Counter Smashing

Table Tennis General

Last updated 14 years ago

Joe Unknown

Joe Unknown Asked 14 years ago

 Hey Alois,

When me and my friends play ping pong we have lots of smashing in our game. One guy when you smash on him all he does it counter smash and wins the point. Can you teach me how to do that?

Joe


Alois Rosario

Alois Rosario Answered 14 years ago

Hi Joe,

That is not such an easy task.  You need to wait till one of the smashes bounces up a little and you have a little more time.

Try to take the ball at it's highest point and then you need to hit through the ball flat and fast.

As I said not such an easy task.  Good luck with it.


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Thoughts on this question

pingpongfreak Unknown

pingpongfreak Unknown Posted 14 years ago

i think the simplest way to counter a smash is to always kepp an eye on the ball after you it and judge if it is easy to smash. part of countering a smsh is luck, but the most basic way to do it is to put your racket in front of it and let the ball bounce back.

good luck with the counter smashing


Piers Grey

Piers Grey Posted 14 years ago

If you want to learn how to do a counter-smash then I suggest that you get the DVD for it, I think its called Counter-Smashing Master or something with 'Master' at the end of it. This DVD, will teach you not only the mechanisms on how to do the stroke, but also teach you at what point you should use it when your oppenents smashing (i.e whats the perfect oppotunity to use it).

I hope this helps you


Mike Ivanov

Mike Ivanov Posted 14 years ago

Counter-smashing is one of the most difficult shots to learn but the main thing is to wait for the right moment. I'm trying to learn it myself right now, and one thing that I notice isthat if you try to counter-smash a strong first smash, you're probably going to miss. It's better to land a few topspin lobs to your opponent and on the smash that's coming right at you, move your feet and try to do a topspin swing. If you don't smash back, the chances are, with a good opponent, you're going to lose by lobbing. Another thing is how to recieve a counter-smash. Usually your opponent will counter-smash from several feet from the table so usually if you can't smash back just block it and hope your oponnent won't be able to get it.

Ji-Soo Woo

Ji-Soo Woo Posted 14 years ago

In my experience a counter-smash is both an easy and a hard shot.

It is hard in that you have to swing REALLY early.  You have no time to watch someone smash and say "I'm going to smash that back!"

It is easy in that if you do swing in time, you can pretty much hit the ball as hard as you want and it still seems to land on the opponent's side of the table.  I don't know why this is...maybe because the ball is travelling so fast when you hit it that it is "heavy" and therefore less likely to fly off somewhere uncontrollably.

So the key in my experience is to swing ON TIME.  And this is only possible if you predict BEFORE the opponent has smashed, exactly where he/she is going to smash and how hard.  This is why, as someone else noted, it is hard to counter smash the first smash.  You usually do it after returning a few smashes and feel like the smasher is getting into a routine.

When you think you know what's coming next, move into position and start swinging for where you expect the ball to be, not waiting for the opponent to actually smash the ball!



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