Service 101: What you Need to Improve your Serve (TB EP. 01)
Summary
TLDRThis video by Table Tennis Technolytics delves into the critical aspects of serving in table tennis. Emphasizing the importance of serve techniques, the video covers ten key points to improve your game. Topics include the correct low-to-high motion, following through on the serve, body positioning, wrist flexibility, and maintaining consistent movements. It also highlights the significance of both short and long serves, effective game planning, and the necessity of patience and practice. The video aims to enhance players' serving skills and overall game strategy.
Takeaways
- 🏓 The serve is crucial in table tennis as it starts every point, so mastering it is essential.
- ⬆️ For effective serves, perform a low-to-high movement but follow through by moving the racket down to keep the ball low and accurate.
- 👟 Your body's follow-through after the serve is important for maintaining control and disguising your serves.
- ⚖️ Practice both short and long serves with the same movement to keep your opponent guessing.
- 🎯 Keep your wrist loose while serving to better control the spin and disguise the serve.
- 🔍 Focus on the first bounce of the ball to ensure consistency and control over different tables and conditions.
- 🎯 Small differences in serve placement can significantly impact your opponent's response, so practice precision.
- 💡 Choose serves that set you up for success based on your strengths and preferences.
- 🧠 Simplify your game plan if necessary, focusing on basic but effective serves to maintain control.
- ⏳ Be patient and persistent in practicing your serves, as mastering them can take a long time.
Q & A
Why is the serve considered crucial in table tennis?
-Every point in table tennis starts with a serve, either by you or your opponent, making it essential to have a good serve to gain an advantage.
What is the first key point mentioned for improving your serve?
-The first key point is to perform your serve movement from low to high to put rotation on the ball, but also to follow through and go down with the ball to ensure it lands on the table.
How does following through on your serve help?
-Following through on your serve helps the ball go into the table and glide across the net as it should, ensuring a nice, low serve.
What are the two ways to perform a sidespin or backspin serve?
-One way is with your non-dominant foot in front, stepping forward after the serve. The other way is with your dominant foot in front, moving sideways along the table.
Why is it important to practice both short and long serves?
-Practicing both short and long serves keeps your opponent guessing and prevents them from always being ready for a short serve, thus maintaining the element of surprise.
What is the significance of keeping your wrist loose while serving?
-A loose wrist allows for better rotation, variation, and camouflage in your serve, making it harder for the opponent to read and react to it.
How can you improve consistency in your serves?
-Focus on the first bounce of the ball on your side of the table rather than the end result. This helps in controlling the serve and adapting to different tables and conditions.
What does knowing the difference between a short forehand serve and a short middle serve imply?
-Even slight variations in the placement of a short serve can force the opponent to move differently, potentially disrupting their rhythm and positioning.
How should you tailor your serves to suit your playing style?
-Serve in a way that sets you up for success based on your strengths and preferences. For instance, avoid serves that result in shots you're not comfortable returning.
What advice is given about being patient with serve practice?
-Developing a good serve takes time and patience. Some serves may take years to perfect and integrate into matches, so trust the process and keep practicing.
What can be learned from Werner Schlager's serving strategy?
-Werner Schlager's success with a basic backhand serve, which he could consistently follow up effectively, shows the importance of having a reliable, well-practiced serve.
Outlines
🏓 Introduction to the Importance of Serve in Table Tennis
The video emphasizes the significance of the serve in table tennis, introducing the concept that players have control over their serve and their head movements. The presenter, from Table Tennis Technolytics, highlights that every point starts with a serve, making it crucial to have a good serve. The focus will be on ten key points applicable to almost every serve.
⬆️ Key Point 1: Low to High Movement
The first key point discussed is the low to high movement in serves. The presenter explains that while this movement helps in adding rotation, it is not enough to ensure the ball lands on the table. The importance of following through by going down after making contact with the ball is emphasized, showing how it helps in keeping the serve low and effective.
🔄 Key Point 2: Following Through on the Serve
This section delves deeper into the importance of following through on the serve, explaining two methods: one with the non-dominant foot in front and one with the dominant foot in front. The presenter demonstrates both techniques and explains how following through correctly aids in achieving a low and effective serve.
