “edge” shot, practise hitting the ball “down the line”, within 6 inches of the edge. The more consistently you can place the ball withing that corridor, the more chance that you’ll get a few extra edge points. Similarly, to get a few more net shots, you need to practise some defensive push/chop shots, keeping the ball within an inch or two of the top of the net.

Put in sufficient practice and the luck will surely follow!

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Administrator

The most basic stroke, and the most frequently used one, is the push. Whether your best winning shot is a vicious forehand smash or a super-spin loop or a swerving spin serve that hits the edge, you still need a bread-and-butter shot in your armoury. For most people, this should be the solid foundation of your game because without a dependable push shot, you’ll never get enough chances to hit your special winner anyway!

The push isn’t just for getting the ball back over the net - though that’s no bad thing in itself. It is also the basis of the heavy chop return, and, if used with subtle variations, is a useful way to create an opening for a winning attack.

Greg Letts has written an article about the merits of Pushing Long versus Pushing Short and it is well worth a read

Alan

For all our readers (and sticklers for detail!), there is an excellent article by Greg Letts on how to serve legally in table tennis. This is just one of many informative items posted by Greg on his regular blog on “tabletennis.about.com“.

Just look at The Service Law page.