Category: Table Tennis Ideas

Table Tennis Grip and Handle Shape

  • February 8, 2018

Table Tennis Grip and handle shape

I was asked by an international player if I could provide my opinion and thoughts regarding table tennis grip and the handle shape? And does the grip or handle shape affect our backhand and forehand strokes?

I’m not going to lie, I’m not an expert in equipment but I am a great believer in having the best tools to maximise your potential.
I’m also a stickler when it comes to marginal gains and constantly look for that one extra Inch in gains…

As a player, I always played with a flared handle. When I started coaching top international table tennis players I noticed a trend in straight handles. So, decided to try it out and quickly adapted, I still play competitively on occasion and must keep up with the trends and changes of the game. The straight handle allowed me to develop my backhand!

Table Tennis Handle Grip and Handle Shape
How do you hold your bat?

 

My findings and thoughts:

Personally, I have a slight grip change, a straight handle allowed me to flip from backhand to forehand easily. The only time I’m unable to grip change is if someone has hit the ball at me very fast, with a quick change of direction. This is where I would block or attempt to just get the ball back into play (not ideal or consistent).

Playing with a flared handle my grip was off neutral alignment which enabled my forehand to be the more dominant side. My backhand was punchier and lacked control furthermore it was limited in terms of open-ups and topspin shots. When I changed to a straight handle, my forehand became less hooky and I developed a more solid all-around backhand.

Table tennis has evolved since I began mid to late 90’s. Back then forehands alone were good enough to win you a world title. Today without a backhand you’re effectively handicapped.

So how does, the handle and grip affect your game?

What I do know,
– If you make a tight fist your forearm rotation is reduced by 5-10%
– The Chinese Ma Long, Fan Zhendong etc. use a flared handles
– Timo Boll and Dimitrij Ovtcharov play with a straight handle, note Timo has a big grip change.
– Your hand size also plays a key factor
– The blade and grip influences your backhand and forehand

What I don’t know,
– The science behind the grip and blade, meaning if you took a group of players and scientifically measured results would their results differ? Us humans are remarkable and we mould, change and adapt to our environment. So, if you did tests and found a slight change in power/speed/spin, would those results change after 6 months of practice with a new blade or grip?

– Does the same blade with a different handle give you more power/speed/spin? Possibly with the grip, yes but does the handle change the above? (Unkown) and if so, will the stats change after a practised time scale?!

– Is there a correct or incorrect grip? Timo Boll was World no.1 and currently no.3 with a technically incorrect grip! Waldner had grip changes and is still regarded as one of the all-time table tennis greats (greatest in my book).

– Should a grip be individualised? Meaning we all have different hand shapes and different styles, should we mould our grips and handles to suit our individual needs? In a perfect world YES

Personal Conclusion:

A grip is important and I often try to implement a traditional grip for all my players. But I have and still pull back at times when I see a player developing their game with resistance to my grip proposal. I’ve seen top players such as Patrick Chila have an extreme grip which saw his hand halfway down the handle. Now some would argue that he was never a world champion but others would argue he was a top 20 in the world player. This can be argued both ways, if his grip was better he may have been a top 10 players or possibly vice versa?! Who knows? The answer is he reached top 20 in the world with a technically incorrect handle grip.

Is the handle that important?

I think it makes a difference, yes and I believe there are pros and cons and arguments for and against. I know we’ve had World and Olympic Champions who used all three different shaped handles; Pen-hold, flare and straight!

Therefore in my humble opinion, your table tennis grip is important in allowing you to execute certain technical strokes and personal execution. But it will not fully determine your capabilities.

The blade handle regardless of shape has had champions and therefore is inconclusive. We mould and shape our future regardless of the surrounding.

If anyone has any scientific data or opinions on this matter it’s welcomed.

Written by Eli Baraty

eBaTT (Eli Baraty Academy of Table Tennis)
Coach Me Table Tennis 

Instagram: _elibaraty
Twitter: @elibaraty
FB: Eli Baraty
W:  www.coachmetabletennis.com
E:   elibaraty@hotmail.com
M:  07900401144

​How to Improve Your Table Tennis off the table?

  • November 23, 2017

How do I improve my table tennis off the table, is a question I’m often asked. There’s a common misconception that many players have, “if I don’t train (on the table) I won’t play well”. When I began playing, I only had access to a club once a week but I managed to accelerate at a faster rate than most. I was a sporty kid and used all other hand-eye coordination elements to embrace my initial table tennis, off the table.

How did I do this? And what can you do to accelerate your progress:
  1. Physical: work on strength, flexibility, endurance and speed.
  2. Nutrition: many eat what they’ve been brought up with and have not studied what they are putting inside their bodies. Study your food and make sure you put the right nutrition for peak performance
  3. Visualisation: try to watch yourself playing (by videoing games and practice session). Once you know what you look like when playing, you can use these visuals to enhance your performance. You can also do shadow play and try to do it in front of a mirror. Our subconscious mind does not know the difference between reality and our imagination. If you watch a scary movie and get goosebumps, it’s because inside your subconscious it feels real. So, use this to benefit your game and train inside your mind, serves, footwork, playing well under pressure
  4. Learn from the best by watching: I go to many clubs and countries and I always ask do you watch TT? Sadly 75% of the players don’t! It’s not like it was back in my day, begging friends to lend you their VCR tapes so you can watch a few TT matches. Today you have access to almost any and every professional TT match on the planet for FREE! So, go to YouTube or ITTF and watch the sport you love playing. Seeing the best gives you the ability to learn what they do tactically and physically.
  5. Information: The web is full of information, so go on blogs and video tutorials such as mine and others
  6. Serve: Practice your serve, it’s really the only element you can perfect by yourself and you can even develop it without a table at home. Look in the mirror at the motion of movement, is it disguised? Is it a legal motion? Is it creative? Does it have loads of spin? Is my wrist being utilised to its fullest potential?
  7. Mindset: Often we believe if we train on the table it will give yourself the confidence to compete. Yes, it helps but there will be times that you don’t have the time, unable to play, injured, lack of access to playing facilities. This is when you must; self-encourage, by doing the above.

    Table Tennis training off the table
    Training Off The Table
Improve my table tennis off the table by doing other activities:

Doing one thing is great and focusing on it surely will bring results. But I do believe in versatility and doing other things opens our minds to greater things inside our main objective. Try out other sports and activities and you will find your mind opening up and learning continuously. I found that I managed to improve my table tennis off the table when playing or doing other activities. The key is staying in tune and looking at how you can relate both table tennis and the other sport or activity.

Utilise your time off the table to improve your table tennis while not playing physically, I look forward to seeing your developments.

A nice warm-up exercise off the table click here

Written by Eli Baraty

eBaTT (Eli Baraty Academy of Table Tennis)
Coach Me Table Tennis 
Instagram: _elibaraty
Twitter: @elibaraty
FB: Eli Baraty
W:  www.coachmetabletennis.com
E:   elibaraty@hotmail.com
M:  07900401144