An Expert Guide to Table Tennis Push, Forehand, and Backhand Shots
It's exciting and fun to learn more about the ping pong shots you need if you're involved in the game and take it more seriously. Although you obviously won't play on professional table tennis tables early on, perfecting the four simple shots will improve your game. They're a forehand drive and a push and a backhand drive and a push.
Perfecting them would make you on your way to become a stronger ping pong player. When you attempt the first one, the forehand drive, you can soon discover that precision and stability are key to success. You're just trying to put shots on your opponent's side of the table.
Give yourself some scope when you're practicing the forehand drive shot in table tennis. If you overthink it, you might psych yourself out. Most coaches recommend practicing the shot for about five hours in playing time to begin feeling confident. Some would even say you need to play about 100 forehand drives in a row, mistake-free, to feel you've mastered it.
The next one to tackle is the backhand drive shot. You may find it easier to master, and the technique is very distinct from the forehand. You need to change your grip slightly by moving your thumb, but the group should be essentially the same. Play your backhand drives with a natural, comfortable grip.
Once you start feeling confident, alternate back and forth between forehand and backhand shots; it's an excellent skill to develop because you need to use many shots when playing table tennis games. You need to be able to switch among them with ease.
Your drive and topspin shots need to be controlled, accurate, and consistent to develop an excellent game. The next thing to learn is the push shots. For these, you may want to try the backhand one first. You'll possibly pick it up quickly and eventually add a backspin. Be strategic and diverse in all of your shots.
Play lengthy practice hours focusing on your table tennis push shots, and the aim is to bring a strong backspin to the ball. When it's time to train and build an amazing serve, you need to apply a heavy backspin to your competitive edge. The forehand drive is the last of the four to master, and it's the toughest.
Most players aim to use a backhand push as much as possible, but there are occasions where the ball lands in a position where the forehand side is the sole option. Work to bring the racket under the ball and apply the full amount of spin to the most powerful forehand push shots. You want them to be low, fast, and spinning.