🎯 Key Point 3: Importance of a Good Long Serve
The video highlights that having a good long serve is essential for a varied and effective game. The presenter explains that the technique for a long serve should mimic that of a short serve until the last moment, preventing opponents from predicting the serve. The importance of practicing both short and long serves to maintain the element of surprise is stressed.
🎾 Key Point 4: Same Movement, Different Point of Contact
This section discusses the need to camouflage the difference between serves with different spins (backspin, no spin, topspin) by varying the point of contact on the racket. The presenter explains that mastering this technique makes serves less predictable and more challenging for the opponent.
🤲 Key Point 5: Keeping the Wrist Loose
The importance of keeping the wrist loose during serves is emphasized. A stiff wrist limits rotation and makes the serve easier to read. The presenter demonstrates the difference between serves with a loose wrist and a stiff wrist, showing how a relaxed wrist improves serve quality and deception.
👀 Key Point 6: Watching the First Bounce
The presenter advises focusing on the first bounce of the ball rather than the end result when practicing new serves. By controlling the initial trajectory, players can adapt to different tables and improve their consistency. The method involves marking the ideal first bounce spot and adjusting serves accordingly.
🔄 Key Point 7: Variations in Short Forehand Serves
This section highlights the differences between short forehand serves aimed at various parts of the table. Even slight variations in placement can significantly affect the opponent's reception. The presenter stresses the importance of practicing these small adjustments to exploit opponents' weaknesses.
🎯 Key Point 8: Setting Yourself Up for Success
The presenter explains that players should tailor their serves to suit their strengths and what they want to achieve in the rally. Choosing serves that align with one's follow-up skills and strategic preferences can enhance overall performance and effectiveness in matches.
🧠 Key Point 9: Simplifying Your Game Plan
This section advises simplifying the game plan when serves become too complicated. Using basic but effective serves, as exemplified by former world champion Jan-Ove Waldner, can maintain consistency and control. The focus is on keeping serves low and well-camouflaged while ensuring reliable follow-ups.
⏳ Key Point 10: Patience and Practice
The final key point emphasizes the importance of patience and consistent practice in developing a good serve. The presenter shares that some serves took years to perfect and advises players to trust the process. Regular practice and perseverance are essential for mastering serves and their follow-ups.
👍 Conclusion and Encouragement
The video concludes with the presenter encouraging viewers to practice the key points discussed and to be patient with their progress. Viewers are invited to leave comments, ask questions, and subscribe to the channel for more content. The presenter expresses hope that the video was helpful and informative.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Serve
💡Low to High
💡Follow Through
💡Rotation
💡Camouflage
💡Wrist Loose
💡First Bounce
💡Point of Contact
💡Game Plan
💡Practice
Highlights
Importance of the serve in table tennis as every point starts with a serve.
10 key points applicable to almost every serve discussed.
Low to high movement in serve for rotation, but also need to go down with the ball.
Follow-through on the serve is crucial for a good serve.
Two ways to perform a side spin serve: non-dominant foot in front or dominant foot in front.
Need for variation in serves: good short serve requires a good long serve.
Camouflaging the difference between short and long serves is key.
Same movement but different point of contact for different serves.
Importance of keeping the wrist loose during the serve.
Watching the first bounce instead of the end result for consistency.
Differences in short serves: short forehand, short backhand, and short backspin.
Setting up for success with serves that suit your playing style.
Simplicity in serve can be effective, as demonstrated by a world champion.
Being patient and practicing is essential for developing a good serve.
The serve should be practiced with follow-up play in mind.
The time and effort required to implement serves in matches.
