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Terminology of Table Tennis?

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Steve Billmire
Steve Billmire Asked 11 years ago

Hello Alois and Jeff,

I did a search on this and have asked about this subject before. I found back in 2009 was the first time someone had asked this question. At the time you had said that TT"Term's and or "Terminology had no official " Term's " for stroke's. I had asked you before about this subject and you said "Perhaps we should start developing a glossary of terms somewhere". I think it is about time to do this, because I know for some of us. The use of these " Term's " can get a little confusing, but by now these "Term's" are widely used on this website/ forum.

Anyone who has been reading and watching video's here, should by now have a pretty good idea of what these "Term's" mean. I know for myself I was a bit over whelmed when I first this wonderful website. But after a while I started understand the lingo of the "Term's". I'm not saying that I know all the " Term's " you and Jeff are talking about, but I am starting to understand some of them.

So I think it is about time for the Pingskills community to start posting on this thread about what these "Term's" mean to them. Then Alois and Jeff can go through this thread (when they have time of course) and help us with what is the right "Term" with the definition of what we perceive is right for the particular "Term". This way we are not taking too much of their time (Alois and Jeff) and all they would need to do is check the thread from time to time. Then they could perhaps correct the " Term" and how it relates to the definition and what we think it means.

Any thoughts would be appreciated,

Thanks

Alois Rosario
Member Badge Alois Rosario Answered 11 years ago

Hi Steve,

This would be a good start.

Let’s see how it develops.

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Thoughts on this question (26)

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Johan B

Johan B Posted 11 years ago

Sounds like a fun and useful project!

Steve Billmire

Steve Billmire Posted 11 years ago

Okay, I guess I'll start.

 

We can start anywhere alphabetically or however doesn't really matter. Just like to see this get started.

What we are trying to do is find out what the Definition/meaning/ terminology is for the words we use in TT.

1. Attack/Attacking: Used mostly as a forehand offense/ defense stroke with a lot of power and topspin. IE: 3rd ball attack/ 5th attack.

Alois Rosario

Member Badge Alois Rosario from PingSkills Posted 11 years ago

Hi Steve,

Not really a defensive shot I wouldn’t think.  A Forehand or Backhand topspin stroke.

Steve Billmire

Steve Billmire Posted 11 years ago

Well one thing I found is the Wikipedia TT website. Where they have some Terminology about the game, but not enough for what we are trying to do here. Definitely for those beginner's looking for information about TT go there and check it out.

You are right Alois, after doing some research I found the "Attack" is a offense shot using forehand and or backhand with topspin. Usually used in a 3rd or 5th ball attack. Thank you for the correction.

Now for our next term: Block/ Blocking.

Johan B

Johan B Posted 11 years ago

block/blocking is when you return a ball by just holding your racket up at the right angle. It can be made more difficult to return by punching through to add speed or by adding spin with wrist movement

 

Something like that maybe?

Dieter Verhofstadt

Dieter Verhofstadt Posted 11 years ago

I don't want to discourage a spontaneous effort but a forum is not fit for an encyclopaedic endeavour. You do need a wiki for that. Either Pingskills provide for that, or the community formed here starts editing the available Wiki.

On the other hand, table tennis isn't that much of a cognitive sport. It helps understanding the difference between a loop and a drive, if you know that topspin and counterhit are mostly synonyms for those two terms, but your execution of either of them isn't going to improve. It's different for - say - math.

Good luck

 

 

Johan B

Johan B Posted 11 years ago

You do make a good point, but since it doesn't happen that often that a new table tennis term is created, you don't really need a wiki structure to get started. After discussing through a number of terms, it's easy to just make a html document to contain the entire glossary. :)

Steve Billmire

Steve Billmire Posted 11 years ago

Hello Dieter,

I couldn't agree with you more, I'm not looking for a complete encyclopedic endeavor about all terms of TT. Just the terms that are mostly used here on the website/ forum. The reason I wanted to start this is because there are a lot of beginner's (like myself) that are visiting all kinds of these types of sites. Going from one to the next I found that some of these terms are being used to mean more than one thing. As an example the term used to describe the "Racket/Paddle/Bat" is widely used through out the world, but they all mean the same thing. Or as you would say "synonyms" with each other.

