Full translation: National Coach Li Xiao Dong Lec.

P.S. idk why the Chinese sure loves their commas, there are so many run on sentences in the articles, and they put commas everywhere, sometimes the ideas are even related, why cannot they just use a period, okay I will stop rambling like coach LXD.

The bold and division is mine, for better speed reading since not everyone want to wade through the wall of text. It is not from the original lecture.

Original Chinese Transcript: http://mytabletennis.net/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=17271 (missing some words/formatting)

http://www.chinatt.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=1180493 (complete)

-----------

1.       Sideway attack: A stroke where player body is turned to being almost perpendicular to the net. Usually done on the backhand corner and uses forehand to attack.

-----------

CNT Coach LXD on the five links of ball striking:  judgment, strike position, strike timing, striking distance and ball adjustment.

My old coach has already given a lecture about this and Ping Pong World magazine published a similar article, but after all these years I have had some new insights. The titles of the articles are the same, but the contents are somewhat different. These are some of the basic principles of table tennis, so I hope it will be helpful toward new players’ development and strengthen their theoretical knowledge. My hope is that players will not just play intuitively but also rationally.

There are two parts to strike position, one is standing position and the other is striking position. Standing position is the position of the player’s body relative to the ball and to the table. You always want to find the most comfortable position to strike the ball and this is based on your height and playing style. Talking about height, WLQ is 186cm and he probably will stand further away from the table. It is easy to step up to the table and retreating is also convenient. In this position he is most comfortable with striking the ball and uses it the most. This position is not his basic striking position (Translator: WTF?). Compare to Deng YP (~150cm), she is a little short so she needs to stand closer. If she stood further back she might not be able to reach the short balls.

Basic standing position also depends on player’s style and habit. Players with good power and footwork can stand further; players with less power but good at borrowing power from opponent’s stroke should stand closer. Players with bad footwork, do not do much sideway attack [1] and is balanced on both forehand and backhand skills should stand toward the middle. Standing position should be moderated. For example, many people think if one stands closer to the table he can increase the pace of the game. This is only partially true, because it does consider the scenario where the opponent hit the ball long; the incoming ball will be pushing against your paddle and makes it difficult to strike with power. In this situation the player must retreat.  Why am I talking about this? During my coaching year there have been many successes but also many failures. There is a penhold short pips player on the team Beijing; he has very good techniques but just cannot seem to win. In the end I found his problem: he stood too close to the table. What is so bad about standing close? In human movement moving forward is the fastest, sideways second and backpedaling is the slowest. If you stood too close you have to move backward and it will slow down the entire stroke. That’s why you should not stand too close and obsess over increasing the speed of the game: too many errors can happen and you cannot strike with power. (Translator note: Old-school Chinese players tend to stand VERY close to the table).

Now let’s talk about striking position. Proper striking position requires the body to lean (forward?). For strokes, especially on the forehand side, the ball, hand and body should form a triangle. If they form a curved surface, then the ball is hard to strike. Player cannot use power and center of gravity is off. (Translator: this is hard for me to understand, but I think he is talking about the ball, hand and center of gravity of the body being in one geometry plan upon striking). Usually the first sentence most coaches tell the student s is to strike in ball in front of the body, not to the side or behind since they do not conform to basic striking principles. Another point is when striking, the hand must not be too far from the body, since the center of gravity (CoG) is easily lost. In most cases only when returning short balls can the hand and CoG separate. Hand and CoG should remain together for most other kind of balls. When player proceed to strike the ball, the CoG and the hand should be synchronized: synchronized timing and direction. The better a player is, the simpler his stroke becomes because the CoG and the hand is synchronized; they appear very coordinated/graceful.  Another example is the sideway [1] flip: how can anyone flip a ball while in mid-air and without a firm contact with the ground(Note: LSD acutally used the word “fulcrum”, which refers to energy must be transferred up from the ground to the hand through the legs, in order to lift the ball)?

Now let’s talk about footwork: most professional players do not have major problems. But everyday players tend to ignore taking quick small steps. Many players freeze at the sight of a short and high ball in the middle. When they come around to start moving, the ball is already too low and impossible to hit. As a result they just make a desperation backhand stroke. This problem can be taken care of by using small steps. The most common scenario for small movement is forward, back, sideway-forward and sideway-backward motions. Coach Cai (former CNT coach) gave an example about transitioning from sideway forehand attack(backhand corner) to forehand attack(forehand corner). After sideway forehand attack finishes (using right handed players as example), the center of gravity (CoG) will be shifted to the left feet. Many players proceed to move to forehand side directly from this position, but because the CoG is so far from the table (Note: spot he is trying to move to?) he looks very ungraceful. The better way would be take a small step (to move backward a little and shift the CoG back), then move to the forehand side while turning the upper body into ready position. This approach will feel much more comfortable. After sideway forehand attack [1], if you do not recover CoG from the left feet and do not use small steps, you will not be able to execute the subsequent movements.

