Training Equipment

I do think these are useful. There is a wheel one too:


I used this self hitting technique to learn to really brush the ball:


In the video I am spinning forward rather than making the brush really thin and spinny. I should make a video of the slow spinny shots because that is what I really used the self hit method to teach myself.

But if you watch the kick on the bounce on my shots, you can see I am putting a lot of spin on the ball.

When I did a lot of practicing that, I would use a bucket with about 144 balls (1 gross). When I grab, I can grab five or six at a time and keep going till the bucket is done. You can really focus on the form of your stroke and the touch of the contact at the same time because the ball is just there.

The key detail is that I am hitting the ball on the second bounce which allows you to time the bounce more like if the ball was coming to you. Another detail, if the second bounce is low, like below net height, then you have to spin to arc the ball over the net. It is worthwhile practicing that.

But those spin balls are really good for developing your brush technique too. The advantage of the wheel is if your contact is too direct, you can't miss it. And if it is really too direct you can break your racket. So if you are not confident with your brushing skills, you would use a throw away racket rather than your actual setup.

Hridoy said:

I'll definitely try the

. What are the exact benefits of this practices ?

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Well, it depends on how you use it. I originally used it to learn to really brush the ball to get maximum spin. But I also used it to fix my FH stroke which was, at one point, mechanically, very flawed.

So you can use this for a few things because you don't have to focus on being in the right place or adjusting to the ball coming at you. All you have to do is contact the ball. You also get the feedback of the trajectory of the ball. So, if, or when I make a video of self hitting with a slow, spinny brush contact--unlike this video--you will see very slow, very spinny balls with a big arc because of how I am brushing.

Whereas, in this video, if someone does not know how to see the arc and the kick on the ball, you can miss how much I am spinning the ball because of how the loops are sort of fast.

Hridoy said:

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In this video, when the spring the ball is on moves more, there is more contact and the shot would be faster with less spin. When the ball on the spring-stand moves less, he is brushing the ball more and getting more spin.

So, if you were using that device to cultivate the contact for getting more spin, you would want the ball to spin on the device without the spring-stand moving forward and back.


Sent from The Subterranean Workshop by Telepathy

Our coach brings this device along every once in a while and i must say it really works wonders. Our beginners love it, especially for its simplicity.
And they got much better at spinning the balls. Not only at topspinning, but also at serving.
One of my teammates even wants to build a dyi version of this. But since it's not very expensive it definitely is worth considering.


Maybe i can shoot a short vid next time she's around.

Haven't tried that ball thingy from the first post yet though.

I think those utensils are extremely helpful from beginner to advanced level. But once you have internalised the art of brushing the ball giving him as much spin as possible it does not give you any more benefit. However, if those spin balls/wheels are no more challenge for you there are a lot of other tools available that can boost your table tennis game. Playing Frisbee for example. I think the positive effects Frisbees can have on your table tennis game are underestimated a lot. When I was a student a few years ago I attended Ultimate Frisbee training for half a year at the University, not for table tennis but just for fun. After that semester my backhand topspin was as good as never before. It took me a while to figure out where this improved backhand suddenly came from. Must have been from playing Frisbee. I was already around 2000 USATT back then and it still helped me a lot. I am still benefiting from massive spin / power in my backhand topsins until today.

I have a friend that has been playing Disc Golf for years. He also plays table tennis on a 1400 German TTR points level. However, his backhand topspin is ridiculously good compared to the rest of his strokes. Not hard to guess where that comes from

Well, I evaluate the quality of a brush by two factors - speed /or sink/ after rebound, and the sound of blade impact.
Well brushed slower balls with higher arc will sink low after rebound, but with no acceleration of the initial speed /because of the angle they hit the table/.
Well brushed sharper and faster balls with low arc will not sink so low, but will rebound with doubled speed.
If you brush the ball really good, the sound of impact with the blade will be very subtle.
When I manage to do a really good brush the player I'm training with usually asks me "did you hit with a finger?", or even, after a sharper brush "did you hit with your elbow?" because of the very subtle sound of impact and because visually the ball changes its diraction after its way all through the rubber surface.

I love the Frisbee idea. The only problem is I play TT l handed and Frisbee r handed.

Joepole said:

I love the Frisbee idea. The only problem is I play TT l handed and Frisbee r handed.

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The frisbee comparison is excellent to explain backhand technique, as people instantly understand what you mean.

I am always joking that it is lost on me since I play frisbee with my right hand beside my right hip as opposed to swinging from the left, but everybody gets the general idea.

I guess practicing throwing a frisbee with forehand could also improve pushes - especially forehand pushes.