Switching Hands Playing Table Tennis (And Why You Shouldn’t Do It)

Last Updated on July 10, 2024 by Alex Horscroft

It’s the sort of question you ask out of general curiosity rather than wanting to employ it yourself. After all, learning Table tennis is tough enough with one arm let alone two. Yet the question remains. Are you allowed to switch hands while playing, and more importantly, should you?

What the Rules Say About Hand Switching

You’ve probably seen players switch their racket to their second hand in table tennis. Hey! Maybe you’ve even done it yourself! But what do the rules say?

Can you switch hands in table tennis?

Switching your racket to your non-playing hand is legal, plain, and simple. There is only one rule that we really need to look at and that is the following.

“2.5.7 A player strikes the ball if he or she touches it in play with his or her racket, held in the hand, or with his or her racket hand below the wrist.“

As you can see, there is no mention of one hand being illegal, so you can use either. You can even use two hands to hold your paddle if you want to (although I strongly don’t recommend it)!

Why You Should Avoid Hand Switching

The reality of the matter is that hand-switching provides basically no competitive advantage. In fact, most of the time it puts you at a disadvantage, so to use it is counter-intuitive

For every shot you perform in table tennis, you weigh up your options in a fraction of a second. Naturally, the risk vs reward ratio is constantly in flux. A smash in one scenario is overwhelmingly advantageous, yet in another it is detrimental. The thing is, hand-switching to your non-playing arm is only “useful” in extremely select scenarios.

1. Almost never Beneficial

There is only one scenario where hand-switching has the potential to increase your chances of being able to make a return — but even this is dubious.

This is when you are pinned wide on your forehand and then quickly pinned wide on your backhand. In some cases, the increased reach you obtain from hand switching and playing a forehand is just enough to play a shot. If you had kept your racket in your main hand and attempted to play a backhand shot you might have been unable to reach the ball.

My primary critique of this argument is that you waste precious time fumbling your racket between your hands.

If you don’t try to switch your racket to your other hand you actually reach the ball faster. This is because you can swing your arms to generate momentum. So until we develop the tech to teleport our racket from one hand to the other, I’d recommend just using your dominant hand.

2. Low-Quality Shots

The next obvious drawback is that even if you pull off a hand switch, you’re pretty limited in how you can hit the ball. Just think about it. What are your options? Can you loop? Unlikely. Can you chop? Hell no. Unless your ambidextrous you’re looking at a pretty shoddy drive or block. That’s it. Not really very useful is it?

3. Promotes Overuse

My other issue with the hand-switching technique is that after a while you’ll become too comfortable with it. Ever so slightly it will start to encroach on your game like a festering plague. I know because I’ve experienced this with other shots.

You see, I love me a snake. And I’ve gotten pretty good at them. So naturally, I started doing them often — too often. I was playing snakes in situations that simply didn’t call for them and getting punished. And rightfully so. I’ve since dialed back my snake usage, and I’m a much better player for it. So don’t make the same mistake with hand-switching.

If you decide to play a hand switch shot, and I mean if, don’t go overboard. The fact that they are enjoyable to pull off could lead to your usage spiraling out of control.

But the Professionals Do It!

You’ve been watching Timo Boll, haven’t you? Damn it Boll, you see what you’ve got me into?!

Timo Boll is a reputable table tennis hand-switcher. But he gets away with it because he’s one of the best players in the world and he has practiced the technique enough to become quite good at it.

Yet while he’s pulled off-hand switches quite a few times to great effect, the fact remains that even he doesn’t try it too often. That’s because he knows that most of the time it’s more effective to dart forward and try to reach deep balls with his regular playing hand.

Just take a look at the instances when players perform hand switches. It’s never at the end of a match in a tight five-setter!

Ultimately, they just want to pull off a flashy point and bank it for their highlight reel. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with that! I’m all for it really as I love the spectacle. But you need to recognize that’s mostly the reason they do it, not for the competitive advantage.

With all that out of the way, take a look at some of the best table tennis hand switch shots below. 1:24 is my favorite!

Closing Thoughts

Hand-switching is cool as hell, there’s no denying that… But ultimately, the act of hand-switching puts you at a disadvantage.

So the next time you go to pull one off, ask yourself whether you really need the point or whether you want to show off a little. Hand-switching has no place in tight matches where every point counts.

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