How to practice services

Table Tennis Serving

Last updated 11 years ago

laksh pillai

laksh pillai Asked 11 years ago

First of all , I love your videos on youtube. It makes my TT learning fun and your understanding of the game is just brilliant. Thanks for doing it.

Now, My question is

" I started playing TT in my office in August 2012. Now I can decently play the basic shots. But I am losing many points in service. My service is either slow and short or fast and high making it easier for the opponent. Now I seen lot of videos on youtube about various spin serves. So far I can only do  underspin and topspin serves. If I try sidespin or pendulum or cockscrew serves, I am not getting it

Can you explain about the mechanics of the side spin serves and other serves which stays on the table. How can I practice it in my home. does the type of rubber matter?


Alois Rosario

Alois Rosario Answered 11 years ago

Hi Laksh,

Thanks for the kind words.

To get sidespin on the ball you need to brush the ball sideways.  You can do this in two ways.  Think of brushing the side of the ball.  Or you can brush across the back of the ball.

To get the feel for this you can practice getting the ball to curve on the floor.  In a large room, swing fast through and see how much curve you can get on the ball.  This will give you an indication of the sidespin you are generating.  Once you can do this then go to the table and see if you can get the ball to curve on the table, even if it is not a proper serve at first.

We also have a detailed explanation of serving and generating sidespin in our lessons on Serving Secrets.  You can access these by becoming a Premium member.  To do this you can join through the website.

Let me know if you need any other help with this.


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Thoughts on this question

DHS Lover

DHS Lover Posted 11 years ago

Anyway, what's cockscrew serve ?

Alois Rosario

Alois Rosario from PingSkills Posted 11 years ago

Take a look at the previous questions.  If you type in 'Corkscrew serve in to the search box you will find quite a lot of discussion on it.  Basically it is just a slow sidespin serve.


DHS Lover

DHS Lover Posted 11 years ago

Oh i see... I'll search it :D thank you very much :D

Justin O'Toole

Justin O'Toole Posted 11 years ago

My experience came from just practicing my serves from my dvd serving secrets revealed. This video was fantastic and gues who made it Alois and Jeff as if you didn't already know. I watch this awsome video and just practice practice practice.

I recomend this video to anyone wanting to serve better and set up 3rd ball attacks if you havent already one the point. It will help you tremendously. I recomend this and give it video 5 stars. Brilliant for all table tennis players no mater your level is.


DHS Lover

DHS Lover Posted 11 years ago

Too bad the dvd is sold out i just want to buy one now i must be a premium member to see it... I need time to save my money...

Jeff Plumb

Jeff Plumb from PingSkills Posted 11 years ago

Hi Frendy,

Actually the premium membership is much better value than the DVDs were on their own. With the premium membership you get online access to every PingSkills video, plus depending on your membership level you can download a certain number of videos per month. With a monthly membership you can download 10 videos per month to keep forever, 50 per month with a quarterly membership, and you get unlimited downloads with a yearly membership. Plus you don't have to pay any postage and you get the videos instantly!


DHS Lover

DHS Lover Posted 11 years ago

I know about it and i'll be premium member one day... Anyway, where should i transfer the money ? I just want to buy pingskills touch so i need to know how and where to transfer it and is it different to buy something from pingskills store and to be a premium member ?

Alois Rosario

Alois Rosario from PingSkills Posted 11 years ago

You can become a member through the 'My Info' link at the top left hand corner of the page. Becoming a premium member is different from buying something from the PingSkills store. We use PayPal for all payments.



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