Let me dig into the use of Center of Gravity during movements a little further. Player should lower their CoG while striking the ball and use the reaction force (from the ground). The feet should feel this reaction force as if stepping on a spring that is bouncing up from being compressed. WLQ does a very good job utilizing this reaction force. When he loops, there is a lot of power coming through because he pushes off with his leg and release the power of the body (into the stroke/ball). Balls hit this way will be slightly faster. You must not just wait for the ball to come first and then attempt to push down the body’s CoG; You will not be able effectively utilize all the power that way. I taught wrongly on this point for about 25 years and just recently gained clearer understanding.

-          The fourth link is striking distance “To each ball, its own striking distance”.

Striking distance mainly refers to the distance between the ball and the paddle. The greater the distance, the easier it is to strike with power, and the momentum generate is also greater; at the same time it is easier to commit errors and harder to remain stable. Conversely, a smaller striking distance makes power strikes harder but borrowing power easier. Adjustment and control are also easier to achieve. Accordingly to the previous principles, for each ball player should choose striking distance accordingly. If an opportunity ball (easily attacked) comes up, the striking distance between the ball and the paddle should be greater. On the other hand if player tries return short balls with a similar distance(as opportunity ball), there will be no spin on the ball.

There are four scenarios of ball strikes: opportunity ball, active attack, fast rally, active defense. These four scenarios span almost all situations a player will face.

For opportunity balls, player will use greater power and hence greater motion, greater center of gravity shift and greater striking distance between the ball and paddle; that makes sense.  But I have to make one point clear: for all these “great” motions you must put a measure of finesse into them.  The ball must be solidly hit. You can use great motion and a huge swing, but if when you impact the ball, if your arm have already slowed down, how can the return be powerful? Player’s body should remain relaxed before contact, then use up all power upon contact of the ball, otherwise your body will just tense up (and lose power).

Active attacks should use medium power, motion, center of gravity shift and striking distance. Fast rallies 30-40%, active defense 20-30%. It’s easy to say but hard to do. It’s easy to distinguish between power strokes and soft strokes but when it comes to power vs medium or medium vs soft it can get difficult.

Micro adjustment is a skill and also wisdom. This is the essence of table tennis and whether the execution looks good is not a concern.

Different people tend be better in one aspect of micro adjustment. WLQ’s forehand, Wang Hao’s backhand, Ma Lin’s short ball execution.

After 40mm ball and non-hidden serve was implemented, the need for player strength has gone up a lot. Comparing 38mm with 40mm, spin has decreased ¼ and control 1/10^. Playing styles like Kong LH and Samsonov’s is fine for small ball but was affected greatly by the 40mm ball. Their speed and power simply were not enough. Using benching as an example, Liu GuoLiang and Kong LingHui has a hard time doing 50, 60 KG (132lbs); Ma Lin can do 90KG(198lbs) and WLQ 100KG(220lbs). Players’ integral and individual physical abilities became more and more important. At the very least a player must be fast enough (to stay in the game) and possess enough power to kill (a point).

At this point table tennis techniques have become ever fine-grained; player skill levels are also closer to each other than ever before.  Like in the 2007 WTTC final where WLQ played Rye Seung Min, I have said this several times, if WLQ’s backhand is a little weaker and first attack quality a little lower, then he probably would have lost.

Every time we face a ball, we think about how to make backhand faster, forehand more vicious, pushes spinier, and blocks stronger. But to ensure striking percentage and quality, table tennis requires players to make adjustment and retain control. Not every ball can be forcefully attacked.

The first skill is spin adjustment. Spin adjustment depends upon applying force with the wrist and finger. Of course the center of gravity is involved too. When player strike and is about to rub the ball, make sure to prepare the paddle(Drop the wrist?). If you do not do this, the wrist and finger will be unable to apply force.

I think using wrist to lead the forearm swing is faster than using the center of gravity to lead arm swing. For example (Translator: Gosh darn just drop that phrase already) if I want to punch someone but do not use my wrist, that person probably won’t feel a thing. If I use my wrist, the punch will probably hurt. If I use my center of gravity to apply force in the same direction, then I am like a tiger with wings. (Translator: lol).

Spin adjustment’s main function is to solve particular problems relating to spin. Player should not think if they can rub the ball very well then the ball will be accurate (and land on the table) automatically. Accuracy involves a feel for the arc of the ball. Deng YP is very good at this, her ball have a great arc.

