When should I back away from the table?

[Draf]

Hello,

As the title suggests, I have a question about when to move away from the table.

As a beginner, I rarely step back more than an arm's length from the table. When my opponents repeatedly attack from their forehand to my forehand side, I often feel more successful by staying close to the table, crouching slightly in the forehand corner, anticipating where the ball will go, and blocking it back. This seems to work better for me than backing off and trying to counter-loop.

However, I suspect this may be a bad habit that provides short-term success but won't be effective in the long run as I face stronger players.

Could you give me some guidelines on how to handle this type of situation? In particular, when should I stay close to the table and block, and when should I step back and counter-loop? What are the advantages and disadvantages of each approach?

Thanks!

 

[Yuomay]

There’s no golden rule as to whether or not you should fall back. Is matter of preference. However for beginners most common is to learn to stay at the table to control the game. Placement over power

That said, counter loop from far is an advanced technique you need to be able to comfortably control it during training before doing it in a match.

From far you can do fishing, slicing, flat drive or looping.

 

[Nima Abadi]

Forget about counter-looping for now (that's advance level stuff, not even intermediate level), focus on control, consistency and footwork.

Learn to move in and out. At lower levels, nobody can spin the ball really well or add power to their shots so it's more rewarding to stay close to the table and just block everything back. But once you level up, staying close becomes harder and harder and you'll be more under pressure.

Also, your setup doesn't excel close to the table, so just try to take a step back but be ready to move close to the table when needed. That also means don't go too far back, stand somewhere that you can get to the table relatively easily when you need to.

That way you can still block, but also you have room to add a bit more quality to your shots (spin/power).

 

[Tyce]

Staying at the table is definitely not a bad habit! As you back away from the table, the wide angles make for much more ground to cover. So unless you can force your opponent in playing a narrow angle of your choosing, stepping further back is a disadvantage.

In my limited experience, it's harder to learn to stick to the table if you're used to backing off, than it is to learn to back off a step when you're used to staying close.

 

[Lazer]

Hello,

As the title suggests, I have a question about when to move away from the table.

As a beginner, I rarely step back more than an arm's length from the table. When my opponents repeatedly attack from their forehand to my forehand side, I often feel more successful by staying close to the table, crouching slightly in the forehand corner, anticipating where the ball will go, and blocking it back. This seems to work better for me than backing off and trying to counter-loop.

However, I suspect this may be a bad habit that provides short-term success but won't be effective in the long run as I face stronger players.

Could you give me some guidelines on how to handle this type of situation? In particular, when should I stay close to the table and block, and when should I step back and counter-loop? What are the advantages and disadvantages of each approach?

Thanks!

- Every time you hit a hard long ball.
- Every time you hit a long serve.
- In short every time you expect to get a hard ball back.
- Also try getting used to a serve receive position a little further back than an arms length.
Its always easier to move forward than to move back.

Cheers
L-zr