Is there merit in stepping in with left foot (for righthanded forehand)?

[Johnniedarko]

My coach insists on certain forehand footwork for both drive and loop, that is very different from anything I've seen on pro matches and online tutorials. Please tell me wether there's any merit from his idea, or that I should just ignore it.

How I do the righthanded forehand:

1. Basic stance is both feet just a bit wider than shoulder width. The left foot about either next to the right foot, or up to one foot length in front.
2. Movement: for small movement it's a two-feet hop to get in position. For a larger move to the right, I push off the left leg and jump to the right, landing on my right foot. For a very short forehand, a step forward with the right foot to reach the ball.
3. The stroke. Feet and body rotate in place, the feet stay roughly on the same place, as the right foot/leg gets pushed into the ground for power.

Every video, from Ti Long to Fang Bo to Tom Lodziak shows it being done this way, ex:

How my coach does the righthanded forehand:

1. Basic stance is the same.
2. Movement, he steps in with the LEFT leg until it is in FRONT of the right leg, at about shoulder width. Feet also rotate 45 degrees to the right, so both feet point to forward-right. The upper body is now also 45 degrees rotated to the right. It's the same position as a racing snowboarder.
3. The stroke is mostly an arm move, with the main motion coming from the shoulder, and a bit of elbow folding. The upper body doesn't really rotate to straight forward. The wrist ends at the forehead. He emphasizes to hit the ball as far in front of you as possible, basically as early as you can.

I'm going a bit crazy with this. I am actually getting the hang of having good power from my legs, a tight core, and very loose arms swinging around my pivoting body. I feel in relatively in control doing this and every practice I'm getting better at it. I'm also a beginner in table tennis but not in other sports. What he proposes does not feel good, awkward and passive, but I am also willing to write this down to being new to this.

Edit: not to mention that stepping back to the basic stance is a large move and thus pretty slow.

But since there's literally not a single source that I can find that demonstrate this, I can't help but feel it's useless to learn this technique.
I asked my friend who's been playing for 15 years and he thinks it's perhaps how the game was played in the 90's.

> Is there any merit to this technique? Will it help as a basic stepping stone even if I don't use it later on?

I think my question is mostly answered in this thread already (the answer was mostly "step with right leg"), but that's about a flick.

https://www.tabletennisdaily.com/forum/topics/which-foot-do-you-step-forward-with-to-flick.27829/page-2

 

[Creek]

Im not sure whether i understood your description properly.
Anyway, for me it really depends on the purpose of the topspin and the amount of time you have for it.
In a „rallye“ or training situation like in your video, it’s about consistency and not about winning the point.
In a situation, where you have enough time to go for the point, it is definitely better to step in to get more power.

You can see it perfectly done by Wang Chuqin. In reactive, quick situations, it looks the way it is shown in your video. As soon as he has enough time, he goes in with his leg and full body and full commitment

 

[Topspinslinger]

bro i just swing without thinking about it, 90% succes rate. When someone says i should do something else, it drops to like 60%

 

[dingyibvs]

My coach insists on certain forehand footwork for both drive and loop, that is very different from anything I've seen on pro matches and online tutorials. Please tell me wether there's any merit from his idea, or that I should just ignore it.

How I do the righthanded forehand:

1. Basic stance is both feet just a bit wider than shoulder width. The left foot about either next to the right foot, or up to one foot length in front.
2. Movement: for small movement it's a two-feet hop to get in position. For a larger move to the right, I push off the left leg and jump to the right, landing on my right foot. For a very short forehand, a step forward with the right foot to reach the ball.
3. The stroke. Feet and body rotate in place, the feet stay roughly on the same place, as the right foot/leg gets pushed into the ground for power.

Every video, from Ti Long to Fang Bo to Tom Lodziak shows it being done this way, ex:

How my coach does the righthanded forehand:

1. Basic stance is the same.
2. Movement, he steps in with the LEFT leg until it is in FRONT of the right leg, at about shoulder width. Feet also rotate 45 degrees to the right, so both feet point to forward-right. The upper body is now also 45 degrees rotated to the right. It's the same position as a racing snowboarder.
3. The stroke is mostly an arm move, with the main motion coming from the shoulder, and a bit of elbow folding. The upper body doesn't really rotate to straight forward. The wrist ends at the forehead. He emphasizes to hit the ball as far in front of you as possible, basically as early as you can.

I'm going a bit crazy with this. I am actually getting the hang of having good power from my legs, a tight core, and very loose arms swinging around my pivoting body. I feel in relatively in control doing this and every practice I'm getting better at it. I'm also a beginner in table tennis but not in other sports. What he proposes does not feel good, awkward and passive, but I am also willing to write this down to being new to this.

