Site Products
Coaching Tip of the Week: What to Do in the "Big Points"

Coaching Tip of the Week: How to Play a Player Who Attacks With Long Pips

(By Larry Hodges)

One of the most difficult shots to handle is a ball attacked by a player with long pips. You have little time to react to an attacked ball, and so have to rely on your reflexes – except your reflexes usually aren’t tuned to reacting to a ball attacked by long pips. But long pips isn’t designed for attacking, it’s designed for defense, and so its attack is limited. So the primary strength of a long pips attack is the novelty of it – you aren’t used to it. (If the opponent has thick sponge under his long pips, or is using medium-long pips, he may be able to attack a little more, but his attack is still limited.) So how do you handle this? Here are four ways.

  1. Don’t let them attack. Long pips can only attack effectively against backspin, or sometimes against a short and weak topspin or no-spin ball. (They can sometimes do a very “dead” counter with the long pips against a light topspin ball, but not with much pace.) So keep the ball deep, and usually either put no spin on the ball (and so get a no spin ball back) or give topspin (and so usually get a slower backspin ball return).
  2. Take a step off the table, and return with a topspin drive of some sort either offensively or defensively. By backing off the table, you have time to react. By putting topspin on the ball, the ball arcs onto the table, and stops the long-pipped player from attacking with the long pips. But be ready to get back to the table as you’ll likely get a dead, backspin return.
  3. Stay at the table, open your racket, and be willing to lose a number of points as you get used to countering their attacks. Once you get used to it, you have the advantage as your typical inverted sponge (as well as short pips) is better at counter-hitting than long pips.
  4. Play against players who attack with long pips in practice as often as possible until you get used to it.

Stay “In The Loop” with Butterfly professional table tennis equipment, table tennis news, table tennis technology, tournament results, and We Are Butterfly players, coaches, clubs and more.

Latest News

Tip of the Week – Nullify Opponent’s Biggest Threat

October 6, 2025
By Larry Hodges, Member of US Table Tennis Hall of Fame, www.tabletenniscoaching.com/blog What does your opponent do that… Read More

Taiwo Adeyinka – Atlanta Open

October 6, 2025
(by: Bowmar Sports) In this Butterfly Training Tips,  Taiwo Adeyinka is in action at the Atlanta Open https://youtu.be/GnVWdEKsAcw… Read More

MLTT Week 3 Recap: Portland Paddlers Shine at Home

October 5, 2025
(By Steve Hopkins, photo MLTT) Major League Table Tennis brought its high-octane  format to the Pacific Northwest this… Read More

Bremen Takes Over First in the German League

October 5, 2025
(by Steve Hopkins, photo TTBL) Five weeks in to the new season of the German Professional League (TTBL),… Read More

WAB CLUB FEATURE: Genesee Valley Table Tennis Club

October 5, 2025
(by Steve Hopkins) With their location just South of central Rochester along Hwy 390, the Genesee Valley Table Tennis… Read More

China Smash: Chuqin Triples Up

October 5, 2025
(by Steve Hopkins, photo WTT) The China Smash 2025 Presented by Beijing Shijingshan Culture & Tourism Group finished… Read More

Rogelio Castro – WTT Smash Swedish Highlights

October 5, 2025
(by: Bowmar Sports) In this Butterfly Training Tips, Rogelio Castro is in action at the WTT Smash Sweden… Read More

After the Serve – Low Position

October 4, 2025
Serve,Short game and attack with Wait function: Jhon serves short backspin, robot plays short backspin drop shot to… Read More
View All News

Get the latest from Butterfly

Stay “In The Loop” with Butterfly professional table tennis equipment, table tennis news, table tennis technology, tournament results, and We Are Butterfly players, coaches, clubs and more.