covering-the-ball
Slicepong asked 5 years ago
Hi Tom and Dan. As you know I’m struggling with topspin (and not having a table to practice). The bat isn’t sufficiently closed. I assume it’s closed, but in reality, it’s barely closed. In tennis, covering the ball is when you come over the top off the ball to keep it low over the net or to shorten the length of a shot. Do you think covering the ball is a useful mental image in Pong? When I practice this, the bat ends up down at a 45, the bat between eyes and crown. Thanks.
maurice101 answered 5 years ago
I will have a suggestion that helped me for this question. Just before you hit the ball imagine the correct ball contact point. So for topspin it is usually a 2.5 hour clock point from a 45 degree swing path. Now just hit the ball at the correct contact point. Doing this will get you out of your incorrect swing path and deepen your focus on the ball too. Now use a faster hip rotation and keep the 45 degree swing path and you will have both high spin and speed. Look at Dans forehand.
Tom Academy Coach answered 5 years ago
Hi Slicepong, yes the feeling of covering the ball or coming more over the top of it is a good image to have in your mind when trying to work on this. Maurice also mentioned above having a quicker swing speed and body/hip rotation which can help you get the ahot to be smoother and prevent thr bat angle from changing and opening up.
Really try to gwt the feeling that you are trying to contact the ball with the leading edge of the bat to generate the spin and nice closed angle that you are looking for. You van even practice aiming onto the white part on thw top of the net to get the feeling of coming right over the ball just to feel exactly how closed your bat can be.
SlicepongI really like the image of the front edge creating the toppsin; that’s an excellent focal point. Thanks, Tom.
