(By Larry Hodges) Many players enjoy playing from away from the table, and some (especially defensive players) base their game on this. Others step back in fast rallies to give themselves more time to react. However, for most players, you want to stay close to the table whenever possible, usually no more than an arm’s […]

(By Larry Hodges) In table tennis, it’s good to keep moving the ball around to make an opponent move. You should play all three spots – wide forehand, wide backhand, and middle (roughly the opponent’s elbow, the transition point between forehand and backhand). However, sometimes you want to go to the same place twice. Here […]

(By Larry Hodges) Many players telegraph the direction of their attacking shot. Often, the opponent isn’t sure how he knows where you are going, he just senses it. That’s because when he sees the same stroke pattern resulting in the ball going one way, and another stroke pattern going the other way, it becomes habit […]

Exaggerate Serving Follow-Through in “Wrong” Direction (By Larry Hodges) Many players can put good spin on their serves, but it is obvious what type of spin is on the serve from your racket direction. There are many ways of hiding the spin, but here’s a simple one: the instant after contact, change the direction of […]

(By Larry Hodges) You should have different strategies for returning deep serves and short serves. (Short serves are serves that, if given the chance, would bounce twice on the receiver’s side of the table). Against short serves, you can’t really loop, since the table is in the way. (You can do a backhand “banana flip,” […]

(By Larry Hodges) It can be difficult playing someone with a fast attack or quick blocks, who rushes you and takes over the attack with his or her counter-attack. How do you beat someone like this? There are many ways, depending on your style. If you are an attacker, you may run into a problem […]

(By Larry Hodges) There are basically two ways to play tactically early in a match. You can either feel your opponent out to see what he can do and then adjust your tactics based on this (“The Explorer”); or you can force your game on the opponent right from the start, making tactical adjustments as […]

(By Larry Hodges) Assuming two right-handers play, a common rally might start with a short serve to the forehand. Many receivers don’t understand the tactics in receiving this shot. The two main things to think about are this: First, if the receiver goes crosscourt, he has the long diagonal to go after (10.3 feet, instead […]