Petr Korbel bouncing on his toes

Table Tennis Footwork

Last updated 7 years ago

Ilia Minkin

Ilia Minkin Asked 8 years ago

Hi Alois,

I've just watched this recent match of Petr Korbel (!) against Patrick Franziska. I noticed that Petr often intensively bounces on his toes while Franziska tosses the ball and serves. See, for example, the point played out from 1:12. Why is he doing that?


Alois Rosario

Alois Rosario Answered 8 years ago

Hi Ilia,

That constant movement helps him to move.  Often players will find that if they are static, it is more difficult to get into motion.  By starting with the bouncing the next movement is a little easier.

You will notice though that his top half is quite stable.  His eyes are not bouncing up and down even though his legs are moving.


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Ilia Minkin

Ilia Minkin Posted 8 years ago

Hi Alois,

Some coaches say that good players even keep bouncing in between shots, for example Larry Hodges writes about it here. What do you think about it?


Alois Rosario

Alois Rosario from PingSkills Posted 8 years ago

Yes there is a small bounce that the tops players do in between shots.  It allows them to move into position easier rather than starting from a stationary position.


Ilia Minkin

Ilia Minkin Posted 8 years ago

Alois, thank you so much for discussing it on the show. This "small bounce" detail seem to be very important in fast footwork technique, but the first time I saw it discussed explicitly was in Larry's blog. I'm trying to do this bounce in training, but in match things happen so fast that I am almost always flatfooted. Hopefully shadowplay will help after some time, but creating this little jumping habit seems to be very challenging.


Miklós Fazekas

Miklós Fazekas Posted 8 years ago

This reminds me of a hula hoop metaphore i saw in a badminton video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9Ij-b0wexc&feature=youtu.be&t=145 I know badminton an TT footwork are different, but the idea of you're quicker to react if you're already moving sounds to apply both.


Miklós Fazekas

Miklós Fazekas Posted 8 years ago

link for the video mentioned above


Alois Rosario

Alois Rosario from PingSkills Posted 8 years ago

 Thanks.  That is an interesting video too.


Ilia Minkin

Ilia Minkin Posted 8 years ago

Wow, the badminton video is cool. 


Ilia Minkin

Ilia Minkin Posted 7 years ago

Hi Alois,

I have another issue. I notice that when I'm fresh, I automatically do those "micro jumps" and it really helps me to get into position early. But this freshness wears out very quickly. I then enter a state when I do not feel any fatigue, it is like I still can do an hour of heavy footwork practice, but "I get lazy". I stop doing those small steps and get to the ball a fraction of a second later, which causes lots of unforced errors. Can I address it somehow? Or I just have to wait until I get more fit?


Alois Rosario

Alois Rosario from PingSkills Posted 7 years ago

I think fitness will come with more practice of it.



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