In table tennis, as in most sports, it’s paramount to get the technical basics correct. These basic strokes are the foundations that can be built upon as a player improves. It is possible to correct major technical issues at a later stage but it’s much easier to get them right first time around. There are four basic table tennis strokes and I always strive to have my players master these before moving on to more complicated activities.
In this post I’ll be going through each of these four basic strokes and giving some tips and coaching points to help you successfully master them yourself or teach them to others. The four shots are;
I’ve written about each of the four strokes in more detail in their own post. Just click the links above if you’d like to read those.
The order that I have listed them is the order that I teach them in. I always start with the forehand drive as this will probably become the players most used and most important stroke. I then teach the backhand drive so that the players have a good offensive game and can rally with each other before moving on to the more defensive push strokes.
IMPORTANT: In order to learn these strokes correctly you will need a bat that can generate a good amount of spin. A lot of beginners bats are ‘dead’ and aren’t able to create spin. Learning with a bat like this can have detrimental effects on your game as you learn to compensate for your poor quality bat with an unorthodox technique.
An easy way to find out if your bat is dead is to hold a table tennis ball and rub it over the surface of your rubber. If the ball slides across the rubber, with very little resistance, then your bat is probably no good. Can I please point you in the direction of my post, The Best Table Tennis Bat for Beginners. It’s a comprehensive guide to buying your first table tennis bat, telling you what to look for and what to avoid!
Prerequisites
Before reading this post, and beginning to learn the basic table tennis strokes, I recommend you first have an understanding of three other table tennis basics…
- The correct table tennis grip
- The stance and ready position we use in table tennis
- The basic movement patterns and table tennis footwork
I always teach these before moving onto strokes and I think it is important to learn table tennis in this order. I know the first thing you want to do when learning a new skill is get stuck in, and in table tennis that means hitting balls, but I believe it’s much better for you, in the long run, to fully understand grip, stance and footwork before you start worrying about strokes.
I have laid out my manifesto for learning table tennis on the page, How to Play Table Tennis. Please have a look. It’s filled with all my best technical coaching articles and will give you the sequence and progression you need to fully develop all the important technical skills of the game.
Okay, now that you’ve mastered grip, stance and footwork lets look at the four basic table tennis strokes…
The Forehand Drive
I have written a full post on how to play a forehand drive, so if you are looking for more detail that is the place to go. Otherwise enjoy this summary.
I break the forehand drive down into four main parts. The stance, the backswing, the strike and the finish. Get all of these parts correct and you’ll have a pretty good basic forehand drive.
The stance is the first thing you need to worry about. Make sure this is correct before trying to hit any balls. You’ll want your feet wider than shoulder width apart (some coaches even say two shoulder widths apart). If you’re right handed, then your right foot needs to be slightly further back than your left. About half a step. Knees should be bent. Body crouched (leaning forwards) and weight on the balls of your feet (not your heels). Then put both arms out in front of you and you’re good to go.
The backswing is the first movement after you’ve seen the ball. Without it your shot will lack power and you’ll struggle to control the ball. The key things you need to remember are, rotating your body to the right from your hips and shifting your weight onto your back foot. Keep everything else the same as it was in the stance.
The strike is the forward movement, towards the ball. You basically need to do the opposite of the backswing. Rotate your body to the left/forwards, from your hips. Transfers your weight from your back foot to front foot. Also remember to keep your bat angle slightly closed throughout, to take the ball at the peak of the bounce and keep a small gap between your elbow and body. To give the shot a bit of extra zip, try accelerating your forearm slightly as you make contact. This action is similar to a military salute and will give you a little extra pace and spin.
The finish is the end point of the shot. It’s important not to over rotate and finish with your bat over your shoulder or behind your neck, like in tennis. Instead, you should finish the forehand drive with your bat pointing where you have hit the ball. From the strike the bat should move forwards and up. Finally, don’t forget to get back to your ready position so you can play the next shot!
If you’d like to see all of that visually, here’s a video of a Coach Tao Li, a professional Chinese table tennis player and coach, teaching the basics of the forehand drive to a young student.
This video is Lesson #3 taken from Coach Tao Li’s FREE 12-part Basics Mastery online table tennis training course. He created the course to teach the fundamental table tennis skills to players from all over the world.
To gain access to the course, all you need to do is join Table Tennis University as a FREE member and then you will be able to enroll in the Basics Mastery course. There is also a wide selection of other free and premium online table tennis courses for you to check out.
The Backhand Drive
As with the forehand drive, I break the backhand drive down into four parts. Some players find the backhand drive harder to master. This may be because the ‘backswing’ required is very different, or often they have played other racket sports and already have a wrong technique established, or they may simply have spent a lot less time playing backhand shots in general.
