Site Products
Coaching Tip of the Week: Use Quickness, Ball Placement, and Variation Against Short Serves

Coaching Tip of the Week: Use Quickness, Ball Placement, and Variation Against Short Serves

(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,” where you create a lot of topspin, though not as much as a regular loop.) So it is difficult to be too aggressive against a low, short serve. The keys against short serves are quickness, ball placement, and variation. Since your opponent has little time to react to your shot (your contact point is closer to him than against a deep serve), he is vulnerable to quick shots, wide angles, and variation (so he can’t anticipate). Mix up your placement, going wide to both angles and (when returning aggressively) at the opponent’s elbow (the crossover point between forehand and backhand). Mix up your shots, giving the opponent a variety of long, quick pushes, heavy pushes, short pushes, and flips at varying speeds. (Against backspin or no-spin serves, use the whole variety; against sidespin or topspin, mostly flip, but occasionally push by chopping down on the ball so that it doesn’t pop up.) Whatever you do – keep opponents guessing!

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

Shorten Your Swing

July 4, 2025
WAIT FUNCTION: Serve short backspin or side backspin to Forehand or Backhand, Robot plays long 1 backspin push… Read More

Bob Chen Attacking Backhand Flick: Butterfly Training Tips

July 4, 2025
(by: Bowmar Sports) Bob Chen Bob Chen Attacking Backhand Flick: Butterfly Training Tips https://youtu.be/RyFTvjLyHk4 Stay “In The Loop” with Butterfly… Read More

Derek May Bowmar Sports Interview

July 3, 2025
(by: Bowmar Sports) In this Bowmar Sports Interview, Coach Taiwo Adeyinka interviews long time Sponsored player, Derek May.… Read More

Apolonia ZLC + Dignics 09C + Dignics 09C Racket Review

July 2, 2025
(by Bowmar Sports) In this video, Coach Brian Pace reviews and dives deep into one of Butterfly’s elite… Read More

Open Up Your Body

July 2, 2025
WAIT FUNCTION: Serve short backspin or side backspin to Backhand, Robot plays long backspin push to Backhand, Backhand… Read More

Kanak Jha and Sally Moyland are National Singles Champions

July 2, 2025
(by Steve Hopkins) Kanak Jha arrived in Ontario, California for the start of the US National Table Tennis… Read More

Darryl Tsao – Forehand Counterloop: Butterfly Training Tips

July 2, 2025
(by: Bowmar Sports) In this Butterfly Training Tips, Darryl Tsao is explaining the benefits of the Forehand Counterloop… Read More

#1 Putting time pressure on the opponent with quick attacks

July 1, 2025
[Feature] [Special Feature] America’s star! Jha’s strong points #1 Putting time pressure on the opponent with quick attacks… 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.