Site Products
Larry Hodges

Coaching Tip of the Week: Reading Service Spin

(By Larry Hodges)

Returning serves is everyone’s biggest weakness – or at least it seems that way. To learn to read spin, try focusing just on the contact period – ignore the rest of the motion before and after contact. Imagine taking a mini-video of the split second of contact. If you do this regularly, pretty soon you’ll be able to isolate in your mind the actual direction of the racket at contact. From that, you can read the type of spin. (You also have to read the amount of spin, which comes from racket speed and acceleration, grazing contact, and grippiness of the surface.)

However, you can also read spin by the way the ball comes off the paddle, travels through the air, and from both bounces on the table. You can’t do this the first time you try it – it takes practice. Ideally, have a coach or player with good serves let you practice against their serves, where you focus on all of these aspects until you begin to be able to read the spin multiple ways. Imagine how the spin will affect the ball, and figure out what to watch for.

  • A backspin ball goes down slightly at contact during the serve (relative to the racket), slows down when it hits the table, and floats as it moves through the air.
  • A topspin ball goes up slightly at contact during the serve (relative to the racket), takes a low, fast hop when it hits the table, and drops as it moves through the air.
  • A sidespin ball goes sideways in each of these steps.
  • A no-spin ball does none of these things.

The receiver also needs to read the amount of spin. Against a somewhat grippy inverted rubber, this is roughly done by a simple formula: racket speed – ball speed = ball spin. What this means is that a server’s racket speed at contact will convert to ball speed and ball spin; if the racket moves fast, but the ball comes out slowly, then most of the energy has been converted to spin. (It’s actually a bit more complicated than this. You get more spin if you accelerate into the ball rather than moving the racket at a constant speed, but it’s close enough. Plus you have to take into consideration the grippiness of the rubber, as a non-grippy surface will have less spin.)

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

Butterfly Training Tips with Maybelline Bravo – Backhand Loop & Pivot Forehand Loop

October 20, 2025
(by: Bowmar Sports) In this Butterfly Training Tip Maybelline is executing Backhand Loop, then a pivot and Forehand… Read More

Nishant Lebaka – Forehand Smash Changing Position

October 19, 2025
(by: Bowmar Sports) In this Butterfly Training Tips, Nishant Lebaka is focusing on his Forehand Smash from the… Read More

Kou Lei – Combo FH Push to Attack

October 18, 2025
(by: Bowmar Sports) In this Butterfly Training Tips, Kou Lei is working with on of his students on… Read More

That’s a Very Common Mistake

October 17, 2025
Serve,Short game and attack with Wait function: Jhon serves short backspin, robot plays short backspin drop shot to… Read More

Rachid El Bou Bou – Gameplay Sequencing

October 17, 2025
(by: Bowmar Sports) In this Butterfly Training Tips, Rachid El Bou Bou is polishing off his Gameplay Sequencing.… Read More

Top players in MLTT after Week 3

October 16, 2025
(by: Major League Table Tennis) [caption id="attachment_270373" align="alignnone" width="366"] MLTT WEEK 3 PLAYER POWER RANKINGS[/caption] Major League Table… Read More

China Wins Asian Championships

October 15, 2025
(by Steve Hopkins, photo ITTF) Team China won the ITTF-ATTU 28th Asian Table Tennis Team Championships.  That headline… Read More

Pan Am Championships: Calderano and Diaz Win Singles Titles

October 15, 2025
(by Steve Hopkins, photo USATT) Hugo Calderano topped Kanak Jha in the Men’s Final and Adriana Diaz’s upset… 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.