Point of contact

Table Tennis General

Last updated 14 years ago

Jason Unknown

Jason Unknown Asked 14 years ago

First off - great site and great stuff in both your "Secrets" video. My serve has improved 10x!

In my table tennis club some of the more senior members have commented that my forehand mechanics need a lot of work. In particular they say that I have a tendency to hit the ball when it's to my side or even when it's behind me. (e.g if you take my front to be 0 degrees, then I often make contact with the ball at 90-120 degrees clockwise).

Problem is that this happens most often when the ball goes long.

The stroke I'm usually performing is top-spin to top-spin or I'm putting top-spin on a counter hit or a block.

Is hitting it at 90degrees-120degrees a big enough problem that I should try to correct it so that I hit the ball somewhere between 45-degrees to 65-degrees?

Thanks!

Jason


Alois Rosario

Alois Rosario Answered 14 years ago

Hi Jason,

Your contact point is important. 

The easiest way to find your contact point is to clasp your hands together in front of you.  This is roughly a good contact point.  How far away from your body will be  determined on the type of stroke you are playing.  A more controlled stroke will be closer to your body and a more powerful stroke can be further away.

Of course your body can rotate during your stroke so the hitting point will move further back. 

Hitting it "behind" you will often happen on the long ball if you don't have enough time to get your feet back into position or if you don't react fast enough.  So this will happen on the topspin to topspin rallies because they may be coming thorugh a little faster.

If you find you are running out of time, shorten your stroke and concentrate on hitting the ball in the correct contact point.

Thanks for the kind words about the site and our Secrets DVDs.


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