OOAK Table Tennis Forum

I'm normally a medium to highish ball tosser during my serve but due to a shoulder injury I'm not allowed to do anything above shoulder level. That means I have to change my action during a serve.

However.. I'm terrible with my serves now. I just can't get used to a new motion and the balls are everywhere except the spot I'm aiming.

How did you guys come up with your serve motion? I copied a player in my club and added a bit higher toss.
Do you close your eyes and just let it come natural or what?
Any tips would be very much appreciated.

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If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same

Largely practice. I've found that repetition strengthens the muscles to a point where you can do the same motion even better in a more relaxed fashion.

Usually, its better to start with something like a low toss backhand serve and recover to where you want to attack from if you need a basic serve to start the point without too much disadvantage. Build the other better serves over time against lower opposition until they are ready for primetime. Using not so good serves against playera who are at your level can be discouraging and will not let you truly see how they are getting better.

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What serve are you trying to do cstt? Is it a pendulum type serve?

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Just the 'normal' serves.
Revese pendulum has never been a strength of mine.

_________________
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same

try aiming the ball slightly towards yourself to add control to your serves rather than sraight up ,watch the pros many of them do this,it works for me also

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Unless it's a serious injury to your secondary arm this is a odd problem.

In any case, it's possible your toss is inconsistent and an aspect to focus on before the serve swing. Once that's fixed, the swing itself is best keyed off the toss (like start to swing when the ball gets here). You likely had a decent timing relative to the toss for the high serve, and you need to do the same here.

Hmm, that is something I hadn't thought about. Good points, and I will see if they work.
I dislocated my shoulder, so that's why I'm not allowed to do anything above shoulder height with my left arm.

_________________
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same

Surely you don't need the arm that high to toss the ball that high?

It's on the limit of what I'm allowed to do with it. Better safe than sorry in this case.

_________________
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same

What I'm trying to say is that it's possible to toss arbitrarily high with a elbow/wrist flick, and shoulder stationary.

Regardless it seems that'll be a new sort of motion so might as well start low and work up.