Edit: not to mention that stepping back to the basic stance is a large move and thus pretty slow.

But since there's literally not a single source that I can find that demonstrate this, I can't help but feel it's useless to learn this technique.
I asked my friend who's been playing for 15 years and he thinks it's perhaps how the game was played in the 90's.

> Is there any merit to this technique? Will it help as a basic stepping stone even if I don't use it later on?

I think my question is mostly answered in this thread already (the answer was mostly "step with right leg"), but that's about a flick.

https://www.tabletennisdaily.com/forum/topics/which-foot-do-you-step-forward-with-to-flick.27829/page-2

Just use your lizard brain to figure it out

Seriously though, it depends on the situation. Taking a FH stance (i.e. with the left leg in front) will increase power of your FH shot but decrease your ability to transition to a BH shot should the ball come back to your BH side. It's a trade off.

In the days of players being very FH oriented that's a very common way to play, but these days as players play closer to the table (so less time for transitions) and have very strong BH games they tend to play with two feet being pretty even or even with the right foot in front sometimes. In any case, it's good to learn that shot. It's still useful when you get an opportunity ball that you want to absolutely kill with your FH.

 

[Johnniedarko]

Just use your lizard brain to figure it out

Seriously though, it depends on the situation. Taking a FH stance (i.e. with the left leg in front) will increase power of your FH shot but decrease your ability to transition to a BH shot should the ball come back to your BH side. It's a trade off.

In the days of players being very FH oriented that's a very common way to play, but these days as players play closer to the table (so less time for transitions) and have very strong BH games they tend to play with two feet being pretty even or even with the right foot in front sometimes. In any case, it's good to learn that shot. It's still useful when you get an opportunity ball that you want to absolutely kill with your FH.

Haha!

Ok so there's merit, in that case I'll practice this shot too.
It's just a bit weird that this is the only forehand shot that gets taught in this class. From what I hear from the other casuals, it's been like this for years.

Thanks

bro i just swing without thinking about it, 90% succes rate. When someone says i should do something else, it drops to like 60%

I would, but when not doing this specific forehand, teacher comes over to correct my technique, so I'm stuck.
I do have other moments where I can train what I want and I hope to join a competition team soon, which will have their own training.

 

[NextLevel]

My coach insists on certain forehand footwork for both drive and loop, that is very different from anything I've seen on pro matches and online tutorials. Please tell me wether there's any merit from his idea, or that I should just ignore it.

How I do the righthanded forehand:

1. Basic stance is both feet just a bit wider than shoulder width. The left foot about either next to the right foot, or up to one foot length in front.
2. Movement: for small movement it's a two-feet hop to get in position. For a larger move to the right, I push off the left leg and jump to the right, landing on my right foot. For a very short forehand, a step forward with the right foot to reach the ball.
3. The stroke. Feet and body rotate in place, the feet stay roughly on the same place, as the right foot/leg gets pushed into the ground for power.

Every video, from Ti Long to Fang Bo to Tom Lodziak shows it being done this way, ex:

How my coach does the righthanded forehand:

1. Basic stance is the same.
2. Movement, he steps in with the LEFT leg until it is in FRONT of the right leg, at about shoulder width. Feet also rotate 45 degrees to the right, so both feet point to forward-right. The upper body is now also 45 degrees rotated to the right. It's the same position as a racing snowboarder.
3. The stroke is mostly an arm move, with the main motion coming from the shoulder, and a bit of elbow folding. The upper body doesn't really rotate to straight forward. The wrist ends at the forehead. He emphasizes to hit the ball as far in front of you as possible, basically as early as you can.

I'm going a bit crazy with this. I am actually getting the hang of having good power from my legs, a tight core, and very loose arms swinging around my pivoting body. I feel in relatively in control doing this and every practice I'm getting better at it. I'm also a beginner in table tennis but not in other sports. What he proposes does not feel good, awkward and passive, but I am also willing to write this down to being new to this.

Edit: not to mention that stepping back to the basic stance is a large move and thus pretty slow.

But since there's literally not a single source that I can find that demonstrate this, I can't help but feel it's useless to learn this technique.
I asked my friend who's been playing for 15 years and he thinks it's perhaps how the game was played in the 90's.

> Is there any merit to this technique? Will it help as a basic stepping stone even if I don't use it later on?

