Length of ball

Hi , I just want to know that how do you judge the length of ball coming to you after serving or in a pushing rally or against a defender. Even I am following your advice to see ball properly, even then I am unable to judge to do attack or a push depending on the length of ball. So, please help me .

Hi Tushar,

This is a difficult part of the game.  What I sometimes get players to do it to leave the ball and watch how it bounces to see whether it bounces once or twice.  It is a matter of enough experiences at seeing the flight of the ball and seeing whether it is short or long that will help you.

Even though it sounds like you are getting a little frustrated I think you still need to give it time.

I also like to play a game with the players.  So you play a short pushing game with a few extra rules:
1. You are only allowed to do backspin serves
2. You are playing pushes during the rally only
3. If you leave the ball and it only bounces once on the table you win the point automatically
4. If your opponent pushes the ball too high and short you are allowed one attack.  If they get it back they win the point.

Try out the game because it starts to get you to really focus on keeping the ball short and also watching to see if the ball is short or long.

We demonstrate this game in our Course on Training Secrets in the section on Training Games.