OOAK Table Tennis Forum

--At lower levels, placement is most important. Learn to push low to areas near the net or the end line, and never to the middle section (because it's the easiest thing to do for you and your opponent to deal with).

Your goal is:

1. To stretch your opponent's arm (short push next to the net, or deep push to the extreme corner) or,
2. To compress/jam your opponent's arm (deep push to the elbow or body).
Both strategies are needed so he/she can't add much force to the ball, which is the key to playing modern table tennis.

--At higher levels you must combine placement with speed. A slow push to the most tricky areas will still be punished easily by opponents with extremely fast footwork.

As they say in real estate, "Location, location, location." Certainly the higher up you go the more important other components become, but if you push to a bad location its almost always over.. go back and pick the ball up at the barrier.