The second skill is adjustment to paddle open/closeness. This is a very advanced skill and was not much discussed until two years ago.  Will it work to strike a short ball with a closed paddle? Of course not, the ball will immediately go into the net. When flipping a spiny serve, open the blade a little more; when flipping dead/no-spin serve, close the paddle more.

If you can make paddle angle adjustment very well then all balls can be attacked. Of course there is some finesse to this skill. For an incoming backspin ball, I will first open up my blade angle; then upon impact of the ball with the paddle, if I feel the ball arc will go over the net then I will definitely attack the ball. When to open and when to close is a fine skill. If you open the blade for too long the ball will go out of bound, whereas if you close the blade too early it will go into the net. Ball going into the net usually indicates a lack of paddle angle adjustment. Ball going out of bound means the point of strike is too “thick” (My opinion is that it means too fast/early, when the swing still has a long distance to travel.)

Micro Adjustment is usually done in minute measures, just like a radio. If FM0.9 is Beijing Station, FM0.91 will not have a clear signal. When receiving top spin balls, if the spin is weak then open up the paddle a little; if it is strong then close it a little bit. Ball with weak spin usually borrow a lot of power, ball with strong spin usually had a high power input. Paddle adjustment is very important, be ready to adjust it any time.

The third skill is power adjustment. I divide power into five spectrums:   Strong power stroke, medium power stroke, soft power strokes with borrowing, pure borrowing stroke and power reducing stroke.

Strong power stroke is used for smashes. Smash high and semi-high balls with 90% of power. Some people advocate more, but I think 90% is enough. If you use 100% of your strength you might not be able to recover for the second shot.

Medium power stroke is where skill matters the most. It is used for main attacks and rallying; using 60-70% of your total strength is about right. Soft stroke with borrowing adds your own power on top of the ball’s incoming momentum and spin. It seems like you are countering your opponents ball but in reality it’s not much effort at all. If your opponent use 60% strength, should you return the ball back with 60% strength too? If you do, I think even if you got the ball on the table it’s just a coincidence. The quality of the return is pretty similar when you use 40-50% compare to using 70-80%. Indeed the former is easier to control.

Pure Borrowing stroke is mostly used in fast rallies, quick defense and active defenses. It requires good accuracy from the player. Power reducing stroke is used for short stop and also short serves. Playing with short or long pips also reduces power. When you try to learn and master any new skills, you should learn to strike with power first. After that adjustment becomes much easier. For example some players want to serve a short ball but they dare not use any force, tapping it lightly instead. The serve is short alright, but the opponent can do whatever they want with it. Players should learn to use greater and greater force until they feel they have reached maximum. Then they should proceed to reduce it little by little (learning control in the process).

The fourth skill is tempo adjustment. Right now speed has become the core of table tennis development, namely ball speed and spin. Strong spin but low speed balls translate to low threat and it is the same with fast speed but weak spin balls. The era of pure speed or pure spin has already passed. Speed, spin and power combined together have the greatest effect. At this time Wang Hao is the best at combining the three. WLQ is also working toward it—his speed and power are very good, but is lacking a little bit in the spin department; Ma lin is great at creating the spin, but lacks a bit of speed and power. Tempo changes and spin supplement each other. If you cannot beat someone with speed then increase the spin, if they got used to your spin then increase the speed. Using this skill requires good strategy.

Tempo basically is just fast/slowness. We always say table tennis player strike the ball “one by one”. What does “one by one” mean? Wang Tao uses short pips and I taught him for nine years. I solved two problems for him: 1. Forehand quick drive---I did not invent this; He has been using it before. The difference is most player uses it sporadically but he uses it all the time. The second one is short pips backhand’s fast tap. Northern Chinese calls it the “fast stir hand”, this is what I mean by “one by one”, and this is “actual fast”. (Translator: this paragraph did not make sense whatsoever to me, especially the part about one by one).

There are some similarities between adjustment of strength and tempo. Strength adjustment can be summarized in a tongue twister:  “Heavy to heavy”, meaning answering with a strong stroke to a strong stroke, this is not commonly used; “light to light”, this is also not very often used. If the incoming ball is soft, then I also return a soft ball, this is done to actively control and counter-control. The most used is “Light to Heavy” and “Heavy to Light”---when opponent stroke the ball softly then I will attack, if the opponent attack then I will defend. Player should strive for “light to heavy” (where player is actively attacking).

Tempo is similar. One category is “fast to fast” and “slow to slow”. “Fast to Fast” is easy to understand, but in the “slow to slow” scenario many players could not slow down enough. Same thinking applies to “Fast to slow “and “slow to fast”.  Just like striking power, fast and slowness attempts limit each other.

That is all. Hope this is a good reference for everyone. (Recorded by ZF, YY from LSD’s lecture for CNT men’s second team).