Table Tennis has a set of customary social manners and rules that players should follow which makes playing the game fun and enjoyable for everyone involved in practice games, Pennants, Team matches and tournaments. The players are expected to conduct themselves on the court in a sportsman-like way and respect their opponents and Umpires. Failure to follow the rules could result in suspension, or termination, of the player’s privilege to play at our Association, at the discretion of the leadership team and the board. Following this etiquette will ensure your matches go over smoothly without conflict.
It is customary to lift your index finger as an acknowledgement when you win a point due to net or edge shot.
Spectators should not clap net and edge points.
Celebrating these points will anger a lot of players.
Excessive Verbal Celebrations
Many players, including professionals, will shout in celebration. "Cho" is the most common word of celebration. While celebration is good, excessive (and excessively loud) celebration is often considered rude and distracting. Loud celebration at a tournament can be a major distraction to players in the court next to you.
Celebrating excessively your opponent’s faults on serve is not acceptable. There is always debate around exactly how much celebrating is acceptable.
There's nothing more frustrating than an opponent having an advantage over you gained by breaking the rules. Here are the most commonly broken rules:
The rule most often broken is when the player fails to toss the ball high enough before striking it. Simply dropping the ball or hitting it out of your hand is not acceptable and creates an unfair advantage by making it easier to generate more spin.
The Serve shall start with the ball resting freely on the OPEN palm of the server’s STATIONARY free hand. (ITTF rule 2.06.01).
From the start of service until it is struck, the ball shall be above the level of the playing surface and behind the server's end line, and it shall not be hidden from the receiver by the server or his or her doubles partner or by anything they wear or carry.
Rushing to serve is both inconsiderate and may be grounds for a let. The rule says that if the service is delivered when the receiving player or players are not ready, provided that the receiver nor his/her partner attempts to strike the ball, then the serve is a let (the Umpire for the match will determine if the players are ready).
Play must be continuous, deliberate delaying between points to gain an advantage is unsporting and against the rules of the game. The most common delaying tactics can be hitting or kicking the ball away and not picking the ball up, bouncing the ball excessively before serving.
At a tournament or a Competition, at the conclusion of a match it is customary to shake the hands of the opponent, the umpire(s), and the opponent's coach (as well as your own coach). This is the proper sign of respect. Slapping a person’s hand is not acceptable unless the other person also goes to slap hands.
Nothing is a better show of sportsmanship when you are honest about a point that you should lose where the umpire calls incorrectly. If the opponent's shot barely nicks the table and the umpire calls it in your favor, be honest about it and award the point to your opponent who earned it. You will be respected for your honesty.
Block for your opponent. Undoubtedly they'll want to practice their loop, so you need to passively block to let them do that. If you block it back too fast or keep smashing the ball back, they can't comfortably practice up their strokes. During practice don't try to "win" the point, just rally. When rallying, you should place your shots in such a way that it allows you and your opponent to familiarize yourselves with the playing conditions, rather than practicing your winning shots.
If you accidentally miss-hit the ball off the table or to a place that your opponent wasn't expecting it, then apologize and continue the practice routine. During a practice you are trying to be consistent so concentrate on feeding your opponent good balls. Block for your opponent.
Typical flow. If you watch the pros play, they generally follow a structured flow as follows:
1. Forehand-to-forehand rally (30 seconds). Simply hit back and forth to your forehands (this assumes both of you are righties or lefties). These are regular counter hits, not loops.
2. One player starts looping (20 seconds). One player will start looping, and the other should block passively to allow them to loop comfortably.
3. Other player starts looping (20 seconds). The first player will stop looping and start to block back passively, this indicates that they're done looping.
4. Repeat steps 1-3 but with the backhand.
When inspecting the opponent's racket before your match, don't touch the racket. You only need to see what rubber the player is using so there is no need to touch the racket at all. As long as you know whether it's a grippy rubber or an anti-spin, you should be good to go.
Hitting your racket on the table or throwing your racket, screaming, swearing, hitting balls away from an opponent are forms of verbal and equipment abuse and are not tolerated and are grounds for default or a Yellow card in a match.
The Umpire must announce the start of play by saying ‘Smith to serve’, “Love all or Zero Zero”. For lets in play the umpire announces the score.The score is called at the start of each game and after every subsequent point in each game. The umpire should call the score so that it can be heard at the end of the court.
The main purpose of the Score Board is to allow people watching to know the score.
Umpires must apply the rules of Table Tennis when there is blatant flaunting of the rules. Some players do not realize what they do in their service actions because it is habit.
The Umpire should call a “let” if it is disrupting the point being played. This is done by calling “LET” and raising your arm above your head. A Player waiting to retrieve the ball MUST NOT call out “ let” or enter the court where the ball is until a let is CALLED by the umpire or play has stopped and then only after making eye contact with the players involved.
Don't take your water bottle onto the court because it is very easy to spill water without noticing it or trip on the bottle and fall over. You may take a towel into the court to use, it should be kept in the towel box or close to the Umpires chair. Towels MUST NOT BE HUNG on the barriers. When changing ends take your towel and put it next to the umpire’s chair on your side of the table. Sponges which are damp and are used when a floor is slippery to remove dust must be kept under the table near the NET and should be removed after your match.
This habit is FROWNED UPON. It can be interpreted as a delaying tactic slowing down the game. Wiping your hands on the table results in the transfer of sweat and oil onto the playing surface and can also transfer disease. You do not know who has wiped their hands on the table before you or what was on their hands.
After each 6 points played, players are allowed to towel down which includes wiping your hands on a towel. Please DO NOT wipe your hands on the tables because apart from the disease side of it, you are leaving OIL on the table which will cause the ball to slip/slide on the oily hand prints. If you sweat on the table, please use your towel and wipe it off.
It is recommended that you wash your hands after playing.