HOW TO GRIP A PING PONG PADDLE! SO EASY

by Lisarit Richie Best Choice

Ping pong is an amazing sport that requires an outstanding hand-eye coordination and quick reflexes. Playing ping pong as a professional involves understanding the basic skills of the game such as being able to hit the ball on the other side of the net and being able to serve the ball to the opponent.

This guide will teach beginners how to hold a ping pong paddle properly. Holding the paddle properly is very important in the learning process because getting used to a different grip may become more difficult as the player becomes more skilled to the sport. This is why it is better to start with the proper grip.

There are two main types of grip: the Shake-hands grip and the Pen-holder grip.

There are some variations applicable to each of these types of grip and there are also less commonly used grips such as: Seemiller grip, V-grip, Pistol grip.

Although these grips are not commonly used especially at tournaments, it is not known if this is due to their inferiority or because they appear new to the ping pong game.

For this reason, it is recommended that beginners start with the shake-hand grip or the pen-holder grip, since it will be easier to get expert advice and coaching for these grip styles. The number of competent coaches of Seemiller, V-grip or Pistol grip type players would be very few at the moment due to the unpopular nature of these grip types.

Shake-hands Grip

As the name implies, the handle is gripped the same way a hand is gripped while shaking hands. It is the most commonly used ping pong grip and a great start for beginners.

The thumb and other fingers except the index finger are wrapped around the handle and gripped firmly while the index finger is placed close to the base of the paddle. By so doing, the handle is gripped firmly.

With the shake-hands grip, backhand are being performed with ease but it has a disadvantage of a wide crossover point between backhand and forehand. This means that, by using the shake-hands grip, there is an area where a player cannot easily hit with backhand or forehand without changing position.

Although there are several minor variations of this grip type, the two main versions of this grip are the Shake-hand Shallow Grip and the Shake-hand Deep Grip.

Pen-hold Grip

The Pen-hold grip as the name implies is similar to holding a pen. The thumb and index finger is wrapped around the handle close to the beginning of the handle while other fingers are laid out across the back of the paddle to grip it firmly while making sure that the fingers doesn’t obstruct the use of backhand.

This grip is not as popular as the shake-hands grip and majority of its users are Asian. This grip type gives the advantage of covering a wide area with forehand and backhand without changing position but it is difficult to perform backhand with it.

Backhand’s performed with a Pen-hold grip doesn’t have much impact compared to backhand with a Shake-hand grip even when mastered and it is also very hard to master.

The Traditional Chinese Grip, Japanese/Korean Grip, Reverse Pen-hold Backhand Chinese Grip are its main versions.

Minor Grip

Seemiller Grip

In the Seemiller grip, the paddle is held with a 90-degree turn and similar to the Shake-hand grip but the thumb and index finger are used to hold the sides of the racket.

The backhand and forehand are played with the same side of the paddle, although the racket can be turned to use the other side. This grip type is typically used with a combination bat.

The Seemiller grip allows the movement of the wrist when performing a forehand stroke with a powerful forehand topspin. It is excellent for blocking on both sides. Also, there is no problem of a crossover point because one side of the racket can be used for both forehand and backhand.

The problem about this grip type is that, the ability to hit the ball with great power is limited because on the backhand side, the amount of wrist movement is hampered.

This grip is commonly used by players with attacking style who prefer to play with a steady backhand and a strong forehand topspin. In recent years, the Seemiller grip is not commonly used at the highest levels of the game.

If you are interested, you can visit here to know more about ping pong/ table tennis ( skills, equipment, practice...)