(By Larry Hodges, Member of US Table Tennis Hall of Fame Returning serve is the most difficult part of the game to master. There are more variations to prepare for than at just about any other time–reading spin off a fast motion, topspin or backspin, sidespin either way, corkscrewspin, no-spin, long or short, fast or […]

(By Larry Hodges, Member of US Table Tennis Hall of Fame There are basically seven different directional placements in table tennis, though only five or six are available at any time. They are: Outside forehand corner Forehand corner Middle forehand Middle (opponent’s elbow) Middle backhand Backhand corner Outside backhand corner Generally, you never want to […]

(By Larry Hodges, Member of US Table Tennis Hall of Fame If you spent five-ten minutes each day shadow practicing your strokes and footwork, you’ll be surprised at the improvement, not to mention the health benefits. Make it part of your fitness regimen. For example, every day do 50-100 forehands, backhands, forehand loops, backhand loops, […]

(By Larry Hodges, Member of US Table Tennis Hall of Fame Against a short serve, you can take the ball quick and rush the opponent, you can go for angles, and you can drop the ball short. So have a number of ways to mess up an opponent without actually attacking the serve. This is […]

(By Larry Hodges, Member of US Table Tennis Hall of Fame Table tennis is chess at lightning speed. Imagine that split second as you are about to hit the ball. Do you hit wherever, or do you pick the placement like choosing a move in chess? There are three main spots to choose from (plus […]

(By Larry Hodges, Member of US Table Tennis Hall of Fame Many players go into a backhand stance when blocking. This is fine for the backhand, but it weakens the forehand side. Even worse, it makes smashing or counterlooping on the forehand much more difficult. You may find that you can block backhands almost as […]

(By Larry Hodges, Member of US Table Tennis Hall of Fame We will define a “short” serve as any serve that, given the chance, would bounce at least twice on the receiver’s side of the table before going off the end. Any serve that doesn’t do this will be considered a “long” serve. To attack […]

(By Larry Hodges, Member of US Table Tennis Hall of Fame At the beginning/intermediate levels, most matches are won by whoever is more consistent. Great strengths haven’t yet developed, and so while players do have strengths, the matches are mostly won by whoever makes the least mistakes. As you advance, this changes. At the intermediate/advanced […]

(By Larry Hodges, Member of US Table Tennis Hall of Fame Everybody has at least one serve that always gives them trouble. It might be a certain sidespin, or a deep serve, a short serve, a no-spin serve, an angled serve, etc. (For example, you can almost divide players into two groups – those who […]

(By Larry Hodges, Member of US Table Tennis Hall of Fame Most blockers develop timing to react to your normal loop. At the instant they think you will contact the ball, they commit to blocking either forehand or backhand. So set up to loop crosscourt, and make no attempt to hide this. At the instant […]