The backhand flick has developed over the last few years into a vital element for any modern attacking player, It enables players to initiate the attack early in the rally without taking unnecessary risks. You’ll see many of the world’s best payers using this shot on a regular basis because of the spin you can generate as well as the flexibility over the table, the modern backhand flick allows for much more use of the wrist than on the forehand side enabling players to return even heavy backspin serves using this stroke.
5 steps to improve your Backhand Flick
1. Bend the knees, weight forward
The first step to a successful backhand flick is your body position. As seen in the video, Dan has his right foot behind his left for a right hander, has a good bend in his knees with his weight forward. He steps in under the table with his right leg as he approaches the ball.
2. Draw your wrist back towards your body
The next step is to draw your wrist back, so your bat head is pointing downwards and towards your stomach, with a relaxed grip. To get a good sense of the grip slightly press with your finger and thumb on the rubber. Point your elbow in front and slightly raised, this will allow your elbow to act as a axis for your forearm and wrist to accelerate into the ball.
3. Contact point
With a closed bat angle, which allows you to grip the ball, accelerate your wrist into the ball at the highest point. With a relaxed grip, brush into the ball with a fine contact so you can produce the spin to take the ball up and over the net.
4. Follow through
Contact the ball at the highest point (Peak of the bounce), release your wrist in front and in the direction you want the ball to go to. If you are playing your backhand flick crosscourt, then direct your follow through cross court. The stroke should remain short and compact as you are playing over the table and need to recover quickly.
5. Recovery
The most important element to your backhand flick is your follow up shot. Once you have played the flick, use your dominant leg, in this case a right handed player would use their right leg to push back out and ready to follow up with a topspin attack.
Take your game to the next level with the TTD Academy!
For a more in-depth breakdown on how to perform this shot effectively including when to use it, training drills, placement and tactics in match situations visit here.
At the table tennis daily Academy we have over 70 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 lake your game to the next level!