Transcripts
in table tennis there are only two
things of which you have filter control
your Surf and your heads with this video
you'll have control over one of those
things my name is table tennis
technolytics let's go
so everybody we're here at the hall of
my sponsor kilikon here on alter and
today we're going to be talking about
Surf and the importance of surf because
every Point starts with a surf either
with you or your opponent so therefore
it's very very crucial to have a good
serve today we're not going to be
looking into a certain technique of a
serve but we're more going to talk about
10 key points that are applicable to
almost each and every serve and the
first key point we'll be talking about
is low to high one of the tips I
received when I was starting out was if
you want to put rotation on the ball is
to perform your movement on the surf
from low to high and if you're like me
and you try to do this movement from low
to high then you probably would assert a
little something like this
thank you
see this is nothing because if you only
go from low to high then maybe you can
put a little bit of rotation in the ball
but it won't go into the table you won't
surf into the table and the ball won't
slide across the net as it should be the
problem with this information about the
low to high is the context around it yes
you have to serve and perform this
movement this swing during serve from
low to high but as you surf and you
touch the ball you need to go down with
it as well so that your racket starts
maybe here
and it will end up around chest height
but because you go down this allows you
to serve into the table and to have a
nice low Serve All right so I'll try it
one more time and just pay close
attention to how I'm following through
on the ball and going down and also pay
attention to where my racket is ending
up because it's it will be higher at the
end of the Swing than at the beginning
thank you
and the same is applicable for other
services well not only for a straight
surf or a regular side spacer Also let's
say for a reverse pendulum serve you can
maybe start over here and end your
movement almost at chin height but
because you go down it allows you to
Surf into the table and to have the ball
Glide across the net so if I wouldn't do
it then I would stand upright this is
what would happen
see about that just bounces way too high
now let's try it again but with me this
time going forward into the ball
the regular reverse pendulum serve as it
should be so two things to remember here
is start from low to high to put enough
rotation into your ball and second to
follow through on the circle all right
the second keypoint is something which
we discussed just now before but it's
also about your body and how you have to
follow through on the surf why am I
discussing this in a key point on its
own is because it has some Nuance in it
as you will see in a regular site sensor
or a dance Spencer there are two ways of
Performing this surf one is with your
non-dominant foot in front of you as a
lot of players do and then this serve
oftentimes people step in after the ball
alright
but then they go forwards after their
surfing and the other way of forming a
site a site can serve or a regular
grounds can serve is with your dominance
list in front of you which means that if
you want to follow through on the serve
you'll probably move sideways along the
table and this is something I do
personally there's no right to roam here
but it's just a question of knowing how
to follow through on the serve so I'll
demonstrate how to do the first one with
the non-dominant foot
you can do it with a bounce without a
bounce just for demonstration's sake
I'll do it without
accept all right
see how I follow through on this Earth
and I moved forward again as we
discussed in the previous key points
this helps me to play a low and low and
short surf alright if I wouldn't do it
and I'd stand upright again the battles
would be too high the ball wouldn't be
quick enough and would be too easy to
now for the other surf the other way of
serving this side spin or backspin surf
is with the dominance foot in front of
you and something which I do is as you
reform yourself as you
finish your swing you set the
non-dominant foot besides the table and
then you follow through like this and
afterwards you get ready for your
neutral position
all right so I'll show it one time
without
people
good at First Sight but the problem is
it's very hard to camouflage
this if you want to perform it in the
same movement pattern now if I'll do the
same surface but when I moved along the
table like this then it will end up a
little something like this
together
this is a pretty good serve it allows
you to serve nice and low nice and quick
and as a bonus it will help you
camouflage the difference between a
short Surf and a long Surf not much much
better
key Point number three is you cannot
have a good short serve without a good
long serve and what do I mean with this
is you can't have as much variation and
as much rotation in a short serve as you
want but if people are never surprised
of you maybe sometimes serving a long
serve then they will always be stepping
in and they will be ready no matter what
all right so it's very important from
the beginning to practice your long
search and oftentimes the mistake that
people make when trying to practice a
long surf or what they subconsciously do
when they do a long serve is they open
their rackets way more than they would
with a lot insurance though
and this leads to the opponent being
