HOW TO PLAY PING PONG

There are basically two things to watch out for in playing ping pong:

1. Where is the ball

2. Where are you

On "where is the ball", you should watch:

1.1 Where does it hit your side of the table

1.2 How is it hit by the other guy(direction? speed? spin?)

1.3 Where does it hit the other side of the table in serving

On "where you are":

2.1 Have you respond to the change of the ball's trajectory by your opponent?

2.2 Do you know precisely where you are when you hit the ball?

2.3 Are you responding accordingly to the ball's spin?

How do you do all that?

* Take snap shot with your eyes each time ball bounces or is hit

* Move you body each time too, to prepare for the on-coming ball

* Touch the ground every time with your foot before you strike the ball, so

you know precisely where you are.

* Swing the racket in the same or opposite direction of the spin, for

anything else means loss of control. The opposite direction is

safer since you would be going in the same direction of the outgoing

ball, so you would have more interaction time. Furthermore, you are

guarrantteed to rub the ball, rather than letting the ball slip on the

racket, so you would be redirecting and controlling the spin of the

outgoing ball.

Finally, it's always easy said, then done.

Although ping pong can be played in any way you want, but if you want

to play the way described above and be

as good as you could, you should try to pick up as many as you can

the ten skills described below.

These ten skills are presented in the forms of ten lessons here.

But before we start, you, or your coach or parent, should

decide whether you should hold the paddle shakehand or penholder and the kind

rubber sheet to cover the paddle. If penholder, be sure just to hold

it as if you are writing with the paddle -- like a pen, that is.

You should always remember to use chiefly your brain, eyes and legs to

play, rather than the hand and arm. Let the hand and arm take care of

themselves. Most any-way-you-want players suffer from a crippling

weakness of not seeing the ball and not responding to it because they are

distracted by too much concentration on using hand and arm to strike

the ball.

In the following descriptions, unless otherwise specified,

you should hit the ball flat or with little natural top spin, which is

achieved by rubbing the oncoming ball with a upward motion of the paddle.