Shakehand technicalities
Table Tennis Strokes and Technique
Last updated 14 years ago
matt Unknown Asked 16 years ago
Alois Rosario Answered 16 years ago
Hi Matt,
The grip, while starting as something basic, does develop individually. As a starter you can have the bat right up in the webbing. The important thing is to have the grip neutral initially to be able to play both backhand and forehand equally. Especially when starting out you don't have time to be able to change the grip between strokes. You are usually flat out seeing the ball and getting your technique right.
How far up in the webbing you have the grip is individual. More control players can have the bat higher up or a firmer grip, whereas more attacking players can have a 'longer' looser grip.
Some players do eventually alter their grip slightly from forehand to backhand but as a starter try to keep it fairly central.
We will keep the video idea in mind when we hit the studio next. Stay tuned.
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Rex Barcarse Posted 14 years ago
Hi Alois,
I just wanted to ask a follow-up question to this about the shakehand FH grip.
How firm do you lock in place your wrist being bent on the forehand grip? Is it just relaxed bent or locked firm bent wrist. I have a friend that told me one time to bend the wrist and lock it during the swing (no wrist snap). I had very good success doing this (wrist bent, locked firmly and swing with 90 degree arm at the finish) but find the ball travelling faster not sure if it was spinnier. I have been watching your training videos and i don't seem to hear any mention about how firm/relax do you lock in place your wrist. I'm wondering if i may be doing the wrong thing.
Leslie Unknown Posted 14 years ago
Piers Grey Posted 14 years ago
To add to what Leslie said, you don't want to hold the bat too tight!, otherwise during the match, you'll start to tense up and your stroke becomes less consistant (reliable) to use
You don't want to over complicate it, though! you want to keep the shot as simple as possible, if you start to think about what your doing too much you'll focus less on actually hitting the ball - I should know!, I've done it before!!!. The idea of this website when it comes to explaining how to do stroke is to keep the stroke that your doing simple and just focus on solidifing your technique so that you have a good foundation block to work from!!!
I hope this helps you