Choose your age group, find a drill or prepare a session. The guides explain the sources and age-specific guidance.
Built on ITTF laws and frameworks, the FFTT pathway and published research — sources cited in every guide. Drills that are common coaching practice are attributed to no federation. Verified · July 2026
The Paak knowledge base for table tennis coaches — from Baby Ping to competitive level. Pick your age group: priorities, drills and tactics adapt.
ITTF, FFTT, Swiss Table Tennis and DTTB side by side. Table, serve, strokes, age bands, physical preparation — sourced, dated, comparable.
Pick a duration and a focus: Paak assembles an age-appropriate session outline — warm-up, two blocks, game, cool-down.
These drills are in Paak — each card gives the run-through, the coaching points, a harder and an easier version.
Players balance or juggle the ball on the bat while walking a marked path, then around cones.
Coaching points : Soft knees, eyes up, relaxed grip, bat flat.
↑ Harder : Alternate forehand/backhand face each bounce; add a slalom.
↓ Easier : Catch-and-carry, no juggle.
Player rolls or pushes balls off the bat to hit hoops and targets on the far half.
Coaching points : Contact under the ball, aim with the whole arm, follow the target with the eyes.
↑ Harder : Shrink targets; add a low net.
↓ Easier : Bigger targets, closer distance.
Pair keeps a cooperative rally over a low barrier or midi-table, counting consecutive hits.
Coaching points : Return to the ready position, watch the ball to the bat, control not power.
↑ Harder : Beat the team record; add a small target zone.
↓ Easier : Roll or hand-feed; larger ball.
Rotating winner-stays-on points game around one or more tables.
Coaching points : Serve legally, keep it on the table, play the open space.
↑ Harder : Sourced variants (J+S-Kids L9 + Cahier 43): winner-points only — the point counts only if the opponent cannot touch the ball; streak scoring — a point needs two straight rally wins; a finishing hit counts double; server-only scoring (the old volleyball rule); the first table to finish calls stop for all; player-invented rules. One-life knockout; constrain the serve type.
↓ Easier : Cooperative scoring, no elimination.
Both players push diagonally with backspin, keeping the ball short and low.
Coaching points : Contact early just off the bounce, open bat, brush under, quiet feet.
↑ Harder : Add short/long variation; push to a target corner.
↓ Easier : Slower feed; longer pushes only.
Coach feeds a rapid stream of balls to the forehand; the player drives or topspins to a fixed target.
Coaching points : Rotate from the hips, contact at the peak out front, brush for topspin, recover.
↑ Harder : Move the feed between two spots; switch drive to topspin.
↓ Easier : Slower feed, one spot, count landings.
Server serves short backspin; partner pushes; server plays the opening topspin on the third ball.
Coaching points : Pre-plan the third-ball target, recover after serving, brush to open.
↑ Harder : Partner returns randomly (push or flick); read and attack.
↓ Easier : Fixed return to one spot; slower.
Pattern: one backhand from the backhand corner, then two forehands (pivot + wide forehand); repeat with shuffle steps.
Coaching points : Shuffle steps, never crossed legs; low centre of gravity; recover between balls.
↑ Harder : Add pace or counter-topspin; play the last ball free.
↓ Easier : Push-only version, slower tempo.
Three-ball loop: backhand from the backhand corner, pivot forehand from the backhand corner, forehand from the wide forehand corner; repeat.
Coaching points : Pivot fully, use cross-steps for the wide forehand, balance, fast recovery.
↑ Harder : Multiball version; add counter-topspin; free finish.
↓ Easier : Reduce to two balls; block instead of topspin.
Player A topspins (opens against backspin then rallies); player B blocks, passive then active punch-block.
Coaching points : Looper: brush contact, leg drive, recover. Blocker: early contact, absorb with the core.
↑ Harder : Blocker changes placement (irregular); looper loop-kills the weak block.
↓ Easier : Both stay on one diagonal; slower.
Partner serves or pushes short; the player flicks (banana) to open, then plays out the point.
Coaching points : Loose grip, wrist snap, elbow up, contact at the top of the bounce.
↑ Harder : Mix banana and strawberry flicks; add a fourth-ball attack.
