Site Products
How To: Proper Footwork During Serve & Attack Video

How to Make Your Strengths Stronger with Serve and Receive

(by Larry Hodges)
How to Make Your Strengths Stronger with Serve and Receive

Excluding serve and receive, what’s the strongest part of your game, or the part that you want to make the strongest part of your game? There’s an old adage, to state the obvious, that practice makes perfect. But doing something in practice is not the same as doing it in a match. That’s why so often you probably can do certain shots over and over in practice, but in matches the shot is not always there.

For example, let’s assume that the strongest part of your game is your forehand loop. (We could do a similar example for any shot, such as hitting, quick-blocking, aggressive backhands, and so on.) Let’s do a thought experiment and imagine there are two clones of you. One of them, when serving, throws a lot of deep, tricky serves at his opponent, and looks for a relatively easy ball to loop or smash, and if he gets it, he attacks; otherwise, he does not. The other also throws out some tricky serves, but more often serves less tricky but varied short serves, which are more likely to set up a passive return he can loop – and he follows his serve up with a loop every time, unless the receiver does something to stop it. The first player, by using tricky deep serves more often (which force more outright mistakes but are easier to attack) and picking his shots better, may win more often – at first.

But now we extend this into the future. Suppose the first player serve and attacks half the time, while the other serve and loops 3/4 of the time. After a time, the second player has had dramatically more practice at serve and looping in a game situation, and no longer needs a relatively easy ball to loop to get his best shot into play. He also has developed the habit of dominating on his serve, even if the receiver made a decent return. He not only dominates with his short serves, but makes his occasional long, tricky serves more effective since the receiver isn’t as used to them since he doesn’t use them as often. The first player is tactically smart, but the second player is strategically smart.

You need both – tactical smarts to maximize your chances of winning a match, and strategic thinking for maximizing your improvement. You have to find a balance. But if you want to really develop your game, more often think strategically and use your serve and receive to develop your strengths so you can learn to dominate with them.

 

 

Latest News

Playing Kids

July 8, 2025
(By Larry Hodges) Let’s face it; they’re probably faster than you. They might have a coach working with… Read More

#2 A Skill That Is Likely To Score – Backhand Down The Line

July 7, 2025
[[Feature] [Special Feature] American Stars! Jha’s Strengths #2 A Skill That Is Likely To Score – Backhand Down… Read More

United States Smash: Tight Scores and a Big Upset in Early Action

July 7, 2025
(by Steve Hopkins, photo WTT) Action is underway in the main round of the United States Smash, the… Read More

MLTT Featured Team: Bay Area Blasters

July 6, 2025
(by Steve Hopkins, photo MLTT) The Bay Area Blasters plan to blast through the upcoming Major League Table… Read More

WAB CLUB FEATURE: Calgary United Sports Table Tennis Association

July 6, 2025
(by Steve Hopkins) Established in 2002, Calgary United Sports Table Tennis Association (CUSTTA) is Alberta’s largest Table Tennis… Read More

Butterfly Players Shine at the 2025 US National Table Tennis Championships

July 6, 2025
(by Steve Hopkins, photo USATT) The 2025 U.S. National Table Tennis Championships is one of the premiere annual… Read More

US Nationals Recap

July 6, 2025
(by Steve Hopkins) The US National Table Tennis Championships is in the books.  One of America’s premiere events… Read More

United States Smash: Qualifiers are Finished and the Main Draw Begins Today

July 6, 2025
(by Steve Hopkins, photo USATT) Americans made waves in the qualifying rounds of the United States Smash, the… 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.