TT Lessons

Eola Community Center will be offering table tennis classes starting in 2012.  A class was offered in the spring but due to low signup rate it was cancelled.  The class was limited to players age 15 and above and probably this was the reason not too many players have signed up.  We suggested that the park district lower the age to say 8 years old and move the class to a day other than Wednesday or Friday when the open gym for adults meets.  Hopefully they can add it to their catalog of activities for the summer or more likely for the fall.

The class would teach proper paddle grip, stance, footwork, various serves and serve returns, various side spins, backspin, topspin, drop shots, flip shots, blocks, lobs and some game strategy.  We will use multiple ball training system to speed up skill development.  Each pair of students will have 20 balls to use the time more effectively than is possible with just one ball.  We will not play any matches - only practice.  If you want to try your newly gained skills come to our regular open play times on Wednesday or Friday or play at a club near you.

If you are looking for a good book which explains the techniques, I would recommend the following book - "Table Tennis Steps to Success".  It's the best book on table tennis that I know of.  Purchase this book if you would like to study the game of table tennis.

Lessons are also given at these other clubs:

Wood Dale Park District Rec. Complex
for 7 – 15 yrs 8 lessons meeting once a week 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm
Maria Kretschmer, Instructor
$34 R/$40 NR
Min: 1 Max: 4 students

Maria has become a resident coach at the Wheaton Park district. Please contact the park district about the classes offered.

Schaumburg Table Tennis Club has two coaches - Spenser Lam and Junduo Zhao.  If you need to get in touch with them please contact me directly and I will refer you to either of them.

Private lessons by appointment only are given by coach Brian Bea.  They are held in the gym at Lakeview Korean United Presbyterian Church located at 8257 Harrison St., Niles, IL.
Cost is $40/hour and time needs to be arranged ahead of time.


Table tennis coaching resources:
Coaching website

The PATT Institute

Table Tennis Technique

Here are some videos which show certain aspects of the technique.

Ping Skills contains videos of all techniques.  If ever wonder how each of the strokes is executed go there and you will see.

The Inside Out serve (right sidespin & backspin pendulum serve by Kranga)

Various inside out serves by Michael Maze

The left side spin serve by Ma Long

Inside out serves video showing the touch points on the paddle for generating 3 similar looking serves each with a different spin.

Demonstration of pendulum serves like the ones by Ma Lin.

Yet another demo of the short underspin server.

Returning serves
Tomahawk serve
Here is an example of the tomahawk serve and one way to return it.  To return this serve, first you need to very carefully observe where the server contacts the ball.  If he contacts it on the side it will result in a pure side spin.  If he contacts it closer to the top it will have topspin.  If somewhere between the side and the top then a combination side and topspin.  Reading it is difficult when the serve is performed fast.

If a right handed player serves it to your middle, you can either return it with your backhand by pulling sharply from left to right and directing it to your opponent's backhand.  To direct it like this you will need to angle your racket so that the paddle's handle is closer to the net and the tip of the paddle farther from the net.

Another way to return is to loop it as described below by Ilya Koshkin.