Teaching Young Children the Basics

Adam Muquid Asked 4 weeks ago

My sister wants me to teach her table tennis. I've tried, but she isn't even understanding keeping the ball up on her bat. She's still in primary school (elementary, for the Americans). Do you have any advice and what should I be teaching her?

Alois Rosario Answered 2 weeks ago

Hi Adam,

I love that you are willing to teach your sister.  Well done.

I think hitting the ball up on the bat isn't the best way to start a young player because it can be quite difficult if they haven't had much experience and I also think it isn't the most effective way to teach them.

Try getting her to roll the ball across a table.  You can get her to roll it up to the wall while sitting on the floor or rolling it across the table to the wall.  The rolling is a simpler way to start.  Then you can start bouncing the ball to her with your hand and getting her to tap the ball back to you.  This can be on the table or on the floor.

See if these help her to gain some confidence in her hitting.

Take a look at our Training 101 Tutorials.  This will give you some good ideas to help her to learn the game.