History of Table Tennis

It's thought that a game resembling table tennis was in existence in England as early as 1884 and various names were used during the history of table tennis (or should that be the history of ping pong?) with Gossima, Whiff-Whaff and Ping Pong all either patented or trademarked.

Around 1898 the English sports company John Jaques & Son were popularising the game and were manufacturing the first table tennis sets.

Early versions of table tennis used rackets (bats / paddles) with velum stretched over an outer casing (similar to a small drum) attached to a handle. This gave rise to the name Ping Pong which was derived from the sound that was made by different sized rackets (bats / paddles) striking a ball. As the popularity of the game spread, two rival organizations were set up in England with the "Table Tennis Association" and the "Ping Pong Association" formed within days of each other in 1901.

Soon after this time in the history of table tennis though, it's thought that the game fell out of favor. But by the 1920s it was back in fashion, particularly in Europe, and Englishman Ivor Montagu was instrumental in reviving the "Ping Pong Association" in 1921 - reformed as the "Table Tennis Association" in 1922 (later adding the prefix "English") - and forming the "International Table Tennis Federation" (ITTF) in 1926.

Facilities and Equipments

Table Tennis Racket

Players are equipped with a laminated wooden racket covered with rubber on one or two sides depending on the grip of the player. The official ITTF term is "racket", though "bat" is common in Britain, and "paddle" in the U.S. The wooden portion of the racket, often referred to as the "blade", commonly features anywhere between one and seven plies of wood, though cork, glass fiber, carbon fiber, aluminum fiber, and Kevlar are sometimes used.

Table Tennis Table

The table is 2.74 m (9 ft) long, 1.52 m (5 ft) wide, and 76 cm (30 inch) high with a Masonite (a type of hardboard) or similarly manufactured timber, layered with a smooth, low-friction coating. The table or playing surface is divided into two halves by a 15.25 cm (6 inch) high net. An ITTF approved table surface must be in a green or blue color.

Table Tennis Ball

The international rules specify that the game is played with a light 2.7 gram, 40 mm diameter ball. The rules say that the ball shall bounce up 2426 cm when dropped from a height of 30.5 cm on to a standard steel block thereby having a coefficient of restitution of 0.89 to 0.92. The ball is made of a high-bouncing air-filled celluloid or similar plastics material, colored white or orange, with a matte finish. The choice of ball color is made according to the table color and its surroundings.

Table Tennis Clothing

Rules and Regulations of Table Tennis

Scoring A match is played best 3 of 5 games (or 4/7 or 5/9). For each game, the first player to reach 11 points wins that game, however a game must be won by at least a two point margin. A point is scored after each ball is put into play (not just when the server wins the point as in volleyball). The edges of the table are part of the legal table surface, but not the sides. Flow of the Match Each player serves two points in a row and then switch server. However, if a score of 10-10 is reached in any game, then each server serves only one point and then the server is switched. After each game, the players switch side of the table. In the final game (ie 5th game), the players switch side again after either player reaches 5 points. Legal Service The ball must rest on an open hand palm. Then it must be tossed up at least 6 inches and struck so the ball first bounces on the server's side and then the opponent's side. If the serve is legal except that it touches the net, it is called a let serve. Let serves are not scored and are reserved. Equipment The paddle should have a red and a black side. The ball should be either orange or white and 40 mm in size. The table should be 2.74 meters long, 1.525 m wide, and 0.76 m high.

Skills and Techniques In Table Tennis

Spins 1. Topspin Topspin is produced by starting your stroke below and/or behind the ball and brushing the ball in an upward and forward motion.

2. Backspin Backspin is produced by starting your stroke above and/or behind the ball and brushing the ball in a downward and forward motion.

3. Sidespin Sidespin is produced by brushing the ball in a sideways motion. Depending on whether your racket moves to the right or to the left, you'll impart different sidespin.

Grips Penhold grip

The racket is gripped as one would grip a pen, with the thumb and index finger, with the rest of the fingers being tucked away on the other side.

shakehands grip . The paddle is gripped with all fingers, with the thumb resting by itself on the opposite side as the index finger.

Types of Strokes

Offensive strokes

Speed drive A direct hit on the ball propelling it forward back to the opponent. Loop racket is much more parallel to the direction of the stroke ("closed") and the racket thus grazes the ball, resulting in a large amount of topspin. Counter-drive The counter-drive is usually a counterattack against drives, normally high loop drives. The racket is held closed and near to the ball, which is hit with a short movement "off the bounce" (immediately after hitting the table) so that the ball travels faster to the other side. Flick When a player tries to attack a ball that has not bounced beyond the edge of the table, the player does not have the room to wind up in a backswing. The ball may still be attacked, however, and the resulting shot is called a flick because the backswing is compressed into a quick wrist action. Smash Smashing is essentially self-explanatorylarge backswing and rapid acceleration imparting as much speed on the ball as possible.

Defensive Strokes Push The push (or "slice" in Asia) is usually used for keeping the point alive and creating offensive opportunities. A push resembles a tennis slice: the racket cuts underneath the ball, imparting backspin and causing the ball to float slowly to the other side of the table. In order to attack a push, a player must usually loop the ball back over the net. Often, the best option for beginners is to simply push the ball back again, resulting in pushing rallies. Chop A chop is the defensive, backspin counterpart to the offensive loop drive. A chop is essentially a bigger, heavier push, taken well back from the table. The racket face points primarily horizontally, perhaps a little bit upward, and the direction of the stroke is straight down. The object of a defensive chop is to match the topspin of the opponent's shot with backspin. Block The block is a simple shot, but nonetheless can be devastating against an attacking opponent. A block is executed by simply placing the racket in front of the ball right after the ball bounces; thus, the ball rebounds back toward the opponent with nearly as much energy as it came in with. Lob The defensive lob is possibly the most impressive shot in the sport of table tennis, since it propels the ball about fifteen feet in the air only to land on the opponent's side of the table with great amounts of spin. To execute a lob, a defensive player first backs off the table 46 meters; then, the stroke itself consists of simply lifting the ball to an enormous height before it falls back to the opponent's side of the table.

-Francisco, Gabriel A.