I’m going to be writing a short blog post every Thursday covering a topic of my choice. Today, I’m looking at a common Forehand Loop mistake – something I refer to as “the tail wagging the dog” – and what should happen instead… “power from the ground”.

If you have trouble playing a strong forehand loop when the ball is placed wide to your forehand, or often find yourself out of position after the shot, this article is for you.

When the tail wags the dog

According to Wiktionary.org, the phrase “tail wagging the dog” refers to…

A minor or secondary part of something controlling or dominating the whole or the main part.

So, how does this apply to our forehand loop technique?

The forehand loop, as with all shots in Table Tennis, should start from the feet. Once you’ve figured out where the ball will bounce on your side of the table, your first movement is to get your feet planted in the correct place for your stroke.

From there it will move up through the legs, hips, core, upper body, shoulders, arm, hand, and bat. In that order. The main part of the stroke comes from the rotation of the legs and core – and the weight transfer that creates.

Look at any photo of a top Chinese player looping and you’ll notice that their playing arm, hand, and bat slightly lag behind the rest of their body. This is because the technique starts from the ground and moves up through the body, ending with the hand/bat. It doesn’t start with a big swing of the playing arm!

There are a number of good reasons for this…

1. You’ll generate a lot more power if you are able to push off from the ground.
2. You’ll have a lot more control if you play from a solid and stable base.
3. You’ll find it easier to recover and move for the next stroke in the rally.

And that’s just to name a few!

When the arm wags the table tennis player

For us table tennis players, our swinging arm is the wagging tail. If we have a wide stance and our feet are in the correct position and planted on the floor, we are able to start the Forehand Loop Stroke from the ground, generate lots of power, and swing our arm correctly – without throwing ourselves off balance. That’s good technique.

However, if we’re in the wrong position and we try to start our forehand loop stroke from our arm/hand/bat, we are going to end up with the tail (our arm) wagging the dog (us).

We will still make contact with the ball and play our forehand loop stroke but then we will start to spin around. If we’re right-handed, the momentum from our arm will throw us off balance and we’ll probably end up spinning on our right foot, with our left foot ending up about a yard further back than it should be.

I’ve seen this a lot! Sam Priestley used to do it all the time during The Expert in a Year Challenge. I’ve recently started coaching Harrie Austin-Jones for his Epic Table Tennis Journey and he does it a bit too. So do plenty of the players I coach at my club – St John’s TTC.

This is one of the most common forehand loop errors I encounter. And it’s particularly prevalent when players are trying to loop a ball that’s gone wide to their forehand.

So, my advice is to focus on the main part of the stroke – your feet, legs, and core rotation/weight transfer. Get all of that right and your arm/hand/bat (your tail) will swing through and loop the ball correctly anyway.

If you focus primarily on your arm/hand/bat you’ll still loop the ball. But the tail will be wagging the dog and the momentum of your arm will throw you off balance and swing the rest of you round in a circle.

Power from the ground

I mentioned “power from the ground” at the start of this blog post. Power from the ground is the opposite of the tail wagging the dog.

This is one of my favourite videos from Em Rat Thich Table Tennis Coach. If you haven’t discovered his videos before I can highly recommend subscribing to his YouTube channel. He creates some really awesome content.

“Power from the ground” is such an important technical element of correct table tennis technique. This is how the Chinese players are able to generate so much power, whilst also looking so relaxed and “whippy” in their upper body, and maintaining a low and balance stance.

Have you struggled with this yourself? Got any further tips/advice to add? Please leave a comment below and share your wisdom with other players.

I’ll be back next Thursday with another short blog post highlighting something I’ve been thinking about in my table tennis coaching recently.

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