Hey Guys!
One of the biggest challenges in table tennis in our opinion is not technical but timing and rhythm of the shots, so we’ve just released this new coaching tutorial video on YouTube which has 3 exercises to help improve your timing and demonstrates the importance of getting this area in your game right. These 3 drills will help you improve your timing and also the rhythm when playing, which helps you play with less effort and more relaxed shots. Improving your timing also leads to more consistency, a much higher quality of shot and in the long run better results!
The 3 Drills
Drill 1: Create space
Give yourself more space from the table and get used to playing in relaxed manner with enough space so as to not feel rushed.
Drill 2: The pause
Learning to have a pause between your back swing and contacting the ball, this allows you to accelerate into the shot which means you can judge the timing point much better.
Drill 3: Aligning with the flight of the ball
Aligning with the flight of the ball, by this we mean learning to track the ball and time your back swing and then forward stroke to come through and contact at the top of the bounce.
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For a more videos on improving your timing point and how to perform your shots effectively visit the TableTennisDaily Academy to access your free trial today.
At the TableTennisDaily Academy we have over 100 coaching videos covering technical, tactical and psychological aspects as well as in depth match analysis. As a member of the TableTennisDaily Academy you’ll also have full access to our “coach corner” which gives you the ability to ask questions that professional coaches Dan and Tom will answer. Whatever your questions, get swift and reliable coaching feedback you can trust right at your fingertips. You can even post videos of yourself in action for Dan and Tom to analyse, they will provide specific advice to help you take your game to the next level!
Excellent quality vid guys
This is the fist time in my tt carreer i have actually seen a clearly delineated explanation of how to time the ball.
Keep up the good work.
Hi Steve,
Thanks, glad you enjoyed the video and found it helpful, always good to get positive feedback!
Tom, After trying these drills, I have a question regarding the 2nd drill — the pause, It makes seance what is explained in the Vid and its working well in drilling, but please could you clarify something:
I notice during drilling i can accomplish the pause relatively easily since I have a consistent ball to drill with, however during the match situation its exponentially more challenging due to the dynamics of the rally, i feel like the pause interrupts momentum and reduces power in the forehand, so I need to check , is the pause not intended to be an actual stop of the stroke movement but more of a moment where you actually just relax a bit more before pulling the trigger on the stroke ?
also, is the pause only supposed to be used during drilling maybe ? only for the purpose of learning timing ?
and not something you do in match play, ?
I have been watching top players and only 2 players I have really noticed any pause at all is Boll and Samsonov..somehow they always look like they have so much time, and they wait just a split second before execution but in their match play its barely noticeable.
So if the pause is meant for match implementation does it become a shorter pause once you start to implement it into your game ?
sorry this is so long a question but its critical i get this right before I start committing to this timing technique…
Thanks a lot.
Steve