I think my question is mostly answered in this thread already (the answer was mostly "step with right leg"), but that's about a flick.

https://www.tabletennisdaily.com/forum/topics/which-foot-do-you-step-forward-with-to-flick.27829/page-2

 

[Johnniedarko]

Great video. Massive power on those shots.

 

[Johnniedarko]

Im not sure whether i understood your description properly.
Anyway, for me it really depends on the purpose of the topspin and the amount of time you have for it.
In a „rallye“ or training situation like in your video, it’s about consistency and not about winning the point.
In a situation, where you have enough time to go for the point, it is definitely better to step in to get more power.

You can see it perfectly done by Wang Chuqin. In reactive, quick situations, it looks the way it is shown in your video. As soon as he has enough time, he goes in with his leg and full body and full commitment

I can understand that indeed.

The difference though is that I'm (together with 8 others) are being taught to do this for every shot in every rally. We are standing close to the table (arms outstreched reach the table). His idea is that the right arm has more reach (doubtful) and an easier angle to aim to the right hand side of the table (true). It doesn't instill confidence is that when the teacher demonstrates this, he's pretty slow to get back to basic position. A quick block would win a point there.

Based on the responses in this thread, I can conclude that it's is a useful technique to learn, but be tactical about when using it in a match.

Thanks all

 

[pingpongpaddy]

My coach insists on certain forehand footwork for both drive and loop, that is very different from anything I've seen on pro matches and online tutorials. Please tell me wether there's any merit from his idea, or that I should just ignore it.

How I do the righthanded forehand:

1. Basic stance is both feet just a bit wider than shoulder width. The left foot about either next to the right foot, or up to one foot length in front.
2. Movement: for small movement it's a two-feet hop to get in position. For a larger move to the right, I push off the left leg and jump to the right, landing on my right foot. For a very short forehand, a step forward with the right foot to reach the ball.
3. The stroke. Feet and body rotate in place, the feet stay roughly on the same place, as the right foot/leg gets pushed into the ground for power.

Every video, from Ti Long to Fang Bo to Tom Lodziak shows it being done this way, ex:

How my coach does the righthanded forehand:

1. Basic stance is the same.
2. Movement, he steps in with the LEFT leg until it is in FRONT of the right leg, at about shoulder width. Feet also rotate 45 degrees to the right, so both feet point to forward-right. The upper body is now also 45 degrees rotated to the right. It's the same position as a racing snowboarder.
3. The stroke is mostly an arm move, with the main motion coming from the shoulder, and a bit of elbow folding. The upper body doesn't really rotate to straight forward. The wrist ends at the forehead. He emphasizes to hit the ball as far in front of you as possible, basically as early as you can.

I'm going a bit crazy with this. I am actually getting the hang of having good power from my legs, a tight core, and very loose arms swinging around my pivoting body. I feel in relatively in control doing this and every practice I'm getting better at it. I'm also a beginner in table tennis but not in other sports. What he proposes does not feel good, awkward and passive, but I am also willing to write this down to being new to this.

Edit: not to mention that stepping back to the basic stance is a large move and thus pretty slow.

But since there's literally not a single source that I can find that demonstrate this, I can't help but feel it's useless to learn this technique.
I asked my friend who's been playing for 15 years and he thinks it's perhaps how the game was played in the 90's.

> Is there any merit to this technique? Will it help as a basic stepping stone even if I don't use it later on?

I think my question is mostly answered in this thread already (the answer was mostly "step with right leg"), but that's about a flick.

https://www.tabletennisdaily.com/forum/topics/which-foot-do-you-step-forward-with-to-flick.27829/page-2

HI JOHNNY
I would say that the young lady is showing the right way. Her right knee and shoulder is getting behind the incoming ball and the left foot is leading which allows for a small forward weight transfer which is right for a fast counter driving rally. That placing of knee and shoulder is the equivalent of cocking a pistol before firing it. If the incoming balls were backspin then you would see the body weight dropping onto the knee in preparation for lifting the incoming backspin. The body should not get into an extreme side on position before the ball arrives. Rather when you make a forehand drive or kill correctly then you will find your right leg operates to throw your weight into the shot and THEN its natural for your left foot to slide forward and stop falling on your face. Practice this with forehands from the backhand corner aimed to pop's bh corner. It should become obvious that full weight transference is much more free from the bh corner and that is natural. From the fh corner its important to focus your energy and the movement of your weight without going across the line of your shot too much.
Using your video as an example you can see that if the girl wants to hit harder from the forehand you can see that the position of her back foot and front foot dictate that she will need to transfer the weight faster but not bigger.

 

[Johnniedarko]

Thanks for the thorough explanation!