10 years ago
Racket Height: Should the racquet be the same height as the ball or should it be lower than the ball?
I have a problem with my forehand, it always goes long. How can I solve this problem?
How to control my bat: My bat is ply-donic persson exclusive off, forehand rubber: donic coppa jo gold, backhand rubber: mark V but I cannot get control on ball should I change my bat?
Jeff: Hi everyone, it's Jeff Plumb here from PingSkills.com and this is the ask the coach show episode 1 where we answer your table tennis questions. I've got Alois Rosario with me, welcome Alois.
Alois: Hi Jeff, how are you going?
Jeff: Good thank you. So the first question we've got and are going to talk about is the racket height. So should the racket be the same height as the ball or should it be lower than the ball? That's a question that we've been asked. What do you make of that question Alois?
Alois: What I think we're talking about here is the racket height as you're hitting the ball so if you're going to play a topspin stroke, then the bat needs to be a little bit below the ball so that it can come up on the ball that way. If you're playing a backspin stroke then you can start a little bit above the ball and come down to generate the backspin. Maybe for a serve is what she was talking about. It's best to start either just a little bit above the ball so you can come down on it that way or behind the ball so you come flat and into the ball that way as well. So it depends on the type of spin that you are trying to produce, where the racket starts in relation to the ball.
Jeff: OK. Very good. I'm just currently answering that question. I'm looking at the Google apps features here so there's a little feature on this Google hangouts Alois where you can specify which question you are currently answering so I was just a little bit distracted there.
Alois: OK.
Jeff: We'll see how that goes. Alright so another question we have Alois is about a forehand problem and the question is I can't get the ball on the table while playing the forehand it always goes long and misses the table. What should I do?
Alois: So the natural cure for the ball that is going long is to put a little bit more topspin on the ball so if you're hitting the ball too flat and too fast then the ball is going to tend to go out past the table. If you start to put just a little bit of topspin on the ball then the topspin is going to drag the ball down onto the table so that's probably one of the things that you can look at. The other thing is also just adjusting the angle of your bat so it could be as simple as instead of your bat being at that angle just turn it down and forward a fraction and play the same stroke that you're playing at the moment and maybe that will cure the problem. Always remember though with your forehand stroke to get that bat coming up towards that eyebrow.
Jeff: OK. Good advice there. So really topspin is the key. Great now so Hela's also asked us a question about how to control, that's the title of it so he's got a bat with some rubber on it so I think a Donic Coppa JO Gold and Mark V on the backhand but he can't control the ball so his question is should he change his bat?
Alois: I think he's also got an offensive blade as well there.
Jeff: He does, yes it's a Donic Persson exclusive offensive.
Alois: Yep, so this is a problem we often find with players and it's really natural when we start to play we want to get a good bat and it's really difficult when you're starting to work out what is a good bat. I mean you look at a bat that's $200 and think fantastic that's going to be the one for me but often when you're starting it's really important to start with a lower speed bat and a bat with a bit more control. So if you, it sounds like the bat that you've got there is just a little bit too fast for you so you need to come back a step. Keep the bat, put it in your drawer, or put it in the cupboard because hopefully as you progress that's a bat that you will be able to use down the track. The bat that we recommend to start off with is the PingSkills Rook which is just a good control bat but it has reasonable quality rubber on it as well so you still want to have a bat that you can get a bit of grip and a bit of spin on the ball but the bat that you have bought for yourself I think is just a bit too fast so my advice is probably go for something a little bit slower, just a pre-made bat to start off with and put the other one away till you get a little bit better.
Jeff: Yeah good advice. So it's really important isn't it that you get something that is not too fast so that you can learn to play a full stroke and learn to hit the ball consistently on the table. If the ball is coming off too fast you're going to compromise your stroke, you're going to try and play it a bit shorter. We've got a really good video on how to choose a table tennis bat so you can find that on our website or just google PingSkills how to choose a table tennis bat and you'll find that video which takes you through the different levels of bat and when you should upgrade so that's definitely worth a watch.
Jeff: OK. So I think that wraps up our first ask the coach show episode 1 Alois so if our viewers out there have any feedback on the show or the format then let us know, leave a comment, we'd love to hear from you and if you want to get a question on then just go to PingSkills.com and go to the ask the coach section and ask a question and we will pick a couple of questions each time we do the show to answer them. So thanks for watching, thanks Alois.
Alois: Thanks Jeff.