↓ Easier : Forehand flick on a no-spin feed; slower.
Match play with a constraint — for example, must serve short and attack the third ball, or points only count when attacking the middle.
Coaching points : Enforce the pattern; reflect on what worked between games.
↑ Harder : Tighten the constraint; add a scoring bonus for the target.
↓ Easier : Loosen the constraint; cooperative points.
High-tempo random-placement multiball mixing a short serve, topspin openings and wide balls under fatigue.
Coaching points : Read early, decision speed, full recovery, maintain quality when tired.
↑ Harder : Longer sets; add a decision rule (attack vs control).
↓ Easier : Semi-regular pattern; shorter sets.
Match where the player scouts the opponent's serve and receive tendencies and adjusts each game.
Coaching points : Use the opening game as reconnaissance; adjust serves and placement; manage momentum, timeouts and towel breaks.
↑ Harder : Add a written between-games plan; video review after.
↓ Easier : Coach cues the read live; a single tendency only.
One table, a feeder with a ball supply, a short circuit alongside (slalom markers, a jump zone). The child takes five forehand balls from the feeder, immediately runs the circuit, then rejoins the queue.
Coaching points : Forehand counter-attack: the racket finishes touching the opposite shoulder; stance slightly open to the table; weight transfer and upper-body rotation through the hit. Take the ball in the descending phase, about 1.5 m from the table.
↑ Harder : 8-10 balls per turn; two placements; shorten the circuit to raise density; finish with a shadow stroke.
↓ Easier : Three balls; higher and slower feed; drop the circuit; a platform under the child if the table is too high.
Two players: A attacks, B blocks. A attacks into B's elbow. If B blocks forehand, A's next ball goes to the forehand corner; if B blocks backhand, the next goes to the backhand corner. The cycle repeats while returns succeed.
Coaching points : B trains the forehand/backhand decision at the elbow — the zone the DTTB repeatedly names as the structural weakness of two-winged systems. A cannot pre-plan: A must read B's block.
↑ Harder : Alternate corners before opening the point; start from a short backspin serve, then from a long push; B deliberately alternates between elbow and corners.
↓ Easier : Basket-fed to one fixed spot, then two announced spots, then reactive. Slow the attack; 5-ball series.
10-15 repetitions per set at 50-70% of maximum, 3-6 sets, with 2-5 minutes of recovery between sets. Machines or free weights, chosen to keep spinal loading low.
Coaching points : Prerequisites stated by the federation: thoroughly warmed musculature and technically faultless execution. Table tennis is asymmetric — watch for left/right imbalance and train agonists, antagonists AND synergists.
↑ Harder : Toward pyramid training, then intramuscular-coordination work at 85-100% of maximum.
↓ Easier : Below 13-15, drop the added weights entirely: body weight and small loads only, whole-body emphasis on abdominal and back musculature, via functional gymnastics, circuits with jumping and throwing, obstacle courses and small games.
Three stages. Stage 1, no ball and no table: rehearse the stroke path from back-low to front-high, the racket staying in the plane of the stroke. Stage 2, with a ball beside the table: the same movement onto a hand-held or tossed ball. Stage 3, at the table: the feeder plays a topspin or a no-spin ball — never backspin at this stage, because the federation states the forehand topspin is easier to learn against an incoming topspin ball.
Coaching points : Where this comes from, and what it is not. Only the German federation teaches topspin at this age: the DTTB framework opens the stroke at stage FS 2 = 8-9 and leaves it out of FS 1 = 4-7. Swiss Table Tennis places topspin two years later, at U13 = 10-12 — though its curriculum tables carry the running header "Nachwuchsförderungskonzept 2008", so treat the Swiss gate as directionally sound rather than as today's confirmed Swiss position. The J+S-Kids series never mentions topspin across its ten lessons; the FFTT's Baby Ping has no stroke curriculum at all before 7. So run this as the German route, not as settled practice, and only with the 8-9 end of the group. The DTTB's own fault list: keep the racket in the plane of the stroke, a straying elbow or wrist being the usual cause; brush the ball, never lift it by opening the blade; the feet must not be parallel to the end line or the hips and shoulders cannot rotate; the playing arm is nearly extended at the end of the backswing, otherwise the forearm contributes nothing; the free arm points at the ball on the backswing and rotates back with the hips and shoulders on the hit, keeping the torso forward and the legs low; the weight transfers, and early; contact is never behind or beside the body; the finish is neither behind nor above the head, nor at chest height.
