The forehand drive
martink asked 5 years ago
Hi. I help out a guy with learning the fh drive, he played bh a lot on the fh side. Working on getting the finish position a bit in front (also lacks the extension on bh), and upwards. It was a finish across the body, and forearm extending/elbow going sideways. Got an interesting question, what is the difference when playing fh down the line? In body movement, arm, etc. I don’t know myself, maybe less rotation. His timing is also a bit late, but better now, any suggestions for drills?
Dan Academy Coach answered 5 years ago
Hi Martink,
Hope all is well.
So the main differences between playing across court and down the line is the slight adjustment in the feet position. When playing down the line you need to have the right foot (For right handed players) behind the left, and get more side on, this means the energy of the movement is going down the line more and not dragging across. The timing point for playing down the line should also be slightly earlier as its a shorter line and the ball arrives slightly quicker.
As you mentioned the finish position is very important wherever you are playing, to get the bat pointing forward and towards where you want the ball to go. As for some good drills, I think the est one is getting him to play 2 forehand drives across court and then 2 down the line, this is great for getting used to the adjustments needed for the different shots. Also helps get the correct timing point too!
martinkThanks, good stuff. At least for me the timing has been crucial, but interesting to note about the feet position. Would you say that for a diagonal stroke, you stand quite square to the table, and more sideways (I suppose that is what side on is, just with the side towards the table)? I believe the timing for down the line, is actually a tiny bit later, but I may be wrong. At least when you change the direction from diagonal to down the line. Haha, got me thinking, so will have to investigate it next time at the table.
Good suggestion for the drill, we already do some variations of that one.
DanHi Martin,
If you watch from 3.31 I talk about the exact positioning for your feet when playing cross court and down the line: https://tabletennisdailyacademy.com/videos/using-the-lines/ Hope this helps.
I would say yes for a diagonal stroke you want to be close to being square to the table but not completely square. Some players go for the squared approach and some have their right foot just behind the left (right hander). Experiment a bit to find what you’re comfortable with, I would recommend to be slightly side on when playing diagonal and even more side on when playing down the line, this will help with your weight transfer and ball placement. You are right about the timing point on the down the line shot but try to take it at the top of the bounce contacting the ball in front of your body.
Hope this helps and good luck 🙂
Ah, an excellent video which I never watched fully. I had a hang on the technical videos but sometimes the real nuggets are in the other ones! Thanks. Now that you mention it, I do know for myself that I stand more side on when playing down the line and more square, although a bit left foot forward when going diagonally. I think the forehand down the line may be my best stroke, althought the weight transfer is something I still need to improve with going more foreward and less sideways on all strokes.
Just not always easy to know what you do automatically when teaching it to someone else, but then again it is a good eye opener and you learn something yourself by being challenged.
Thanks for the great response!
