Site Products
Most players go through the following sequence during each shot of a rally:

Coaching tip of the week: Looping Slightly Long Balls

Coaching tip of the week: Looping Slightly Long Balls

(By Larry Hodges)

When a student pushes against a slightly long serve (“half long”) or push, I almost always remind them that they should usually loop such balls. Inevitably, the player will respond, “The ball was too short, I couldn’t loop it!” But the ball was long, they just didn’t read the depth quite right.

How do you learn to read and loop slightly long balls? Here are three tips.

First, practice. Get a coach or practice partner and have them serve to you where they try to make the second bounce right about the end of your table. Your job is to either loop it or let it go. If you think it’s too short to loop, by letting it go you get feedback on whether it really was too short to loop. You’ll be amazed at how often it really was long enough to loop.

Second, a serve doesn’t have to be truly long for you to loop it. A loop is a forward stroke (as well as up), even against backspin, and so you can go over the table some. If the second bounce is at about the table’s edge, you can loop it.

Third, jam the table a bit. You can read and loop these serves better if you are looking more down on them than if you are hanging back and seeing it at an angle. As soon as you see the ball coming somewhat short, move in – which means stepping in with your left leg (for righties). This also puts you in a better position to loop with power to all parts of the table – if you are farther from the table, you’ll likely only be able to loop with power to the left (for a righty). So loop away!

Latest News

Racket Up All the Time

July 18, 2025
Robot will play RANDOM top spin balls to 2/3 of the table (Backhand), Forehand topspin from Forehand/ middle… Read More

Keep the Swing as Compact as Possible

July 16, 2025
Robot will play RANDOM top spin balls to 2/3 of the table (Backhand, only Forehand topspin from this… Read More

Reviewing Bugller with Logan Rietz

July 15, 2025
(by: Logan Rietz) I love pips.  I like chopping with them, hitting with them, anything I can do… Read More

Keep Your Elbow Closer to Your Body

July 14, 2025
WAIT FUNCTION: Serve long serve to elbow and Robot plays topspin to Forehand, Forehand spin block or counter… Read More

#3 High toss serve that disrupts the opponent’s rhythm and leads to a quick attack

July 14, 2025
[Feature] [Special feature] America’s star! Jha’s strong points #3 High toss serve that disrupts the opponent’s rhythm and… Read More

Ten Tips for Faster Footwork

July 14, 2025
(By Larry Hodges) Tie your shoes tight so there’s less give when you move. Grippy shoes on non-grippy… Read More

Rogelio Castro – Third Ball Attack

July 14, 2025
(by: Bowmar Sports) In this Butterfly Training Tips, Rogelio Castro is executing the “Third Ball Attack” using his… Read More

MLTT Featured Team: Chicago Wind

July 14, 2025
(by Steve Hopkins, photo MLTT) The Chicago Wind plan to blow over competition in the upcoming Major League… 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.