Just wanted to share a new video on TTD Academy where Pros are teaching showing how to improve. In the first video it is the Swedish player Player Par Gerell showing his famous kicker/shovel serve which causes trouble for a lot of player e.g. Liu Guoliang.

https://tabletennisdailyacademy.com/packages/par-gerell-serving-masterclass/" rel="nofollow - Link to site

Here is an old video of Dan vs. Par in a game of receiving serves

Watch at that time stamp 

ericd937 wrote: And another one. LOL Hes also tossing the ball with a closed fist rather than a flat hand. The one is particularly bad, we can't see the ball or paddle at all on contact. It should be noted that the camera has a wider viewing angle than Dan. The view for Dan would even be more obstructed than the cameras view.

That's Dan's fault - he just has to stand 5 feet more to the right and play left-handed. Generally speaking, isn't it the receivers' responsibility to stand somewhere where they can see the ball?

Should be a great Cheating Serving Masterclass though.

Koki Niwa's serves look much more legal in my opinion than Par Gerell's serves here in this video. Koki Niwa is serving mostly with a flat palm, the tossing arm is removed before the contact, and the body is not in front of the ball. 

I guess Dan could stand on the other side of the table behind Mr. Gerrel. lol He could finally see the contact. 

Also, when you learn how to serve, you don't learn how to exactly serve like that person. You learn how to feel and brush the ball. You refine that feeling of serving and apply towards your serves. Everyone has their way of serving and you need to find that yourself. 

Well this isn't available free on Youtube. If you're interested in a crystal clear explanation of PG's hook serve variations, or if you're not sure how to go about developing a high quality serve on your own, then I can recommend the course. It's really well done.

I have perused the Par Gerrell serve course and while I could do the serve before viewing the content,  I think the course is consistent with what I know about high level serve development and I recommendi it to people especially if they are not TTEdge members (where Brett has covered similar material in a different way).

But i think he his hiding the serve and throwing the ball back. Some people Will get faulted doing this. 

Regarding online courses like this i think the money is much more well worth spending if you Do some private lessons either with a coach or if you ask a much better player. Just make sure they know their stuff. I think there are plenty of coaches and players that would help you for some money. Just need to look around and ask nicely. Learning stuff on a video i think is very difficult. 

Probably the same if you speak Russian or Chinese.  But I also know that even high level tutorials can be confusing.  That said, it is rare to get good serve instruction in any language in a way that addresses common mistakes and takes you through the whole process of developing a high level serve.  Just for that by itself and given how it resonates with my experiences learning the jab/punch serve, I would recommend the Par Gerrell course.

Thanks for answering a question I didn't ask.

You're welcome.  Serving development is a lot of hard work and requires a lot of hours. But people underestimate the level of ignorance about good serving out there. This course doesn't solve everything but I think it brings some things that an amateur should know and that some people assume an amateur knows into focus.  There are very few legal serves of any kind out there.  But this course gives you a template for understanding every aspect of serving. You can approach any serve the same way.

Most serves are at least bordering on illegal, but I would say the serves here are blatant attempts at cheating. I mean damn, his back is to the receiver and the ball is shooting out of his armpit. Come on man, that is ridiculous. If a player tried to serve like this when I was playing, I would just catch the ball and toss it back to him over and over. If it was at a tournament, I would immediately get an umpire to come to the table. This is deliberate cheating man. Very bad. I mean, even look at his toss. He is cupping the ball and spinning it on the toss. He doesn't even present the ball properly. Not even one time the whole video. 

In the course, he is teaching Dan and Tom who run TTD coaching the serves.  It will be amusing if they are learning and selling illegal serves because they aren't.  So please let's stop using what Par did above as the standard for his serves.

I don't perceive Gerrell to be doing anything special for the most part these days and even my coach said that Par Gerrell's serves nowadays are much cleaner than they used to be (he has more verticality, if you stand in the middle of the table, the contact is visible etc.)  Most people would have legality issues serving to a lefty but they think what Par Gerrell does is special because he is a lefty.

But if your serves are so clean that they are beyond reproach please feel free to share.  I got a lot of bugs and hitches in my serves over time that were completely unconscious.  I resolve some of them sometimes but who knows what happens under pressure in a match?

Hidden serves aside, PG is still a great server - his serves are insanely spinny. To do that requires technique. I have been through the series. His general serving tips are worth it - you can serve very effective, legal hook serves with them if you want (& that's the point). I could use some of those tips even in serves other than hook serves.