Half short

Johan B Asked 9 years ago

We refer to a ball that bounces twice on the opponent's side as short and one that only bounces once long. Then we can further distinguish half long shots, which only bounce once but dip down very soon after passing the end line. What can we call balls that bounce twice but the second bounce is very close to or even on the end line? At the moment, I call them half short in my vault notes.

Alois Rosario Answered 9 years ago

Hi Johan,

I do like that. We tend to use half long for whether they bounce twice or not close to the end line. I think we should use the half short and half long differentiation.

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Dieter Verhofstadt Posted 9 years ago

And then there is the serve that goes straight Into the opponent's hitting zone. It's not long but not half long either.

i like half short better for the good serve whether or not it bounce twice. Its objective is to confuse the opponent whether to attack or push. A proper half short has 2nd bounce on the edge. The half long is then the beginner serve

but it will be hard to change the lingo.

Johan B Posted 9 years ago

Thanks for answering it on air!

@Dieter, I guess a half long serve can be useful as well if you keep it really tight and fast, so they pretty much end up hitting the ball into the bottom of the table

Neville Young Posted 9 years ago

To quote Larry Hodges "More advanced players learn the control to serve "half long" so the second bounce, given the chance, would be right about the end line".

His blog on tactics is well worth following!