Table Tennis/ Ping-Pong Basic Strokes - Forehand Flick

From Greg Letts, former About.com Guide

In this tutorial, we will be looking at how to perform a crosscourt forehand flick return of serve in table tennis/ping-pong. The flick (or flip) is an aggressive return used by the receiver to prevent the server from making a strong third ball attack at the worst, and at best to set up a fourth ball attack for the receiver.

View the Crosscourt Forehand Flick Video - 720x576 pixels Version. (2MB)
640x480 pixels Version (1MB)

View the Down the Line Forehand Flick Video - 720x576 pixels Version. (2MB)
640x480 pixels Version (1MB)

View the Forehand Flick From the Middle of the Court Video - 720x576 pixels Version. (3.6MB)
640x480 pixels Version (1.9MB)

Points to look for:

• The player is in his basic ready position, waiting for the server to contact the ball. He is hoping for a long serve that he can attack with a loop, but is also ready to move in case his opponent serves a short serve.
• The player is in a wide stance, with the left foot slightly in front of the right (i.e. a forehand stance). His bat is held above and behind the playing surface, and is in a neutral position (pointing about a foot to the right of the ball, so the player can play a forehand or backhand with ease).
• His opponent is serving from the backhand corner, so the player is standing a little further towards his backhand side. Also, since the player has a longer reach on his forehand side, that will also make the player stand a little to the left of the center of the line of play.