Long Stroke or Short Stroke

Jerome Babiera Asked 10 years ago

Hi Alois and Jeff, 

When I play table tennis I usually play with a long stroke, and my coach always tells me to keep my strokes short and dont go very deep below the table just keep it above. Then he made me do is practice my strokes with a wall behind me. He explained that when I do long strokes the contact to the ball will be late and have less power on it but when you hit the ball early it will have much power  then he compared it to boxing he told me that you won't see boxers with long strokes you will see them punch with the stroke near their body but it is powerful. I already learned playing with a short stroke during drills but during a match I would play with a long stroke specifically when I do topspin. What do you think, should I keep the long strokes or keep practicing the short strokes?

Thanks :-)

Fr: Jerome

Alois Rosario Answered 10 years ago

Hi Jerome,

The length of the stroke depends on the amount of time you have.  In general it is good to have compact strokes to give you enough time to play.

The time that you can have a bigger swing is when you are further away from the table and you have more time to swing.