Wang Liqin
Photo courtesy of ITTF

The ready position is an important part of your movement. Without this good basic setup position, as you progress, you will struggle to move well.

Having a weak ready position is the single most common mistake I see when starting to help players that have played for a while. If this sounds like you, here are a few tips to help you.

Wide Base

The first important part of the Ready Position is to get your feet quite wide apart. If you watch most of the best players in the world you will notice that they have their feet very wide. I think this has changed even in the last 10 years. By wide I mean further than shoulder width apart. As a guide go for 1.5 to 2 shoulder widths. Experiment here for yourself. Try going narrower and wider until you find the width that is ideal for you. Take note, you will feel awkward getting your feet further apart, but try it. Your ideal position should not necessarily be measured by how comfortable you feel. As this is a new position you will feel awkward. Your guide should be how well you hit the ball from this position and also how well you can move to both sides.

Bent Knees

The second key is to bend your knees. This is where many players struggle to start with. This can be physically demanding and should be done slowly to start with to make sure you are not straining too much. As you progress, you may be able to get yourself into a lower position.

The wide base combined with the bent knees has the effect of ensuring you don’t really have to move too much anyway. The wide base means your balance is wide and so even before you have to move your feet, you can cover a great deal of the table. This gives you a good head start.

Weight Forward

Some other considerations when getting into the ready position are to have your weight slightly forward. Think about having your weight slightly forward of the middle of your feet. Start by standing with your weight right in the middle (from back to front) of your feet. Then slowly transfer your weight backwards till you are almost falling over backwards. Then move your weight forward till you are about to fall on your face. Somewhere in between these two positions is the ideal spot. Experiment for yourself till you find that spot. You need to be able to move quickly from this position and still be balanced enough to play your strokes.

Bat Position

Next, have your bat in front of you. The position of your bat can vary a great deal, but have it in a position where you have to make minimal movements to get to your first stroke, whether it be a push or topspin or anything in between. As a guide, have it in line with your playing elbow and pointing in the direction of the server. Your free hand should be copying what your playing hand is doing to ensure you are in a balanced position.

Position at the Table

Now that your body is in a good position you need to consider where to stand in relation to the table. As a starting guide you should position yourself at the table where your bat can just touch the middle line of the table. This gets you into a position where you can play forehands and backhands from equal parts of the table. You can also reach in for a short ball with one step or play a topspin or attacking stroke with one step. Your feet should be an equal distance away from the table so that you are quite square on to the table.

Variations for Styles

If you are a right handed predominantly forehand player you may want to have your left foot slightly forward so that you are more ready to play a forehand. You may also stand a little further over to your backhand corner so that more of the table can be covered by your forehand.

Conversely if you are a backhand player you may want to be very square to the table or even to have your right foot slightly closer to the table. You may also want to stand a little further over to your forehand corner so that more of the table is covered by your backhand.

If you are a defensive player you would probably stand a little further back. Ensure you don’t get yourself too far back though as this will leave you susceptible for a short serve.

If you are a fast attacking player you may even get a little closer to the table.

These are all variations that you will start to make as you pay more attention to your position.

Footwork

Over the next few Blogs we will start to talk about getting from this ready position to being able to move to the ball i.e. Footwork. We will cover different types of footwork movements that you can use.