There are no J-penholders left

I'm a new convert to JPen (4 months playing JPen vs 6 years playing overall) as well as new member to this site. I'm currently deployed to Afghanistan, and while there are a number of very good players from around the globe here, I'm not only the lone JPen player, I'm also the only penhold player of any kind. Unfortunately, this means every last bit of my "skills" if you can call it that are self-taught. Every day I play, I try to choose one aspect of the game that I'll mentally focus on, even if it means other aspects of my game suffer. I've also found it helpful to use my smartphone to record some of my games- placing it at the net is an unobtrusive way to get great footage that I'll then watch back when I get some time.

Hi, Eric. Finally! We are two! I also started playing c-pen many years ago and about 8 years later I jumped to j-pen. Like you I am self taught (although the change for me wasn't that hard). Everything was different, the strategy, the tactics, the footwork, etc. But the most intriguing aspect of all continues to be the grip. I had to develop my own. Adapted to my poor footwork in order to cover every aspect of the game at my level (I'm around 2000 rating USA). Eric, my whole interest here is to help each other to get better. Not to beat the hell out of our opponents (that too) But to get as good as possible so we can remain more comfortably in the game for the rest of our lives. Personally, I find table tennis to be an incredibly healthy and fun sport worthy to be passionate about.

whats the differencve in j penholer vs chinese penhold.; Some say its they dont use rpb but some say its because of the bat. which one or is it both?

Well let's cherish Ryu Seung Min while we still can

I used to play c/pen but then I changed to j/pen then I changed to shake hand

I guess I'm a couple years late reading this... sorry about that but I just started playing again about 8 months ago.  I first learned for real in 2004 and got coached for 1 year, then moved away but picked it back up in 2010 but only for 6 months.  Anyways, I love your enthusiasm for the J-pen, I'm exclusively J-pen (in 2004 got a Kim Taek Soo bat and now I have a Ryu Seung Min Gmax bat) and have only played in Korea.... even Koreans are changing their style trying to get me to do it as well but there's no way I'll ever even consider... table tennis is too fun playing this style and I believe it's just a trend.... (so many long pimp defenders here now in Korea trying to emulate Joo Sey Hyuk...)

Reason you probably didn't get many replies is because Koreans and Japanese are not on this site or can't read English well enough to contribute.  But believe me, here in Korea at the amateur level there are many J-pen players left and with Ryu being named national coach a few months ago I'm hoping somehow that will translate to more top level players breaking through the ranks causing a renewal of the old trend.  

Let's not forget the only two Gold medals men's singles for Korea have been J-pen and for what it's worth Ma Lin can be considered that as well since he hardly ever uses his b/h c pen stroke....

anyways, hit me back up if you want to talk more... I'm kind of incoherent now but had to answer after reading this cause I feel like I'm on the same  quest as you for keeping this 'not quite just yet' lost art alive....

i used to play j-pen but with chinese grip, i just recently switched to shake hand :( ....

Hi, im a jpen player.

I have a youtube channel and a fanpage.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvA6KoQgKXgrwEIE_dlnO9A

https://www.facebook.com/mbernalesktt/