Playing more “neutral balls” in table tennis is the key to qualitative change

The typical manifestation of table tennis players rushing to grab the rhythm is that no matter whether it is reasonable or not, they always want to “pass the ball in one stroke” by brute force. Little do they know that this is the biggest stumbling block that affects the improvement of table tennis level. For example, just after taking out the driver’s license, they want to “turn and move” in the traffic flow. The risk factor can be imagine. The same is true for table tennis. Knowing the situation and trying to play more “neutral balls” is the key factor to break through the bottleneck. Through training and learning, there are roughly three aspects that need to be paid attention to

Control

The first is to achieve “effective force” without losing control, keep your mind steady and control the strength at 60% to 70%, until you can hit the ball in ten shots with at most one or two mistakes. Remember that this “containing” strength is the “effective force” at this stage, and you don’t have to worry about the force problem. As your proficiency gradually increases, the effective force will inevitably increase naturally. The last thing you need to worry about in table tennis is the force problem. As long as the details are in place, the force will really be a natural result. It should be note that in most cases, the use of brute force is caused by the body being lazy and the hands adding drama.

The second is to actively add some friction. After the “effective force” becomes a habit, the stability rate will be significantly improve, but it is still far from enough. In order to be more stable, you need to have some friction awareness, which is what we often call “hang it up” and “add insurance”. You don’t need to use your “fingers and wrists” to the extreme like pulling a loop ball. Just have this feeling and a little “small braking”, the arc will become beautiful and stable. The key is that the quality is not low.

Brute force

Third, not using “brute force” does not mean not using force. Let’s take driving as an example. Not stepping on the accelerator hard does not mean driving at a snail’s pace on a normal road. You will have no initiative and cannot control the ball. After touching the ball, you will just hit it back. hich will make it easier for you to make mistakes due to rotation. You can experience the “snap braking” action at the moment of touching the ball. Which can also be understand as adding some friction. You can practice it alone and combine it with your body strength to move closer to effective force. Learning to hit a “neutral ball” will make you steady and calm. The above is purely my personal experience in practicing ball. If I’m wrong, I hope you can correct me and criticize me.