The stance should be ‘square to the line of play’. This means that your feet should be facing the direction of play. Usually this will mean your feet will be pointing diagonally towards your opponents backhand corner. Everything else is the same as the forehand drive. Feet slightly wider than shoulder width, body is crouched, arms are out in front of you with a bend at the elbow.
The backswing for a backhand does not involve any rotation of the body or weight transfer. Instead, just bring the bat back towards your body. If you are right-handed you will probably want to bring it back so that it is just above your left hip. This is a drive so the bat angle should be slightly closed.
The strike is pretty simple. Move your bat forwards and up, towards the ball, from your elbow. As a beginner focus on just using your elbow for movement. Common mistakes involve players using too much wrist or trying to play the shot from their shoulder (which lifts the ball). Remember to keep the bat angle closed throughout.
The finish is the same as the forehand drive. The bat should follow the ball and finish in the direction it has just been hit. Your arm should still have a slight bend in it (not finish completely straight) and just recover to your ready position and anticipate the next shot.
Here’s another video of Coach Tao Li going through the shot with a young beginner and giving some nice demonstrations himself.
This video is Lesson #8 taken from Coach Tao Li’s FREE 12-part Basics Mastery online table tennis training course (lesson #9 contains part two). He created the course to teach the fundamental table tennis skills to players from all over the world.
To gain access to the course, all you need to do is join Table Tennis University as a FREE member and then you will be able to enroll in the Basics Mastery course. There is also a wide selection of other free and premium online table tennis courses for you to check out.
The Backhand Push
The backhand push is arguably the easiest of the four basic table tennis strokes. I teach it immediately after the backhand drive as the stance/ready position needed for the shot is identical.
The stance is the same as that used for the backhand drive. Feet and body must be square to the line of play.
The backswing for the backhand push requires the bat to be brought backwards and slightly upwards, towards the chest. The bat angle will need to be open at about 45 degrees. The elbow will be bent.
The strike simply involves ‘pushing’ the bat forwards and down from the elbow. You should strike somewhere between the back and bottom of the ball. It important to ‘brush’ the ball using the rubber rather than ‘tapping’ it with the blade. The bat angle should stay open throughout the shot and you’ll want to make contact at the peak of the bounce or slightly earlier. A common mistake is trying to ‘scoop’ the ball instead of slicing it.
The finish should have the bat out in front of you and down towards the table. The angle at the elbow should have opened but the arm should still be slightly bent. The common error with the finish of the push shot is the bat moving across the body to one side when it should follow the ball.
The following video shows Cambridge-based table tennis coach Tom Lodziak explaining the backhand push in detail.
This video is Lecture #7 taken from Tom Lodziak’s FREE 10-part Table Tennis For Beginners online table tennis training course. He created the course to help players to learn basic table tennis skills and improve their practice.
To gain access to the course, all you need to do is join Table Tennis University as a FREE member and then you will be able to enroll in the Table Tennis For Beginners course. There is also a wide selection of other free and premium online table tennis courses for you to explore.
The Forehand Push
The forehand push is probably the toughest of all the basic table tennis strokes. Certainly in my role as a coach this is the shot I’ve seen beginners struggling with the most. It can feel quite unnatural at first and is made even more difficult if the feed is bad, as it often is if two beginners are playing together.
The stance needs to go back to the forehand ready position you used for your forehand drive. If you’re right-handed that means right foot slightly back and then as always, knees bent, body crouched, both arms out in front of you.
The backswing for the forehand push is not as extreme as for the drive. The push is a softer shot and therefore requires more feel and less weight transfer/power. However, you will still need a small amount of twisting backwards in preparation. You ‘ll also need an open bat angle, 45 degrees is good, like in the backhand push. Keep a small gap between your elbow and your body.
The strike requires you to twist your body forwards with a slight transfer of weight onto your front foot. You may also need to step in with your playing foot if the ball is short. Upon contact with the ball you should be using the brushing action I mentioned earlier and having very soft hands. The elbow may open slightly during the strike to combine with the turning of your body. The bat angle should be open throughout.
The finish should leave the bat in front of your body, having followed the line of the ball. As you’re putting backspin on the ball the bat should be down towards the table. The difficulty here is to follow the ball rather than swiping across your body. If your bat is finishing over to your left-hand side you may need to get your elbow slightly further forward during the strike. A tucked in elbow can lead you to swipe across the ball.
Here’s another video by Tom Lodziak, this time breaking down how to play the forehand push.
This video is Lecture #8 taken from Tom Lodziak’s FREE 10-part Table Tennis For Beginners online table tennis training course. He created the course to help players to learn basic table tennis skills and improve their practice.
To gain access to the course, all you need to do is join Table Tennis University as a FREE member and then you will be able to enroll in the Table Tennis For Beginners course. There is also a wide selection of other free and premium online table tennis courses for you to explore.
So there you have it. Hopefully, you’ve now got an understanding of the four basic table tennis strokes. Go and try them out!
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