↑ Harder : Shadow stroke, then hand-fed, then basket-fed to one fixed placement, then basket-fed to two placements, then against a partner's block.
↓ Easier : Shadow only, five repetitions at a time, mirroring the coach; slower tempo; a bigger and softer ball as in the first J+S-Kids lessons. If the table is too high for the child — the DTTB states it usually is at this age — put a mat or a platform under them.
Five colour-coded cones on the table: forehand short, backhand short, forehand deep, centre, backhand deep. No ball. The coach calls a colour; the child moves to that cone, mimes the stroke that belongs there — a block at the two short cones — and returns to the ready position.
Coaching points : Where this comes from. The drill is Swiss-published (mobilesport.ch, 2024) and carries no age of its own, and the federations disagree about when the block is taught. The German DTTB opens it at stage FS 2 = 8-9; Swiss Table Tennis places it at U11 = 8-10, which overlaps the top of this band, though its curriculum tables are headed "Nachwuchsförderungskonzept 2008"; J+S-Kids has no block exercise in its ten lessons and the FFTT's Baby Ping no stroke curriculum. Read it as the German placement with Swiss corroboration, not as consensus, and use it with the 8-9 end of the group. Because there is no ball, the two DTTB block essentials can be corrected without any timing pressure: on the backhand block the contact point is in front of the midline of the body, and on the forehand block the body is not square to the table and the weight transfers — without that, the federation says, an active block is not possible. The source's own coaching question: how do you get into position fastest while staying stable enough to play the stroke?
↑ Harder : Numbers instead of colours; then a sum whose answer is the cone number; then a whole sequence of colours called at once; then a two-player version with the cones placed simultaneously.
↓ Easier : Three cones instead of five; slower calls; movement only, with no stroke mimed.
Serve played with the bat held like a hammer, head pointing up, brushing the ball on the forehand side — backspin, topspin or sidespin depending on the contact. Run it as the federation’s station circuit, whose frame is printed verbatim: « Chacun des enfants et des jeunes effectue pendant deux ou trois minutes l’exercice demandé à chaque poste, puis change de poste. »
Coaching points : Bat held like a hammer, head pointing up. Brush the ball on the forehand side; the contact arc decides the effect. Learn the effects first and hide them second — the federation’s own line: « Entraînez-vous d’abord à imprimer les différents effets, et quand vous les maîtrisez, essayez de les masquer pour feinter votre adversaire. » DO NOT CONFLATE the hammer serve with the shovel serve (pioche / Schaufelaufschlag): the official Swiss French and German lists both carry them as SEPARATE items — service pendulaire, service marteau, service pioche, service rentrant, service revers, service court, service long. The FR/DE-to-EN mapping onto « tomahawk » is graded SECONDARY: no source writes the equivalence out, the evidence is a shared publisher URL slug. This is the ONE gesture in this group whose age the source itself states — « enfants et jeunes ».
↑ Harder : Serve to land anywhere legally. Then serve short, two bounces on the far half. Then call the effect before each serve. Then the federation’s constraint game, verbatim: « Un sol recouvert de lave : A et B disputent un match en jeu libre, mais seuls sont autorisés les services courts avec lesquels la balle rebondit deux fois sur la table. Si B voit que le service de son adversaire est long et que la balle ne va toucher qu’une fois sa moitié de table, il ou elle laisse la balle tomber au sol (lave) et remporte alors un point. »
↓ Easier : Serve from the middle of the table. Drop the effect requirement and keep the grip. Bigger, slower ball.
