How to smash when the ball is near the net ?

Hi Melody,

The lob your coach is giving you at the end of the training session is a trick shot. This would be used very rarely in a serious Table Tennis match. It is particularly difficult to smash a high lob that has some backspin and lands just over the net. As you mentioned if you stand at the end of the Table you will be unable to reach the ball.

To smash such a shot you really need to run down the side of the table to get near it, just as you suggested. As it is a lob you should have plenty of time to decide the best side of the table to run to (either the left or the right). Then you should be able to hit a winning shot as you have so many options as to the direction you can hit the ball.

So the key to returning a really short lob is to be watching the ball closely and pick up early that you need to run down the side of the table.

I've accidently hit a lob like this before in a match and won the point. The ball hit the edge of my bat and lobbed really high with some backspin. My opponent thought he had won the point until he realized too late that is was going to land on the table. It actually generated some backspin when it hit my bat and so bounced back over to my side of the table!