able to see what can happen and in
advance you'll be ready for this long
Surf and it takes this whole element of
surprise away right so when you serve
long
it has to be the exact same movement as
a short serve up until the very last
moments up until the point of contact
this is a perfect long serve and
subsequently it's also a perfect short
serve because it works the other way
around as well so again I'll demonstrate
what the difference is between a bat
long serve and a bad short serve and a
good long-served and a good Shore to
serve all right so if I surf let's say
for example I'll just serve a basic
short surf all right I just do this
but then all of a sudden if I want to
serve along I open my record watch the
way I open my record before the movement
all right
immediately people will know that you
will serve long so again I'll try to
demonstrate it but I'm going to try to
hide as much as possible up until the
very last moment that I'm going to serve
long all right so short serve
and long so
[Applause]
there's a very big difference in this
and you have to be aware of that
key point four is same movement
different point of contact
as I said before that you have to
camouflage the difference between a
short serve and a long serve as good as
possible the same goes with a circle
backspin with no Spin and with topspin
and the best way to do this is to be
aware of where you have to hit the ball
on your racket in order to play a
certain serve key Point number five is
the importance of keeping your wrist
loose when certain there's nothing worse
for a serve than serving with a fixed
wrist one that is completely stable when
it doesn't move at all throughout the
entire swing throughout the entire
gesture all right so whatever serve you
do it is important to try to keep your
hand relaxed otherwise it's harder to
camouflage the difference in a long and
a short surf it's harder to camouflage
the difference between rotations in in
the syrup so keep your wrist loose is
the message
so I'll demonstrate again the difference
between a good serve with a loose wrist
and a bad surf with a fixed one so if I
were to serve with a completely fixed
Wrist all right this is what would end
up
it limits my ability to put rotation in
the ball and it limits my ability to
hide what I want to do with my serve all
right and this makes it easier for the
opponent to read myself so a big No-No
rule
now if I'm playing with a loose wrist
this is more or less what it would end
up like
foreign
[Applause]
just an overall much much better serve
so main message again keep your wrist
loose
all right we're halfway there and now up
to key point six key point six is watch
the first bounce instead of the end
result
what do I mean with this is something I
learned along the way when trying new
alcohol service when practicing on new
Surf and some go easier than others
maybe you've experienced it yourself
that some serves you learned it maybe in
a couple of days you get the feeling for
it very quickly but other serves they
take weeks months years so what I mean
with this is looking at the first bounce
instead of the end result
is because I try to reverse engineer
myself when I had a little bit of
trouble with serving consistently with a
certain surface it was with this one
something which I was learning a couple
of years back and when I was serving a
short diagonal and I was practicing this
I had a lot of trouble with controlling
the length of my surf and then I dialed
back and I looked at the problem from
its source and then I thought well if
the first thing that coaches tell you
when trying a little long serve is that
you have to have the first bounce very
close at the end of the table now why
not apply the same principle with a
short serve how can you have control
over the second part of the movement of
the trajectory of the ball if you
haven't touched it well you have control
over the first part of the trajectory
directory of the ball all right the part
before it bounces on the table and
another reason why I decided on this
method is because as you might know if
you play on different tables sometimes
the table is a little bit faster a
little bit slower and the bounds it can
vary also sometimes the ball it's almost
like it's playing on rubber or a
quicksand you know it's a full break
after one bounce and in some other
tables the ball slides through
completely so if you don't want to take
into account the type of table you're
playing on every time you play a match
then try this method of looking for the
perfect first bounce and you will see
that this first bounce and this exact
place
exact place translates to almost every
table now let's try to demonstrate what
I did when I tried to practice this all
right and what I did is I took a serve
that I knew how to
perform perfectly I measure the bounce
first bound from that ball and from
there I just took a little piece
of edge there and I dipped it on the
table from there on I knew where I had
to play the rest of my service all right
also the diagonal ones the ones I go to
the middle the ones that I go down the
line for but it's a little bit hard from
this angle to show you and also it's a
little bit hard to explain it with my
Edge tape so therefore
I'm going to switch angles for you all
right so what I did with a reverser or
with any reverser
you have to
take the first bounce which you play
Down the Line
and from there on you draw a straight
line which goes a little bit backwards
and why it doesn't go a little bit
backwards because it's quite contrary to
what you think normally if you play a
