About That Roll Shot

 The shots that people bring from other paddle sports to PB are quite interesting to the thinking, pondering observer.  

I wanted to discuss the roll shot today.  I have this in spades due to a table tennis background.  In table tennis there is a lot of "half volley" shots on the backhand side that require the paddle to be stroked vertically and then rolled to a "shut" position.  A shut position is where the paddle is pointing more to the ground than the net.  Open is pointing to the sky.  Note that almost all PB shots require an initially open paddle face, which you will learn rather quickly or give up the game.

The important features of the roll are:

• The paddle must be parallel to the net all through the stroke
• The paddle face is open a little bit
• The Stroke is mostly vertical
• You can roll the paddle after you hit the ball, but it's optional
• You need to bend your wrist a lot for this shot if you are going to strike the ball in front of your body, aka at the kitchen line

Let me elaborate on the last point.  Let's discuss the backhand first.  Some worthy opponent hits the ball too high (for them) to the backhand.  I'm at the net and I want to roll the ball.  I want to use this shot as it will put the ball in the court and it's good for hitting at feet.  My wrist will bend to about a 90 degree angle.  If I were to extend my arm towards the net, the paddle face will be parallel to the net.  When I hit the ball I rotate my forearm to create the upwards stroke.   The is not much push forward or effort trying to hit the ball deep into the court.  This is not a power shot, it's designed to control and confuse.

If there is an opponent in front of me at the kitchen line, the ball may not travel much past their feet.  It will be fairly slow and it will have a lot of topspin on it.  It will dive quickly to the feet.  This shot is frequently a winner as the dipping nature is hard to return.

The forehand is much the same -- the wrist must be broken, then the forearm is rotated to generate the stroke.  Again, don't try to swing at the ball, you are brushing against it.

I don't hit the forehand shot very well, and I'm trying to improve.  In writing this it seems that the two key points to this stroke are the wrist bend and then the forearm rotation.

Without the wrist bend then you can still roll the ball, but it is more like a tennis stroke and you have to let the ball get along side your body, id est, it's not a shot where the arm is in front of your body.  Watch Randy play, he has this shot and you will see a long stroke from low to high.  It's the basic tennis topspin shot.

Todd seems to have the forehand roll at the net.  He is able to take very low balls and hit them aggressively with the topspin he generates.

Give this shot a try.  It is mostly a shot when at the kitchen.  If you do it correctly you can hit balls from below the net level and easily get them in.