Short backhand serve-return with topspin and sidespin, played over the table to seize the initiative on the second ball. Trained inside the federation’s rally chain rather than in isolation: « B sert court, A retourne en effectuant un flip de façon que la balle aille sur le revers de l’adversaire, B bloque en diagonale, A pivote pour jouer en coup droit et tente d’effectuer une attaque décisive. »
Coaching points : Serve-receive only — this is a second-ball stroke against short or half-long serves. The job is to turn a defensive situation into an attack, not to win the point outright. High elbow; the wrist supplies the sidespin. It sets up the fourth ball, so plan that before playing it. NAMING, AND IT MATTERS FOR BOTH SEARCH AND EXPORTS: the official Swiss French stroke vocabulary is Topspin, Flip, Bloc, Poussette, Poussette courte, Frappe, Contre-topspin, Contre-attaque — « banane » appears in NO official French source, though chiquita is a confirmed synonym of banana flick. A curriculum export must print « Flip »; a coach searching « banane » must land here. No eponym in the copy: the ITTF credits « the FIRST USE of the shot to Petr Corbel » — first use, not invention, and it misspells Korbel — while the only source asserting « inventé par Korbel » is an unattributed glossary.
↑ Harder : Fed short backspin to one spot, flick only. Flick to a called side. Then the full « Enchaînement personnel » chain. Then live serve, the receiver reading short against half-long.
↓ Easier : Push the short ball instead, then progress to the flick. Feed by hand, no spin. Contact point marked on the table.
One table, one ball, players in single file at both ends. Serve diagonally, then each player runs counter-clockwise to the other end after their stroke. Three lives each; a mistake costs one; eliminated players do a side task (e.g. juggling). The last two play a head-to-head final with their remaining lives.
Coaching points : Play with intention — a random return gets you eliminated. Watch the ball straight after your own stroke; recover into the queue at speed. Keep the side task physical at this age: nobody stands around.
↑ Harder : Source-listed: obstacles between strokes; two tables side by side with a mat as the net; one shared racket per side; reverse the rotation; each life on a different grip or hand; à l'américaine — an eliminated player returns when the player who forced the error goes out.
↓ Easier : Foam or oversized balls; two lives; slow serve with no diagonal requirement.
One table, two players. Each places two A4 sheets anywhere on their OWN half. Normal match rules — but landing the ball on one of the opponent's sheets LOSES you the point. Win the set while steering clear of the paper.
Coaching points : A placement-reading game: notice where the opponent's sheets are and aim away, while using your own sheets as decoys. Build the read-then-decide habit — look at the opponent's table before serving or returning.
↑ Harder : Three sheets; reposition sheets between sets; landing on your own sheet gives the opponent a bonus point; add a short-serve-only constraint.
↓ Easier : One central sheet each; a larger A3 sheet; play cooperatively first, both avoiding all sheets.
One table, two players, a normal set to 11 — but the score STARTS at 6:8 against the server, who must reverse the trend. Normal rules from there, two clear points to win.
Coaching points : The server is under immediate pressure: thoughtless serving hands over the set, so every point needs a plan. The returner practises protecting a lead — a different tactical mindset from building one. Between sets, ask what changed when they were behind.
↑ Harder : Start at 5:8; the server may only win on a named serve type; swap roles after each game and compare comeback rates.
↓ Easier : Start at 7:8, or let the server lead 8:6 and the returner chase; play to 9.
One table, three children: two play a 5-point set (service alternates every point), one referees. The winner stays, the loser becomes the referee, the referee steps in as challenger. Four consecutive wins and the champion must cede the table regardless.
Coaching points : The referee role is the hidden lesson: the child learns the service rules, the scoring and fair play from the adjudicator's seat. Brief it clearly — where to stand, how to call the score, what a let is. The 4-win cap keeps one dominant child from monopolising the table.
↑ Harder : Sets of 7 or 11; the champion picks the serving side; constrain the serve (short only, backhand only); a rally longer than 5 strokes earns a bonus point.
↓ Easier : Sets of 3; win cap at 2; foam or oversized balls.
Six archetypes of the modern game — real players blend them. A style is built, not decreed.
Before the competitive band: no fixed style — prioritize the four base strokes, serve-receive and footwork.
Strengths : Versatility, attacks on both wings, no glaring weakness.
Weaknesses : Can lack a hard finisher; vulnerable at the middle and wide forehand.
Exemplars : Ma Long · Fan Zhendong · Timo Boll
Strengths : Speed, tempo, short game, reactions — suits the poly ball.
Weaknesses : Less spin generation; exposed away from the table.
