+15 Table Tennis Skills You Need to Master (New Players)

Forehand Drive is the first technique that you should learn.

This skill will help you feel the ball.

Learn the forehand drive before learning the forehand topspin.

Backhand topspin is the basic skill that every player should master. The biggest mistake of the beginner is "I will learn the forehand first, and then I let learning the backhand technique in the intermediate stage". This is totally wrong! You should learn the backhand stroke mechanism as soon as possible. Because by learning backhand technique, you will understand how to use your wrist in table tennis. You also learn how to relax, the right timing of acceleration, and the correct gip.

Remember: A bad habit is very difficult to correct. Learn the table tennis basics slowly but correctly.

Having a good foundation is very important in the eye of the Chinese coach

• Chinese coach explains: How to play Basic Backhand Topspin Technique

Chinese coach has changed the vision of this stroke. In this modern table tennis era, the bigger ball is used.

Bigger ball means that you have more "fraction of a second" before doing the stroke. So your backhand topspin should be a deadly weapon!

1. Remember, focus on the speed of this shots.

2. To increase the speed, player should hit sooner, and faster.

3. Learn from many top players like: Zhang Jike, Dimitrij Ovtcharov, Tomokazu Harimoto, Hugo Calderano.

After having a good foundation of feeling the ball and having a relaxed grip, you will start to learn the "timing". Timing is when to hit the ball. The best exercise is to practice the forehand push and the backhand push.

This is the basic stroke! And this stroke is rarely used in the modern table tennis nowadays.

You should learn to develop your push to be more "aggressive"!

Based on Chinese coaching, the more "aggressive push" means:

• Heavy and long ball to the middle (elbow of the opponent)

• Surprise push with high quality (speed and spin)

• Fast push to the forehand side of the opponent, which catch them off. You can attack the next ball.

Pushing technique is the first technique that many amateur table tennis players focus first. Chinese coach has explained clearly the what is the correct forehand push and backhand push technique.

The flick (or flip) technique is previously considered as the "advanced skills in table tennis". However, in this modern table tennis era, the Chinese coach has moved this skill to the fundamental skills. If you can not aggressively return the ball, you will quickly be dominated in this modern age of table tennis. "Aggressiveness" is the key.

• Learn this technique step by step with the photo in this article.

The backhand flick is nowadays considered as the standard technique. Using backhand flick to return all the topspin or sidespin short serve. Backhand push is rarely used in the real match today.

Back in the history of table tennis, the backhand flick is invented by the European players.

At that moment, many coaches said that "this technique is weird"!

But then the table tennis techniques have evolved. This technique today is considered as the "standard technique" in table tennis, that every player should learn!

Did you know that? There are 2 types of backhand flick: Banana Flick, and Strawberry Flick.

• Learn the basic coaching tips of the backhand flip.

Chinese table tennis focuses a lot on the use of the lower part of your body. When you master all of the basic skills, you should quickly incorporate your body (hip, waist, legs, abdomen) into your stroke. Backhand loop the underspin ball is designed to learn this concept quickly.

• Full coaching tutorial: Chinese fundamental backhand loop technique

Table tennis tactics, in fact, turn around the service and service-return. Best players use the semi-long ball a lot nowadays.

Why semi-long ball? Why do you need to learn how to do a semi-long serve effectively?

There are some reasons for this:

• Because short balls are weak,

• and the long ball is easily attacked.

• A semi-long ball will let you attack right after your serve. That's the reason why Chinese coach has introduced the forehand attack the semi-long ball into the basics training.

And to deal with the semi-long serve, you have two option:

1. Step around and use your backhand flick like many professional players do. Do it if you have a good footwork.

2. Learn to return with the aggressive forehand flick (or flip) technique.

• Further explication: Forehand flick technique explained by Chinese coach

Forehand pendulum serve is one of the best serves in table tennis. Easy to learn but difficult to master. Learning this service will let you add many spin variation. You should learn this serve as soon as possible. Learn to add sidespin and improve the deceptive spin to this serve.

forehand pendulum serve table tennis

• Read more: Step by step forehand pendulum serve tutorial.

Table Tennis Training Method in China

How do Chinese table tennis players practice? What is the training method in China?

Why don't Chinese players miss the easy ball? And why they are so good compared to other countries?

There are so many questions that players asked about the "Secret of Chinese table tennis"?

Today, let's talk about the training method in China and the main difference between the training drills in China and in the Western countries.

Coach EmRatThich explains the basic table tennis tactics that every players should understand. Where to attack the next ball? And why top Chinese players do this serve!

This is the open-mined video for you to understand the strategy in ping pong.

You are new to table tennis or you just want to come back and learn, from the beginning, the correct table tennis techniques. Table tennis techniques have changed a lot. However, people still using the old designed course, which is not adapted to the “new trends in table tennis”. Today, I will show you the new (re-designed) table tennis lessons for the beginner to learn the modern table tennis strokes. These are the 10 table tennis basics that every beginner should know. 

What are the basic skills of table tennis?

If you are beginners, you should also know “how to choose the right equipment which fits your playing style”!

Some coach has proposed the accelerated table tennis course (only in 10 days) to learn the fundamentals of table tennis. However, to master the correct techniques, a player should do the repetition several times. The proper mechanism needs the “muscle memory”. That’s why in a short amount of time (10 days), you can not master correctly the basic skills. Focus on basic skills during your first 2 years of training.

In your first 2 years of your career, you should master these basic techniques.

Based on the Chinese coaching, there are 10 fundamental skills in table tennis. 

1. Forehand drive technique

2. Backhand topspin close to the table

3. Forehand push and backhand push

4. Forehand flick

5. Backhand flick

6. Backhand loop the underspin ball

7. Forehand attack the semi-long ball

8. Learn Forehand fast serve

9. Forehand pendulum serve

10. Backhand sidespin serve