OOAK Table Tennis Forum

I know this is going to be hard to describe but I will try anyway. Talking about penhold, for my side/top spin serve (the easiest for me) I toss the ball and try to make contact on the back of the ball. My bat will start at 45 degree angle and end up facing my opponent. I move my wrist the full range of motion while my arm moves sideway. It almost doesn't seem to matter where exactly I contact the ball, on bottom for instance, since my full wrist movement usually imparts top spin. Here lies the rubs.

Moving to underspin with the same motion and angle has been hard. I believe I can do this by putting the brakes on my wrist movement halfway through and contacting the ball on the bottom. This hides my serve very well. In both these serves, my bat face is facing my opponent. I can always get a good side/top doing this, but by underspin is not consistent sometimes its top when I thought I served under.

Now I serve a safe underspin, I come at the ball from behind with no side spin and my bat face up. This works well but the stroke is completely different from my top and it's a big giveaway. This is frustrating because I've seen other penholders do what I want to do, that is, maintain same bat angle and same stroke with the only difference being wrist movement for top and under.

Thought?

_________________
Custom Defense::: Friendship 802 : Dr. Neubauer Super Block

I am trying to picture what you are doing, and I think for the topspin you are bringing/grazing the bat from below the ball to above it starting at 45 degrees (top bat edge pointed to ceiling behind you) and finishing at 90 degrees (top bat edge pointed to ceiling above you). Is this correct?

_________________
I'm always in the dark, but the Dark sheds lights upon everything!! Beauty is only pimple deep! Beauty is in the eye of the pipholder!
S/U 1: Blade: Bty Gergely . FH Black Andro Rasant 2.1 . BH Red Tibhar Grass Dtecs
S/U 2: Blade: Bty Gergely . FH Black Hexer+ 2.1 . BH Red GD Talon
S/U 3: Blade: Bty Gergely . No rubbers...thinking of adding Red Dtecs and Black Rasant
Aussie Table Tennis Shop / Aussie Table Tennis Facebook Page / Equipment Review Index / Read my Reb Report Blog: click here.

Yes exactly.

On a good day, I'm getting a strong 'kick' on opponent's side for top. I think some less experienced players don't realize it's top spin at first because of the motion. I was told by other penholders that my top spin serve is a good penhold technique. For underspin, they tell me I just need to not complete the motion ('stop'), that it, flick my wrist half way.

Maybe my problem is the contact point? I'm not sure where and how to contact the ball since I'm coming in sideways. I've been only playing a year so I don't fully understand the mechanics. When I was shown this serve by advanced players, they could definitely do it. But I don't really get it - sometimes I want to serve under and it ends up being top.

_________________
Custom Defense::: Friendship 802 : Dr. Neubauer Super Block

The title of your thread is misleading, not to mention controversial. It may better be titled "Disguising Serves". IMHO, YMMV etc.

_________________
Retriever (sometimes golden, but often leaden)
Moderator, Inverted Retriever Technique sub-forum - http://ooakforum.com/viewforum.php?f=74

I'm not sure what you are describing here but I'll try to explain the way I find easiest to get a side top or a side bottom pendulum serve with a similar action this applies to a right hander.

Standing side-on to the table, means the racket can be hidden a bit before it strikes the ball. This isn't a illegal serve because at contact point everything is in view.

1) With the Penhold blade held so that the handle is vertical and behind to the right, it is moved rapidly to the left/front to contact the ball.
2) at contact point the blade is rotated with the forearm and wrist so that the handle is now horizontal

OK forget messy descriptions... lets have a video

like this
http://mytabletennis.net/forum/forum_po ... hina-coach