Jeff:And I am Jeff Plumb and we are from PingSkills.

And now, we are going to teach you the backhand counterhit.

Alois: So, let's have a look at Jeff playing the backhand counterhit.

There is three things that we need to consider with the backhand counterhit:...

The first one is the feet position.

You will notice that Jeffs' feet are facing towards where he wants the ball to go.

So, he is really square on and his body faces forward.

The second thing is the start position of his bat.

So, the bat is in front of his body facing towards where he wants the ball to go.

Then he comes through, hits the ball and his finish position...

is up and forward at shoulder height.

And, you will notice now that the forehand side of his bat...

faces towards the roof at the end of the shot.

So, now that Jeff is showing you the technique...

you can see that Jeff will be able to use the same technique...

to hit the ball slowly or fast.

All he does is he just moves his bat through the stroke faster,...

if he wants the ball to go faster.

And slower, if he wants the ball to go slower.

So, that is why it is really important to get a good technique with your strokes.

So, the main things to consider when learning the backhand counterhit:...

Firstly, starting with your feet.

If I want to the ball to go in that direction, that is where I am facing with my feet.

If I want the ball to go across court, then that is where I need to face with my feet.

The second part of the stroke that you need to consider is your start position.

Make sure that your bat is nice and flat, facing towards where you want the ball to go.

So, it needs to be in front of your belly and nice and flat.

And, the final part of the stroke is you need to hit the ball and follow through.

And, turn your bat over, so that now the forehand side of your bat is facing to the roof.

You need to finish up at around shoulder height.

So, some things that I see as common errors with the backhand:...

Firstly, a lot of players tend to change their grip.

So, they turn their bat around in their hand like that.

It is easier for backhand but it is going to be really difficult later for forehand.

That is why it is important to keep a nice central grip,...

so that you will be able to play both backhand and forehand with the same grip.

The second thing with the backhand that I often see...

is that players tend to push their right foot forward...

and play their backhands like this.

That is okay, again, if you are only playing backhands that works fine.

But when you are playing a game of table tennis, you have not got enough time to be doing...

backhands with your feet side-on this way and...

then turning all the way around

to play your forehand.

So, that is why you want to be nice a nd square on,...

facing towards where you want the ball to go.

And, the third thing that I see with backhands...

is that often players finish over on the left hand side of their body,...

instead of finishing over on the right hand side.

So, an easy way to fix that problem is to just make sure that...

you are waiting for the ball a little bit longer, wait for it and hit the ball closer to your body.

And then, you stroke will tend to come out the right way.