subject: The Inner Workings Of The Table Tennis Game [print this page] As tempting as it may be to believe the table tennis game works in the same fashion as ordinary tennis played on a big court, this is actually not the truth.
Not only is the point awarding system different for table tennis, but the total amount of points a player can potentially earn to win a match is also not at all similar to regular tennis.
However, there are some parallels in both the tennis game and the table tennis game.
For starters, both sports use a racket and a ball to initiate and keep said ball in play.
Second, a net divides the tennis court into two equal playing surface halves, which is the same function the net on a table tennis table holds as well.
Third, points are awarded in both games for serves that cannot be returned by the opposing player (i.e. an "ace" serve), or when a player misses the ball altogether thereby allowing his opponent to gain a point.
Fourth, each sport accommodates both singles and doubles play for those who are interested in playing by themselves or cooperating as a team with a partner.
How does the table tennis game itself work?
The Three Game-Starting Methods
The game starts in one of three differing ways: one, a coin can be tossed to determine who will win the right to serve for the match opening point.
Second, the umpire may hold the ball hidden under the table in one of his two hands, and ask a player to take a guess which hand the ball is in and the right guess affords the serving privilege.
The third starting mechanism for a table tennis game is for one player to simply hit the ball to the other, thereby initiating a series of four hits back and forth before the two players continue rallying it out for the serve. This startup method is commonly referred to as "rally to serve" or "play to serve."
And, whoever wins at whichever of the three methods used is rewarded with the chance to do two things: choose which side of the table he would like to start the match at, and make the decision of whether or not he'd like to serve the game or be on the receiving end instead.
Serving And Returning The Table Tennis Ball
The player who serves the ball initiates play of the table tennis game.
As the two competitors play, the ball must remain on the upper table surface, or playing surface, at all times as well as remain behind the endline while the ball is in rally mode.
The individual who is serving for the table tennis game is not permitted to use his body or any item of clothing to block sight of the ball, either from the game's umpire or from the opposing player.
If the umpire scoring the game feels that a player's serve borders on "illegal" he may then issue the serving player a warning. Should the player fail a second time or cause umpire doubt with his serve, a point will be awarded to the opposing competitor as a penalty.
A table tennis ball is only allowed to bounce one time on each side of the table's playing surface before the player on that side hits it back for a return shot. The rally continues in the same back and forth motion until it is over, either because a player missed the ball or hit it out of bounds altogether.
The effort to return a serve is one of the most difficult parts to the table tennis game, as the serving player can have very quick and unpredictable serving moves combined with the most numerous choices for speed and spin on the ball in order to throw off the other player and score a quick point or two.
Another part to the table tennis game is the "let." A let is defined as a table tennis rally where the event does not receive a score.
Lets can be called for the following reasons: the receiving player was not ready for the serve when the serving player hit the ball toward him; the ball winds up touching a portion of the net while it is being served; and finally, a let is called as a result of the player being interrupted by either the main umpire or the assistant umpire.
Thought it may sound complicated, the table tennis game is anything but so go play a game or two!
