Beating your opposition in singles and doubles
Lesson details
Learning outcome
I can identify the opposition's weaknesses to exploit them in a game situation.
Key learning points
- Move: changing the pace and spin requires different shapes and sizes of backswing and follow-through.
- Think: once a weakness is identified, it is effective to keep hitting to that area (e.g. backhand or close to the body).
- Feel: figuring out how to exploit your opposition's weaknesses is motivating.
- Connect: can adjust tactics with a partner to respond to different opposition.
Keywords
Exploit - take advantage of a situation
Weakness - when a player has difficulty returning a certain shot in table tennis (e.g. spin, location or speed)
Ranking - the number assigned to players during a tournament based on their ability
Common misconception
Pupils think that in a game you should always try hit the ball to the back of the table to win.
While hitting to the back of the table can be effective, it's not always the best strategy. Mixing up your shots, using different spins and placing the ball in various spots on the table can be more effective.
Teacher tip
You may wish to laminate the tournament cards and rotations so they can be reused and written on with a whiteboard pen.
Equipment
table tennis tables with nets (1 between 2), 1 bat each, 1 ball between 2 and AdMat tournament cards 1 per group.
Content guidance
Risk assessment required - physical activity
Supervision
Adult supervision required
Licence
Prior knowledge starter quiz
4 Questions
Q1.What is it called when you play with a partner in table tennis?
Q2.When playing doubles, when can each of you hit the ball?
Q3.How can you avoid being in your partner’s way?
Q4.Where could you aim the ball to gain an advantage over your opposition?
Assessment exit quiz
4 Questions
Q1.What score do you play up to in doubles in table tennis?
Q2.How can you try to make an opponent move more?
Q3.When playing a competitive game, what should you aim to exploit?
Q4.If the score is 10-10, how many clear points do you need to gain in order to win?
To help you plan your 11 physical education lesson on: Beating your opposition in singles and doubles, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your 11 physical education lesson on: Beating your opposition in singles and doubles, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs.
The starter quiz will activate and check your pupils' prior knowledge, with versions available both with and without answers in PDF format.
We use learning cycles to break down learning into key concepts or ideas linked to the learning outcome. Each learning cycle features explanations with checks for understanding and practice tasks with feedback. All of this is found in our slide decks, ready for you to download and edit. The practice tasks are also available as printable worksheets and some lessons have additional materials with extra material you might need for teaching the lesson.
The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
Our video is a tool for planning, showing how other teachers might teach the lesson, offering helpful tips, modelled explanations and inspiration for your own delivery in the classroom.
Explore more key stage 4 physical education lessons from the Net and wall games: teaching others tactics and strategies in table tennis unit, dive into the full secondary physical education curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.