Crossover

Mars De Los Santos Asked 14 years ago

I heard this term from our University's Table Tennis Coach. I am wondering what this term means and how can I properly execute it? What are the advantages of this move?

Jeff Plumb Answered 14 years ago

Hi Mars,

This could be referring to 2 different things.

Firstly there is the crossover point which refers to a ball placed to a right handers right hip. This is called the crossover point because it is difficult for a player to decide whether to play a backhand or a forehand.

Secondly there is crossover footwork. This is used when the ball goes wide out to your forehand. To cover the large distance a right hander would need to crossover their left foot in front of their right. For smaller distance you would use what is commonly referred to as the shuffle step. We cover the shuffle step in our basic footwork lesson. We will cover the crossover step in another lesson in the future.