Table Tennis Tips For New Players

Table Tennis Skill

Do you need to improve your table tennis skill level?
Is it only juniors who can improve their skills?

I'd highly recommend getting some good table tennis coaching as early as possible in your playing career.After all, if world class players need coaching, then you do too!Table tennis coaching will help you to improve your skills and can be great fun too.

Then progress to what we really wanted to do ... play table tennis.Each session, coaches would teach u new table tennis skills and we'd have the chance to practice new strokes.

The Table Tennis Grip

A good table tennis grip is essential.
But why is it so important and

what do you need to know? Find out here ...

And table tennis is no different.So let's take a look at probably the most important of all the basics skills in table tennis ... the table tennis grip.

Learning to use the correct grip is vital if you want to improve your game.

Study any of the best players in the world and you'll see that they've all been taught how to grip the racket correctly.

So if you aspire to be a good player, it's important that you adopt the correct grip at the start, as any bad habits will become very difficult to correct later on.

So, whatever your current level of playing ability, I hope you'll find these table tennis tips and techniques useful.

Let's start with the most frequently asked question ...

Which table tennis grip should I use?

The grip favored by most players in the western world is known as the "shake-hands" or "western" grip.Although there are other grips - notably the "penhold" grip used predominantly by the Chinese, Japanese and the Koreans - I'll be concentrating on the western grip that I use.The western grip is easier to learn and does not have some of the drawbacks that the penhold grip has.

Why is the table tennis grip so important?

The table tennis grip is important because it controls the angle of the (paddle / bat) ... And the angle of the racket controls the height of the ball, the depth of the ball, the speed of the ball, the direction of the ball, the type of spin and the amount of spin.

So how should I hold the racketYour fingers should lie roughly parallel with the straight edge of the rubber at the base of the racket head. This enables you to have good control over the racket angle.

The remaining three fingers are wrapped around the handle to provide stability.

The grip should be firm but not tight and the racket should form an extension of your hand and forearm.

This grip should remain constant during play.

My top table tennis tips:

Don't move your thumb and/or first finger towards the centre of the racket because you'll lose control of the racket and increase the chance of hitting the ball with your fingers.

So, as I said earlier, the table tennis grip is important because it controls the angle of the racket, which in turn controls the height of the ball, the depth of the ball, the speed of the ball, the direction of the ball, the type of spin and the amount of spin.

So let's take a look at the three basic racket angles used ...

Racket angles

This is the "ready" position and is used when you're waiting for your opponent to serve.

This is the position used to play a backhand topspin shot or backhand block.

his is the position used to play a backhand push or backhand backspin shot.

The angle of the racket is varied by rotating the hand and forearm.

Although there are other factors, a closed racket angle will generally produce topspin (rotation of the ball away from the player) whilst an open racket angle will generally produce backspin

(rotation of the ball towards the player).