Last updated 7 years ago
Hi Alois,
I play TT after work hours at the office. We mainly play doubles. I just wanted to advance my game & joined a club, but find myself to be a beginner. I thought I was playing decently, but when I played at the club it seems to be a different ballgame.
i seem to get stuck close to the table when I serve or play a short ball return. I then find my foot not moving and I lose the point. I was playing the forehand & backhand topspin well in the office. But in the club, they are using a different ball which spins a lot more.
I don't know how to get around my footwork problem.
Hi Ramachandra,
Firstly well done on getting your self to a club. As you can see it opens up the level of play that you are exposed to.
After serving, focus on getting back into a good balanced position in the ready position we show you Basic Stance.
To get to the short ball, you need to move your right foot (if you are a right hander) in close to the table. Take a look at this tutorial on The Push in Detail which will show you the footwork needed for that ball.
You will get used to the better ball. It is probably a bit heavier and they are probably spinning the ball a lot more than your work colleagues as well.
Keep up the good work.
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Ramachandran Sundararaman Posted 7 years ago
Thanks for the tips Alois.. I actually didn't see this particular video, since I was playing the push well. This video added a lot more than what I knew.
One more question- does the racquet matter for improving technique? The context of my question is - I bought a Yasaka Sweden extra blade with mark v rubbers on both sides after seeing your video. One of my friends gave me a stiga racquet with hurricane 3 neo on forehand and tenergy tensor rubber on the backhand.
i was comfortable with the yasaka and could feel the brushing action while I topspin. But I was losing big with that racquet in our weekly league matches. When I change it to the stiga with better rubbers, my game gets much better. With the yasaka I also get a lot of spinning balls on my fingers and the ball pops out. May be the yasaka one handle is a little smaller compared to the stiga. When I use the shake hand grip as suggested by you, my index finger pops out of the racquet lot more than the stiga one.
Alois Rosario from PingSkills Posted 7 years ago
Hi Ramachandra,
The racket does make a difference at certain level. It is important to make sure that you are using something that suits your level.
Take a look at our tutorial on Choosing a Table Tennis Table. However, there is no need to change rackets too much if they are from the same level. What you have described is that you have gone up a level in speed with the new racket.