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Many player movements are made in table tennis.\u00a0 Movements are made with our hand-wrist axis, our forearm, our upper arm, our upper body, our waist, and our legs.\u00a0 These movements are made in a coordinated manner in the course of playing the game.\u00a0 The length and speed of the movements vary depending on a number of variables.\u00a0 All this being said, there is one movement that is easier than all the others.\u00a0 In fact, it is the only movement where the level of capability to make this movement is essentially equivalent throughout the many player levels.\u00a0 No other movement may correctly make this claim.<\/p>\n
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Why does it matter which is the easiest movement?\u00a0 It is noteworthy because this movement has important implications for playing table tennis at a high level.\u00a0 The significance is found in the observation that the very large majority of the fastest shots in our sport have topspin<\/a>.\u00a0 The faster the shot the greater the time response requirements.\u00a0 Responding to a topspin shot in a high-quality manner requires the player to contact the top half of the ball.\u00a0 To do so, the player must create a ball-to-racket relationship<\/em> that results in this ball contact point.<\/p>\n In contrast, shots with nospin<\/a> or underspin<\/a> consistently are slower.\u00a0 Our time response requirements are much lower for these types of shots than for the faster topspin shots.\u00a0 Responding to an underspin shot in a high-quality manner requires the player to contact the bottom half of the ball.\u00a0 To do so, the player must create a ball-to-racket relationship<\/em> that results in that ball contact point.<\/p>\n The easiest movement in table tennis is lowering the racket<\/strong>.\u00a0 In contrast, raising the racket to respond to a fast shot is a very challenging task, given the time response demands.\u00a0 (Those readers of scientific bent may reflect upon gravity at this point in the argument.)\u00a0 Therefore, following from the above discussion, the prudent approach would be to use a racket ready position<\/em> appropriate for the more time-demanding shots.\u00a0 As previously stated, the most common time-demanding shots have topspin.\u00a0 The racket ready position<\/em> suitable for this is a high position, where the racket is held above the height of the elbow.\u00a0 From this position, the player is most prepared for the demands of topspin shots.<\/p>\n In employing the high racket ready position, the far less challenging counter demand of responding to underspin and nospin shots may be accommodated by employing the easiest movement in table tennis.\u00a0 (It is more than a bit ironic that the easiest movement available to us is most often applied to the slowest shots within the sport.)<\/p>\n A high racket ready position<\/em>, one in which the racket is above the elbow, best prepares the player for the most common highly demanding shots in table tennis, the fast topspin shots.\u00a0 Typical adaptation to the slower shots is accomplished very efficiently by employing the easiest movement in table tennis, lowering the racket<\/strong>.<\/p>\n This article was adapted from a chapter in the book: PATT – A Principles Approach to Table Tennis<\/strong><\/em>, available at http:\/\/www.thepattinstitute.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Introduction Many player movements are made in table tennis.\u00a0 Movements are made with our hand-wrist axis, our forearm, our upper arm, our upper body, our waist, and our legs.\u00a0 These movements are made in a coordinated manner in the course of playing the game.\u00a0 The length and speed of the movements vary depending on a … <\/p>\nThe Easiest Movement in Table Tennis<\/h2>\n
Conclusion<\/h2>\n