Site Products
Top Ten Tactical Serving Mistakes

Tip of the week: Top Ten Tactical Serving Mistakes

Posted on

(By Larry Hodges)
Tip of the week: Top Ten Tactical Serving Mistakes
Not enough variation.
Serving to the backhand over and Over and OVER.
Always serving from the same spot, usually from the backhand corner.
Not serving with a purpose.
Always serving with heavy spin, without using no-spin as a variation (where you fake heavy spin – “heavy no-spin”).
Telegraphing your serves by how you set up or start your motion.
Too often serving long to loopers or short to quick players.
Not trying out all your main serves early on to find out what works.
Saving your trickiest serves for when it’s close, instead of using them early so it doesn’t get close, and then using them again as needed.
Not understanding the basic concept that you should essentially ALWAYS serve and attack UNLESS the receiver does something to stop you from doing so.

Latest News

Kou Lei – Backhand Flip Serve Return

June 30, 2026
(by: Bowmar Sports) In this Butterfly Training Tips, Kou Lei is working on the Backhand Flip Serve Return… Read More

United States Smash: Kanak Jha and Lily Zhang Advance

June 30, 2026
(by Steve Hopkins) A pair of American upsets marked the second day of action in the Round of… Read More

Seven Placements and the Wide Angles

June 29, 2026
(By Larry Hodges, Member of US Table Tennis Hall of Fame There are basically seven different directional placements… Read More

Arantxa Cossio Aceves – Forehand & Backhand Loop from underspin

June 29, 2026
(by: Bowmar Sports) In this Butterfly Training Tips,  Arantxa Cossio Aceves is focusing on the Forehand and Backhand… Read More

MLTT Meet the Teams: Texas Smash

June 29, 2026
(by Steve Hopkins, photo MLTT) The Texas Smash remain one of the most formidable franchises in Major League… Read More

WAB CLUB FEATURE: Three10 Table Tennis Club

June 28, 2026
(by Steve Hopkins) Three10 Table Tennis Club is one of Canada's National High Performance Training Centres. A club… Read More

United States Smash: Early Action

June 28, 2026
(by Steve Hopkins) The first day of action in the Round of 64 is underway at the United… Read More

Rhode Island Looks Local with Veterans Fundraiser

June 28, 2026
(by Steve Hopkins) On Saturday, June 27, the Rhode Island Table Tennis Association ran the second annual Mission… 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.