First Degree Drills

The simplest drills are when you know everything about what is going to happen, and no footwork or movement is involved. Examples of such drills are forehand counterhit to forehand counterhit, or backhand counterhit to forehand block. In these type of drills, you know exactly what stroke is going to be played, where the ball is going, roughly how hard your opponent is going to hit it, approximately what spin he will put on the ball, and little or no footwork is required.

Think of these as first degree difficulty.
Most of the drills you begin training with as a beginner should be first degree drills. Aim to hit 10 successful shots in a row. Once you can do this consistently, try for 20, then 30 and so on. When you are consistently doing over 50 in a row with good technique you will be ready to move to drills with an extra degree of complexity.

Second Degree Drills

There are many ways to increase the complexity of a drill by one degree. Using the forehand to forehand counterhit drill as an example, you can change any of the following factors to make this drill a second degree drill.

• Change the side to side placement. Have your partner hit the ball to your forehand corner, then the middle of the table, then back to the forehand corner again. You must move your feet to hit the balls with your normal forehand stroke.
• Change the stroke. Have your partner block one ball, then counterhit the next.
• Change the spin. Have your partner hit a normal counterhit for one ball, then a spinnier counterhit, then a normal counterhit, and so on.

• Change the pace. Have your partner counterhit one ball softly, the next normally, the next hard, then back to softly, and so on.
• Change the depth of the ball. Have your partner hit one ball short, the next deep, then short again, and so on.

Third Degree Drills

To add another degree of complexity, you can combine two of the above factors, or add an element of uncertainty to the drill, by varying one of the factors at random. Randomness in drills is very useful when used correctly, since it greatly adds to the difficulty of the drill for the person who is on the receiving end, while the person who is using random variations doesn't have to work any harder. This can be very handy for when a weaker player has to train with a better player.
I would recommend not using random elements in your training until you are comfortable using second degree drills. Being able to perform second degree drills 50 times in a row consistently before adding a random component would be a reasonable rule of thumb.

Using the forehand to forehand counterhit drill as an example, a good use of randomness would be to have your training partner hit to your forehand most of the time, but every so often hit the ball to your backhand (say approximately 1 ball out of 5). Sometimes he will hit more often to the backhand side, sometimes less, but on average about 1 ball out of 5 will go to your backhand.

This drill is a good use of random ball placement. You will be able to practice your forehand counterhit most of the time, while having to stay alert for the ball that is hit to your backhand. You can't afford to get lazy with your footwork or recovery or you will be likely to miss the ball on the backhand. You must also keep your concentration up so that you are ready when the feeder changes the placement. It also more closely simulates a match situation than a standard drill where the ball placement is known in advance.

Beginners should not use drills with more than one random element. For example, using a forehand to forehand counterhit drill where your opponent randomly hits the ball to your backhand, and also occasionally chops the ball instead of counterhitting, is probably a bit too much for a beginner to handle. You'll miss the ball so often that you won't be getting any benefit from the drill. Stick to a good second degree drill with one random element added at most.

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