Exemplars : Harimoto · Liu Guoliang
Strengths : Adaptability, control, few holes.
Weaknesses : Can lack a decisive weapon; risk of passivity.
Exemplars : modern control-attackers
Strengths : Backspin/no-spin variation, absorbs power, forces errors.
Weaknesses : Vulnerable to sustained heavy topspin — structurally hurt by the plastic ball.
Exemplars : Joo Sae-hyuk · Hou Yingchao
Strengths : Consistency, tempo control, frustrates attackers.
Weaknesses : Little independent power; overwhelmed by relentless topspin.
Exemplars : Oh Sang Eun
Strengths : Free wrist (serves, touch), dominant forehand; RPB fixes the historic backhand hole.
Weaknesses : Crossover ambiguity, long learning curve.
Exemplars : Xu Xin · Wang Hao · Félix Lebrun
The principle: control over speed. Keep the same blade for years; invest in 3-star balls and shoes instead.
Official ball: 40 mm "40+" plastic, 2.7 g. Blade ≥85% natural wood; ITTF-approved rubbers (LARC list); one side black, the other red/pink/purple/green/blue (since Oct 2021). VOC glues banned since 2008. Verified July 2026.
The vocabulary you hear in the hall, with the federation’s own definition word for word, the name people actually use when it differs from the official one, and the points where the sources disagree.
Serve played with the bat held like a hammer, head pointing up, brushing the ball on the forehand side — backspin, topspin or sidespin depending on the contact.
Drill published by Swiss Table Tennis and the OFSPO
Service pendulaire, Service Marteau, Service pioche, Service rentrant, Service revers, Service court, Service long Chacun des enfants et des jeunes effectue pendant deux ou trois minutes l’exercice demandé à chaque poste, puis change de poste. Un sol recouvert de lave : A et B disputent un match en jeu libre, mais seuls sont autorisés les services courts avec lesquels la balle rebondit deux fois sur la table. Si B voit que le service de son adversaire est long et que la balle ne va toucher qu’une fois sa moitié de table, il ou elle laisse la balle tomber au sol (lave) et remporte alors un point. Where Paak lands: The mapping is graded SECONDARY and never presented as federation-stated. Useful for search, not for a curriculum export.
Often confused with: The shovel serve (service pioche / Schaufelaufschlag) — another item on the same official list, not a variant of the hammer.
Short backhand serve-return with topspin and sidespin, played over the table to seize the initiative on the second ball.
Drill published by Swiss Table Tennis and the OFSPO
B sert court, A retourne en effectuant un flip de façon que la balle aille sur le revers de l’adversaire, B bloque en diagonale, A pivote pour jouer en coup droit et tente d’effectuer une attaque décisive. Origin · Disputed No eponym published as fact. The ITTF speaks of first use, not invention — the detail and the sources are below.
Where Paak lands: We do not publish “invented by Korbel”. The ITTF’s wording is the ceiling of what can be written.
Often confused with: The “Banana-flick open” drill already in the library: this card carries the FEDERATION term and the published rally chain.
The depth behind the tools: seven sourced guides, from age-band development to the rules.
LTAD applied to table tennis: late specialization, volumes, the don’ts.
Read · 10 min Building a sessionThe universal skeleton, multiball, timed templates by band.
Read · 8 min Core techniqueGrips, the stroke family, spin, footwork.
Read · 12 min Serve & receiveThe game’s most important stroke, the serve families, the receive.
Read · 10 min TacticsPlaying styles, the third ball, placement, doubles — with the match-analysis numbers.
Read · 10 min Physical preparation & preventionA neuromuscular sport: priorities, periodization, shoulder/wrist/back.
Read · 8 min Equipment & rulesTable, the 40+ ball, blades and rubbers by level, rules and the FFTT pathway.
Read · 10 minInside the app, right on your team’s session: pick the age band, the duration and the theme, and Paak builds a minuted five-block session outline. Edit it, save it — that is free. Printing the session sheet and club-authored drills beyond 5 are available in Paak One.
The generator is right on the session: plan by the players’ age band and the duration, pick a theme. Paak builds a minuted five-block outline — warm-up, two work blocks, a game and a cool-down — from this same library of 25 drills.
Planning, editing and saving the session is free.
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