Hey guys!
Creating more spin in table tennis is a fantastic way to improve your shots and develop your overall game, it adds control to your attacking shots and helps you to increase consistency and accuracy to push shots and your short game. So, we’ve just created a new YouTube video with 5 tips on how to generate more spin in your shots, it also includes some great training drills and demonstrations of our coaching tips to learn deadly spin! We also recently teamed up with professional player Par Gerell, who is known as one of the best servers in the world, to create a serving masterclass course to take your serves to the next level, for more information on that click here!
The 5 tips-
1) Legs and Body
Many players when thinking about trying to create more spin think about the arm and wrist and this of course can help. However to really achieve high amounts of spin you need to make use of the larger and stronger muscles in the body by using the legs and body rotation which allows for better acceleration of the arm. Staying low in your shots creates a strong base whether it’s a forehand topspin or a short touch, you need to be low to produce spin and have control. We take the example of Timo Boll who generates incredible amounts of spin, he stays so low in his shots and makes great use of the legs and strong body rotation to help produce more quality.
2) Brush the ball
The second tip now focuses on how you actually contact the ball, we speak about “Brushing the ball” in many of our Academy videos and this is vital to creating more spin. When we say brushing the ball we mean rather than a thick and heavy contact you are looking for a fine and light touch, using the rubber to graze across the ball at speed. During the video we look at 2 fantastic training drills that will help you improve your brushing contact and create more spin on your shots. Learning to brush the ball more effectively can take time to master but is key to developing safety in your attacking topspin shots and also being able to produce better quality push and short touch shots.
3) Feeling and control
Tip 3 looks at bringing the brushing contact of the ball into your general play by concentrating on feeling the ball and adding control to the way you play. To feel the ball better first you need to slow down your shots slightly and focus on a light touch and getting the ball the dwell on the bat longer and sink into the sponge which allows the rubber to have maximum effect and purchase the ball. Dan and Tom demonstrate feeling the ball and playing at a more controlled pace which allows you a better understanding of adding spin to your shots and not playing with a flat contact.
4) Bat angle
The next stage to producing more spin is having the correct bat angle for each shot, quite often when coaching we see players trying to brush the ball and create spin but their bat angle limits what they can achieve. The bat angle for topspin shots needs to be more closed to prevent the contact being too thick and firm, and the same applies when playing push or touch shots, the bat must be flat enough and open so you can brush under the ball to create backspin. Dan and Tom use a slow motion section in the video to highlight this point and demonstrate how important the bat angle is in order to generate spin on the ball.
5) Acceleration
The last but by no means the least important tip is acceleration in the shots and through the ball. Once you have worked on all the previous tips and feel you have a good understanding of them, the way to further increase spin is through a quicker acceleration. This means the rubber brushes across the ball faster and therefor more spin is generated, however it is important to keep in mind when accelerating faster you must maintain the other elements such a the correct bat angle, brushing contact and use of the legs and body. Once all these are brought together you will be able to create deadly amounts of spin!
Throughout the video we also focus on one other key area to creating more spin and that is the use of the wrist. Keeping a relaxed wrist in your shots and using it to help the brushing contact, acceleration and feeling the ball is another element to being able to spin the ball better. The wrist can also help you with ball placement and the direction of your shots by releasing through the ball forward, in particular on backhand topspin or flick shots as well as when pushing.
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! So what are you waiting for, access your free trial today!
