ST. CHRISTOPHER ACADEMY OF NUEVA ECIJA, INC.

Poblacion Sur Licab, Nueva Ecija

(4TH QUARTER LESSON 1-2 PE-9) tables made of steel that are separated with concrete or
any solid material.
TABLE TENNIS
Dimensions of the Table
Table tennis, also called ping pong, is a sport
that originated in the Victorian period in England. High- The table is 1.525 m (5.0 feet) wide and 2.74 m
class people used to play table tennis after dinner. It was (9.0 feet) long. It is designed in such a way that it gives a
initially played by stacking books at the center of a table uniform bounce of 23 cm. (9.1 inch) when a standard
and hitting a golf ball with thick books. Table tennis ball is tapped on the table from a height of 30 cm.(11.8
needs a lot of attention and speed. inches). The entire table is made of only one uniform
height material. The net used to divide the table is of
Professional table tennis is played on a hard 15.25 cm (6.0 in) in height.
table which is divided by a net. Players stand opposite to
each other, and hit a lightweight ball with a small round EQUIPMENT
bat across the table. Spinning the ball makes the chances
of hitting the ball a lot less. So, players tend to spin the The Table may be the main equipment required
ball before serving it to the opponent. for playing ping-pong, but that is not the only thing
required. Players need a racquet or paddle and a ping-
Table tennis is played as singles as well as pong ball as well to go with the game.
doubles. It is played in both men’s and women’s
category. Table tennis is played by the rules set by the Racquet / Paddle
International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF). The term keeps changing depending on the
Participating Countries country where it is played. As for Britain, it is bat; in the
USA, it is called a paddle. The term followed by ITTF is
Table tennis is not confined to England only. It racquet. The racquet is laminated and covered with
is an Olympic sport and is played by many countries. rubber on either side or on both the sides depending on
Unlike any other sport, table tennis is governed by the player. The player based on his/her grip decides
different governing bodies responsible for that particular whether they need the rubber on either or on both sides.
continent’s table tennis. The top most governing bodies, The handle of the racquet is called blade. This blade
apart from International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF), could be made of many different materials varying from
are European Table Tennis Union (ETTU) for Europe glass fiber, cork, carbon fiber, Kevlar to aluminum fiber.
and USA Table Tennis (USATT) for United States. But ITTF recommends that at least 85% of the paddle
Below you could find the name of a few countries, out of has to be made of wood. Woods to be used are cypress
more than 100 odd countries that take part in table tennis
tournaments.

Table Tennis Playing Environment

Table tennis is played by standing across a table.

The umpire or scorer hides the ball in one hand under
the table, and lets the players guess which hand the ball
is in. The winner gets to decide if he/she wants to serve
or on which side of the table they want to stand.
Normally in singles, the first service is decided by and Korina. The bat is usually is 6 inches (15 cm) wide
tossing a coin. and 6.5 inches (17 cm) long.
There is another method called serve to play, Ball
where the player plays the ball back and forth three
times and then plays out for point. The accuracy of the ball is determined by
bouncing it on a flat uniform surface from a height of 12
Design of the Table inches. If the ball bounces for about 9.4-10.2 inches,
then that particular ball is perfect for play.
Professional table tennis is played on an ITTF
approved wooden table only. The table is uniformly ITTF has set certain rules for the ball’s
dark-colored and matt finished. This is simply to avoid dimension and weight. A ball of 40 millimeters in
any glares while playing. The table is divided exactly at diameter and as light as 2.7 grams should only be used to
the middle using a net. Amateurs tend to play on solid play table tennis.
 ST. CHRISTOPHER ACADEMY OF NUEVA ECIJA, INC.
Poblacion Sur Licab, Nueva Ecija

Usually the balls are manufactured in either

white or yellow color. The color might vary depending
on the color of table as well as surroundings. The ball is
made of plastic only and it should be ITTF approved.
Ball quality is displayed by manufacturers with star
mark ranging from one to three, three being the highest. HOW TO PLAY

