Following on from last week’s Top Tip Tuesday, I thought I would share another tip to help improve your receive of service in table tennis!

Source: ittfworld

Top Tip: don’t rush ‘into’ the table when receiving a serve

As a player, I know just how easy it is to be overly eager to receive a service – especially when the opponent sends a short serve over the net (as one wants to to jump forward, or ‘into’ the table, to receive it back quickly).

However, my coaches have always told me that this technique is absolutely INCORRECT! One should not rush into the table to receive a service in table tennis.

Source: ittfworld

There are numerous reasons for this.

Firstly, by being too eager to hit a flick return or a push etc, you may unconsciously put pressure on yourself, resulting in your body becoming potentially too tense and rigid. This may in turn make you lose control over the ball, something we most definitely do not want!

Additionally, if you try to predict a certain service from your opponent, you may experience a nasty surprise when you prediction doesn’t come true (i.e. the short serve you stepped in to receive is actually a long service – very nasty indeed!).

Simply put, over-preparation is much like over-thinking, it does more harm than good!

I hope you liked this week’s Top Tip! If you did, please do feel free to comment below and share to anyone you think might find it helpful!