The Top 5 Table

Tennis Tips
A Beginners Guide

Mark Kemp, Editor http://best-table-tennis-tables.com

1st Edition, January 2017

About This Book ..................................................3
Who This Book Is For And Why I Wrote It
Copyright ............................................................. 4
About The Author ................................................5
Introduction ......................................................... 7
Ping Pong Tips For Novice Players
Hold The Paddle Or Bat Correctly ......................9
2 Types Of Grip To Get Your Hands Around
Timing Is Everything In Ping Pong ...................12
Reaction Times and Tactical Play
Learn To Control The Ball .................................14
Take Control So That Your Opponent Can’t
Learn Foot Movement ....................................... 16
Show Me How To Dance
Get A Table Tennis Mentor ................................17
Experience Is Everything
About This Book
Who This Book Is For And Why I Wrote It

So it may be that you have arrived at this book because you want to
improve your ping pong game just a little.

Maybe you play table tennis at home on a recently purchased table or

perhaps you play at work with colleagues. Ping pong tables are a
staple feature of most office spaces these days.
It could be that your family-friendly games are getting a little more
competitive or perhaps your office-league is getting super-
competitive. Either way, you have come to the right place.

This book is designed as a starter guide for people who want to

improve their game but need to know what to do next. Where to look
for more information and what to focus on to make quick
improvements.

What is certain is that you will continue to enjoy playing ping pong.

Table tennis sharpens the mind as well as the body so the benefits are
real and varied. Feel better, look better and think better as a result of
playing table tennis.

If you have any questions about this beginner’s starter guide to ping
pong you can contact the author here: http://best-table-tennis-
tables.com/contact.

We will respond to your questions as soon as we can. In the mean

time, enjoy the game!

Copyright
Copyright © 2017 by Best-Table-Tennis-Tables.com

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,

distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including
photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods,
without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the
case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other
noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission
requests, write to the publisher, addressed “Attention: Permissions
Coordinator,” at the address below.

best-table-tennis-tables.com
Jemms (UK) Ltd, 16 Fillingham Way, Hatfield, Hertfordshire, AL10
9GE. United Kingdom

www.jemms.co.uk

Publisher’s Cataloging-in-Publication data

Kemp, Mark.
The Top 5 Table Tennis Tips For Beginners : Ping Pong Tips For
Novice Players/ Mark Kemp.

First Edition

About The Author

My name is Mark Kemp and I love playing Table

Tennis.

Anyone who knows me, know that Table Tennis has

been a part of my life since I was around 6 years old
and that is a few decades ago now!
I started playing table tennis at the age of 6 when my dad purchased a
table tennis table for the summer house at the end of our garden.

I played with family, friends and my passion grew from there.

From then on I was hooked and went on to play and beat everyone in
my school. After school I joined a couple of county clubs in Reading,
England called Our lady of Peace and the Kingfisher table tennis club.

I then started playing 6 days a week every night and competitions at

weekends.

I worked my way up the Reading Table Tennis leagues and got to play
in Division 1 at the age of 16 and then started to play for my county
Berkshire.

I started to get coaching from Jimmy Stokes Senior, his son Jimmy
Stokes Jr was in the top 10 England ranking at the time.

I went away to a few table tennis training camps where I was trained
by Alison Gordon, who was a Commonwealth Table Tennis Champion
in 1982 and Fiona Eliot who became a ranked English Table Tennis
champion in the 1990’s.
After that I was invited by Jimmy Stokes Senior to play for the Center
of Excellence and train for the England Table Tennis Team.

Unfortunately during this time I was away at boarding school and my

parents thought that it would be best to focus on my studies.

I've started to see the rise of table tennis both at home, in bars and at
club level and it's fantastic to see people of all ages and walks of life
enjoy the game.

So I thought that by writing the blog I could share my knowledge,

experiences and understanding of the game!

Please go ahead and enjoy this content that we have worked so hard
to create.

You can contact me on the Best Table Tennis Tables Facebook page
here: https://www.facebook.com/besttabletennistables/

Introduction

Ping Pong Tips For Novice Players

Welcome to my guide of the top 5 best table tennis tips and tricks for
players who are fairly new to the game.

So you've already bought one of the best table tennis tables based on
our product reviews and have been playing at home for a while now.

So you're now hitting a few good shots and might be a table tennis
player who started playing in the office or at home with your family.
You're ready for the next step!

With this book, I want to help raise your standards and step up a gear
with your ping pong game.

At this stage we often fall back on the same basic shots or strokes that
we always rely on in order to win.

The problem with this is that we fall in to bad habits and that doesn't
improve our game long-term. It takes time to become great at this
game, and to be honest, if you play with better players than yourself
you will start to become much, much better.

It always helps to get a few pointers to massively improve your all-

round game.

There are loads of videos on the internet which help beginners with
the basic strokes, serves and shots but none that really help you to
learn about the important details.

