IMPROVE
YOUR GAME
IMPROVE
YOUR GAME
Paul Stansfield gives you some tips on how to enhance your game.
UNDERSTANDING SPIN & FUNNY BATS
Lets be honest with ourselves, how many of you have come away from the table, fresh from a drubbing, having the feeling of been beaten by a funny bat. Does this sound familiar? Well I can help you, if you are prepared to take note of what I have to say. The days of losing to long pimples, anti-loop, short pimples and hard bats can be a thing of the past. That is assuming you have more ability than your opponent.
Here we go then. Playing an opponent with a normal reversed rubber bat, most players understand the straight forward basics of spin. The first rubber we shall deal with is the medium long/long pimple. There is very little difference in the playing characteristics of these two rubbers. Basically you will get the reverse spin back to the one that you send over. E.g. you do a chop serve-they push it back with long pimples-the ball will have slight topspin on it, so do not push it! This is the trap that most people fall into.
If you do a sidespin or topspin serve to long pimples, the ball will come back with chop on, no matter how your opponent hits it. If you loop the ball to long pimples you will also receive chop back again, however it is hit.
Lets say you are in the middle of a rally and you push the ball to the long pimples. If they push it back it would be float! Do not push this, but at the same time do not try to over hit it, just flick it back nice and easy. If the ball does sit up when you receive it from this situation, hit it with confidence. Another trick to watch for are the long pimpled serves. If they do what appears to be a fast topspin serve at you, beware! It is not what it seems. The serve will have chop on it and it will be travelling quite quickly to boot. If you haven’t got the confidence to topspin this back, then I suggest you take the ball later, and give it a forceful push/chop back.
Now lets examine anti-loop. This is relatively straight forward. If a player hits at you with anti-loop the ball will be dead, so you must not simply block it. You must play this return positively. If you topspin the ball you will get chop back if (a) they chop it, or float back if (b) they block it. On to serves. If they appear to chop serve the ball you can put them under immediate pressure, because the ball will be floated. Attack this ball straight away without hesitation by merely flicking it where you choose. I know this might sound difficult at first, but with a little practice this is an easy shot to execute, you don’t even have to lift it.
Short pimples are a lot more orthodox and can be played in the main, just like the reversed rubbers. One tip I will give loopers though:- beware of the block. A few short pimpled rubbers seem to give a chop block effect when you send heavy topspin at them.
The good old-fashioned hard bat is a dying breed. There are still some players out there with these dinosaurs and quite right too. Put simply, these bats play very much like anti-loop, the main difference being the chop serve. Some players can actually impart chop on the ball with the serve, but not many.
I hope this has given you some confidence to play these awkward players and actually enjoy the experience. Remember the players who play with these rubbers have to master them, and generally are worthy of more respect than we tend to give them.
Armed with your new knowledge go out there and see them off!
RECEIVING SERVES
Today’s game is a far cry from the old days. It is not the spin that defeats most players; it is more often than not the deception. If you know what spin is on the ball there is a fair chance you will be able to return it, as long as it does not beat you for pace. If you guess what spin is on the ball you are in no mans land. If by chance you return the ball safely you are more than likely to give your opponent an easy attacking opportunity. Armed with these facts, it means that you have to have a sound knowledge of spin, good tactical awareness and plenty of talent to boot if you are going to be a success. So there we have it and there are no prizes for guessing that table tennis is probably the most technical sport around.
Receiving serve is one of the most important aspects of the game. The more serves you return the more points you will win, in the long run. Different players use different methods to read the spin on the service. Some watch the bat contact on the ball (if they can see it), some watch the logo on the ball, some watch the bounce and some do all three at once. All the aforementioned methods work well for certain players but experience is still the trump card.
If you watch the ball bounce you will notice that the chopped ball will skid a little and bounce higher than one with sidespin or topspin on it. This gets more difficult to detect if the ball is travelling at speed. With the bigger ball comes a bigger logo, but beware you need to have good mince pies. If you watch the contact of the servers bat onto the ball, make sure that you are fully committed to the shot you have made your mind up to play. If you have decided it is chop, play it firmly, do not poke at it. This way if you are wrong it will not go straight up in the air, giving your opponent an easy kill. If you have decided that it is topspin or sidespin do not push it whatever you do, if you are wrong you have little or no chance of a good return. Lastly, never change your mind after it is made up.
Whatever method you use I hope it works for you. You can only really improve with experience.
Good Luck.