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Actually, hitting back spin balls at the peak makes the most sense from a physics point of view. There is a better line of sight to the other side of the table. However, there are problems that occur because we are human and not perfect. After I watched videos of others and me hitting too many back spin balls into the net I realized what was happening. It was a timing problem and a stroke problem caused by the timing problem.
The problem with the stroke is that we tend to rotate our arms around our shoulders. This means that even if we start with the paddle low we tend to rotate our arm so the paddle is moving forward before it moves up. The problem is that if the ball is contacted while not moving up enough the ball will go into the net. What I found myself doing, and see others doing wrong, is not waiting for the ball. This causes people to want to swing forward and not up causing the ball to drop into the net.
It really isn't the drop part of waiting for the ball to drop that is important. It is the waiting part so you don't start the swing with the paddle moving forward instead of up that makes a difference. When I screw up I think that I "scooped it" instead of "looped it" because my paddle makes a scooping type of motion ( an arc when viewed from the side ) instead of moving the paddle straight line mostly up ( when viewed from the side ). When I review my video I can see that I didn't wait and my paddle moved too much forward and not up enough. I see this mistake all the time. I make this mistake when I get tired or too anxious to wait. I need to think "wait for it" then swing.
My point is that bad timing will result in bad strokes.
I don't ever see much discussion about timing.
The problem with the stroke is that we tend to rotate our arms around our shoulders. This means that even if we start with the paddle low we tend to rotate our arm so the paddle is moving forward before it moves up. The problem is that if the ball is contacted while not moving up enough the ball will go into the net. What I found myself doing, and see others doing wrong, is not waiting for the ball. This causes people to want to swing forward and not up causing the ball to drop into the net.
It really isn't the drop part of waiting for the ball to drop that is important. It is the waiting part so you don't start the swing with the paddle moving forward instead of up that makes a difference. When I screw up I think that I "scooped it" instead of "looped it" because my paddle makes a scooping type of motion ( an arc when viewed from the side ) instead of moving the paddle straight line mostly up ( when viewed from the side ). When I review my video I can see that I didn't wait and my paddle moved too much forward and not up enough. I see this mistake all the time. I make this mistake when I get tired or too anxious to wait. I need to think "wait for it" then swing.
My point is that bad timing will result in bad strokes.
I don't ever see much discussion about timing.