TABLE TENNIS- TERMS The game usually starts by deciding who is

Many terms are used in a table tennis game to going to serve first and who is going to receive. The
describe points, fouls, etc. A list of some of the game begins after deciding which player will serve first.
frequently used terms is given below.
 Heavy – Used to describe a strong spin. Service and Return
 Blade – Wooden part of the racquet. The game is commenced by the player who
 Anti-spin – A defense spin used to confuse the serves. The ball is raised at least 16 cm. in air without
opponent or even as a reaction to one strong spin. Top- any spin and is hit by the racquet in such a way that it
level players rarely use this technique, but it is very hits the server’s side of court once before going on to the
famous among amateurs. Player uses the pimpled side of receiver’s court without touching the net.
rubber of racquet.
 Inverted rubber – Smooth side of rubber which is Let
used to play and the pimpled side is glued to bat. The
A rally of unscored results is referred to as Let.
smooth side gives more spin as there is a larger contact
This could occur because of many reasons, but a few
area.
are:  When the receiver is not ready and the ball is
 Pimples (Pips) – Rubber side of the racquet that gives
served.
different spin effects unlike inverted rubber. There is no
much contact surface on this side of the racquet.  The ball is concealed and either the umpire or the
opponent player is in doubt of the serve.
 Crossover – Change of stroke from forehand to
backhand. A player needs to change his/her stroke as this
Scoring
is often an easy target for attack. It is not easy to return a
service in this area. There are many scenarios where one player gets
 Tight – A strong return which is difficult for the points. A few are:
opponent to handle. It is usually a combination of spin  If the ball touches anything, not the net, before
and strong stroke. reaching the opponent.
 Loose – A weak return that has insufficient spin or  If the opponent fails to return or service.
stroke or both, and is easy for the opponent to play.  If the player hits the ball with wooden part of racquet,
 Early – This is to refer raising of ball. not the rubber part, then the opponent gets a point.
 Late – The fall of balls bounce.  When the receiver completes 13 returns in a rally,
 Loop – A strong stroke that usually overpowers the under expedite system.
spin of the incoming ball.  Player gets a point when the opponent obstructs the
 Multi-ball – A ball robot or another player ball.
continuously feeds another player in training. This
method is used to reduce time waste.
 Penhold – This is a style used to hold the paddle. This TYPES OF GRIPS
resembles t-holding a pen.
Grip in table tennis is the way one player holds
 Shakehand – Holding the paddle with index finger
the racquet. There are three different styles of holding a
perpendicular to handle. This is the most common way
of holding the racquet and it resembles holding of bat and different player has either one or both styles of
racquet in tennis. holding the racquet.
 Sandwich rubber – This is to describe inverted rubber Penhold
with sponge.
 Speed glue – As the name, it is a glue with high This hold got its name, as it resembles holding a
volatile solvents, used to glue sponge of rubber to the pen. Here the player’s middle, ring, little fingers are
blade (the wooden part of racquet). It increases the speed curled around the racquet. This style of holding the
of stroke.  Third ball – This is a stroke that’s hit by racquet is called Chinese penholding. Even though
server in response to the opponent’s stroke after serve. many players have this way of holding the racquet, their
This is the first attacking stroke in table tennis rally. style of play is entirely different.
 ST. CHRISTOPHER ACADEMY OF NUEVA ECIJA, INC.
Poblacion Sur Licab, Nueva Ecija

Another style of penhodling is the Japanese/

Korean style. In this style, the three fingers are across
the back of the racquet. Players who have Chinese
penholding style prefer round racquet head, whereas the
one who have the Korean style, prefer square-shaped
racquet head.

Usually, players who have a penholding style Seemiller

don’t use the other side of the racquet. But, in 1990s the
Chinese developed a reverse penhold technique in This grip is named after Danny Seemiller, as he
which, the player uses the other side of the racquet as was the one who used this technique. To have this kind
well. of grip, one should place the thumb and index finger on
either side of the racquet and the rest of the fingers
should be placed at the bottom part.

This method is used to distract the opponent, as

contrasting rubbers can be placed on both the sides of
the blade. This technique gives great loops on the
forehand side.

Shakehand

As the name suggests, this type of grip

resembles one shaking a hand. This hold is also called
the Western grip as many players of Europe and
America use this style of holding a racquet.

Shakehand grip looks easy and it is a very

versatile style. So, it was started even in China and now,
many top-level Chinese players also use this technique.
Apparently, players feel this technique easier than
penhold, as it gives a wide scope of play.

Prepared by:

MR. ALDRIN B UCOL

PE Teacher