Question re: penhold blocker technique
Kevin Tang asked 2 years ago
I played an older guy using inverted RPB with penhold, and he was doing a stroke that looked like a block with the penhold, but the ball just died, making it very hard to return – he did this during our warmup and I couldn’t keep a topspin rally going even though I usually have no trouble doing so.
I haven’t seen this with other penholders as of yet, so I’m unsure what kind of stroke this was or if he was doing some kind of technique.
Is there any info about what kind of stroke this was? I don’t have the terminology to look this up so I’m super confused on what this was guy was doing – mainly did he just hit back with no spin / underspin?
Dan Academy Coach answered 2 years ago
Hey Kevin, yes sometimes when players block using a penhold grip they can hit the ball quote flat and it comes through with almoa backspin feeling, so I’m sure this is what you were up against. You really need to add more topspin to your shots to avoid it going in the bet and brush the ball well.
Also often these type of blocks drop quite short in the table so you need to be on your toes and ready to move in closer to the ball to play your next shot. I’m sure after some time getting used to this you will have mo problems! Dan 🙂
Kevin TangDan, why is this the case? How does penhold achieve this and shakehand can’t?
DanIt’s because of the bat angle generated and the movement needed when blocking with a penhold grip, with shakehands, players tend to roll over the ball a bit more rather than contacting flat on the back of it 🙂
So what’s the way to beat this? Do I have to assume he’s hitting underspin and change my bat angle? It makes me very uncomfortable to hit a regular stroke.
