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

I'm gonna demonstrate the forehand block. What's really important in table tennis is

the block. The block is a very important stroke. From 1985 to 1993 the main reason the Swedish

were very successful against the Chinese was the block- actually mainly the backhand block

but we're going to get to that in a minute. The forehand block is used, where we use a

very compact stroke. The stroke has to be very short. The reason for this is your opponent

is normally going to impart a lot of spin on the ball, the ball's going to be really

really spin-y. So, the more we move our hand, the chance for error and for missing the ball

increases, so we need to be really really compact, and we need to try to pass through

the ball. That's the first thing. Second thing, because a lot of players are used to using

a forehand smash or loop, they tend to block the ball and their racket tends to move too

much forward. This is a very advanced stroke and there's a very high chance for error.

Its better to try to move the racket this way, more almost like you can imagine that

there's a window to your left and you're trying to move the racket to the window. Even at

the highest levels this works. So a very compact stroke, trying to pass through the ball, and

trying to move your racket a little bit to the side, still trying to hitting the back

of the ball. A lot of players, you can hit the top or the back. I prefer the back, some

players prefer the top.