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My name is Tahl Leibovitz and I'm here at SPiN, New York. I am a professional table
tennis player who has been competing internationally since 1995. I am here today to speak to you
about the intermediate and beginner aspects of the Olympic sport of table tennis. Okay
I'm gonna demonstrate the forehand smash. What's really really important in not only
the forehand smash but everything in table tennis is to be able to pass through the ball,
especially on the forehand. You need to get the racket to pass through the ball quickly.
Okay and the way we do this, it depends on the ball that we get. Now, if somebody's giving
us a normal ball we're gonna start here, we're gonna get our shoulder back a little bit,
and we're just gonna try to smash through the ball, just like this. Now, if somebody
gives us an under spin ball we're gonna smash, but our racket face is gonna be open a little
so we can hit the bottom of the ball. And if somebody gives us a top-spin ball we're
gonna smash on top of the ball. But the main key with the forehand smash is to be able
to get the racket to pass through the ball. You start with your right leg behind you,
you have your shoulder back a little bit, and you transfer your weight from left to
right. Transfer. The forehand stroke is a very important stroke in table tennis, and
we use the forehand smash to, usually, win the point. So we, we try to smash through
the ball, the ball travels very fast. And the forehand smash was very effective in the
1970's and the 1980's. It's still very effective today, but the forehand smash is mainly used
in order to finish the point, to try to win the point.