Ball Placement: Stepping Around your Backhand, by Samson Dubina

This Will Hurt by Samson Dubina [caption id="attachment_2170" align="alignright" width="150"] Stepping around the backhand[/caption] There is one shot in table tennis that will really hurt you. But before I explain that shot, I’ll first make a couple of observations about your body positioning. If you attack with your forehand from your forehand side, it doesn’t really matter where you attack. You should mix up your placement – wide forehand, wide backhand, and middle transition. Because your body is centrally located in relation to the table, you will likely be able to recover quickly for the next ball. If you attack with your backhand from your backhand side, it doesn’t really matter where you attack. You should mix up your placement – wide forehand, wide backhand, and middle transition. Because your body is centrally located in relation to the table, you will likely be able to recover quickly for the next ball. However, if you step around the backhand side and use your forehand, your placement is absolutely critical. Most Ohio club players step around the backhand side and use their forehands to go down-the-line to the opponent’s forehand. If the opponent doesn’t touch the ball, this works. However, if the opponent does return the ball, it is very difficult to cover the wide forehand. When you step around the backhand side to use your forehand, I recommend that you hit a winner. Go for it! If you want to hit a weaker ball, then stay with your backhand. And when you do use your forehand from that position, make sure that you are very very tricky on your placement. If not, your opponent is sure to catch you on the wide forehand.