diagonal serve well I mean it's a longer
movement it's a longer trajectory of the
ball so therefore you would think that
you have to serve a little bit deeper if
you want to get at the same length well
no it's quite a country because remind
you we're talking about a reversal and
you have to keep in mind the rotation
that comes with the ball well if I serve
my surf right here
the size ring of the bulb also makes it
move forwards a little bit more so if
you take this into account the
trajectory it's not
this
but instead it's a little bit moving
backwards and it's not straight either
all right it's not straight either but
if you just do a regular side Spencer
well then the side spin it makes the
ball move backwards so it doesn't
accelerate the ball and it doesn't push
the ball further so therefore
if you play this earth and the first
bounce
is something along the side of here well
then you're not going back
you're not going backwards if you want
to start that then you stay about the
same position as you would
and there you go the short serve as it
should be
he point seven is knowing the difference
between a short Forex
like this one
a short form like this one or a short
forums like this one you would think
they're all the same service and they're
all short in the foreign parts of the
table well I'm here to tell you it's
nuts it's completely different even a
five centimeter shift to the left or to
the right can make a huge difference as
an opponent because you have to move a
little bit further you have to move a
little bit more to the side and this
changes your entire position so it's
very important to practice as much as
you can these small differences and to
be able to control them in a perfect way
because some people might be able to
receive quite well from the short form
and it looks like this because they
don't have to move a single step well
let's say if you move them a little bit
to the side and all of a sudden they
start receiving like this and they start
pushing in the neck and they start
pushing out or if you serve more in the
middle and they will stand directly in
front of their ball well then all of a
sudden they're not a good short for
Keepers anymore from a short form right
so know the difference between a short
foreign short forms and short form
so we're already up to 3.8 and key point
eight is how to set yourself up for
Success service is all about what you
like and what you want to do with the
ball after yourself so therefore you
need to do something which suits you if
you surf a regular size for the surf and
everybody who comes in with a flick all
the time and you're bad at controlling
this flick well why continue doing it
why not surf a reverser why not switch
it up and then on the other hand if
you're somebody who's not so good after
a long pushball and the ball comes back
a little bit too fast if you do a
reverse serve well then switch it up
again maybe serve more to the back end
maybe do again another side concert or
serve a little bit more along you know
it's all about what your preferences are
and you have to play accordingly
key Point number nine is a good gamepl
well what do I mean with this is
sometimes in table tennis things get a
little bit too complicated and you
cannot even figure out what rotations on
the ball are anymore you cannot control
a short ball after your surf well
because maybe you're varying too much
well then it's time to switch things up
and maybe go for a little bit more of a
simple approach all right and the first
person that comes to mind to a great
success with just the basic surface
he was an Olympic champion he was a
world champion and all he did 99 of the
time was just a basic backhand serve
short very low but with no rotation but
the great thing about this serve was is
that he knew how to follow up he was not
surprised of anything that would come
after this served so if you feel as if
you're losing this advantage of having a
good server because you cannot figure
things out yourself of what you want to
do after yourself well then maybe just
dump it down a little bit and take a few
serves out or take a little bit of the
quality out of your serve as long as you
keep the basic principles of keeping
your shirt low keeping your surf
camouflaged
so now here we are at the last key point
and that is be patient and practice 40
hours a day as much as you want it
doesn't matter all right some of my
services they took years before I could
Implement them into a match and that's
not because I was not confident enough
maybe sometimes it was maybe sometimes I
was not confident enough that I would
keep the serve short but other times it
was also because I couldn't find a way
to follow up my service so that is
equally as important in a surf practice
as just to serve on its own so it takes
a lot of time before you develop a good
serve and this shouldn't discourage you
from keeping on practicing this Earth
alright as I mentioned it takes a long
time so just be patient and cross the
process and stay practicing yourself
so guys that is the end of the video I
hope you learned something from it I
hope maybe some of the key points or all
of the key points were quite helpful to
you let me know what you thought of it
if you have some suggestions if you have
some remarks some questions doesn't
matter just leave a comment below uh if
you like the video then like the video
maybe subscribe to my channel as this
helped me a lot with being able to
produce videos in the near future and
I'll see you next time
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