The Ultimate Table Tennis Beginners Guide

• Anything that was missed?
• Anything that doesn't apply where you are in the world?
• Anything misleading/inaccurate?

Michael Zhuang said:

I would like to see a list of all the different strokes (i think you only show drive and push). Also maybe rank the shots in order of importance in a game.

Click to expand...

Thanks Michael.

I show drive, push and grip as the core components for a beginner. But you're right, I should also add references to the other shot types used, even without much additional detail would be useful.

Brs said:

This is a very nice project.

You could say a bit more about spin. The way sidespin operates in particular is not intuitive at all to most new players. No spin might be worth a mention too, in the context of changing spins and what happens if you push against no spin.

You also did not mention any of the so-called junk rubbers, pips-out or anti. Your beginners won't likely be playing with pips-out, but if they go to a club it won't be long before they play the dreaded older 1300 long pimples guy. Every club has that guy.

A section on styles might also be interesting. There is pretty much only one style at the pro level now, but lobbers and blocker/hitters are alive and well at club level. Most of your beginners will never rally like the pros in your video links. Or they will have to train ten years to get there. But they can choose from a number of other effective styles.

Click to expand...

I can't stand playing against "that guy".

I agree that a "types of rubber" section is probably really beneficial for new players. We've written about those elsewhere on the site, so I'll get a decent graphic created to show the different types.

Funnily enough, "playstyles" is my big current project that I'm super excited to share with the world. Been working on developing the idea for 6 months, hoping to launch it within the next 3-4 weeks.

Noppen Test said:

You put sponge & top sheet on opposite side of the blade (in your picture). This can confuse a beginner.
The sponge should sit in between top sheet & blade in that picture

If you want to explain just hardbat, add another picture without sponge.

The top sheet is not the rubber. The combination of top sheet & sponge is the rubber.

Again you are thinking about hardbat when you call just the top sheet rubber.

For a beginner, pips-out or pips-in may be sufficient

Click to expand...

Ah, I see what you mean. I had tried to make it clear with colouring that both sponge and topsheet were on both sides of the racket, but now you mention it, I agree it could be a bit misleading. I'll work on fixing that up.

You're also absolutely correct that the 'Rubber' is technically both sponge + topsheet. I'll get that fixed up as well.

Thanks for your feedback!