One thing I don't really agree with you about is when you say that TT is not that much of a cognitive sport. The mental process or faculty by which knowledge is acquired. I feel that just learning how to play TT with all of it's different ways of hitting the ball is a mental process on it's own, let alone the knowledge that is acquired by doing so.

And as you say, and as I mentioned above in my last post. The Wiki TT site has a lot of information that I suggested beginner's and or anyone interested in some of the terminology about TT to go take a look at. There is some pretty interesting information that some might find useful and at some point would like to see Pingskills post a link to it.

As a parting note, I never intended to make this thread a huge endeavor and would like to think it might be kind of fun. I'm just throwing out some of the term's used here to see what they mean. That way people visiting this website can either do a search for the term or go to the "Ask the coach" and find the link to "Term's/Terminology". When I first found this site I started watching the video's, at first I couldn't understand most of the terms. So I thought, hey why not a a link for us that are not privy and or knowledgeable about the TT term's being used here.

So let's have some fun and see now this turns out!!! :-) 

Johan B

Johan B Posted 11 years ago

I forgot to say that there are forehand and backhand blocks !

Dieter Verhofstadt

Dieter Verhofstadt Posted 11 years ago

Steve, sure and good luck! Here are some terms (not term's btw):

  • forehand, backhand
  • counter hit, loop, push, chop, flip/flick
  • topspin, backspin, sidespin, no spin
  • control, footwork, reaction (speed)
  • spin, placement, speed/power
  • elbow/armpit/switching point (for placement)
  • power pocket/hitting zone, both forehand and backhand (for placement)
  • outside hitting zone or "wide" (for placement)
  • cross court, down the line
  • pivot, banana flip/ovtcharov flip
  • penhold, shakehand
  • neutral position
  • playing hand, free hand
  • pendulum, reverse pendulum, punch, tomahawk, reverse tomahawk, backhand (all for serve)
  • contact point, brushing contact, flat contact
  • deep, short (serve, return)
  • single bounce, double bounce (serve)
  • let, edge, side, net post

and then some :)

 

 

Alois Rosario

Member Badge Alois Rosario from PingSkills Posted 11 years ago

Hey Dieter,

That is a good list for us to work on.  I think the suggestion of putting this all in a PDF, that people can download, would be the best.  We will work on this.  If anyone has any other terms just put a list like Dieter has.  This will make it easier to work with.

Steve Billmire

Steve Billmire Posted 11 years ago

Dieter, thank you for your contribution. It will really help with getting this thread started.

Johan B

Johan B Posted 11 years ago

Hook, fade 

Steve Billmire

Steve Billmire Posted 11 years ago

I have always wanted to know the meaning of the term.

Loop or looping the ball.

Steve Billmire

Steve Billmire Posted 11 years ago

Hello Alois and Jeff,

I would like to thank you for mentioning this "Ask the coach"question on your blog #88. As Jeff was saying on the show, terms like " Loop/ Looping", "Block/Blocking", ect. Are very common terms in TT and I would like to have Pingskills members try and contribute what they think is the meaning of the term/terms.

We don't need to go into great detail of a meaning/definition of a particular term. Just a couple of sentences that would help us who are somewhat new to the game of TT. I think it be great if we could then put this into a PDF file for us Pingskills members to have access to.

Thanks guys you are the best!!!

Ilia Minkin

Ilia Minkin Posted 11 years ago

What is a "swipe"?

Johan B

Johan B Posted 11 years ago

Imagine cleaning a mirror with a cloth, Ilia :-) That's a swiping movement

 

Hook and fade made me wonder if slice and draw can also be used (related terms in golf)

Dieter Verhofstadt

Dieter Verhofstadt Posted 11 years ago

Since you mention "slice", I want to highlight the fact that a "no spin push" and a "backspin push" are very different, as different as a counterhit/drive and a topspin/loop. In our club, the coaches will call both of them a "push" which leads people to believe that they should add backspin on all occasions. My personal coach (a friend living overseas, who was national champion in his youth) has oftens stressed and practiced those two kinds of "pushes". For convenience I'd call the no spin variant a "push" and the spinny variant a "slice". This is definitely an area where terminology will help.

Perhaps the reason why our club doesn't care is that they restrict pushing to the absolute minimum and advocate attacking early. Still, at our level, pushing battles out of insecurity or technical incapacity do exist and I have found it very rewarding to alternate slices and pushes, so as to force a mistake with the opponent, just like a variation in the amount of topspin will force errors on the blocker.

