Anticipating spin
Table Tennis Strokes and Technique
Last updated 7 years ago
Daniel Nevin Asked 8 years ago
Hey Coaches!!
I play against a lot of people at work who stand up straight and hit tricky spin shots. I know you guys have covered spin in detail, but I haven't seen this specific question addressed, which is:
How do you know what spin is coming at you so can prepare for it in the middle of a rally? Should you watch the opponent and his or her stroke to anticipate the direction of spin before the shot is even hit? Or should you just watch the ball? I have near-perfect vision but still have trouble figuring out the spin direction by just looking at the ball.
Thanks!
Dan
Alois Rosario Answered 8 years ago
Hi Dan,
Watching the ball is crucial. That will give you the best information. It may take a while to be able to react and adjust to the different types of spin, but watching will give you the quickest improvement.
Watch especially when you make mistakes and see where the ball goes off your bat. This will give you better information for the next time you see the same shot come at you.
Thoughts on this question
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Jesse Rosenberg Posted 7 years ago
I'm fairly new to the site, so please forgive me if there is already a video for this that I missed, but I think it would be great if you guys had a video focused on this topic specifically, that is identifying spins while in play. Maybe even some slow motion shots like you guys do frequently. Trying to follow the opponent's racquet is very tricky when they are good enough to camouflage their strokes. For example I see the opponent's stroke, and I anticipate a backspin only to find out it was a topspin and have my ball go flying into the air.
Alois Rosario from PingSkills Posted 7 years ago
Hi Jesse,
Thanks for the suggestion. It is something that I don't think we have covered fully on the site as yet.