A Block that carries the Ball to the Opponent’s court with "borrowed force"

[RinRin Table Tennis Clinic Vol. 2]

A Chinese Player who unleashes a string of flawless attacks from a beautiful, efficient form. Learn the “initial setup” that lays the foundation for that form. Guided by Coach Nishizawa Mika and Coach Nishizawa Mei, who were trained in Chinese table tennis and built up coaching experience in Japan’s table tennis scene, let’s take another look at the basics of your table tennis!

Nishizawa Mei

Born December 6, 1982, from Hebei Province, China. Chinese name: 翟銘. Finished 2nd in the 1996 All-China Junior Championships

Nishizawa Mika

Born January 17, 1983, from Liaoning Province, China. Chinese name: 劉婷婷. Went on to Tokyo Fujidai from Nichinan Gakuen High School, and won the 2003 All-Japan University Championships（

“Borrowing power,” the foundation of Chinese table tennis. Start with “if it hits, it goes in,” and learn the racket angle through multiball practice

　In Chinese table tennis, there is a term called “borrowing power,” which means returning the Ball by using the power of the Opponent’s Ball. A Block, which is the starting point of a clean Forehand, is this “borrowing power” technique. First, in multiball practice, have someone feed you slightly stronger Balls to your Forehand side, and engrain in your body the racket angle that lets you send every Ball into the Opponent’s court without errors. By developing the feeling of putting the Ball into the Opponent’s court with certainty, your form becomes cleaner and free of unnecessary tension.

　In Japan, by contrast, the mainstream coaching approach even for beginners is to have them swing firmly on the Forehand from the start (see the consecutive photos below). Rather than “borrowing power,” it can be said to be instruction in “generating power” (fa li) yourself.

▼The Japanese-style Forehand, where you swing from the very beginning

A Block that carries the Ball to the Opponent’s court through “borrowing power”

In multiball practice, have Balls fed to the Forehand sideline and return the Ball by “borrowing” power

▼First, “learn the angle that makes it go into the Opponent’s court when it hits”

If you don’t have the feeling of carrying the Ball into the Opponent’s court, your form is likely to break down. Once a bad habit takes hold, it’s not easy to fix!

　When learning the Forehand, China starts from a Block with an emphasis on “borrowing power,” while Japan tends to have players swing firmly from the start and build the shape of the Swing. Neither approach is better or worse. However, if you move ahead without first learning the racket angle that makes the Ball “go in if it hits,” and without developing the feeling of carrying the Ball into the Opponent’s court, you’ll end up trying to force the Ball in with a broken form, which makes it easy for bad habits to develop. For example, as shown in the consecutive photos below, some Players have a racket face that flips upward after Impact; this is probably the result of trying to break their form in order to get the Ball into the Opponent’s court.

　And in table tennis, the very first shape and feeling when you start hitting the Ball is extremely important. It would be best to acquire a form with no bad habits, but there are cases where habits formed within a week to a month after first picking up the racket still remain even 10 or 20 years later. That is why, in China, they carefully carry out the “initial setup” through Blocks.

▼A bad example in which the racket face turns upward after Impact. You can’t create a racket that reliably sends the Ball into the Opponent’s court