Site Products
Larry Hodges, table tennis coach

Do You Serve a Lot of Net Serves? Good!!!

(by Larry Hodges)

There are many aspects of a good serve, but one of them – which I’ve written about before – is the importance of serving low. This puts tremendous pressure on the opponent, especially if he wants to attack your serve. Even on passive returns he’s forced to lift the ball a bit, which causes a loss of control and a greater likelihood of popping the ball up.

But how do you know if you are serving low? One way is how often you serve net serves. (Technically, they are let serves, but for this article I’m going to call them net serves.) Some players likely pride themselves on “clean” serves that never nick the net, but I’d advice the opposite. If you really are serving low, then you will get a higher number of serves that nick the net. You are unlikely to actually serve into the net too often, assuming you are practicing your serves, but if you want to serve really low, the ball’s going to brush the net sometimes. Make it a badge of honor!

Here’s a serving drill. Get a box of balls and practice serving low, short, spinny serves. When you feel comfortable with the serve, try serving so the ball does nick the net. You are used to serving with enough net clearance to cleanly go over the net, but perhaps you are giving it too much clearance, leading to a higher serve, which makes things easier for your opponent. See just how low you can serve and get it over the net – and the best way to do this is to actually try to serve as low as possible while still going over the net – and that’s a serve that just nicks the net. Do twenty serves and see how many net serves you can do without actually serving into the net!

Latest News

Serve Into the Body

July 11, 2025
WAIT FUNCTION: Serve long serve to elbow, Robot plays topspin to Backhand, Backhand spin block down the line.… Read More

Playing Kids

July 8, 2025
(By Larry Hodges) Let’s face it; they’re probably faster than you. They might have a coach working with… Read More

#2 A Skill That Is Likely To Score – Backhand Down The Line

July 7, 2025
[[Feature] [Special Feature] American Stars! Jha’s Strengths #2 A Skill That Is Likely To Score – Backhand Down… Read More

United States Smash: Tight Scores and a Big Upset in Early Action

July 7, 2025
(by Steve Hopkins, photo WTT) Action is underway in the main round of the United States Smash, the… Read More

MLTT Featured Team: Bay Area Blasters

July 6, 2025
(by Steve Hopkins, photo MLTT) The Bay Area Blasters plan to blast through the upcoming Major League Table… Read More

WAB CLUB FEATURE: Calgary United Sports Table Tennis Association

July 6, 2025
(by Steve Hopkins) Established in 2002, Calgary United Sports Table Tennis Association (CUSTTA) is Alberta’s largest Table Tennis… Read More

Butterfly Players Shine at the 2025 US National Table Tennis Championships

July 6, 2025
(by Steve Hopkins, photo USATT) The 2025 U.S. National Table Tennis Championships is one of the premiere annual… Read More

US Nationals Recap

July 6, 2025
(by Steve Hopkins) The US National Table Tennis Championships is in the books.  One of America’s premiere events… Read More
View All News

Get the latest from Butterfly

Stay “In The Loop” with Butterfly professional table tennis equipment, table tennis news, table tennis technology, tournament results, and We Are Butterfly players, coaches, clubs and more.