Steve Billmire

Steve Billmire Posted 11 years ago

Hello Alois and Jeff,

I noticed that on your latest blog #89 you guys mentioned about the terms of TT again. I think that it might be a good idea that when someone asks a question about a certain type of serve and or stroke. For instance, when someone is asking about a particular serve or return they are having a hard time with. They ask how do I return when my opponent sends the ball with a loop? Maybe you guys could first explain what a loop is and why it is used in TT. Then you could go about answering the question on how to return such a stroke.

Just an idea that might help us that are new to the game and are not familiar with the terms being used on your website and blog.

Have a good day and thanks for all your hard work. It is appreciated by all of us Pingskills members!!! :-) 

Johan B

Johan B Posted 11 years ago

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Table_tennis_terminology

http://www.usatt.org/organization/glossary_tt.shtml

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Table_tennis is also full of explanations

Steve Billmire

Steve Billmire Posted 11 years ago

Hello Johan,

Thank you for your contribution on this thread. I did mention the Wiki page in one of my posts above. But I didn't put the actual web page link like you did.

Johan, if you don't mind me asking. How do you like the "Premium Membership"?

Johan B

Johan B Posted 11 years ago

The videos are definitely worth your time if you haven't seen them yet :) You also get this nice automatic welcome e-mail where Alois offers to check out your playing and comment if you have some recording

One of those links were broken, here's the proper one: http://www.usatt.net/organization/glossary_tt.shtml

Steve Billmire

Steve Billmire Posted 11 years ago

Hey Johan,

Yeah, I have been checking out all the links I can find about TT term's. A lot of them have "some" of the terms I am looking for. Hopefully we can get most of the terms we use here in this thread. I could just copy and paste those terms we use here from the Wiki TT page. But it is really hard to do that with my tablet. I guess I would need to use my laptop to do it, but my kid is using it to write an thesis paper for school.

I have been really thinking about becoming a "Premium Member" and wanted to get other PM's opinion on how they like it. I have already watched all the free videos and think I'm about ready to at least try it out for one month. Them see how it goes from there. At the same time I'm looking to buy a new bat. So I'm kind of like what do I want, the membership or the bat, LoL

How long have you been playing TT? I used to play a lot when I was younger then just got back into it about 3 months ago. Mainly for my 2 boys and I (and the wife sometimes) for something for us to do during the winter months. But I have become addicted to the game and now I just want to get better and better. Because it is a blast and a lot of fun to learn all the serves and strokes and watch my boys get better at the game.

Sorry don't mean to high jack this thread with personal information. :-* 

Alois Rosario

Member Badge Alois Rosario from PingSkills Posted 11 years ago

Hi Steve,

Jeff and i have started a personal document where we will list all the suggestions and then do some definitions.  We will then put them on a pdf that people can download or view.

So, the best thing would be to list any other terms that you think would be useful.  I have taken the suggestions from Wiki and also from this thread.

Johan B

Johan B Posted 11 years ago

Hey Steve!

If you can spare the cost of trying it out for one month, I'd definitely recommend it!

I used to play a lot as a kid but never in real competition or anything and I got started again about one and a half month ago. I play once a week at a club and fool around occasionally at the kitchen table at home throughout the rest of the week. Before this I watched a lot of table tennis on YouTube for about two years as entertainment so I guess that's how I found my way back to this interest

 

Steve Billmire

Steve Billmire Posted 11 years ago Latest

Hello all you good Pingskills members,

I'm not sure if Alois and Jeff have been working on this. But I thought I would give you guys (and girls) an update on the TT terminology. After looking and looking for some place that had good reference information on the subject. I found a couple of places that you can go to, first is Megaspin.net and go to the Info page. There you will find a lot of good information on just about everything from buying equipment and how to learn serves. As well as a full description of the TT terminology, which is very for understanding what all the terms mean.

Second, is Larry Houges book. Table The for Thinkers. It can be found on Amazon website for $16 bucks U.S. The book has great reviews there and I am thinking about buying one for myself and boys to read. You can also check out Larry's website for a lot of very good information on TT. He also has a daily blog, videos, forum, ect.

Anyway, I hope this will help those of you who are like me and want to know what the heck all these terms mean. :-) 

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