If you're a ping pong player who's getting better at your game, then you should consider thinking about a new way to hold your paddle when playing. Most professional players that play ping pong have a specific way they hold their paddle. A lot of these ways vary from country and culture, but by toying with some of these styles you might find yourself a new way of playing ping pong.
What is the Difference Between Grip and Handle Style?
In ping pong, there's a grip and handle style. When you change your grip style, you're changing the way that you're actually holding your paddle. By changing the way you hold your paddle, you could be completely changing around your game. There are many types of grip styles you could be using, which we will go over later. However, the two most common styles you can use are called the pen-hold and shake-hand grip (shown below). As for handle styles, these affect the physicality of your paddle. There are a lot of handles you can get in your paddle. Some people prefer to have a rounded handle, whereas others prefer a straight wooden handle. This all comes with experience and what you prefer to use, and how comfortable it fits into your hand.
Ways to Hold Your Ping Pong Paddle
Here are some of the main grips you can use when playing ping pong:
Shakehand Grip - The shakehand grip is a very basic way to grip your paddle. This style is primarily used in western cultures and is typically portrayed as the only way to play ping pong for beginners. Basically, you hold the paddle as if you're shaking someone's hand, shown below.
Basic Penhold Grip - The basic penhold grip is a more advanced way of holding your paddle. However, this still isn't the trickiest one to master. The penhold grip, like the name, is when you hold your paddle similarly to when you hold a pen. There are many types of penhold grip variations, which are all shown to you in the video below.
Chinese Penhold Grip - The Chinese penhold grip is another penhold grip you can use when playing table tennis. This grip is a little bit different from the regular penhold because it allows your forehand to be more powerful. The only downside to this grip is that you might have trouble with getting a spin on the ball when hitting with your backhand.
Seemiller Grip - While this method is the least used out of the four, it's still worth learning about. The seemiller grip in table tennis is similar to the shakehand grip, except the index finger is used on the other side of the paddle. This gives some people the impression that they have better control on the paddle, but that's up for you to decide.
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As for handle styles, these affect the physicality of your paddle. There are a lot of handles you can get in your paddle. Some people prefer to have a rounded handle, whereas others prefer a straight wooden handle. This all comes with experience and what you prefer to use, and how comfortable it fits into your hand.