Controlling the ball, judging the timing of hitting the ball and learning
to find a rhythm which will give you a flow as if you were a boxer or
dancer.
After all table tennis is an art-form like every other sport. We want
you to turn from a good player into a GREAT one!

Practise does make help you improve no end, so here are 5 top tips &
tricks…

1.
Hold The Paddle Or Bat Correctly

2 Types Of Grip To Get Your Hands Around

Holding the paddle or bat will definitely improve your game and give
you the flexibility to cover a range of shots that's needed to step up to
the next level.

Officially there are two main ways to hold the paddle.

1. Shakehand grip
2. Penhold grip
The Shakehand or Handshake grip is the most widely used grip in
USA and Europe.

The Penhold grip is commonly used in China, Japan and most of Asia.

Vladimir Samsonov demonstrates the Shakehand grip

Take your time to think about which grip you want to use and watch
the professionals play on Youtube to see how they do it.

Search for Ma Long videos and see how he holds his bat. He's the
current World number one from China and he uses the ShakeHand
grip!
Ma Lin demonstrating the Penhold grip

Then check out top Chinese player Xu Xin who uses the Penhold grip.
Both are really brilliant players that you can learn from.

The Penhold grip is actually fading in popularity because you can play
a wider variety of shots with the Handshake grip.

2.
Timing Is Everything In Ping Pong

Reaction Times and Tactical Play

You know, timing is everything!

In life you might win the lottery just when you need the money the
most!

It's the same with hitting a ball, if you hit the ball with the correct
stroke at the right time it bounces off the table like magic - I can't
quite explain the feeling!

For me, the ultimate would be to hit the right strokes at the right time
all the time! But doing it more and more often gives me confidence to
hit better and better every time.

Try not to get into sloppy mode and make sure that every shot counts.
Move for the ball and make that shot count

A lot of new players tend to get a little stressed because it takes time
to master great shots, so I recommend that you watch the Youtube
videos and see how the pro's move their feet and how they hit the ball.

Beginners get stressed over committing errors while attempting to

control the ball rather than hitting the ball in a more simple fashion.

Because of the stretched out positions that beginners can use it takes
time to recover their arm and body into a 'ready' position.

Table tennis is best played with a conservative swing on both the

forehand and strike, constraining completely on most shots.
Shortening the swing will also ensure precision and help you to be
more exact with your position.

3.
Learn To Control The Ball

Take Control So That Your Opponent Can’t

The other side of managing the table tennis ball is when new players
attempt to whack the ball much too hard.

The outcomes of this strategy are never that great and you will end up
losing a lot of points.

Keep in mind that for every stroke, there is a great amount of velocity
that you can use.

It's all there already, even for gentle shots otherwise the ball wouldn't
arrive on the opposite side of the table.

The golden rule is neither to hit the ball too hard or too soft. However,
do practise a lot to gain instincts about how to hit it simply right.
While receiving the ball from your opponent you will need to get to
the opposite spot from where they originated the shot very quickly.

Pause for a split-second causing your opponent to think about what

you might be up to, then return the ball back in the same direction
that it originated from.
perfect feet-forehand stroke Table Tennis Tips and Tricks for
Beginners

4.
Learn Foot Movement

Show Me How To Dance

If you watch the foot movement of the professionals, you will see they
stand with one foot forward and the other slightly back ready to
receive the serve.

This means that they are balanced and ready to move forward,
backwards or sideways to return the ball. They make sure that they
have coverage around the table.

Foot-work is the foundation, along with getting into position to hit the
right shots at the right time.

Without good footwork and body movement you tend to play lazy
shots and they wont be the most effective.

5.
Get A Table Tennis Mentor

Experience Is Everything
If you join a local club you meet other players who are better than you
and they will help you improve.

Most clubs have contacts with professional coaches who can teach you
how to play properly. It's a great way to improve and have that
excitement of seeing yourself grow as a player.
I used to have Alison Gordon as a mentor, she was the England's #1 at
the time and I learnt loads from her at the training camps I used to
attend during the summer holidays when I was a kid.

Summer table tennis camps are a great way to meet other players
from around the country and learn from the professionals.
The Top 5 Best Table Tennis Tips For Beginners - Table Tennis Table
Reviews
To summarise, the tips above are not really to help you improve your
shots or expand your tool bag with new serves.

These beginner's tips and tricks aim to help you decide what to think
about when improving your game when you're just starting out.

There are a lot of factors which come in to play when you want to start
improving your game and these things aren't really discussed much in
the Youtube training videos I've seen.

So I do hope that these tips will help you with your over-all game.

Just keep your head cool and take you time to improve!

Until next time; we hope you have enjoyed this book from The Best
Table Tennis Tables Reviews so happy smashing!

Onwards and upwards!

© best-table-tennis-tables.com