If you are looking for a recreational activity, try table tennis. It is an indoor sport that you can enjoy with your friends. Do not underestimate the skills that you need to learn in ping pong. It takes patience and regular practice to master the strokes and become a better player.
Ping Pong as an Exercise
You will sweat a lot from playing table tennis. While it involves light and quick running, the continuous arm movements and constant moving of your legs will elevate your heart rate level. Apart from getting the aerobic exercise needed, it is a social activity that can be enjoyed by everyone.
Strokes to Learn
Below are the basic strokes that you need to learn:
Serve
In ping pong, the serve is fifty percent of the game. If you serve well, your opponent will have a difficult time returning the ball. Short serves are harder to hit than long serves. There are many kinds of serve and one of which is the underspin serve.
To do this serve very well, bend your knees and go closer to the table, then use your waist and go under the ball to put some backspin. Practice how to serve with a spin so your opponent will have a harder time returning the ball. If you are the receiver, you can place the ball anywhere on the opponent’s side of the table. You hit back the ball once it bounced once.
Forehand
The first thing to consider when hitting a forehand in ping pong is your stance. You need to spread your legs at shoulder width, bend your knees and slightly bend forward. You use forehand when you want to attack the ball, and to do this, you need to have the proper form before striking the ball. The strike is a forward movement towards the ball using an open or semi-open stance.
Backhand
This ping pong stroke is the opposite of the forehand stroke. The swing does not involve any rotation of the body. You use this stroke ninety percent of the time for defense. You stand parallel to the table and move the bat forward and upward to be able to return the ball to the opponent.
Smash
You use this stroke when you want to finish a point with a bang. You hit the ball on top of a bounce as hard as you can. This move is a combination of wrist, waist, and forearm power. This stroke is very hard for the opponent to return because of the speed and power of the ball.
Those are the basic strokes in table tennis. As you go along, you will learn the other types of strokes, such as the push, how to spin the ball, and so much more. For a beginner, the important thing to master in ping pong is the service. Afterwards, develop a strong backhand and forehand stroke and master how to smash the ball. Once you have mastered these basic strokes through practice, then you will gradually work your way through the more complicated moves.