There are two main footwork patterns in table tennis, the side to side and in and out. Even professional table tennis players perform these drills in their training – so there’s really no excuse! The footwork pattern outlined below allows a righthanded and lefthanded doubles combination to cover most of the table with their forehands, while keeping out of each other’s way. What I recommend is after each shot, stepping mostly backwards, and only slightly the side. I will give you some steps that helped me and my students to improve a lot, only with 2-3 training sessions. Side to side footwork is used to cover the forehand attack from the pivot corner to the middle of the table. The footwork pattern outlined below allows a righthanded and lefthanded doubles combination to cover most of the table with their forehands, while keeping out of each other’s way. In footwork, its important to always keep your weight on your toes such that your weight is going forwards. Forehand (Middle), Forehand (Wide) 3. Xtreme Footwork Conditioning contains nine table tennis specific workouts taught over three modules; agility, lateral velocity, and mastery. You can take the three positions – backhand, forehand (middle), and forehand (wide) and combine them in different orders to create slightly different basic footwork drills…. Instead of playing forehands from wide and middle you could do them from either side of the middle line, or from the middle and the backhand side. But hold on a second! Shuffle stepping footwork. "Footwork Pattern" in Table Tennis (Part 1) There are 4 fundamental "Footwork Patterns" in table tennis. It is a bit of a combination of the two drills above. Backhand, Forehand (Middle), Backhand, Forehand (Wide) For the rest of the article, I’ll briefly run through each of these basic footwork drills sharing demonstration videos and some top tips. This video explains the 1st Pattern, which is used after your serve, and your serve return. You should switch it up between playing into your partner’s backhand, forehand, or middle control. Do you have a favourite basic footwork drill that I haven’t mentioned here? Good footwork makes it easier to reach the ball. Always play as if the ball will come back no matter what. You should also make sure that you bend your knees in order to lower your centre of gravity. Close to the table blockers will use many one-step movements or small jump steps. If you’ve enjoyed this article, I’m currently in the process of building the Expert Table Tennis Drills Database that will contain hundreds of different table tennis drills to train every area of your game. My top tip for this drill is to practice it a lot without the ball – shadow training. Table tennis robots can serve at varying speeds with varying spins, and can place serves all over the table. Here they are! Popularly known by the trademarked name Ping-Pong, it is a common recreational activity as well as a competitive Olympic sport. Here’s another drill demonstration video (taken from Table Tennis University). The ultimate style of the player will dictate which type of movement patterns he or she should use. PingSkills' Blog Ask the Coach Podcast Livestreams; Ask the Coach But you should still get the idea. There’s an awful lot going on even without worrying about making contact with the ball. Too often, adult beginners miss out on all of this and therefore never reach the stage of feeling comfortable and confident doing the basics. You can both alternate between backhand and forehand strokes by performing the “Xs & Hs” drill. So, I’ve written this blog post to encourage you to continue working on the basic footwork drills. Examples of systematic drills include 1 backhand 1 forehand… or forehand, middle, forehand, backhand… or 3-point forehand. Below we will discuss the basic table tennis footwork patterns and some tips on how to make the most out of them. FAQ; Gallery. The bending of your knees is also essential to lower the centre of gravity and to give you better balance. Systematic Footwork Drills A basic systematic drill has a pattern or system to it making it easier because you know where every ball is supposed to go. If I think back to my own table tennis training as a 12 or 13-year-old, I probably spent over 50% of my table time doing a variety of regular drills. pp footwork. Most right-handed players find it fairly easy to move to their left after playing a forehand (because your swing naturally takes you that way). This is the main footwork used in table tennis. Tao makes this look simple, but it isn’t. The centre of gravity, or simply side to side footwork pattern footwork! Only slightly the side to side movement better balance two most basic footwork drills that Intermediate table tennis robot falls! 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