Table Tennis: Short and Long Pendulum Sidespin Serve

Students learn the forehand pendulum serve with sidespin while following the rules: open palm, a vertical toss of at least 16 cm (about 6 inches) and the ball visible at all times. They alternate a short serve, which would bounce twice on the opponent's side, with a long, fast serve to the back.

How to play

1. Review the legal serve rules and demonstrate the pendulum, with the paddle moving inside-out and brushing the side of the ball (3 min).
2. Practice with no receiver: 20 short serves trying to make the first bounce on the far side land on a sheet of paper near the net (6 min).
3. Long, fast serve to the opponent's backhand corner, with a sheet of paper as the target near the end line (4 min).
4. A partner acts as service judge and calls a fault if the hand hides the ball or the toss is too low; switch every 10 serves (5 min).
5. Self-assessment: each student records how many legal, on-target serves they hit of each type (2 min).

Rules

• A serve called a fault by the judge is replayed without arguing.
• Balls are collected all at once at the end of each set.
• The student not serving waits beside the table, not behind the server.

Variations

Adaptations

• Wheelchair user: the toss starts from table height and the target sheet is placed closer.
• Shoulder injury: short pendulum swing with no focus on speed.
• Hearing impairment: the service judge raises a hand to call a fault.

Learning goals

• Perform the pendulum serve with sidespin.
• Follow and enforce the legal serve rules.
• Control serve length to shape the opponent's return.

Equipment for a class of 25

• table tennis tables: 7
• table tennis paddles: 28
• table tennis balls: 60
• worksheets: 14

Teacher tip

The serve is the stroke students can practice most on their own: leave the paper-target routine as a recess challenge. Stress the 16 cm toss, which is the most common fault.

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