Master the Basic Stance in Table Tennis for Power and Movement

It's the simplicity of the lesson that impresses. No need to make things complicated, eh! Well done to PingSkills.

Thanks Michael!

It isnt about knowing all that techniques, it is about making us get them in the right way that what it takes to be a coach and u definitely have it. thanks for ur help    

No problems Mohamed.

i also agree. i am a beginner and i never knew stance was important until i watched this video. thanks pingskills!

Good to hear we are helping, Alexander.

MUCHAS GRACIAS POR ESE VIDEO MUY BUENO THANKS

Hi Alois,

Very simple yet very important thing to keep in mind!!

How far away from the table do I need to stand while receiving a serve? Is there any general tips for this?

Thanks,

Amith

Hi Amith,

In general, at a distance when you are in your ready position where you can just touch the table.

Simple y clave, muy buen video! Saludos desde Bolivia!

Thanks Marco.

I agree. Great simple to the point coaching. Thanks Alois.

hi pingskills the video was great i learnt a lot of balance and position and its easier to understand THX!

Thanks Master! Video is of great help...

No problems Sajad.  Glad it helps.

Thanks. Others always made fun at my stance and I could never understand why.

I love the use of a small number of well demonstrated coaching points making it very clear.  Would you still reccomend the bent knees stance with children?  My 10 year old boyof slightly below average height may find himself playing below the table.

Cheers  Joe

Hi Joe,

It is difficult when they are really small.  I think making sure his knees are bent slightly is important otherwise he will develop bad habits.  As he grows he will learn to bend more.

You can also practice the lower leg position with some away from the table moving drills.

I love you man! :D I did tennis for 3 years,now i use to play table tennis with my friends and i want to do better.

you know i really suck i smash on luck

Wowow... Ujjval appreciates highly the way you explain things... one should need only a little faith in you to become a great player in your guidance !

Regards

Thank you because I was having problems with basic stance

It is important to get it right so that you can play your strokes better and also be able to move more efficiently.

Thanks! Great video. Very helpful.

Good to hear it Ruslan.

As usual, well explained. A good table tennis can not be played without proper stance as this is important to maintain good balance through out the rally.

Thanks Ujjal.

Thanks ping skills that was very helpful. I have always been wondering why cant i get back to position fast enough after completing my forehand and this video of forehand counterhit showed me why. Would love to subscribe and have full membership to learn more about table tennis but cant afford it now. Hopefully i will someday.

Ludwe

Eastern Cape, South Africa

Glad you liked it Ludwe.

Very good video.  Without the proper stance and balance one is unable to execute in table tennis.

good

One thing I often see with some young or new players in our club, is that they do bend their knees, but they keep their upper body mostly vertical instead of bending it slightly forwards from the hips and lower back. The opposite is also seen often, where players only bend their upper body forwards, but barely bend their knees. In both cases it messes up their balance, strokes and mobility/speed. I myself 'feel' how to stand low and balanced (although I sometimes forget it when I am getting tired or distracted), but I found out that there are a decent amount of people who just don't feel this naturally at first and need some guidance. They get down when you ask them, but one can immediately see that the stance is unnatural and unbalanced. It is however pretty difficult to pinpoint exactly what is going wrong (bending knees vs. bending the hips/lower back).

You demonstrate the forward/backwards stability in the video, but especially for the younger players this concept is sometimes a bit difficult to get through to them. When I try to correct someone's posture, I ask them to get lower first, then fall backwards until they feel their weight is completely on their heels, then fall forwards until they feel all their weight on their front feet. Then I ask them to get right in the middle where the weight is distributed evenly between their heels and front feet. I sometimes then offer them my hand and ask them to reach out halfway (as you would holding your bat in front of you) and let them pull and push it; when they stand correctly they should be able to do both without losing balance.

I personally tend to put a bit more weight on my front feet than on my heels, although I would love to know what you think is the perfect distribution for table tennis. I got this from playing basketball when I was young, where for example pivoting on your front feet is very important, but I can imagine that it is different for table tennis.

Do you have any other advice, or a simple exercise, that immediately makes it obvious to them how to bend the knees and hips/lower back together and stand balanced automatically, that I can apply to (young or inexperienced) players to help them find the correct posture/stance themselves? Is there a visual guidance for me and/or for them? For example, your shoulders should be right above your knees...?

Hope it all makes sense, keep up the excellent videos

Good discussion and thoughts.  I think the way you demonstrate to them is a good way of doing it.  Get them to experiment with their balance both forwards and backwards as well as sideways and feel when they have an even distribution.  Doing this with eyes closed can also help when they are standing there.  This will put ore attention on their sense of feel.

The other thing that I find helps is to get them to act like a gorilla.  This gives them that lower position and also the forward lean.

Thanx Alois, I love the gorilla idea!! It adds some fun to the training too, great! I will try this next time together with the idea of closing your eyes to better focus on your balance.

Any thoughts about what the ideal weight distribution heel/front-foot should be? Is it 50/50 or should it be more to the front foot than to the heel? Or is this is a minor detail, something for the player to decide based on what feels best?

I think the percentage is something that the player will start to feel.  It is slightly to the front of the foot but only marginally.  Get them to feel the position that they fall comfortable in and also feel like they will be able to jump sideways quickly from.

I watch the video and realized you did not include distance from the table as a part of the stance. is there another video or tutorial on that?

Hi Peter,

The basic idea is to stand in your ready position and then you should be able to just touch the table with your hands.  This is a good distance to set yourself.

Hi coach alois, I am for getting to do the basic stance every time I play.

Alois, well explained about the ready stance, where to stand, How to stand especially the example of Gorilla. Very creative...

I am still not entirely sure about how to stand like a gorilla exactly... Maybe it's an idea to rent a gorilla suit for Jeff and shoot it on video...  I am more than happy to chip in on the rental fee :)