Serve disguise and variation

Setup

1. A server with a box of balls at one end, a receiver at the other.
2. Three targets on the receiver's half: a short one near the net in the middle, and a long one in each corner near the end line.
3. Every serve is legal: ball resting on the open palm, tossed up near vertically at least 16 cm, struck as it falls, behind the end line and above the table, and in the receiver's view the whole time.

How it runs

1. The server picks one serving action (for example a forehand pendulum from the backhand corner) and plays four versions of it: short backspin, short no-spin, long fast and long sidespin.
2. The receiver does not return the ball; they call the spin and length out loud as it crosses the net.
3. Twenty serves in a mixed order, then swap. The server scores 1 for a target and 1 for every wrong call.
4. Finish with serve-and-third-ball points, the receiver now returning every serve.

Coaching points

• Disguise comes from the bat and body: the same stance, same backswing and same speed of arm up to contact, every time.
• Change the spin at the last moment with the contact point on the bat and the bat angle, not with a different swing.
• Use a quick follow-through that goes the same way for every version, or a deliberate fake follow-through after contact.
• Move the free arm and hand out of the way straight after the toss, so the ball is never hidden.
• Keep the short serves low, so that if left alone they would bounce a second time on the receiver's side of the table.

Common mistakes

• A bigger, slower action for backspin and a short, stiff one for no-spin: the receiver reads it straight away.
• Trying to disguise by hiding the ball with the body or free arm; that is a fault, not a tactic.
• Tossing low or out of the hand at an angle to save time.
• Long serves that land mid-table and give the receiver an easy attack.