Back to Base-ics

Far out, man! What is Jean-Michel Saive doing way over there? Read on and find out!

Photo by: www.alltt.com, courtesy www.ittf.com

This page has moved to here.

Greg is now running the About.com Table Tennis site, and as such a number of these articles will be transferred over to About.com. Please feel free to join me at About!

Do you agree? Disagree? Have a comment you'd like to add to this page? Email me and I'll add your two cent's worth below.

COMMENTS

4th January 2006

Andrew Gooding wrote:

Nice article, my coach liked it too. It matches what he teaches except for one thing. You wrote: "The stroke you have just made will also affect your positioning, but in a more up and back manner. If you have just made a strong attack or tight push or chop, you will probably want to come closer to the table, or hold your position. If you have made a weak shot, you may wish to retreat from the table a little."

If you make a strong attack you should probably step back as if the opponent makes a return (like a block) it's more likely to come back long rather than short. For a tight push or a weak ball you are right, but if you step in after a strong attack you are likely to be rushed.

-- Andrew

Greg replied:

Hi Andrew,

Nice to have your input in the forum - thanks for stopping by again.

In regard to the article, I'm writing from the point of view that if you make a strong return, you are likely to get a slower, weaker return from the opponent, so you should hold position or step in due to the slower pace. If you make a weak return, your opponent is likely to be able to hit harder, so you should back off a bit. I guess I'm thinking more about a looper who plays a little away from the table, or a defender - not a flat hitter who is already camped
pretty close to the table.

I see what you are getting at though - I'll add your comment to the article and add a further explanation to illustrate where I am coming from.

Cheers,

Greg

Andrew responded:

Hi Greg, good point about distance from the table. I was thinking from my own perspective. However even a looper who makes a strong loop over the table may need to step back in case of a strong block back.

I think a bit of clarification to take distance into account would clear things up.

Thanks, good site!

-- Andrew